As we all know, the price war in the domestic auto market was fierce in March this year, and basically mainstream car companies have launched price cuts or subsidy benefits, and the prices of models on the market have continued to fall to stimulate consumers' desire to buy cars. Now it is time to test whether the price war to promote consumption is effective.
The Passenger Car Association announced the sales data of the auto market in March, with retail sales reaching 1.687 million units, a year-on-year increase of 6% and a month-on-month increase of 52.8%, and a cumulative retail sales of 4.829 million units from January to March, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%, and the overall performance was improving. Among them, independent brands rely on the rise of new energy vehicles, and their sales performance has been soaring, while joint venture brands have a large sales base in the field of fuel vehicles, so the overall sales performance is also relatively stable.
The Matthew effect of independent new energy sales is obvious
According to the statistics of the Passenger Car Association, the production of domestic narrow passenger cars in March reached 2.192 million units, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%, and the wholesale and retail sales of new cars reached 2.189 million and 1.687 million units, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 10.1% and 6.0%, reversing the decline due to the Spring Festival holiday in February. In the first quarter of this year, the cumulative retail sales of passenger cars were 4.829 million, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%.
Among them, the market performance of independent brands has risen steadily. Retail sales of autonomous models in March increased by 19% y/y to 930,000 units, with a market share of 54.8%, up 6 percentage points year-on-year, and the cumulative share in the first quarter remained stable at 55%, up 5.4 percentage points from the same period last year.
Echoing the continuous upward share, independent automakers are increasingly in the top 10 of the sales list. Seven of the top 10 automakers in terms of wholesale sales in March were automakers, including BYD, Chery Automobile, Changan Automobile, Geely Automobile, Great Wall Motor, SAIC Passenger Vehicle, and SAIC-GM-Wuling. Among them, BYD's wholesale sales are as high as 300,000 units, which is unbeatable.
The reason for the high wholesale sales of independent automakers is mainly due to the fact that NEVs are sold well both domestically and internationally. Let's take a look at the export data, passenger car exports in March were 406,000 units, up 39% y/y and 36% m/m, setting a record monthly export volume. New energy vehicles accounted for 29.3% of total exports in March, up 5.4 percentage points from the same period last year. The independent brands have achieved significant growth in the new energy market and export markets, the transformation and upgrading of the leading traditional car companies have performed well, and the brand share of traditional car companies such as BYD, Chery Automobile, Geely Automobile, and Changan Automobile has increased significantly.
In China, independent new energy vehicles are also selling well. In March, the new energy penetration rate of domestic retail sales reached 41.6%, an increase of 7.6 percentage points year-on-year, replacing 40.4% in November last year, becoming the highest record of new energy penetration rate in domestic retail.
The reason for the continuous volume of independent new energy vehicles is not difficult to understand, the model layout is comprehensive, the configuration is rich, the technology is advanced, on this basis, there is a people-friendly price, the price of a medium and large car has dropped to about 150,000 yuan, with a high cost performance, coupled with many first- and second-tier cities on fuel vehicle license plate restrictions and the introduction of local governments to promote consumption policies, multi-faceted promotion of new energy vehicle sales growth.
However, in the lineup of new energy vehicles, the Matthew effect is becoming more and more obvious. In March, retail and wholesale sales of hybrid vehicles (plug-in hybrid and range extender) increased by 75.4% and 88.6% year-on-year, respectively. However, wholesale sales of pure electric vehicles in March increased by 10.6% year-on-year, which is far less rapid than that of hybrid vehicles. However, the sales base of pure electric vehicles is relatively large, with 504,000 units of wholesale sales in March, but only 76,000 units of extended-range vehicles and 229,000 units of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The main reason for the large sales base of pure electric vehicles is the low cost of ownership, and the maintenance and charging costs are more affordable than hybrid vehicles, which is beneficial for commercial vehicles. However, there is anxiety about energy replenishment in pure electric vehicles, and it is inconvenient to travel long distances, so consumers who use private cars are more willing to choose hybrid vehicles that can be oiled or electric, and many brands of hybrid vehicles are cheaper than pure electric vehicles at the price level, so hybrid vehicles have gradually entered thousands of households, and the market sales growth has increased significantly.
The sales base of joint venture fuel vehicles is large enough
The new energy vehicle business of the joint venture brand is a short board, but the sales base of fuel vehicles is large enough, and fuel vehicles are still the mainstream of the auto market, so the sales performance of the head joint venture brand in March is also good. In March, the retail sales of mainstream joint venture brands reached 500,000 units, an increase of 49% month-on-month.
Among the joint venture brands, FAW-Volkswagen has demonstrated strong market competitiveness, ranking first in both retail and wholesale sales of new vehicles in March. At the same time, SAIC Volkswagen's results also successfully entered the top 10. As a result, the share of German cars in China is good, with German brands accounting for 20.4% in March, compared to 13.8% for Japanese brands.
However, it should be noted that although the sales base of mainstream joint venture brands is large enough, the overall performance is not as good as that year, and the market performance has been affected by new energy vehicles to varying degrees, and the market share is also shrinking.
Looking at the luxury car sector, the retail sales of luxury cars in March were 270,000 units, down 3% year-on-year and up 67% month-on-month, and the retail share of luxury brands in the month was 15.6%, down 1.6 percentage points year-on-year. Overall, the demand for luxury cars is declining. In a recession across many industries, many people's income levels have been affected, so many households prefer to keep their savings in the bank rather than spend as boldly as before.
The auto market is expected to continue to improve in April
On the one hand, there is a Qingming holiday at the beginning of this month, and at the same time, car companies are also actively promoting preferential policies for family cars, which will stimulate consumers' desire to buy cars. At the same time, Tesla, FAW Besturn and other car companies have also followed the pace of the policy and launched a car purchase plan with zero down payment and zero interest, which can further reduce the threshold for consumers to buy a car, which is expected to promote the growth of car sales in the car market.
On the other hand, the automobile circle is also quite lively in April, and the 18th Beijing Auto Show will open at the end of April. This is the auto show that restarted after four years of suspension, and the major car companies also attach great importance to it, so the lineup of this auto show is also quite strong, from facelifts to replacement models, as many as hundreds of blockbuster new cars are exhibited, which is also of great help to increase the sales of the car market.
Another point is that the May Day holiday is approaching, and many consumers will also take advantage of this small holiday to visit the store to see cars, test cars and buy cars. Referring to the actions of car companies in previous years, they usually launch attractive car purchase discount packages before the May Day holiday, and then actively participate in model exhibitions in towns and villages during the holidays, which will also boost new car sales. All these factors are expected to drive the sales performance of the auto market to a new high.
The overall sales volume of the auto market in March was not bad, which was mainly due to the help of leading car companies. With their strong system strength, leading car companies can still achieve good results in the environment of continuous intensification of price wars, showing strong market competitiveness. At the same time, the export volume of new cars of these car companies is also rising, and it has a good popularity in the international automobile market.
However, with the continuous increase in the sales performance of leading car companies, the pressure on second- and third-tier auto brands will also increase, and many brands have reported layoffs and production cuts. Of course, such a brutal market competition environment will also help car companies transform and upgrade, enhance their core competitiveness, and launch more new models with high quality and low prices, which is a good thing for consumers.