Automobiles are the pillar industries of most industrial countries in the world, and as the world's largest industrial country, China is certainly no exception. Recently, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released the latest issue of automobile production and sales data, passenger car sales reached 2.186 million units in January, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year, much higher than the growth rate of about 4% in 2021. Since the second half of 2018, China's auto market has been in a state of high consolidation, and market sentiment was once pessimistic. But judging from the performance in January, china's auto market has opened a new round of upward trend.
The biggest highlight is of course new energy vehicles, in 2021, China's cumulative sales of new energy vehicles reached about 3 million, while maintaining a very gratifying growth momentum. In the past few years, China has spent a lot of money to subsidize the new energy automobile industry, and now it is finally time to blossom.
Data 1: New energy vehicles are growing against the trend
Comments: New energy vehicles have become a decisive force
According to the China Automobile Association, in January 2022, China's new energy vehicle sales reached 431,000 units, an increase of 1.4 times year-on-year. It is worth noting that the overall growth rate of passenger cars in January was only 6.7%. With sales of 431,000 units, which has reached about one-fifth of the total sales volume of passenger cars, new energy vehicles have completely shaken off their subordinate position and become a key force in determining the trend of the automobile market.
It is worth mentioning that January is a traditional sales off-season. At the same time, in January 2021, many new energy vehicle manufacturers were also affected by the outbreak of scattered epidemics, such as BYD because of the epidemic in Xi'an, which led to large-scale shutdowns and delays in delivery, but even so, the sales of new energy vehicles are still in full swing, which shows that it has a very strong vitality.
In 2021, many professional institutions predict that the sales of new energy vehicles will reach about 5 million in 2022. In the off-season in January, the sales of new energy vehicles have exceeded 430,000 units, according to this trend, the forecast of 5 million vehicles is obviously conservative, and 6 million vehicles will be a more reliable figure.
Data 2: Plug-in hybrid models grow super pure electric
Comments: The market tends to be rational
According to the data, in January 2022, the sales of pure electric vehicles were 346,000 units, an increase of 1.2 times year-on-year; the sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles were 85,000 units, an increase of 2 times year-on-year, and the growth rate of the latter significantly exceeded the former. This shows that after a period of frenzy, both car manufacturers and consumers have become rational, and they have rediscovered the value of hybrid models.
At present, several mainstream new energy vehicle manufacturers, Volkswagen, Tesla, Weilai, Xiaopeng, Weima, Nezha, etc. have all focused on pure electric vehicle models, which has led to a clear advantage in sales of pure electric vehicle models. However, plug-in hybrid has many inherent advantages, its car cost is much lower than that of fuel vehicles, and there is no endurance anxiety, and it is easier to be accepted by consumers in terms of driving habits, so it has more advantages in terms of growth rate.
It is worth noting that the plug-in hybrid here does not include those oil-electric hybrids of Toyota and Honda, and it is BYD that really picks the beam. In January 2022, BYD's sales of plug-in hybrid models reached 46,540 units, with a market share of more than 50% in plug-in hybrid models. At the same time, starting from 2021, Great Wall Motors Lemon DHT, Geely Auto Lei Shen Zhi Qing Hi · Hybrid systems such as X and Changan Automobile Blue Whale iDD have come out one after another, and traditional automakers have begun to take hybrid models as the focus of development. It is expected that the market share of hybrid models will further increase in 2022.
Data 3: The penetration rate of new energy has increased significantly
Comments: Industry goals are achieved several years ahead of schedule
In addition to sales, penetration rate is also an important indicator to measure the development of the new energy automobile industry. Since 2020, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has continued to increase, and data from the China Automobile Association shows that in January 2022, the penetration rate of new energy passenger cars has reached 19.2%. In China's "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan", a "new energy vehicle sales penetration rate of 20% in 2025 has been formulated, and if there is no accident, in 2022, this goal will be achieved three years in advance."
Penetration rate is a fairly broad management concept, specific to the automotive industry, it refers to the share of new energy vehicle sales in total new car sales. In 2022, the competition between new energy vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles will continue, on the one hand, with the continuous expansion of production capacity and the continuous addition of new players, the output and sales of new energy vehicles will be greatly improved; on the other hand, traditional automobile manufacturers are also accelerating the transformation, cutting off some fuel vehicles, and tilting resources to new energy vehicles is an inevitable choice, which will greatly enhance the penetration rate of new energy vehicles.
More importantly, consumers' car buying concepts will also undergo profound changes in 2022. According to Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD Automobile, most families in China will not choose pure electric vehicles as the first car, and they prefer plug-in hybrid models, which shows that the psychology of consumers has changed, and they no longer reject new energy vehicles. The younger generation of consumers is also quite receptive to electric vehicles. Once this psychology occupies the mainstream, new energy vehicles will usher in an explosive period of sales, and by 2025, perhaps pure fuel vehicles have become non-mainstream models.
Summary: After several years of fierce market competition and baptism, no car manufacturers have doubted the necessity of new energy vehicles. In this century of changes in the human automobile industry, Chinese automakers finally grasped the dominant power for the first time in history, and the so-called curve overtaking had a very good dominant position at the beginning. In the near future, people will see a new era of new energy led by domestic automakers.