| Wang Xin
Edit the | Mao Shiyang
On January 12, 2022, the 2021 automotive industry report card was finally released.
According to the year-end data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (hereinafter referred to as the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers), from the perspective of annual development, the positive growth of automobile production and sales in 2021 was restored, and the decline for three consecutive years was broken, and this was mainly driven by the new energy vehicle market, with annual sales of more than 3.5 million vehicles, and the market share increased to 13.4%, 8 percentage points higher than last year, further illustrating that the new energy vehicle market has shifted from policy-driven to market-driven.
Car sales halted for the first time in three years New energy vehicles rose 1.6 times, commercial vehicles fell 6.6%
Specifically, in 2021, China's automobile production and sales were 26.082 million units and 26.275 million units, an increase of 3.4% and 3.8% year-on-year, ending the three consecutive years of decline since 2018. Among them, passenger car production and sales were 21.408 million units and 21.482 million units, up 7.1% and 6.5% year-on-year, which is also the first time in three years that the decline has risen.
In terms of new energy vehicles, production and sales reached 3.545 million units and 3.521 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year. Among the main varieties of new energy vehicles, compared with the same period last year, the production and sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have shown a high-speed growth momentum.
In terms of commercial vehicles, production and sales of commercial vehicles totaled 4.674 million units in 2021, up 10.7% and 6.6% year-on-year, respectively. Caambius said that the fluctuations in the commercial vehicle market in 2021 due to the fluctuations in demand caused by the switching of the National VI emission regulations for heavy-duty diesel vehicles, in addition to the consumption wait-and-see brought about by the "blue brand light truck" policy expectations, the colder real estate development industry and other factors have also intensified the downward pressure on the commercial vehicle market. In addition, the China Automobile Association believes that the effect of policy dividends supporting the growth of commercial vehicles in recent years has gradually weakened, and the commercial vehicle market will enter an adjustment period in the future.
In terms of automobile exports, driven by the recovery of the international market, the improvement of the competitiveness of Chinese brands and other factors, China's automobile exports have performed well, since April, many times refreshed the historical record, the annual export for the first time exceeded 2 million vehicles, achieving a breakthrough that has been hovering around 1 million for many years; Chinese brand cars are pulled by new energy and export markets, and the market share has exceeded 44%, close to the best level in history. It is worth noting that the export performance of new energy vehicles is outstanding, and in 2021, the export of new energy vehicles will be 310,000 units, an increase of 3 times year-on-year.
Independent brands account for 44%, and the auto market is expected to perform better in 2022 than in 2021
In 2021, the top ten companies in terms of automobile sales sold a total of 22.621 million units, accounting for 86.1% of total automobile sales. Among the top ten companies in automobile sales, compared with the previous year, SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng and BAIC sales have declined, while other companies have shown growth, among which BYD, Chery, Great Wall and Changan have grown faster.
It is worth noting that in 2021, the proportion of China's own brand passenger cars is gradually increasing, with a total of 9.543 million units sold, an increase of 23.1% year-on-year, accounting for 44.4% of the total sales of passenger cars, and the share increased by 6.0 percentage points over the same period last year.
Among the major foreign brands, compared with the previous year, the growth rate of French passenger car sales is the most obvious, the United States also showed double-digit rapid growth, German, Japanese and Korean systems all showed declines, of which Koreans led the decline. In 2021, the market share of Chinese brand cars, SUVs and MPVs was 31.7%, 52.3% and 68.3% respectively, compared with the previous year, the market share of Chinese brand cars and SUVs showed growth, and Chinese brand MPVs declined.
In 2021, the top ten car manufacturers sold a total of 6.355 million units, accounting for 64.0% of total car sales. Among the top ten car manufacturers in terms of sales, compared with the previous year, BYD shares and SAIC-GM-Wuling sales showed rapid growth, SAIC shares grew by more than 40%, Geely Holdings, FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota grew slightly lower, and the other four companies showed declines.
In 2021, the top 10 SUV manufacturers sold a total of 5.934 million units, accounting for 58.7% of total SUV sales. Among the top ten SUV manufacturers in terms of sales, compared with the previous year, chery Automobile, Changan Automobile and Great Wall Automobile showed rapid sales growth, Guangqi Honda and SAIC Motor increased slightly, other companies showed a decline, and SAIC Volkswagen declined more significantly.
Caamotima expects that the demand for the automobile market will remain stable, with the supply of chips on the supply side is insufficient, raw material prices are running at a high level and other issues in the new year gradually improved, it is expected that the automotive market will continue to show a stable and good development trend in 2022, and the annual production and sales performance will be better than in 2021.
Specifically, in 2022, China's new car sales will reach 27.5 million units, an increase of about 5% year-on-year. Among them, passenger car sales of 23 million units, an increase of 7% year-on-year; commercial vehicle sales of 4.5 million units, down 6% year-on-year; new energy vehicle sales will reach 5 million units, an increase of 42% year-on-year, the market penetration rate is expected to exceed 18%.