The show cars are sold out! Pick up the car to wait for half a year, there are brands with a price increase of 50,000, this year's car market still has "golden nine silver ten"?

"Golden Nine Silver Ten" is the traditional peak season for automobile consumption, but this year, affected by the shortage of chips, the car market discount "slammed on the brakes".

Recently, a reporter from China Securities News visited a number of auto brand 4S stores in Beijing and found that car companies did not use the traditional sales season of "Golden Nine Silver Ten" to promote this year, and the preferential treatment of each model was seriously reduced. 4S stores also have almost no promotional signs and advertisements, although there are more people watching cars, but the current car is in short supply, and some best-selling models are "difficult to find a car".

"Golden Nine Silver Ten" is not optimistic

Mr. Liu of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, recently dialed the salesperson's phone and asked if he could pick up the car with a glimmer of hope. "The tank 300 was ordered in early July, and because of the lack of core, there will be no car until November." Mr. Liu felt helpless.

China Securities News reporter learned in a Beijing WEY brand 4S store that during the "Golden Nine Silver Ten" period, the price of Great Wall Motors' tank 300 was not preferential, and it took a long time to pick up the car. "Now tank 300 to pick up the car will have to wait at least half a year or so." A sales manager at the store said.

The luxury car market, which used to be booming, has also been affected, with sales of luxury brand cars including Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW declining. According to the China Automobile Association, luxury cars produced in China in August were affected by the shortage of chips, and sales of 245,000 units were completed, down 13.9% year-on-year.

China Securities News reporter learned that at present, mercedes-benz, Audi, BMW and other popular brands of best-selling models need to wait. In recent years, the terminal prices of Mercedes-Benz and BMW have been relatively stable, the price fluctuations are small, and the preferential strength of Audi has shrunk significantly, and it takes longer to pick up the car.

"This year's 'Golden Nine Silver Ten' discount is smaller than in previous years. There are fewer cars and less preferential treatment. A4L is now discounted by 30,000 yuan, and the previous discount is 50,000 yuan; A6L is now discounted by 20,000 yuan, and the previous discount has reached 70,000 yuan. The sales staff of a FAW-Volkswagen Audi 4S store in Yizhuang, Beijing, told the China Securities News reporter.

The above-mentioned sales staff said that due to the shortage of chips, the supply of domestic cars and imported cars is very tight. "Now is not a good time to buy a car, if you are not in a hurry, you can wait until December after the capacity is alleviated."

SAIC Volkswagen, a joint venture brand owned by Volkswagen, was also not spared. The sales manager of a SAIC Volkswagen 4S store in Beijing said that in the absence of cores, manufacturers give priority to ensuring the supply of large vehicles. Langyi, polo, Santana have basically stopped production, Langyi 1.5T version of the discount shrank by about 5,000 yuan, Tiguan L's discount from the original about 30,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan.

An executive of an independent brand car company said that in previous years, "Golden Nine Silver Ten" is the traditional peak season for passenger car sales, since this year, although the demand for the car market exists, there are no cars to sell in the market, and this year's "Golden Nine Silver Ten" is expected to be deserted compared with previous years. The impact of chip shortages on automobile production will continue, and the generally "firm" prices will continue for some time.

Priority is given to ensuring the production of new energy vehicles

In the face of the "Golden Nine Silver Ten", the new energy vehicle companies that adopt the direct sales model maintain a unified terminal price, and use the APP to place orders and queue up for delivery. Although the current delivery cycle has not changed significantly, it still suffers from the lack of cores.

"The exhibition cars in the exhibition hall are almost sold out, and they can only put up models." On September 29, Ma Lin, public relations director of Weilai Automobile, sighed in the circle of friends.

Ideal cars are also affected. On September 20, Ideal Auto announced that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Malaysia, the special chips used by Ideal Auto millimeter wave radar suppliers have been seriously reduced. As the chip's supply recovery falls short of expectations, the company expects its vehicle deliveries in the third quarter of 2021 to be approximately 24,500 units, slightly lower than previously expected deliveries of 25,000 to 26,000 units.

BYD's DM-i model, a leading new energy vehicle company, needs to wait at least three months, and there are also no benefits. BYD's relevant staff told China Securities News that some of BYD's fuel models have been discontinued. Now the chip is given priority to supplying new energy vehicles, and the cars are expensive to sell and the profits are higher.

Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Association, said that in the context of chip shortage, car companies will give priority to ensuring the production and layout of new energy vehicles while making every effort to ensure supply and production. This is not only due to market demand, but also the pressure of "double integral" assessment.

Chen Shihua judged that the domestic new energy vehicle market will continue its explosive growth trend in 2021, and it is expected to reach production and sales of 2.5 million vehicles.

Multiple measures should be taken to strengthen the docking of supply and demand

Affected by the shortage of automotive chips and other factors, the production and sales of China's automobile market have declined for four consecutive months. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's automobile production and sales reached 1.725 million units and 1.799 million units in August, down 18.7% and 17.8% year-on-year, respectively.

Caucus previously predicted that the total sales of automobiles in 2021 will be about 27 million units, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year. From the current situation, Chen Shihua believes that the negative year-on-year growth in automobile sales in the third and fourth quarters is a high probability event, but the cumulative sales volume of the whole year will be higher than last year.

A number of independent brand car companies said that they should strive to achieve self-reliance and self-reliance in the automotive industry chain and supply chain. SAIC-GM-Wuling recently announced that it will soon launch the "Wuling Chip", and the company strives to achieve a localization rate of more than 90% of GSEV (Global Small Electric Vehicle Architecture) platform model chips during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. BYD announced in May that it intends to spin off its holding subsidiary, BYD Semiconductor, to be listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. BYD said that in the future, BYD Semiconductor will take the automotive semiconductor business as the core and is committed to becoming an efficient, intelligent and integrated new semiconductor supplier.

For how to solve the problem of chip shortage, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, said that it is necessary to coordinate the industrial chain, reasonably control the chip inventory, combine near and far, and take multiple measures to strengthen the docking of supply and demand, and promote the stable and healthy development of China's automobile industry.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Wanquan Text Editor: Cheng Pei Title Image Source: Figureworm Creative Photo Editor: Yong Kai

Source: Author: China Securities News Cui Xiaosu