On April 11, the China Automobile Association released the overall operation of the mainland automobile industry in March. Although affected by the repeated epidemic situation in Jilin, Shanghai, Guangdong and other regions, the severe situation, and the impact of the international automobile industry supply chain crisis, the growth rate of automobile production and sales in the mainland in March has declined compared with previous years, but with the tension of the supply chain in the month has been alleviated to a certain extent, coupled with the positive stimulation of the product inventory of car companies and the preferential policies of dealers, the production and sales of automobiles in March have still maintained a steady and moderate growth, among which the driving role of new energy vehicles is indispensable, it is reported that during the period from January to March, The production and sales of new energy vehicles in the mainland have exceeded one million.
The overall performance of the automobile market is stable The momentum of independent brands is good
In March 2022, the production and sales scale of the domestic automobile market was 2.241 million units and 2.234 million units, respectively, with a month-on-month increase of 23.4% and 28.4%, respectively, although the month-on-month increase was higher, but there was a certain decline compared with the same period last year, with a year-on-year decline of 9.1% and 11.7%, respectively. In the entire january-March 2019 quarter, domestic vehicle production and sales totaled 6.484 million units and 6.509 million units, up 2.0% and 0.2% year-on-year, respectively. Compared with new energy vehicles affected by the supply chain crisis, under the pressure of the overall increase in costs, traditional automobiles have a relatively better industrial chain resilience, and the regulatory effect on consumption through promotion efforts is more flexible.
In the first quarter of 2022, mainland automobile production and sales increased slightly year-on-year, but the growth rate fell significantly compared with the same period last year. Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Association, analyzed that the domestic and foreign environment is complex and uncertainty has intensified. From the perspective of the downstream supply chain of the automotive industry, the shortage of chips has not been significantly alleviated, in addition, due to the shortage of raw material resources, the price of power batteries has also risen rapidly, further increasing the manufacturing costs of car companies; in addition, from the perspective of C-end consumers, the epidemic situation in many places is tense, and the consumption willingness and kinetic energy are obviously insufficient, and it is reasonable to show a certain decline compared with the same period.
From the perspective of sales performance by brand, in the March car sales list released by the China Automobile Association, independent brands are still performing steadily, the overall trend is good, in addition to the joint venture car company SAIC to occupy the March sales champion, Changan, Geely, BYD, Great Wall four major independent brands are 2-5 in the TOP5, of which Changan Automobile sold 375,000 vehicles, Geely Automobile sold 326,000 vehicles, Great Wall Motor sold 241,000 vehicles. It is worth mentioning that BYD, which just announced in March that it will stop production of traditional fuel vehicles, although it ranks fourth on the list with sales of 290,000, its growth rate of 179.1% is enough to prove that BYD and its new energy products are being recognized by more and more Chinese car owners.
The recovery of new energy production capacity is eye-catching and leading the industry
Although compared with the same period in previous years, China's auto market showed a weak trend of growth decline, but the overall progress is still steady, and in this, the performance of new energy vehicles is very eye-catching, becoming an important opportunity point for the growth of the auto market, taking Xiaopeng and Ideal two independent new energy brands as an example, in March achieved 35,000, 32,000 sales results, although this figure does not look very prominent, but Xiaopeng 333.4%, ideal 152.1% The sales growth rate is enough to illustrate the huge potential and potential market of new energy vehicles in China.
According to the report released by the China Automobile Association, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China in March reached 465,000 units and 484,000 units, respectively, an increase of 1.1 times year-on-year. Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles reached 376,000 units and 396,000 units, respectively, an increase of 1.1 times year-on-year; the production and sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles were 89,000 units and 88,000 units, up 1.6 times and 1.4 times year-on-year, respectively; and the production and sales of fuel cell vehicles were 500 units and 367 units, respectively, an increase of 10.1 times and 5.2 times year-on-year, respectively.
From the overall perspective of the first quarter of 2022 (January to March), the production and sales volume of new energy vehicles in mainland China was 1.293 million units and 1.257 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.4 times year-on-year. Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles were 1.036 million units and 1.007 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.3 times year-on-year; the production and sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles were 256,000 units and 249,000 units, up 2.3 times and 2.0 times year-on-year, respectively; the production and sales of fuel cell vehicles were 856 units and 738 units, up 7.2 times and 3.9 times year-on-year, respectively. We can see that pure electric vehicles are the absolute "top stream" in new energy vehicles, and at the same time, hybrid vehicles are also growing at a larger rate on the basis of maintaining a larger scale of production and sales.
In terms of supply chain, due to the recovery of the overall chip production capacity and supply capacity compared with February, the recovery of new energy vehicle production and sales in March has a good foundation. Recently, due to the increase in inventory of major manufacturers and the expansion of terminal discounts, the decision-making link and cycle of consumer car purchase have also been shortened. Q1-Q2 is the peak season for new cars to go public, and it also attracts many consumers to buy cars. Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the trend of new energy vehicles shows a certain contrast, affected by the collective price increase of new energy models, and a wave of orders has emerged before the price increase, and the overall order is sufficient. In addition, the domestic epidemic in March was concentrated in megacities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai, but the epidemic prevention measures in the early march were relatively mild, which had no obvious impact on user travel and car purchase, and also promoted the sales of new energy vehicles to a certain extent.
The people evaluate the car
Judging from the production and sales data of the Chinese automobile market released by the China Automobile Association in the Q1 quarter, we believe that the global supply chain crisis has not dealt a devastating blow to the development of Chinese car companies, but in the face of the dilemma faced by the world's car companies, China's independent car companies have achieved good market results due to strong self-help measures and timely coordination of relevant departments at higher levels. Especially in the new energy vehicle track, by BYD, Great Wall Motors, etc., as the representative of their own brands, continue to improve their own research and development strength, more and more tend to be "self-sufficient", in the context of the soaring cost of chips and batteries, I believe that China's independent brands are bound to face difficulties and usher in a better market performance in the Q2 quarter.