Produced by | Sohu car café
On July 8, the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association held a monthly information exchange meeting online and released the "June 2024 National Passenger Car Market Analysis Report". According to the report and the content of the press conference, the Sohu Automobile Research Office sorted out the overall situation of the passenger car market in June, as follows:
First, the production and marketing situation
1. Output
In June 2024, the national production of narrow passenger vehicles was 2.134 million units, down 2.8% year-on-year and up 6.9% month-on-month. Among them, the output of sedans was 921,000, a year-on-year decrease of 5.4%; SUV production was 1.132 million units, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%; MPV production was 81,000 units, down 12.6% y/y.
2. Retail and wholesale sales
Retail sales: In June 2024, the national retail sales of narrow passenger cars were 1.767 million units, down 6.7% year-on-year and up 3.2% month-on-month. Among them, the retail sales of sedans were 789,000, a year-on-year decrease of 12.2%; SUV retail sales were 894,000 units, down 1.5% year-on-year; Retail sales of MPVs were 84,000 units, down 6.7% year-on-year.
Wholesale sales: In June 2024, the national wholesale sales of narrow passenger cars were 2.169 million units, down 3% year-on-year and up 6.9% month-on-month. Among them, the wholesale sales of sedans were 928,000, a year-on-year decrease of 5.7%; SUV wholesale sales were 1.151 million units, down 0.7% year-on-year; Wholesale sales of MPVs were 90,000 units, down 4.7% y/y.
3. The overall market sales trend from 2020 to June 2024
4. Production, retail and wholesale sales of new energy vehicles
In June, the production of new energy passenger vehicles was 933,000 units, up 26.6% year-on-year and 5.8% month-on-month. Among them, BEV production was 503,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%; PHEV production was 410,000 units, up 73.9% y/y.
In June, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 856,000 units, up 28.6% year-on-year and 6.4% month-on-month. Among them, the retail sales of BEVs were 493,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 9.9%; Retail sales of PHEVs were 363,000 units, up 67.2% year-on-year.
In June, the wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 982,000 units, up 29% year-on-year and 9.5% month-on-month. Among them, the wholesale sales of BEVs were 559,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 5.6%; Wholesale sales of PHEVs were 424,000 units, up 82.5% year-on-year.
5. Sales trend of the new energy market from 2020 to June 2024
6. Ranking of passenger car manufacturers in the narrow sense (retail sales and wholesale sales in June)
Retail sales of passenger cars in the narrow sense: The top three in June were BYD Automobile, FAW-Volkswagen, and Geely Automobile, with retail sales of 280,000 units, 133,000 units, and 131,000 units, respectively, with year-on-year sales of 21.1%, -25.5%, and 17%, respectively, and market shares accounting for 15.9%, 7.5%, and 7.4% respectively.
From January to June, the top three cumulative retail sales of passenger cars in the narrow sense were BYD Automobile, FAW-Volkswagen, and Geely Automobile.
Wholesale sales of passenger cars in the narrow sense: The top three in June were BYD Automobile, Chery Automobile, and Geely Automobile, with wholesale sales of 340,000 units, 192,000 units, and 166,000 units, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 35.2%, 39.8%, and 24.2%, respectively, and a market share of 15.7%, 8.8%, and 7.7% respectively.
From January to June, the top three cumulative wholesale sales of passenger cars in the narrow sense were BYD Automobile, Chery Automobile, and Geely Automobile.
7. Ranking of passenger car manufacturers in the broad sense (retail sales and wholesale sales in June)
Retail sales of passenger cars in the broad sense: The top three in June were BYD Automobile, FAW-Volkswagen, and Geely Automobile.
Wholesale sales of passenger cars in the broad sense: The top three in June were BYD Automobile, Chery Automobile, and Geely Automobile.
