【Report】Automobile production and sales continued to pick up

In 2021, the mainland automobile industry climbed over the obstacles under the complex situation, with production and sales of 26.082 million units and 26.275 million units respectively, an increase of 3.4% and 3.8% year-on-year, respectively, ending the downward trend for three consecutive years, and contributing an important force to the sustained recovery of the mainland's industrial economy and stable macroeconomic growth.

Automobile exports hit a record high

The total production and sales of automobiles in Mainland China have ranked first in the world for 13 consecutive years. Driven by the strong domestic consumer market, the production and sales of passenger cars in 2021 reached 21.408 million units and 21.482 million units, respectively, an increase of 7.1% and 6.5% year-on-year, and the market size exceeded 20 million units for seven consecutive years.

In terms of subdivided models, production and sales of sedans totaled 9.908 million units and 9.934 million units, up 7.8% and 7.1% year-on-year, respectively; production and sales of SUVs totaled 10.03 million units and 10.101 million units, up 6.7% and 6.8% year-on-year, respectively; MPV production and sales reached 1.073 million units and 1.055 million units, up 6.1% and 0.1% year-on-year, respectively; crossover passenger car production and sales reached 397,000 units and 391,000 units, up 0.6% year-on-year, respectively; crossover passenger car production and sales were 397,000 units and 391,000 units, up 0.6% year-on-year, respectively. and 0.8%.

According to the export statistics caliber of vehicle enterprises, in 2021, automobile exports will be 2.015 million units, an increase of 1 times year-on-year, accounting for 7.7% of total automobile sales, an increase of 3.7 percentage points over the previous year. "For the first time, mainland automobile exports exceeded 2 million units, achieving a breakthrough that has been hovering around 1 million vehicles for many years." Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, analyzed that the high-speed growth of commercial vehicles and passenger cars has an obvious role, with commercial vehicle exports of 402,000 units, an increase of 70.7% year-on-year; passenger car exports of 1.614 million units, an increase of 1.1 times. Among them, SUVs occupy an absolute dominant position, and Chinese brands have more competitive advantages in SUV models.

In recent years, the advantages of China's brand transformation and upgrading have gradually emerged, coupled with the relatively complete supply chain, which can provide overseas consumers with competitive products in a timely manner. Among the top 10 domestic export car companies, 9 companies have shown rapid growth, of which 4 companies have export growth rate of more than 100%. In addition, SAIC Motor, Great Wall Motor, Geely Automobile and other car companies have laid out factories overseas, supporting Chinese brands to take root overseas and laying a solid foundation for future growth.

"It is worth noting that the export performance of new energy vehicles in 2021 is outstanding, reaching 310,000 units, an increase of 3 times year-on-year." Fu Bingfeng introduced that Europe has become a major incremental market, mainly concentrated in Developed Countries such as Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Norway, reflecting the international competitive advantage of China's new energy vehicles.

In the view of Zhu Huarong, rotating president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the quality of Chinese automobile brands has reached or even exceeded the level of some international brands, taking the failure rate of thousands of vehicles as an example, most international brands have an indicator value of 8 to 10, and Chinese brands have reached 5 to 7.

"But in the new round of competition, Chinese brands need to accelerate strategic transformation and ability remodeling." Zhu Huarong believes that software-defined vehicles are becoming a new trend, and it is necessary to accelerate the development of intelligent, electrified, networked, lightweight and healthy directions, meet the needs of users for product modeling, configuration needs, car environment, marketing services and other aspects, and continue to launch high-tech products and high-quality services to bring users a better travel experience. In addition, it is necessary to accelerate the march into the markets of developed countries such as Europe and the United States.

With the continuous recovery of the world economy and the gradual recovery of the global automobile consumer market, the mainland's automobile exports will usher in a new round of growth. Fu Bingfeng expects that the growth rate of mainland automobile exports will be about 20% in 2022. "We will work with Chinese auto companies to actively carry out work in terms of regulatory certification, tariffs, overseas finance, logistics and transportation, intellectual property protection and brand cultivation, pay close attention to the main difficulties encountered by enterprises in exports, and put forward suggestions and measures to solve common problems."

The quantity and quality of new energy vehicles have risen together

New energy vehicles are an important direction for the green development and low-carbon transformation of the global automotive industry, and also a strategic choice for the high-quality development of the mainland automobile industry. "In 2021, new energy vehicles will show a good momentum of both market scale and development quality." Guo Shougang, deputy director of the First Department of Equipment Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, introduced that the production and sales of new energy vehicles in 2021 were 3.545 million and 3.521 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, and the market share reached 13.4%, 8 percentage points higher than that of the previous year, creating the fastest growth rate since 2016. The average driving range of pure electric passenger cars has increased from 253 kilometers in 2016 to more than 400 kilometers in 2021, consumer quality satisfaction is the same as that of fuel vehicles, and the sales volume of new energy passenger cars of Chinese brands accounts for 74.3% of the total sales of new energy passenger cars. At the same time, the supporting environment for industrial development has been further optimized, and by the end of 2021, a total of 75,000 charging stations, 2.617 million charging piles, 1,298 replacement power stations have been built, and more than 10,000 power battery recycling service outlets have been set up in 31 provinces across the country.

