2021 has passed, what kind of words should be used to describe the Chinese auto market in 2021? In fact, it is still very difficult, because the domestic car market in 2021 is a disastrous year for some brands, but for some brands, it is a year of "flowers all the way"! This year has passed, chip shortages, production capacity constraints seem to be about to become a thing of the past, where will the Chinese car market go in 2022? How many variables are there? It's all very much to look forward to! In the past year, one of the "signs" that surprised us the most was the rapid progress of independent brands, or it is not too much to call 2021 the first year of the "counterattack" of independent brands!
In this year, Wuling Hongguang MINI EV became the best-selling single car product/new energy vehicle product of its own brand, and in several months, surpassed Langyi and Xuanyi to become the first domestic car sales! This year, BYD's strong rise has become the world's best single brand of new energy vehicle sales, with the "car can be DM-i", BYD has successfully ranked among the first-line independent brands, the future can be expected! This year, with the impetus of some external changes, the recognition of domestic cars by the Chinese people is further improving, especially in the field of new energy vehicles representing the future trend, BYD, Xiaopeng, Ideal, Weilai and other brands of 200,000, or even more than 300,000 models have been warmly welcomed by the market, the joint venture brand new energy vehicles are beyond reach...
From the data point of view, 2021 is also a year of "return" of independent brands, a few years ago, the wave of independent brand closures, so that the number of independent brands greatly reduced, but as the remaining independent brands in the product level more and more strong, in terms of sales is getting better and better, market share back to a high level! In December 2021, the domestic retail volume market share of independent brands was 46.3%, and the wholesale volume market share was 46.9%, which is a relatively high level! Therefore, combined with the above series of data and the current situation, it can be said that independent brands seem to have performed very strongly in the past year!
But in retrospect, in fact, independent brands are still relatively weak, take the market share, although the market share of independent brands in December 2021 reached a "high level" of 46.3%, but in turn it also means that joint venture brands and overseas brands occupy 63.7% of the market share, compared with the overall number and market share of independent brands, independent brands are still at a relatively low stage. And we also see that the single automobile brand with domestic sales in the top and second place in 2021 is also faw-Volkswagen, SAIC-GM, and the leaders of independent brands, and still has no chance to come out on top!
This can actually be a simple comparison with Japan, another major automobile production and sales country in Asia. In 2021, the 10 best-selling car brands in Japan are all Japanese local brands, that is to say, at a glance, even if you don't look at the head of the list, you can know that this must be Japan's car sales list! Of course, it is possible that some netizens will say that the Japanese market is relatively small, so it does not have the wide range of samples. However, we also see that Toyota, the single brand with the best sales in the Japanese car market in 2021, also sold 1.424 million vehicles, and when it comes to the domestic market, it can also rank second, which is still quite strong!
Listing the 2021 Japanese domestic car sales data, in essence, what we want to express is that, first, Japanese local brands are indeed strong, and we see that the Japanese brands listed on the list are basically well-known in the world; second, the trust and acceptance of domestic products in the Japanese domestic market is very high! These two points have actually formed a relatively obvious gap with independent brands, and the progress of independent brands in recent years is obvious to all, but there is still a long way to go before becoming a strong brand or becoming a world-famous automobile brand. Now we see these relatively strong independent brands, basically in the domestic market has obtained a relatively high degree of recognition and sales, but in the global market, it is still far from the "famous brand"! Therefore, even in the domestic market, consumers will choose some joint venture brand models with more global brand influence, such as Volkswagen, GM, Toyota, Nissan and other brand models, which is also reasonable!
On the other hand, independent brands in the domestic market want to "capture" more domestic consumers' desire to buy, may also have a long way to go. From the current situation, in the era of fuel vehicles, independent brands want to fight a "turnaround battle" against joint venture brands at the technical and brand levels, and the possibility of success is minimal! In terms of future-oriented new energy vehicles, it seems that in the domestic market, domestic models are indeed very strong, but there is a big problem that many joint venture brands have not yet earned the last profit of the fuel vehicle era, if the future joint venture brands, overseas brands collectively select new energy vehicles, how many advantages these domestic brands and domestic models have, it is another matter. Of course, even if it is a new energy track where domestic brands and domestic models have occupied the first-mover advantage, if they still can't go abroad and can't become an international brand like Tesla and Volkswagen, how different will the result be?
Therefore, in fact, if only from the perspective of sales, the performance of independent brands and domestic cars in the past one or two years can really be said to be very excellent, especially the new energy track, which has also run to a very high position! However, from the perspective of brand, external environment and other aspects, independent brands actually have a lot of way to go, especially compared with the sales performance of Japanese brands in Japan, the gap is reflected. For independent brands, the really powerful sign may not only be sales, but in their own "home" to get the most consumers to buy and consume, so that domestic consumers to buy and use the domestic auto products do not feel ashamed, do not feel that it is to pay IQ tax, in a variety of rankings, independent brands on the joint venture brand and overseas brands can also show a crushing situation, at that time, may be independent brands really stand up, and want to achieve such a scene, domestic manufacturers still have a long way to go!