2. Review of the national passenger car market in June 2024
1. Retail:
In June, the national passenger car market retailed 1.767 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 6.7% and a month-on-month increase of 3.2%; Since the beginning of this year, the cumulative retail sales have reached 9.841 million units, a year-on-year increase of 3.3%, and the progress of completing 43% of the total annual sales in the first half of 2023 is expected to exceed 22 million units this year. Among them, the retail sales of conventional fuel vehicles in June were 910,000, a year-on-year decrease of 27% and a month-on-month flat; From January to June, the retail sales of conventional fuel vehicles were 5.73 million, a year-on-year decrease of 13%.
In June, the uncertainty of the external environment of the economy increased significantly, the effective domestic demand was still insufficient, and the expectations of enterprises and residents were not strong. However, with the gradual effectiveness of the national policy of "trade-in", the introduction and follow-up of corresponding policies and measures in various places, the release of numbers in Beijing to stimulate consumption, and the phased cooling of the price war of new products in the auto market, the "618" promotion has driven the sprint at the end of half a year, and the consumption enthusiasm of the wait-and-see group in the early market has been stimulated, and the national passenger car market has maintained a relatively good stage of development in June. The retail growth in June this year was of high quality due to the increase in the processing of non-RDE models in June last year, and this year, the end of May for micro electric vehicles under 200 km was exempted from tax exemption.
In recent years, the technological innovation of new energy vehicles and the competitiveness of new products have been growing, and the launch of new fuel vehicles has been weak. At the beginning of this year's auto market, the price war "started early", and the price reduction of nearly 20% of some new energy hot-selling models was "strong", and the time span extended from the Spring Festival in February to the end of April was "long", and the models participating in the price reduction were close to the number of models that were reduced last year, so the formation of extreme wait-and-see prices among consumers in the spring, coupled with the weak consumption expectations of consumers, temporarily inhibited the start of the spring auto market; In the context of different taxes and different rights for oil and electricity, the gap between the high growth of new energy vehicles and the negative growth of fuel vehicles is becoming increasingly obvious. With the introduction of the detailed rules for the implementation of the national trade-in policy and the continuous implementation of local new energy subsidy policies, the consumption purchasing power of social savings has been released in May and June, which has promoted the market of new energy vehicles to strengthen at the end of the half year, and the trend of new energy vehicles is better than the expectations of the forecast team of passenger car manufacturers.
Characteristics of the passenger car market in June: 1. The main reason for the continued negative retail growth from April to June was the unexpected downturn of fuel vehicles by 25% year-on-year, and the growth rate difference between new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles in June remained at 55%; In the second and second quarters, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles continued to increase by 13 percentage points year-on-year, and the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles reached 48.4% in June. Third, the lack of new product support for fuel vehicles, the promotion of fuel vehicles in June increased sharply month-on-month, and the price promotion of new energy vehicles fell due to new products and price reductions; Fourth, in June, the characteristics of the industry's destocking became increasingly obvious, and the current structural adjustment pressure was transmitted from the main engine factory to the channel side more quickly, and the dealers were not confident in continuing to operate. 5. In June, the export of passenger vehicles increased by 31% year-on-year, and the export of new energy vehicles increased by 13%, and the overseas market performance of fuel vehicles was much stronger than that of the domestic market.
In June, the retail sales of self-owned brands were 1.03 million units, up 10% year-on-year and 5% month-on-month. The domestic retail share of domestic brands was 58.5% in the month, up 9.3 percentage points year-on-year, and the cumulative share of domestic brands in 2024 was 57%, an increase of 7 percentage points year-on-year. In June, the wholesale market share of self-owned brands was 64.8%, an increase of 11.2 percentage points over the same period last year. The transformation and upgrading performance of leading traditional car companies has been excellent, and the brand share of traditional car companies such as BYD, Chery Automobile, Geely Automobile, and Changan Automobile has increased significantly.
Retail sales of mainstream joint venture brands in June totaled 480,000 units, down 27% y/y and 1% m/m. In June, the retail share of German brands was 18.6%, down 2.6 percentage points year-on-year, and the retail share of Japanese brands was 14.3%, down 3.5 percentage points year-on-year. The retail share of the U.S. brand market reached 6.3%, down 2.9 percentage points year-on-year.
