In March, domestic passenger car sales totaled 1.579 million units, down 10.5% year-on-year and up 25.6% month-on-month. In the first quarter, the cumulative retail sales of 4.915 million units decreased by 4.5% year-on-year and decreased by about 230,000 units, which was lower than expected. Cui Dongshu analyzed that the shortage of chips has gradually eased, the terminal discount has increased, and the speeding up of new car listings should have greatly promoted automobile consumption, but the outbreak of the epidemic in many places has once again had an impact on automobile production and sales, resulting in significant terminal sales losses.
Looking forward to April, due to the impact of Qingming and May Day holidays, the working day is only 21 days, and the growth potential of production and sales is not large; At the same time, Jilin Province and Shanghai Municipality have large-scale automobile industries, and the impact of the epidemic on the automobile industry in the two places and even the whole country is difficult to estimate; In addition, March and April of the past year are the golden period for new car listings, but the postponement of this year's Beijing Auto Show will cause a significant blow to the new car market. On the whole, the association expects that the sales volume of the car market in April will be significantly lower than that in March; However, the new energy market is expected to maintain a relatively high growth rate.
Wave after wave, chip supply has just picked up, and the outbreak of the epidemic in many places has once again impacted the recovery of the automobile industry.
On April 11, the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Association released data: On the production side, a total of 1.823 million domestic passenger cars were produced in March, down 0.3% year-on-year and 22.0% month-on-month, and the overall stability was stable. On the retail side, passenger cars sold 1.579 million units in March, down 10.5% year-on-year and up 25.6% month-on-month; In the first quarter, the cumulative retail sales of 4.915 million units decreased by 4.5% year-on-year and decreased by about 230,000 units, which was lower than expected.
In this regard, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, analyzed, "The operation of the automobile market in March is complicated, first of all, due to the continuous improvement of chip supply, the production and sales of the automobile market in March have a good growth foundation; At the same time, the increase in output has also increased the inventory of manufacturers and distributors, thereby increasing the preferential range of terminals; In addition, a number of new cars have been listed one after another after the Spring Festival, which has also promoted automobile consumption. However, the outbreak of the epidemic in many places has once again had an impact on automobile production and sales, resulting in significant terminal sales losses. ”
It is worth noting that in March, the domestic passenger car market has seen significant differentiation performance of strong independent brands and sluggish luxury brands at the production and sales ends.
On the production side, luxury brands struggled in March, with production falling sharply by 31% year-on-year and 8% month-on-month; Mainstream joint venture brands were also affected, with output falling by 10% year-on-year; In contrast, the performance of independent brands was remarkable, with output increasing by 23% and 36% year-on-year, respectively. In this regard, Cui Dongshu concluded, "In March, automobile production seemed to be stable as a whole, but in fact, it faced great difficulties, and the output only fell by 0.3% year-on-year to the joint efforts of many manufacturers. ”
In the retail market, luxury brands sold 230,000 units in March, down 14 percent year-on-year. At the beginning of March, luxury car books showed a strong recovery trend, but with the intensification of the epidemic, it was not able to continue the strong trend. Mainstream joint venture brands are even more sluggish, with a total of 590,000 units sold in March, a sharp drop of 30% year-on-year, of which the retail share of Japanese brands is 20%, down 3 percentage points year-on-year; The Ashkenazi share was 18%, down as much as 7 percentage points; The share of the U.S. reached 10%, down 0.5 percentage points; The legal share increased by 0.3 percentage points.
Its own brands still "shine alone", with a total of 750,000 units sold in March, an increase of 17% year-on-year and a month-on-month increase of 37%. As a result, the retail share of independent brands rose by 11.5 percentage points in March, reaching 48.2%; From January to March, the cumulative share also reached 48%, an increase of 9.7 percentage points year-on-year. Cui Dongshu explained, "New energy products are the main growth point of independent brands, and the performance of head car companies such as Changan and BYD is particularly eye-catching. ”
Focusing on the three major car series, the performance is also different, the sedan and SUVs are still stable in the decline, and the MPV continues to "slide into the abyss". Specifically, in March, a total of 742,000 SUVs were sold, down 5.6% year-on-year; In the first quarter, SUV units were sold cumulatively 2.308 million units, down a slight 2.3% year-on-year, in the leading position. In March, 765,000 cars were sold, down 12.0% year-on-year, but up 27.1% month-on-month. From January to March, a total of 2.368 million units were sold, down 5.3% year-on-year, remaining the model with the largest market share. The MPV market did not rebound under the impetus of the product "a hundred flowers", but accelerated its fall, and only 72,000 MPV units were sold in March, a year-on-year sharp drop of 33.2%; From January to March, the cumulative sales volume was 239,000 units, down 16.3%, showing a downward trend.
In terms of new energy, the retail sales of new energy passenger cars reached 445,000 units in March, an increase of 137.6% year-on-year and 63.1% month-on-month, the highest growth rate in the same period of the calendar year; Based on the first quarter data, a total of 1.070 million new energy passenger cars were sold, an increase of 146.6% year-on-year, showing a thriving trend that is completely different from the traditional fuel vehicle market. As a result, in March, the penetration rate of the new energy passenger car market increased by 17.6 percentage points over the same period to 28.2%. Among them, the penetration rate of independent brands reached 46%, luxury brands also increased to 32%, and mainstream joint venture products were still only 4.3%.
Cui Dongshu analyzed, "The new energy market continues to be strong, first of all, because the demand for automobile exchange in March is relatively strong; At the same time, before the price of this wheel of vehicles rose, new energy products accumulated sufficient orders and were gradually released; In addition, the high price of oil has also boosted the popularity of the new energy market. ”
Looking forward to April, due to the impact of Qingming and May Day holidays, the working day is only 21 days, and the growth potential of production and sales is not large; At the same time, Jilin Province and Shanghai Municipality have large-scale automobile industries, and the impact of the epidemic on the automobile industry in the two places and even the whole country is difficult to estimate; In addition, March and April of the past year are the golden period for new car listings, but the postponement of this year's Beijing Auto Show will cause a significant blow to the new car market. On the whole, the association expects that the sales volume of the car market in April will be significantly lower than that in March; However, the new energy market is expected to maintain a relatively high growth rate. (China Economic Network reporter Guo Yue)