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China's auto market has suffered a "cold spring" due to the epidemic.
According to data released by the All-China Passenger Vehicle Association on April 11, retail sales in China's passenger car market reached 1.579 million units in March, down 10.5% year-on-year and 25.6% month-on-month. From January to March, the cumulative retail sales were 4.915 million units, down 4.5% year-on-year and 230,000 units year-on-year, and the overall trend was lower than expected.
In terms of new energy vehicles, China's wholesale sales of new energy passenger cars reached 455,000 units in March, up 122.4% year-on-year and 43.6% month-on-month. From January to March, the wholesale number of new energy passenger vehicles was 1.190 million units, an increase of 145.4% year-on-year. In March, there were 13 companies with wholesale sales of more than 10,000 vehicles (an increase of 2 over the same period last year).
As of the noon close on April 11, the stock prices of a number of listed car companies fell, with BYD down 4.79%, Changan Automobile down 5.46%, Great Wall Motor down 5.96%, Beiqi Blue Valley down 5.82%, and SAIC Group down 2.30%.
The epidemic in Shanghai and other places has caused the loss of 20% of the industry's production
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, said that although the sales of the automobile market in March remained stable, they did not meet the structural expectations of automotive companies. In particular, the static state of production and life that has appeared in March has brought serious impacts to some enterprises, and the losses are relatively large, especially the production of luxury cars has suffered serious losses, and the output is seriously lower than expected. Enterprises represented by Tesla in new energy vehicles have also been affected by the epidemic.
According to the statistical analysis of the Federation of Passenger Transporters, the current impact of the epidemic on the output of the automotive industry has caused a direct loss of about 20% of the industry's output, according to the calculation of the Federation, the entire output of automobiles in Shanghai accounts for 20% of the country, and the production in Shanghai area was previously a relatively compact state of full production, so the loss in Shanghai is currently a definite loss, and the loss in Changchun is also relatively clear at present.
"Shanghai and Changchun are the headquarters of SAIC And FAW China's two largest automobile groups, and the core parts and components enterprises will be distributed in the above two regions accordingly, so the core parts and components enterprises in Shanghai and other regions will also lead to the radiation impact of the industry due to the epidemic." Cui Dongshu analyzed the Shanghai Securities Daily reporter that car companies in Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and other places need the supply of core components enterprises in Shanghai, and if the impact of the epidemic continues, it may bring uncertainty to more enterprises across the country.
"A car can't produce a single part." Weilai chairman Li Bin said a few days ago.
According to Weilai on April 9, since March 2022, due to the epidemic, the company's supply chain partners in Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places have stopped production one after another and have not yet recovered. Affected by this, WEILAI's vehicle production has been suspended.
For Weilai and many other car companies to suspend production, Cui Dongshu pointed out that at present, some car companies adopt closed-loop production, door-to-door test driving and other methods are also short-term responses, but it is impossible to continue for a long time, "How many reserves can an enterprise spare parts have?" Consumers' worries about door-to-door test drives during the epidemic prevention period have also far exceeded expectations. ”
Nio's electric vehicle plant has been suspended
The price increase of electric vehicles is relatively rational
New energy vehicles are still the largest growth point in the automotive market, and the penetration rate continues to increase.
According to the data of the Association, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in March was 28.2%, an increase of 17.6 percentage points from the penetration rate of 10.6% in March 2021. In March, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in independent brands was 46% and that of new energy vehicles in luxury vehicles was 32%, while the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in mainstream joint venture brands was only 4.3%.
However, in recent days, new energy vehicle companies including Tesla, BYD, and Weilai have raised prices, causing consumers to pay attention.
In this regard, the Federation of Passenger Vehicles said that in January 2022, the national new energy vehicle subsidy standards will decline as planned, and most enterprises will strive to resolve the impact of subsidy declines through their own internal balance operations and some cost reductions in the early stage, hoping to continue the good momentum of new energy vehicle sales by making profits, so there are fewer price increases before the Spring Festival. However, the decline of some enterprises has a greater impact on gross profit, so they have adopted higher car prices to make up for the impact of subsidy reduction.
After price adjustments in January, domestic retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in February 2022 were 273,000 units, up 180.9% year-on-year. The orders of price-increasing enterprises recovered rapidly, and the overall new energy market did not appear sluggish because of the price increase of models.
The impact of the current two rounds of new energy vehicle price increases is not obvious for the time being. The first is the sales model of new energy vehicles is order sales, and at present, there are more orders before the price increase in the hands of various car companies, resulting in the basic digestion of pre-orders in March and April, so the sales impact is not large.
"It is expected that the trend of traditional fuel vehicles this year will be lower than expected, but we will maintain optimistic expectations for new energy and maintain the sales expectation of 5.5 million new energy vehicles for the whole year." Cui Dongshu said that the Association still maintains optimism about China's new energy vehicle market, but also suggests that relevant departments and regions give certain support to new energy vehicle consumer groups to improve the purchasing power of ordinary consumer groups.
Editor: Shao Hao Editor-in-charge: Shao Ziyi, Meng Mei
Proofreader: Feng Wenjun Producer: Ji Yuliang Photo Editor: Zhang Dawei
Producer: Pu Hongyi Issued: Pan Linqing