Retail sales of luxury cars in June reached 250,000 units, down 17% year-on-year and up 4% month-on-month. The retail share of luxury brands in June was 14.2%, up 0.2 percentage points year-on-year, and the retail share of the traditional luxury car market was relatively stable.
2. Export:
This year's overall automobile exports continued last year's strong growth characteristics. Passenger car manufacturer statistics: Passenger car exports (including finished vehicles and CKD) in June were 378,000 units, up 28% y/y and flat month-on-month; Passenger car exports from January to June totaled 2.247 million units, reflecting a 33% y/y increase. New energy vehicles accounted for 21% of total exports in June, down 3 percentage points from the same period last year. With the recovery of South America and other markets, exports of domestic brands reached 325,000 units in June, reflecting a 31% y/y increase and a 2% m/m increase. Exports of joint ventures and luxury brands totaled 54,000 units, reflecting a 12% y/y increase and a 7% m/m increase.
3. Production:
Passenger car production in June was 2.134 million units, down 2.8% y/y and up 6.9% m/m. Passenger car production in June decreased by 80,000 units from a record high of 2.21 million units in 2022. In June, the production of luxury brands decreased by 9% year-on-year and increased by 8% month-on-month; The production of joint venture brands decreased by 29% year-on-year and increased by 4% month-on-month; The production of independent brands increased by 14% year-on-year and 8% month-on-month.
4. Wholesale:
In June, passenger car manufacturers nationwide wholesaled 2.169 million units, down 3.0% y/y and up 6.9% m/m. Passenger car wholesale failed to hit a new high in June, due to the flat month-on-month growth of overall passenger car exports and the negative month-on-month retail sales growth of joint venture automakers. In June, the wholesale of independent automakers was 1.406 million units, a year-on-year increase of 17% and a month-on-month increase of 8%. Wholesale sales by major joint ventures totaled 496,000 units, down 30% y/y and up 4% m/m. The wholesale of luxury cars was 267,000 units, down 18% year-on-year and up 5% month-on-month.
In June, the overall wholesale performance of major passenger car manufacturers was differentiated, with BYD, Chery Automobile, Geely Automobile, Changan and Volkswagen manufacturers generally stronger. In June, there were 35 passenger car manufacturers with sales of more than 10,000 units (32 in May and 30 in the same period last year), accounting for 96.4% of the overall market share, of which 3 had a year-on-year growth rate of more than 50%, 10 had a year-on-year growth rate of more than 10%, and 22 had a negative year-on-year growth. There were 26 passenger car manufacturers with a wholesale volume of more than 10,000 units, of which 7 had a month-on-month increase of more than 30%, and some independent and new forces had a strong month-on-month performance.
5. Inventory:
Due to the relatively cautious production of manufacturers in June, but the wholesale impulse, the output of manufacturers was lower than the wholesale of 35,000 units, and the domestic wholesale of manufacturers was higher than the retail sales of 24,000 units. In the first half of the year, inventories fell by 170,000 units (down 70,000 units year-on-year) and domestic channel inventories fell by 330,000 units (down 130,000 units year-on-year).
6. New energy:
Production of new energy passenger vehicles reached 933,000 units in June, up 26.6% year-on-year and 5.8% month-on-month. Production from January to June 2024 was 4.581 million units, up 28.9% year-on-year.
Wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 982,000 units in June, up 29.0% year-on-year and 9.5% month-on-month. From January to June 2024, the wholesale volume was 4.620 million units, a year-on-year increase of 30.3%.
Retail sales of new energy vehicles in June totaled 856,000 units, up 28.6% y/y and 6.4% m/m. From January to June 2024, retail sales were 4.111 million units, a year-on-year increase of 33.1%.
NEV exports in June totaled 80,000 units, reflecting a 12.3% y/y increase and a 15.2% m/m decline. Exports from January to June 2024 totaled 586,000 units, reflecting a 21.2% y/y increase.
