In the past 2021, China's auto market has experienced many challenges. Raw material prices remain high, car costs have risen sharply; the epidemic has led to a reduction in production by global parts suppliers, and the "lack of core" of automobiles has led to a sharp decline in vehicle production capacity; the epidemic in many parts of The country has rebounded, and sales activities have been greatly affected. Despite all kinds of unfavorable conditions, the entire Chinese independent brand still handed over a satisfactory answer sheet, and even faced with a more difficult situation than in previous years, achieved growth against the trend, and showed the strong development resilience and strong endogenous power of the independent brand.
New energy sales have grown strongly and have gradually become the main force
Today's market development trend is moving towards "electrification, networking, intelligence" closer, once sold tens of thousands of new energy vehicles per year has now exceeded one million, in 2021 the sales of new energy vehicles are approaching the 3 million mark, the market penetration rate reached a staggering 12.7%. Judging from the major auto shows in 2021, most of the new cars released by car companies are new energy vehicles, and the popularity of new energy vehicles can also be seen.
Industry experts said that the new energy vehicle market has changed from the past policy-driven to market-driven, and new energy vehicles have also reached a new stage of explosive growth. In particular, independent brand new energy vehicle products, with their excellent product strength has won the favor of the majority of consumers, almost all independent brand new energy vehicle OEMs have shown a state of strong demand, rapid growth in orders, and even BYD has a shortage of supply. The Secretary-General of the Association said that the domestic automobile market will continue to improve in 2022, and new energy vehicles are expected to become one of the good development opportunities for China to lead the world.
The comprehensive strength of independent brands has increased rapidly, and "going out" has accelerated
At present, the global large-scale new crown epidemic has been effectively controlled, the foreign automobile market has gradually recovered its vitality, and the overseas product strength, technology and service of independent brand auto products have also been greatly improved, so the demand for China's own brand automobile products in overseas markets has also increased by leaps and bounds, especially in November 2021, the export volume reached 200,000 units, an increase of 59.1% year-on-year, and the annual export volume also doubled compared with 2020.
Among them, SAIC Motor's passenger car export volume reached 245,000 units, far exceeding the total export sales last year; Jiangqi Group's cumulative export volume was 68,000 units, an increase of 112.8% year-on-year; Chery Automobile's cumulative export volume reached 237,900 units, an increase of 137.6% year-on-year. In addition, independent brands have achieved a significant increase in ranking in many overseas markets, among which Geely's Jihe C has achieved impressive results in the Philippines, Israel, Qatar and other markets. Nio Also said that in 2022, IT will officially land its products and full-system services in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, and by 2025, WEIO's business scope will cover more than 25 countries and regions around the world.
Independent brands are more popular, and sales are rising against the trend
Compared with the market background of high sales of German and Japanese reputation in previous years, independent brands in recent years can be described as rapid progress, and the market share of independent brand cars in the entire 2021 has increased rapidly, while the market share of japanese, German and other joint venture brands has declined to varying degrees. In 2021, the sales growth of self-owned brand passenger cars has been achieved for 8 consecutive months, and the market share has exceeded 44%, reaching the highest point in history.
Despite a series of difficulties such as lack of chips, high costs, and the epidemic, China's independent brand cars have achieved collective bucking the trend, among which the well-known geely, Great Wall, Changan, Chery, BYD and other independent car brands have performed well. Especially under the general trend of industrial structure upgrading and consumption surge, independent brand new energy enterprises have seized the opportunity to occupy a huge share in the high-end new energy vehicle market and have also received unanimous praise from consumers. On November 15, Avita, a high-end intelligent medium-sized pure electric SUV jointly built by Changan Automobile, Huawei and CATL, was officially unveiled, and on the 17th, Great Wall Motor's high-end electrification brand salon launched the first model, the Mech Dragon, and the 101 limited edition models were all sold out after only 3.5 hours of pre-sale.
summary
2021 can be described as a year of challenges and opportunities coexisting, the epidemic, high raw material prices, lack of chips and other issues are unprecedented challenges for major car companies, and in such a difficult market environment, it is not easy for independent brands to achieve a contrarian rise, which also fully illustrates the rapid development of independent brands' comprehensive strength in recent years. It is believed that in the future market competition, the advantages of independent brands will be further revealed, and we will also bring us more outstanding automotive products.