On April 11, the Association released data showing that domestic retail sales of passenger cars in March this year were 1.579 million units, up 25.6% month-on-month and 10.5% year-on-year, and 4.5% year-on-year to 4.915 million units from January to March.
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, said that the overall retail sales in the first quarter did not meet expectations, and the overall losses were basically brought in March. The data shows that retail sales in the first quarter decreased by 232,000 units from last year, of which nearly 200,000 units were reduced in March alone.
Judging from the sales trend of the past year, March this year is also at a low level in the calendar year. And that shouldn't have been the case.
Cui Dongshu said that since February, the supply of chips has been significantly alleviated, manufacturers' inventories have continued to increase, terminal discounts have steadily expanded, and consumer car purchase cycles have been shortened. This has released a gentle upward trend for the automotive market. However, due to the expansion of the epidemic since March, Jilin and Shanghai have even pressed the pause button, which has had a serious impact on the production of automobile companies and dealers entering stores, as well as logistics and transportation. "It's not a general impact, it's an extremely serious one." Cui Dongshu stressed.
It is reported that Shanghai and Jilin account for about 11% of the country's automobile production, which is the core area of domestic automobile production and sales. Cui Dongshu said that if the production and sales of these two regions continue to be affected in April, the overall market will suffer a huge blow. Due to the uncertainties, the ASSOCIATION believes that it is extremely difficult to make sales forecasts for April.
The uncertainty of the epidemic has also caused great changes in the sales ranking of automobile companies.
In terms of the statistical dimension of retail sales, the performance of the top three independent - Changan, BYD and Geely is eye-catching, occupying 2 to 4 places, of which BYD is 161.4% year-on-year to 103,000 vehicles, the fastest growth among the top 10 companies.
If you look at the wholesale volume dimension, independent brands are more prominent. Changan Automobile ranked first among all companies for the first time, with sales of 132,000 units in March, up 20% year-on-year. Among the top 5 companies, independent brands also occupy 5 seats.
Shanghai and Jilin car companies, which are deep in the epicenter of the epidemic, have encountered great pressure. In March, Changchun-based FAW-Volkswagen sold 40.2% y/y to 126,000 units, but retail sales still ranked first among all companies; Shanghai-based SAIC-Volkswagen and SAIC-GM also fell by more than 30%. It can be seen that the blow of the epidemic to the enterprises in the depths is fatal.
Another important change in the passenger car market landscape in March was the continued expansion of the share of its own brands.
According to the data of the Association, the retail sales of self-owned brands in March were 750,000 units, an increase of 17% year-on-year and a month-on-month increase of 37%. The domestic retail share of independent brands in March was 48.2%, an increase of 11.5 percentage points year-on-year, and the cumulative share from January to March was 48%, an increase of 9.7 percentage points compared with the same period in 2021.
In this regard, Cui Dongshu said that under the epidemic, although our lives have been affected, we should also confidently see that under the unfavorable conditions of all enterprises in the world facing lack of cores, the status of Chinese passenger cars has not declined but has risen. In 2021, the global share of China's wholesale passenger car volume reached a new high of 36%, which has been 30% for many years.
Especially in the new energy vehicle market, in the world situation of tight chip supply, Chinese car companies have created greater opportunities. China's new energy vehicle market accounted for 65% of the world's share from January to February this year.
"We believe that the global chip shortage and resource tension not only did not bring too much loss to Chinese car companies, but reflected the strong self-help ability of Chinese enterprises and the country's coordination ability in it." Cui Dongshu said.
In March this year, the retail sales of new energy passenger cars in China reached 445,000 units, an increase of 137.6% year-on-year and 63.1% month-on-month, which was better than the trend in March of the calendar year. From January to March, domestic retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles were 1.070 million units, up 146.6% year-on-year.
Among them, 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; the penetration rate from January to March also reached an ultra-high level of 22%.
In this regard, Cui Dongshu said that although more than 20 car companies have issued price increase notices since the beginning of March, it has not affected consumers' enthusiasm for car purchase, but has made the market present an extremely hot scene of short supply.
It is reported that there were 13 enterprises with wholesale sales of new energy vehicle manufacturers exceeding 10,000 units in March, an increase of 2 over the same period last year.
Among them, BYD 104338, Tesla China 65814, SAIC-GM-Wuling 51157, Chery Automobile 21817 vehicles, GAC Eian 20317 vehicles, Changan Automobile 15624 vehicles, Xiaopeng Automobile 15414 vehicles, Great Wall Motor 15057 vehicles, Geely Automobile 14166 vehicles, Nezha Automobile 12026 vehicles, Ideal Car 11034 vehicles, SAIC Passenger Car 10880 vehicles, 10059 zero-run cars.
Cui Dongshu said that the current performance of the new forces is relatively strong. At present, the pattern of dividing the first and second-tier camps based on sales in the past is being broken. In March, a number of new forces sold more than 10,000 vehicles, of which GAC Aean became the only new force with more than 20,000 vehicles, and new forces such as Xiaopeng, Nezha, Ideal, and Zero Run also exceeded 10,000 vehicles.
It can be seen that the new forces that were previously called the second line have the tendency to catch up later. For example, since the release of the new car Z03 in October last year, the market performance of Hechuang Automobile has gradually improved. It delivered 1,689 Z03s in March, with orders for 3,016 units, up 8,000% year-on-year. The momentum for the better is remarkable.
In addition, the plug-in and hybrid market increased by 178.7% y/y to 85,000 units in March, faster than pure electric vehicles. In this regard, Cui Dongshu said that in March, the diversification of new energy passenger cars formed a new pattern of two-wheel drive of independent brands in the pure tram and plug-in mixed car markets.
However, luxury brands suffered a lot in March. In March, luxury brand retail sales of 230,000 units, down 14% year-on-year. Cui Dongshu said that the retail sales of luxury cars in early March were significantly stronger than the previous month, and in the later period, with the changes in the epidemic prevention and control situation in the main sales area, it was regrettable that it could not continue the situation in February.
The main reason for the decline in sales of luxury car brands is that their production has encountered obstacles. It is reported that in March, luxury brand production fell by 31% year-on-year and 8% month-on-month. Production of luxury brands, including BBA, was affected in March.
Among them, Tesla China produced 55,462 units in March, wholesale 65,814 units; Mercedes-Benz produced 44,262 units, wholesale 50,160 units; Audi produced 28,281 units, wholesale 31,706 units. Overall, there has been a serious downturn in production.
It can be seen that the impact of the epidemic on luxury brands with high profits is the greatest.