(1) Wholesale:
The wholesale penetration rate of NEV manufacturers in June was 45.3%, an increase of 11.5 percentage points from 33.8% in June 2023. In June, the penetration rate of self-owned brand new energy vehicles was 60.7%; The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury cars was 34.4%; However, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles of mainstream joint venture brands is only 7.4%.
In June, the wholesale sales of pure electric vehicles were 559,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 5.6% and a month-on-month increase of 5.3%; In June, the overall sales volume of plug-in hybrid in the narrow sense was 308,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 73% and a month-on-month increase of 12%; In June, the wholesale of extended-range vehicles was 116,000 units, up 113% y/y and 28% m/m. In June, 57% of the new energy wholesale structure was pure electric, 31% of narrow plug-in hybrids, and 12% of range extenders, and in June 2023, 70% of pure electrics, 23% of narrow plug-in hybrids, and 7% of range extenders. In the new energy wholesale structure in 2023: 69% of pure electric, 23% of narrow plug-in hybrid, and 8% of range extender, which can effectively make up for the range anxiety of pure electric and should belong to the branch of pure electric.
In June, B-segment electric vehicle sales were 218,000 units, up 37% year-on-year and 10% month-on-month, accounting for 39% of the pure electric share. The A00+A0 economic electric vehicle market in the pure electric market fell, of which the wholesale sales of A00 were 94,000 units, an increase of 14% year-on-year and 15% month-on-month, accounting for 17% of the share of pure electric vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 1 percentage point; The wholesale sales of A0 class were 118,000 units, accounting for 21% of the pure electric share, a year-on-year decrease of 10 percentage points; 108,000 A-class electric vehicles, accounting for 19% of pure electric vehicles, down 1 percentage point year-on-year; The sales of electric vehicles at all levels are differentiated, and the trend of consumption upgrading is obvious.
Wholesale sales of passenger cars in June exceeded 20,000 units, with 17 models (15 units in the previous month), BYD Song: 70,219 units, BYD Qin: 48,350 units, Model Y: 43,951 units, Seagull: 36,066 units, Destroyer 05: 32,980 units, Sylphy: 30,337 units, Model 3: 27,056 units, BYD Yuan: 26,117 units, Li L6: 23,864 units, Tiggo 7: 23,023 units, Lavida: 22 units, 718 units, BYD Han: 21,866 units, Tiggo 8: 21,862 units, Sutar: 20,753 units, Fenglanda: 20,748 units, Xingyue: 20,541 units, Qin L: 20,100 units. Among them, new energy ranks among the top 5 in overall passenger car sales, and the main models of fuel vehicles have a difficult performance in China.
(2) Retail:
The domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in June was 48.4%, an increase of 13.5 percentage points from 34.9% in the same period last year. In June, the penetration rate of NEVs among domestic brands was 72.5%; The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury cars was 29.8%; However, the penetration rate of NEVs among major joint venture brands is only 7.4%. In terms of monthly domestic retail share, the retail share of mainstream domestic brand new energy vehicles in June was 68%, down 1 percentage point year-on-year; The share of new energy vehicles of joint venture brands was 4.1%, down 0.6 percentage points year-on-year, the share of new forces was 19.1%, the share of new forces driven by brands such as Xiaomi Auto increased by 6.3 percentage points year-on-year, and Tesla's share was 6.9%, down 4.3 percentage points year-on-year.