Fu Bingfeng analyzed that from the perspective of the trend of new energy vehicles, 2021 maintained the development of production and sales, since March, monthly sales of more than 200,000 vehicles, August more than 300,000 vehicles, November more than 400,000 vehicles, December more than 530,000 vehicles, showing a sustained growth momentum.

However, it should also be noted that the development of the new energy automobile industry is facing new situations and new problems such as the requirements of the "double carbon" target, the increased pressure of international competition, and the security risks of the industrial chain supply chain. In the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will implement the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)", formulate a series of policy measures to support the accelerated development of new energy vehicles, and fully promote industrial development to a new level.

"It is necessary to give full play to the role of the inter-ministerial joint conference mechanism for the development of energy-saving and new energy automobile industry and maintain the effective convergence of the policy system." Guo Shougang suggested that we should strengthen communication with Qinghai, Sichuan, Jiangxi and other provinces to coordinate and promote the development of domestic lithium resources. According to the requirements of the "double carbon" goal "1 + N" policy system, organize the preparation of a green and low-carbon development roadmap for the automobile industry to provide guidance for industry enterprises.

Accelerate the construction of charging and replacing infrastructure, continue to carry out the pilot work of new energy vehicles going to the countryside and replacing the power mode, start the pilot project of fully electrifying vehicles in the public domain, and promote the increase in the proportion of new energy vehicles in the fields of urban public transportation, rental, logistics and distribution; all localities should introduce more preferential policies for parking, charging and other use links, optimize vehicle purchase restriction measures, and create a good environment for promoting the consumption of new energy vehicles; promote the integration and development of electrification and intelligent network technology, and accelerate the application of new technologies such as 5G information communication and vehicle-road coordination. Develop more functions suitable for consumers such as leisure and entertainment, life services, and automatic driving.

To develop new energy vehicles, we must firmly adhere to the red line of product quality. "In terms of quality and safety, low temperature application, higher standards and stricter requirements should be put forward, and special actions for the upward development of Chinese auto brands should be continued to be carried out to guide enterprises to improve product quality, improve service levels, and establish brand image, so that consumers prefer to buy and use it more assured." Guo Shougang said.

Chip supply shortages are gradually easing

In recent years, the automotive industry has been plagued by chip shortages, and in 2021, many domestic and foreign auto companies will even cut production or stop production for a short time. "There are many factors in the shortage of automotive chips in this round, both the cyclical impact of the chip industry itself, as well as sudden factors such as the epidemic and factory fires." Wang Weiming, director of the First Department of Equipment Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that in this regard, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology set up a working group for the promotion and application of automotive semiconductors, established a weekly reporting system for the production of key vehicle enterprises, strengthened supply and demand docking and work coordination, and promoted the improvement of automotive chip supply capacity.

In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also guided the establishment of the China Automotive Chip Industry Innovation Alliance, organized the compilation of the "Automotive Semiconductor Supply and Demand Docking Manual", provided 568 chip product technical parameter information and 1,000 vehicle and parts enterprise demand information for the reference of industry enterprises, supported industry institutions to build supply and demand information docking platform, upstream and downstream communication and coordination channels, and strengthened direct communication and exchange between automobile and parts enterprises and chip manufacturers.

"At present, the world's major chip companies have gradually increased the production and supply of automotive chips, and new production capacity will be released in the second half of this year, and it is expected that the shortage of automotive chip supply will gradually ease in 2022." Wang Weiming told reporters that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will continue to strengthen the upstream and downstream supply and demand docking and the coordination of all parties, increase the intensity of automotive chip supply assurance, and guide enterprises to optimize the layout of the supply chain, comprehensively promote the promotion and application of automotive chips, joint research, guide social capital to actively invest in production and manufacturing and packaging and testing, improve the supply capacity of automotive chips, and ensure the stable and healthy development of the automotive industry.

Fu Bingfeng believes that the gradual easing of chip shortage will further release the supply capacity of automobiles. Coupled with some favorable factors, China's auto market will continue to grow in 2022, with total sales expected to reach 27.5 million units, an increase of about 5% year-on-year.

Source: Economic Daily

Reporter: Li Pengda