China-Singapore Finance, January 14 (Ge Cheng) On the 14th, the State Council New Office held a press conference on the import and export situation in 2021. Li Kuiwen, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Department of Statistical Analysis, introduced the relevant situation of imports and exports in 2021. Among them, China's automobile exports will increase by 104.6% in 2021, showing a good growth trend.
At present, China's trade with countries along the "Belt and Road" is getting closer and closer, and the cooperation between the industrial chain supply chain is closer. From 2013 to 2021, the proportion of intermediate products in China's exports to countries along the "Belt and Road" increased from 49.8% in 2013 to 56.2% in 2021, and the export of auto parts and accessories increased by 26.7% in 2021.
Aerial photograph of the entire vehicle waiting for the exit at Haitong Wharf. (File photo) Photo by Yin Liqin
Automobile exports exceeded 2 million for the first time
At the press conference on the development of the automobile industry in 2021 held on January 12, Wang Weiming, director of the First Department of Equipment Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed that in 2021, China's automobile exports will reach a record high of 2.015 million vehicles.
In response to the above data, Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, gave an interpretation that China's automobile exports accounted for 7.7% of total automobile sales in 2021, an increase of 3.7 percentage points over the previous year. China's automobile exports exceeded 2 million for the first time, achieving a breakthrough that has been hovering around 1 million for many years.
In terms of sub-models, passenger car exports were 1.614 million units, up 1.1 times year-on-year, and commercial vehicle exports were 402,000 units, up 70.7% year-on-year. It is worth noting that the export performance of new energy vehicles is outstanding, with new energy vehicle exports of 310,000 units, an increase of 3 times year-on-year.
Recently, many auto companies have also released relevant data on their exports in 2021. Among them, SAIC's total export sales of passenger cars exceeded 290,000 units, an increase of about 68% year-on-year, winning the championship of overseas sales of a single brand in China; Chery Automobile exported more than 269,000 units in the whole year, an increase of 136.3% year-on-year; Great Wall Motor exported more than 142,000 units, an increase of 103.7% year-on-year; Geely Automobile exceeded 115,000 units, an increase of about 58% year-on-year. Overall, the export of China's automobile enterprises will increase significantly in 2021.
Overseas factories are built to promote development
The layout of Chinese car companies in overseas markets is mainly divided into three ways: independent factory construction, overseas mergers and acquisitions and local assembly. Among them, choosing to build independent factories overseas is the most direct and effective way to reduce costs, which can not only avoid the high tax rate of vehicle exports, but also fully promote local employment and make good use of corresponding policies, but there is a large demand for funds and high risks.
Great Wall Motor's Rayong plant in Thailand (Source: Great Wall Motor's official website)
Taking Great Wall Motor as an example, following the commissioning of the Tula plant in Russia in 2019, Great Wall Motor's second overseas full-process vehicle plant, the Rayong plant in Thailand, was also put into operation in June 2021. The commissioning of the Rayong plant has enabled haval H6 HEV, HAVAL JOLION HEV and other new products to successfully achieve overseas localization production and listing, deepen the development of the Thai and even ASEAN markets, and further make ASEAN an important window for Chinese automobiles to enter the global market.
According to Great Wall Motor, including the above two factories, Great Wall Motor has formed 13 domestic full-process vehicle production bases, 4 overseas full-process vehicle production bases, and 5 overseas KD factories around the world. According to the plan, Great Wall Motor will also build a new KD factory in Egypt, Pakistan and other markets, further enriching the company's global manufacturing capabilities and supporting the delivery of a number of hot products.
In addition to Great Wall Motors, Chery, Geely, BYD and other brands have been put into production and factories overseas through CKD or SKD, and have made contributions to stimulating local employment and promoting Chinese automobile brands. With the continuous deepening of China's automotive globalization strategy, overseas users' understanding of Chinese auto brands will be further deepened.
Under the background of the continuous recovery of the world economy and the recovery of global automobile consumption, the transformation and upgrading of Chinese brands has formed an advantage, and the supply chain is relatively complete, which can provide overseas consumers with competitive products in a timely manner. Countries represented by Europe and the United States have increased the promotion of new energy vehicles, and new energy vehicles have become a new driving force for China's export growth. These factors will jointly promote the sustained growth of the overseas development of Chinese brand cars. As a result, Fu Bingfeng expects that the growth rate of China's automobile exports will be about 20% in 2022. (End)