(3) Export:
NEV exports in June totaled 80,000 units, reflecting a 12.3% y/y increase and a 15.2% m/m decline. accounted for 21% of passenger car exports, down 3 percentage points from the same period last year; Among them, pure electric vehicles accounted for 72.6% of new energy exports, and A0+A00 pure electric exports, which are the core focus, accounted for 27% of independent new energy exports (56% in the same period last year). With the scale advantage of China's new energy vehicles and the demand for market expansion, more and more new energy product brands made in China are going abroad, and their recognition overseas continues to increase. In June, BYD exports totaled 26,995 units, Tesla China (11,746 units), SAIC Passenger Vehicle (6,718 units), Great Wall Motor (3,299 units), BMW Brilliance (3,271 units), Chery Automobile (2,826 units), Geely Automobile (2,429 units), SAIC-GM-Wuling (2,410 units), Xpeng Motors (1,840 units), Volvo Asia Pacific (1,796 units), Dongfeng Motor (1,783 units), FAW Car (1,623 units), and Smart Motor Automobile (1). , 312 units, Nezha Automobile: 1,229 units, Celis: 937 units, Changan Automobile: 889 units. Other car companies also have a certain scale of new energy exports. From the monitoring of retail data in overseas markets exported by independent brands, A0 electric vehicles accounted for nearly 50%, which is the absolute main force of independent exports, SAIC and other independent brand small electric vehicles performed strongly in Europe in the early stage, so they were subject to corresponding targeted tax measures, which also reflects that small and micro electric vehicles are the core of competition in the world's electric vehicles, and we urgently need to guide the fiscal and tax policies of electric vehicle miniaturization and encourage the development of small and micro electric vehicles, so as to make China's electric vehicles sustainable to the world. As a category of fuel vehicles corresponding to pure electric zero-carbon models, under the general trend of "oil and electricity parity" in overseas markets, plug-in hybrid models rely on the advantages of low fuel consumption and long battery life, and the performance of replacing fuel vehicles in overseas markets is becoming increasingly prominent.
(4) Car companies:
In June, the overall trend of new energy passenger car companies was strong, and BYD's pure electric and plug-in hybrid dual drive consolidated the leading position of new energy of its own brand; The performance of extended-range electric vehicles represented by Celis Automobile, Li Auto, Changan Automobile, and Leapmotor Automobile is particularly prominent. In terms of product launches, with the implementation of the "multi-line simultaneous development" strategy of independent automakers on the new energy route, the market base continued to expand, and the number of manufacturers with monthly wholesale sales of new energy exceeded 10,000 units reached 19 (an increase of 6 year-on-year and a month-on-month increase of 3), accounting for 90.4% of the total number of new energy passenger vehicles (88.8% in the previous month and 82.7% in the same period last year). BYD: 340,211 units, Tesla China: 71,007 units, Geely Automobile: 65,959 units, Changan Automobile: 53,827 units, Li Auto: 47,774 units, Celis: 43,850 units, SAIC-GM-Wuling: 42,244 units, Chery Automobile: 39,764 units, Great Wall Motor: 26,034 units, GAC Aion: 25,692 units, NIO: 21,209 units, Dongfeng Motor: 20,572 units, Leapmotor: 20,116 units, Xiaomi Auto: 14,296 units, BMW Brilliance: 12,827 units, Xpeng Motors: 12,508 units, FAW Hongqi: 11,402 units, SAIC Passenger Vehicle: 10,944 units, SAIC Volkswagen: 10,373 units.
(5) New Forces:
In June, the retail share of new forces was 19.1%, an increase of 6.3 percentage points year-on-year, and the sales volume of new forces such as Xiaomi Auto, Li Auto, Wenjie, Celis, and NIO remained generally strong. SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen have a total of 16,547 NEV wholesals, accounting for more than 43% of the mainstream joint venture BEVs. In June, SAIC-GM and FAW Toyota's new energy vehicles also gradually strengthened.
(6) General mixing:
In June, the wholesale of ordinary hybrid passenger cars was 75,600 units, a year-on-year increase of 5% and a month-on-month increase of 2%. GAC Toyota sold 33,163 units, FAW Toyota sold 21,459 units, Dongfeng Honda sold 5,905 units, Changan Ford sold 5,159 units, GAC Honda sold 4,068 units, Dongfeng Motor sold 2,080 units, Geely Automobile sold 1,422 units, Dongfeng Nissan sold 1,204 units, and GAC Passenger Vehicle sold 1,159 units.
