According to the knowledge of economic theory, as long as there is a commodity initialization transaction, then there will inevitably be a certain proportion of re-trading during the commodity use cycle; For bulk durable goods like cars, the number of re-trades increases as the life of the commodity increases. It is precisely under the support of this theory that the proportion of the passenger car and commercial vehicle re-trading market (used car trading market) in the automobile sales market is increasing year by year.
The conventional used car trading model, we card friends are more familiar with personal trading, used car dealers intermediate transactions, official used car direct sales and so on. Most of these transaction models are transactions of personal car sources and existing cars; So where are some vehicles that are old and can still drive normally, but the emissions, technical specifications, etc. cannot meet the needs of card friends at this stage?
Used car export trade Developed countries have been deeply cultivated for many years
Let's take an example: in 2015, Kayou Xiaosun spent 300,000 yuan to buy a China IV emission truck as a means of transportation for daily pulling operations, and in 2021, with the implementation of The National VI emission standards, Xiaosun sold this China IV truck and re-purchased a new China VI truck to continue to operate.
Due to the upgrade of emission standards, the National IV vehicle on the road is limited, the National IV truck sold by Xiaosun can not continue to operate in China, in order to maximize the utilization of the vehicle, the National IV truck was eventually sold overseas by the "dealer", came to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Africa, an African driver named Ji'an bought it for $3400 and engaged in fruit transportation in Africa.
This example illustrates a very "hot" used car sales model today: used car exports. According to KPMG and Deloitte Automotive research reports, the world's used car exports are mainly in advanced and developed countries such as the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea, and the main export markets are Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, the Middle East and other "third world" countries.
According to statistics, in the past 2017-2020, the United States, Europe, Japan and other developed countries exported nearly 14 million second-hand car products, which were sold to nigeria, Kenya and other less developed countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Like the less developed countries in Africa, the requirements for automobile quality are not high, and the production costs of many factories are placed there, and a second-hand car "imported" from abroad is much cheaper than a locally produced car. With the maturation of used car markets in developed countries and the desire for cheap and reliable means of transport in developing countries, the export trade in used cars has now reached a peak of development.
Can overseas used trucks enter China in the future?
Seeing that there may be card friends here, they will ask, can we buy overseas second-hand truck products in China and realize our luxury car dream at a low price? At present, domestic policies do not allow used cars to be imported commercially. Therefore, it is still impossible to directly purchase overseas used car products in the form of an individual.
In reality, there are few cases of overseas used trucks being introduced to China, and more are some passenger car products. If it is an individual, I want to apply for the return of foreign vehicles, and it is used for non-trade roles. First of all, the vehicle belongs to the public utility, overseas officials, permanent personnel or international students, only these four types of personnel are eligible to apply for the import of non-trade vehicles.
Although overseas second-hand truck products cannot enter China at present, as scania, Volvo and other overseas car companies gradually attach importance to the domestic second-hand car business, as well as the rise of the "official direct second-hand car" model; We do not rule out that in the future, brands such as Scania and Volvo will be their own overseas used car products through rectification, refurbishment, to achieve the domestic car specifications, so as to enter the Chinese market sales, perhaps at that time, we card friends can spend a lower price, experience the operation of overseas high-end trucks.
The export trade of used cars provides development opportunities for our country
According to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme entitled "Used Cars and the Environment – A Global Survey of Used Light Vehicles: Traffic, Scale and Regulations", emerging countries such as Asia, Africa and Latin America import millions of used cars, vans and minibuses from Europe, the United States and Japan, most of which have quality problems, which not only exacerbate air pollution, but also often cause traffic accidents.
The report concludes that, first, the "very weak" access and control policies of emerging countries for used car imports, such as African countries such as Malawi, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Burundi, have very low age, quality and emission requirements for used car imports; Second, developed countries lack effective standards and regulations to restrict the quality and environmental protection of export vehicles, and even deal with the sale of vehicles such as obsolescence, accidents, and overhauls.
The dangers posed by these cars are being recognized by more African countries, many of which have been tightened by major importers of used cars: Morocco, for example, allows only cars that are less than five years old. Kenya allows the import of vehicles for cars of less than eight years. Tanzania has called for restrictions on the import of old used cars to reduce air pollution from their exhaust emissions.
This is actually a very good opportunity for the continent that has just started the second-hand car export trade. In April 2019, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Public Security and the General Administration of Customs issued the Notice on Supporting the Export of Used Cars in Areas with Mature Conditions, taking the lead in supporting the export of used cars in 10 mature areas such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Taizhou, Shandong, Jining, Guangdong, Sichuan Chengdu, Xi'an, Qingdao and Xiamen.
In the view of Xiaobian, whether it is passenger cars or commercial vehicles, China's independent brands started late, and it is difficult to enter the mature European and American markets for direct competition, and "Asia, Africa and Latin America" has become the main direction of the mainland's second-hand car export trade.
Taking Africa as an example, as the second largest continent in the world, it is second only to Asia in terms of area. However, due to historical, geographical, political, ethnic and other reasons, Africa is the most economically backward continent in the world. For now, Africa's financial markets are booming and per capita income continues to rise, which means that demand for cars will continue to rise.
The domestic commercial vehicle market, under the influence of regulations, technical specifications, emission standards, etc., the speed of vehicle update and upgrading has accelerated, thus providing high-quality products for the export of second-hand commercial vehicles, coupled with obvious price advantages, which are favored by overseas customers.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, as of June 2021, the mainland exported 5,047 used commercial vehicles, accounting for 46.3% of the total export volume of used cars, with an export amount of 32.444 million US dollars. From January to May 2022, about 13,000 used cars were exported, a figure that is close to the export volume of used cars in the whole of last year. The export direction is mainly to countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", and the export destinations are concentrated in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Some insiders have analyzed that with the hot export trade of used cars in the mainland, it is bound to promote the development and maturity of the mainland used car industry in the end. For example, the strict automobile export testing standards will feed back the testing standards of the domestic second-hand car market and promote the formation of strict testing specifications in the second-hand car market.
The standardization of second-hand car export trade will also drive the domestic second-hand car market to establish a set of perfect systems and processes, and we card friends can rest assured that they can buy second-hand truck products for operation, no longer have to worry about quality and price, and those "pits" that buy second-hand cars may never appear again.
● Editor's postscript
It is not difficult to see that the second-hand car export trade can not only realize the "maximization of interests" of domestic car dealers and foreign consumers, but also rely on the second-hand car export enterprises to drive the transaction, maintenance, testing, finance, logistics and other supporting chains to become more perfect, forming a standardized development of the second-hand car industry.
Moreover, it will also prompt second-hand car trading enterprises to provide standardized and transparent after-sales, maintenance, accessories and other services for second-hand car consumers, so as to continuously improve the second-hand car after-sales service system, improve the quality of second-hand car services, and also play a positive guiding role in the healthy development of our domestic second-hand car industry. (Text/Zhang Yuanyuan Figure/Truck Home Part of the picture originates from the Network)