Introduction: The End of The Chinese auto market, which has been negative for three consecutive years, has finally turned positive and created the highest growth rate in 5 years.
Due to macroeconomic, market demand and epidemic factors, the Chinese auto market, which has been in the haze for a long time, seems to have ushered in the dawn.
On January 12, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released data showing that in 2021, China's automobile sales were finally fixed at 26.27 million units, a year-on-year growth rate of 3.8%, becoming the first sales volume in the global new car market for 13 consecutive years.
According to the statistics of the National Federation of Passenger Vehicles, the annual wholesale sales of china's narrow passenger cars in 2021 were 21.098 million units, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year.
This also means that commercial vehicles drag the hind legs of the overall market. So from the perspective of sales data, in 2021, which figures of Chinese cars are worth paying attention to? Behind many numbers, why is the three words of "new energy" indispensable?
1 Chinese brand market share rose to 44.43%
In December last year, Chinese brand passenger car sales reached 1.137 million units, an increase of 10% year-on-year, while the overall growth rate was only 2%, and the market share of Chinese brands in the month was 46.9%.
In the whole year of 2021, with the assistance of strong independent brands and new energy vehicles, the market share of Chinese brand passenger cars (including more than 50% of Chinese-controlled enterprises in a broad sense) in 2021 reached 44.43%, an increase of 6 percentage points over 2020.
It is not difficult to see from the data of the Association of Passenger Vehicles that in 2021, 7 Chinese car brands will enter the top 15 wholesale sales of Chinese passenger car manufacturers, and 5 will enter the top ten, which is almost unimaginable in the past.
Among them, Geely Automobile and Changan Automobile have squeezed into the top five (and the top five only two vehicle companies that have maintained growth), ranking third and fifth respectively. Four of the five companies have sold more than a million.
It is worth noting that in terms of retail sales in December 2021, Geely Automobile (141,600 units) was even slightly superior, beating SAIC Volkswagen (140,500 units) in second place, while Great Wall Motor ranked fourth with 125,300 units.
Although the volume is not large, the new forces of car manufacturing have contributed a lot to Chinese brands as an increment. Xiaopeng, Weilai, Ideal, and Nezha have approached the 100,000-vehicle mark and have become indispensable Chinese forces.
In contrast, in 2021, Volkswagen Group's sales of cars in its "second hometown" fell by more than double digits, a decline of 14%, resulting in a loosening of the market share of German cars.
In 2021, China's automobiles have emerged a number of high-end products such as Xingyue L, Tank 300, Ideal ONE, Xiaopeng P7, Lynk & Co 09, etc., and have achieved quite good results, gaining a firm foothold in the price range of 150,000 to 400,000 yuan. This is also unimaginable in the past, which not only boosts the confidence of Chinese brands, but also dispels the psychology of some consumers who are only foreign brands.
So, in 2021, Chinese car brands are exploding! Their 2022 is even more exciting.
2 Sales of new energy vehicles were 3.52 million units
As the biggest highlight of China's automobile in 2021, under the dual drive of policy and market, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China exceeded 3.5 million units, and the sales volume of 3.521 million units made the growth rate of new energy vehicles as high as 157.5%, and the market share also reached 13.4%, 8 percentage points more than in 2020.
In particular, data from the China Automobile Association shows that in December last year, China's new energy vehicle sales exceeded 500,000 for the first time, reaching 530,000 units, an increase of 113.9%. According to the data of the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, the wholesale volume of new energy passenger vehicles reached 505,000 units in the same period, a year-on-year increase of 138.9%.
This is partly due to the decline of the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles in 2022, which has set off a wave of small climaxes; on the other hand, the announcement of the results of the urban lottery in Beijing has also allowed many consumers to seize the time to buy new energy vehicles.
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, predicts that China's new energy passenger car sales may reach more than 5.5 million in 2022, after its previous expectation was 4.8 million, and the penetration rate may be around 25%; the overall new energy vehicle is expected to break 6 million, with a penetration rate of about 22%.
However, the overly obvious policy orientation for new energy vehicles, especially pure electric EVs, is still a flower in the greenhouse, without the protection of lottery restrictions and purchase restrictions, and I don't know how far I can go. After all, the nostalgic claims of gasoline like Weilai Li Bin and the like are also difficult to cover up the "coal" taste of electric vehicles and various use pain points and problems.
On the contrary, Akio Toyoda's words are more responsible and responsible: "The enemy of carbon neutrality is carbon dioxide, not the internal combustion engine, so there is more than one way to achieve carbon neutrality, so Toyota wants to retain as many consumer choices as possible." ”
In 2022, hybrid and plug-in are likely to join forces to stage a good play, perhaps the number is not important, suitable for China's national conditions is more important.
3 China's auto exports exceeded 2 million for the first time
From a big car importer to a big car exporter, in 2021, China's automobiles broke through themselves, doubling from the previous year, and achieved 2.015 million car exports. In the past 10 years, China's automobile exports once hovered at 1 million vehicles, but last year they finally stood on a new level.
This has a lot to do with the rapid recovery of China's automotive industry chain in the epidemic. Judging from the data of a number of listed automobile companies, SAIC Motor, Geely Automobile and Great Wall Motor have maintained rapid growth in exports, with overseas sales of more than 100,000 vehicles. After the domestic Tesla also uses China as an export base, the export scale is considerable.
In 2021, China's passenger car exports reached 1.614 million units, an increase of 110% year-on-year, of which 310,000 new energy vehicles were exported, an increase of 3 times year-on-year. New forces such as Weilai and Aichi have achieved exports to developed countries in Europe, and Chinese high-end brands such as Lynk & Co have also established bridgeheads in Europe. It seems that behind every number, there are Chinese new energy vehicles.
However, overall, for exports, Chinese car brands still have a long way to go, especially in the European and North American markets, our presence is still too low.
Therefore, how to continuously improve China's automobile technology and quality, strengthen the advantages of our automobile intelligence, deepen the layout of overseas automobile markets, and improve our value is what China's automobile exports need to work for.