3. Outlook for the national passenger car market in July 2024
There were 23 working days in July this year, two days more than last year's 21 working days, which was conducive to the stable trend of production and sales in July. With the structural differentiation of the growth of the auto market, the production capacity of traditional fuel vehicles of some enterprises is abundant, the destocking characteristics under the pressure of the shrinking fuel vehicle market are obvious, and the time of taking a high temperature holiday is longer, and the auto market has entered a recuperation period in July.
From 2014 to 2019, the retail sales of the auto market accounted for an average of 6.9% of the total in the year, while the retail sales of the auto market in July from 2020 to 2023 accounted for an average of 8.4% of the total total, of which a high proportion of 8.8% will be reached in 2023. With the popularization of private cars and the rapid growth of smart electric vehicles, car owners have a high enthusiasm for low-cost travel and play, and the demand for car purchases driven by the subsidy policy for scrapping and renewal of private cars continues to accelerate.
From the end of June to July, the extreme weather in the north and south of China may have a greater impact on offline customer collection, but the continuous investment of new energy vehicles in the full matrix marketing, the generation-by-generation optimization of charging efficiency and charging protection, and the extension of use scenarios in response to extreme weather have effectively alleviated and improved the convenience of new energy vehicles, which is conducive to the steady operation of new energy vehicles with high penetration rate during the peak period of electricity consumption in summer. With high enthusiasm for promoting consumption and more night market activities, car companies may tend to gather popularity by means of outdoor night exhibitions and business district gatherings. Please pay attention to the impact of the increase in commercial electricity charges during peak hours on the use of operating vehicles in some cities.
The continuous enhancement of the sharp promotion in the first half of the year disrupted the normal price trend of the auto market, and the recovery of terminal prices will take a period of time to adapt, coupled with the consumption overdraft effect of the super strong promotion efforts in the second quarter on the consumption overdraft of car buyers in the second half of the year, the effect of exchanging price for volume in July may be weakened. Combined with the results of the first half of the year, car companies will also optimize and adjust market expectations, product structure and listing rhythm, or will enter a period of accumulation.
According to the data monitoring of the Passenger Car Association, from January to May 2023, the retail sales of China's own brand vehicles exported to the local market increased by 58% year-on-year, of which the retail sales of independent vehicles exported overseas in May increased by 43% year-on-year, continuing to maintain a strong growth trend. The recent changes in the RMB exchange rate are conducive to exports, so it is judged that China's passenger car exports will still maintain strong growth in July, which will effectively alleviate the growth pressure caused by the sharp decline in domestic fuel vehicles.
1. From January to May 2024, the revenue of the automotive industry was 3.9 trillion yuan, an increase of 7%, the profit was 204.7 billion yuan, an increase of 18%, and the profit margin was 5.3%, but the automotive industry is still low
In May, with the implementation of macro portfolio policies and the continued recovery of market demand, the economic effect continued to appear. From January to May 2024, industrial enterprises above designated size achieved operating income of 53.03 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.9%; operating costs were 45.27 trillion yuan, up by 3.0 percent; The operating income margin was 5.19%, an increase of 0.02 percentage points year-on-year, and the revenue of the automotive industry from January to May 2024 was 3,896.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%; cost was RMB3,409.9 billion, up by 7%; profit was RMB204.7 billion, up 17.9% year-on-year; The profit margin of the automotive industry is 5.3%, which is still low compared to the average profit margin of 6.1% of downstream industrial enterprises. With the expansion of the production scale of the auto market, the decline of PPI, and the decline of upstream lithium carbonate costs, the overall profits of car companies have improved slightly.
From January to May 2024, the production and sales of the automotive industry are better under a low base, but due to the high pressure of competition, profits mainly rely on exports and high-end luxury, and the profits of most other companies are declining sharply, and the survival pressure of some enterprises is increasing. Since the beginning of this year, the external environment is still complex and severe, the effective domestic demand is still insufficient, and the foundation for the recovery of industrial enterprises still needs to be consolidated. As fuel vehicles still have meager profits, but sales shrink rapidly, some companies have suffered serious losses year-on-year; Although the growth of new energy vehicles is high, the loss is large, and there are huge contradictions and pressures on the survival and development of enterprises. Therefore, the central government and governments at all levels have stabilized automobile production and actively stabilized the consumption of fuel vehicles, and the overall situation of the automobile industry is stable and improving.
