Recently, the Association of Passenger Vehicles (ACCCIS) made a forecast for the retail sales of passenger cars in the narrow sense in April, with the retail market reaching around 1.100 million units, down 31.9% year-on-year and 30.3% month-on-month. Among them, the first and second weeks of April's automobile retail sales were greatly affected by production stagnation and terminal closures, with an average daily retail sales of 24,600 vehicles and 26,700 vehicles, respectively, an average daily decline of 32% and 39% year-on-year, respectively.
Image source: Multiplying Association
The decline in sales in April expanded, which was related to the spread of the epidemic in many places in March, and the provinces and cities mainly in Jilin, Shanghai and their surrounding areas successively entered a state of silent management, which brought a greater impact on normal automobile production and sales. The Association said that through communication with more than 50 automobile companies to understand the situation, it believes that the impact of the epidemic has seriously exceeded expectations.
This is mainly related to Shanghai's position in the automotive industry, which owns SAIC Motor (including SAIC Passenger Cars, SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM, etc.), Tesla and other vehicle companies, and gathers more than 1,000 parts companies, including Bosch, Continental, etc. A number of parts giants will be Located in Shanghai, China headquarters, production bases, etc.
Image source: SIPG
Shanghai has also formed a complete and large-scale Yangtze River Delta automobile industry chain with Zhejiang and Jiangsu. The epidemic has led to the suspension of the automobile industry in and around Shanghai, affecting the supply of parts and components and the production of complete vehicles by most car companies in the country. Shanghai is also an important port city, and is one of the gathering places for the export of complete vehicles and the import and export of auto parts on the mainland.
According to news, due to the long-term suspension of industries caused by the epidemic in Shanghai, in order to reduce losses and resume operations, some foreign car companies are considering withdrawing from Shanghai. On April 19, Gaz Auto learned that semiconductor supplier giant ON Semiconductor will close its Chinese global distribution center in Shanghai and relocate it to Singapore and the Philippines due to the epidemic control in Shanghai. Another executive of an auto parts giant in China has said in the circle of friends that it is considering moving its Chinese headquarters to Hong Kong.
However, the most difficult period of the epidemic in Shanghai is passing, and as the resumption of work and production gradually deepens, the economy is gradually returning to stability. The Federation believes that in the third and fourth weeks of April, driven by the resumption of work and production, the decline will continue to narrow. On the fourth Sunday, the average year-on-year decline was about 26%, and the average daily retail sales rebounded to 69,000 units.
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, predicted that under the steady progress of resuming work and production, production capacity will have a process of climbing. He believes that Shanghai can be gradually unsealed after April 20, and there will be a huge release of production capacity in the next week or two. Vehicle production was 1.8 million units in March and 1.2 million units expected in April.