Source: China Economic Net
From January to February, the sales volume of new energy imported vehicles was 3,423 units, a year-on-year decrease of 41.4%; Among them, pure electric vehicles decreased by 30.3% year-on-year, and plug-in hybrid vehicles decreased by 49% year-on-year. According to the Circulation Association, compared with the import market, the domestic new energy market was obviously in an upward channel from January to February, indicating the strong rise of high-end new energy brands of independent brands, which had a strong substitution effect on the new energy imported car market.
According to the imported automobile data released by the China Automobile Dealers Association a few days ago, from January to February, the mainland imported a total of 103,000 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 2.8%; the import value was 42.93 billion yuan, down 13.2% year-on-year; The cumulative monthly sales of imported vehicles were 110,300 units, a year-on-year decrease of 2.8%. The Circulation Association said that "destocking" remains the main task in 2024.
According to the Circulation Association, due to the epidemic and the short-term impact of chips, the imported car market will decline from 2020 to 2022. In the past two years, the terminal demand for imported vehicles has remained relatively stable, with cumulative sales of 769,000 units in 2023, basically unchanged from the same period last year. Judging from the monthly sales trend of imported cars from 2022 to 2024, the sales of imported cars showed a seasonal decline from January to February this year.
Although the import volume of automobiles has been declining year by year, the unit price of imported cars has increased year by year. From 2015 to 2023, the customs declaration unit price of imported vehicles increased from 252,100 yuan to 416,800 yuan. As for the reasons for the price increase, the circulation association analyzed that the first is the upgrading of domestic consumption after the epidemic, the second is the shrinking import volume of low-end automobiles caused by the localization of low-priced products, and the third is the depreciation of the exchange rate.
From the perspective of brand classification, the cumulative decline of ultra-luxury cars from January to February was 34.34%, and the cumulative decline in sales of luxury cars and non-luxury cars was 2.4%. In terms of the proportion of sales, luxury cars are still the main force of sales, accounting for 89.44% from January to February.
Specifically, among the top ten brands, Lexus, Audi, Toyota, and Mini achieved positive growth in January and February. Among them, the sales of Audi and Toyota continued to rise, with an increase of 44.3% and 32.9% respectively, and Lexus ranked first, with sales of 25,700 units, an increase of 34.1% year-on-year.
According to the Dealers Association, the price war in the domestic auto market has affected the imported car market. Taking Porsche as an example, Porsche's sales in January and February, which insisted on not lowering the guide price, fell by 31.3% year-on-year, ranking first in the decline. This shows that the mainland's high-income class is more rational in spending on luxury goods; From the perspective of supply, the demand for imported cars in the domestic consumer market is slowing down, and car companies are also strategically shrinking the supply of vehicles to the Chinese market to reduce the pressure on dealers to reduce prices and ensure brand value.
From the perspective of model structure, the sales of the three major models decreased from January to February, of which sedans fell by 1.6% year-on-year, SUVs fell by 2.56% year-on-year, and MPVs fell by 16.95% year-on-year. The coupe, a niche model among the sedans, performed well, with a year-on-year increase of 30.51%.
From the perspective of displacement structure, the displacement of imported passenger cars from January to February was concentrated in the 1.5-2.0L range, accounting for 51.4%, an increase of 11.6%, maintaining the largest displacement range; The 2.0-2.5L displacement range accounted for 32.1%, an increase of 11.3%, which was the second largest displacement range; The 2.5-3.0L range accounted for 4.9%, down 23.7%, ranking third. According to the Dealers Association, the trend of premiumization of the imported car market is weakening.
In terms of NEV imports, sales of NEV imports from January to February were 3,423 units, down 41.4% y/y. Among them, pure electric vehicles decreased by 30.3% year-on-year, and plug-in hybrid vehicles decreased by 49% year-on-year. According to the Circulation Association, compared with the import market, the domestic new energy market was obviously in an upward channel from January to February, indicating the strong rise of high-end new energy brands of independent brands, which had a strong substitution effect on the new energy imported car market. (China Economic Net reporter Chen Mengyu Image source: China Automobile Dealers Association)