2. China's auto exports in May 2024 will be 568,000, an increase of 29%
In May 2024, China exported 568,000 vehicles, up 29% y/y and 2% m/m. From January to May, China's automobile exports reached 2.45 million units, up 26% year-on-year. The growth rate of China's auto exports in the first quarter slowed down compared with the ultra-high growth rate of the previous three years, and the growth rate rebounded in April and May. The main driving force this year is still due to the improvement of the competitiveness of Chinese products and the slight increase in market demand in Europe and the United States, as well as the full replacement of international brands in the Russian market by Chinese cars under the Russia-Ukraine crisis, especially the increase in exports due to the improvement of China's export competitiveness of fuel vehicles. From January to May 2024, China's automobile exports reached US$46.4 billion, with an export growth rate of 20.1%. From January to May 2024, the average export price of automobiles was US$19,000, compared with US$19,000 in 2023, which is still basically the same.
The top five countries in terms of total Chinese vehicle exports in May 2024 were Russia (103,763 units), Brazil (53,164 units), Mexico (42,192 units), Belgium (28,851 units), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (28,661 units). The top five countries in terms of vehicle exports increased in May were Brazil (48,384 units), Russia (36,543 units), the United Arab Emirates (15,882 units), the U.S. (7,544 units), and South Korea (7,314 units).
The top five countries in terms of total vehicle exports from January to May 2024 were Russia (372,542 units), Mexico (190,897 units), Brazil (159,612 units), Belgium (124,081 units), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (114,530 units). The top five countries in terms of increase in China's auto exports from January to May were Brazil (138,093 units), Russia (87,675 units), the United Arab Emirates (54,797 units), Turkey (34,352 units), and Mexico (32,892 units). The top five countries contributed 69% of the incremental value, with Brazil's exports contributing a lot. From January to May 2024, markets such as Australia, Spain, Israel, Thailand, and Ecuador will decline significantly; Both the Central Asian and Russian markets are relatively strong, and this year, the Russian export market has maintained its position as the core of the increment, and new growth drivers such as Brazil have been established.
3. China's auto imports from January to May 2024 will be 270,000, down 4%
China's imports of vehicles will continue to decline from 1.24 million units in 2017 to 800,000 units in 2023. Vehicle imports from January to May 2024 totaled 271,000 units, reflecting a 4% y/y decrease. With the rise of domestic cars and the acceleration of the localization of international brands, automobile imports have continued to be sluggish in recent years, with negative growth for three consecutive years from January to May. 63,000 vehicles were imported in May, up 7% year-on-year and 22% month-on-month, which is a historically rare increase in May.
In May 2024, Japan (20,228 units), Germany (18,869 units), the United States (9,739 units), Slovakia (4,317 units), and the United Kingdom (4,297 units), followed by Japan (4,735 units), the United States (2,231 units), the United Kingdom (1,410 units), Hungary (726 units), and Austria (248 units). From January to May 2024, major countries with the highest import volume were Japan (81,481 units), Germany (67,387 units), the United States (43,454 units), Slovakia (23,818 units), and the United Kingdom (21,050 units), with the largest increases in Japan (27,261 units), the United States (1,763 units), the Netherlands (1,079 units), Austria (711 units), and Hungary (225 units). From January to May 2024, imports declined significantly by Germany (30,059 units), Slovakia (9,887 units), India (4,356 units), and Italy (402 units).
In 2023, European exports of passenger cars over 2.5 liters to China will reach 196,000 units, up 11% y/y. The import value was 17.9 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 3%. From January to May 2024, it reached 55,500 units, down 32%, and the import value was USD 5.1 billion, down 32%, of which the import volume in May was 11,000 units, down 27%, and the import value in May was USD 1.1 billion, down 16%.