Beijing News (Reporter Pei Jianfei) As the growth rate of new cases of pneumonia in various places has slowed down, some auto manufacturers and dealers have resumed production and resumed work. From the state to the local level, a series of policies have been intensified to try to stimulate car consumption.
On March 4, Hu Weilin, director of the Hunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said that localities are encouraged to support car-free families in purchasing the first new home energy vehicles, and "cars going to the countryside" promotion activities will be launched. Guangzhou will also promulgate policies to support the development of the auto industry in terms of encouraging new car production and consumption, increasing the number of small and medium passenger car indicators, and stimulating car consumption.
Auto consumption set back in epidemic situation
"It's finally open. Now our store will do a good job of disinfection every day. Everyone is welcome to come and see the car." A few days ago, Xiao Cao, a salesman at a Beijing joint venture automobile brand 4s shop, just signed the first job after resuming work. Orders, excitedly sent a circle of friends.
Under the influence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, automobile consumption has suffered a setback. Although many brands have introduced measures such as online car watching and VR car watching, car buyers are still few. According to the recent sales of major car companies, in February this year, compared with the same period last year, the decline was huge. A well-known local auto company sold 47,300 vehicles in February this year, a year-on-year decrease of 86.95%. The life of a multinational car company is also difficult. A well-known Japanese joint venture auto company sold only 11,288 vehicles in February this year, a 85.12% drop compared with the same period.
The statistics of the key groups released by the China Automobile Association previously showed that the production and sales of automobiles in January were 1.783 million and 1.941 million, respectively, down 33.5% and 27.0% from the previous month, and down 24.6% and 18.0% year-on-year.
"Compared with previous years, the auto market is picking up slowly in February this year, but in March, as the companies resume work, the backlog of purchasing power can be released to a certain extent." Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Association, believes that Looking at the situation throughout 2020, the later stage of recovery depends on the overall economic recovery. Therefore, Cui Dongshu suggested that the government authorities should introduce more tax and fee reduction measures to stabilize consumer confidence and enhance purchasing power, such as the introduction of policies such as halving the purchase tax, going to the countryside with electric vehicles, and releasing licenses.
The reporter noticed that in recent times, stabilizing the market, stabilizing consumption, and appropriately increasing quotas in restricted-purchase areas have become hot words in the field of automobile consumption. The fourth issue of Qiushi published on February 16 published an important article by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. The article proposed that we should actively stabilize traditional large-scale consumption such as automobiles, and encourage areas where automobile purchase restrictions are appropriate to increase the number of vehicle license plate quotas and drive automobiles. And related product consumption.
Four days later, the Ministry of Commerce stated that in order to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on automobile consumption, all regions will be encouraged to introduce measures to promote new energy vehicle consumption, increase traditional car purchase restrictions, and carry out trade-in-for-new measures to promote automobile consumption in accordance with changes in the situation.
On February 25, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guidelines on Orderly Promoting the Resumption of Production and Resumption of Production of Industrial Communications Enterprises", which explicitly stated that it is necessary to actively stabilize traditional bulk consumption such as automobiles, and encourage areas where automobile purchase restrictions are appropriate to increase the number of automobile license plates. To drive consumption of automobiles and related products.
Guangzhou will increase car purchase targets, Hunan will organize "cars to the countryside" promotion
In the past half month, many provincial and municipal governments have been actively looking for ways to stimulate automobile consumption.
As the largest automobile production and sales province in China, after the signal was released at the national level, Guangdong Province took the lead in responding to the steady promotion of automobile consumption. In mid-February, the Guangdong Provincial Government issued "Several Policies and Measures for Further Stabilizing and Promoting Employment in Guangdong Province", encouraging Guangzhou and Shenzhen to further relax car number and bidding quotas. Guangzhou issued a policy to speed up the implementation of the quota increase of 100,000 small and medium-sized passenger cars as specified in June 2019 in response to the needs of citizens to commute by car during the epidemic, and research and launch additional indicators as appropriate.
In June 2019, Guangzhou announced the addition of 100,000 incremental indicators for small and medium passenger cars, and Shenzhen added 80,000 incremental indicators for ordinary cars. The reporter noticed that this is the second time since last year that Guangzhou and Shenzhen have relaxed their car number and bidding quotas. Judging from the transaction last year, the bidding prices of license plates in both places also dropped by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, which stimulated automobile consumer demand from the cost of car purchases.
In addition, Guangzhou will also introduce "Several Measures to Promote the Production and Consumption of the Automobile Industry in Guangzhou City" to support the sustainable and healthy development of the automobile industry in terms of encouraging new car production and consumption, increasing the number of small and medium-sized passenger cars, and stimulating automobile consumption.
In addition to relaxing restrictions on purchases, there are also provinces that provide subsidies to consumers. In February this year, Foshan took the lead in issuing the “Notice of the Foshan Municipal People's Government Office on Printing and Distributing Several Measures to Promote the Consumption Upgrade of the Auto Market in Foshan”. Funding subsidies ranging from RMB 5,000.
On March 4, Hu Weilin, director of the Hunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, revealed at a press conference that he encouraged all car-free families to support the purchase of the first home new energy vehicle. At the same time, car companies and dealers are encouraged to organize “automobile to the countryside” promotion activities in the province to accelerate the prosperity of the used car market.
Experts: Balance the relationship between stimulating car consumption and alleviating traffic congestion
"This time we did not win the lottery, but it is better to switch to a new energy vehicle. If it doesn't work, I will rent a license." Mr. Citizen Wang and his wife have not won the lottery for 5 consecutive years.
In the context of promoting automobile consumption, there are also voices that whether some regions should take this opportunity to gradually liberalize purchase restrictions, especially in the field of new energy vehicles.
"Removing purchase restrictions is not easy." An expert in the field of urban transportation in a university in Beijing told reporters that alleviating traffic congestion and promoting automobile consumption are under the jurisdiction of different departments. The focus of the two policies is inconsistent. Motor vehicle purchase restrictions.
The reporter noticed that since 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission and other ministries and commissions issued four documents calling for “reduction of car purchase restrictions”, which clearly stipulated that provinces and cities that have not implemented car purchase restrictions are not allowed to introduce new policies. Time is lifted. However, only Guiyang City canceled the purchase restriction policy on September 12. Among the other 8 provinces and cities with purchase restrictions, except Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which adopted fine-tuning measures to increase the number of lotteries, the rest of the region maintained the original policy.
Cui Dongshu believes that the original intention of car purchase restriction is to manage urban traffic congestion, but the root of easing congestion is to restrict use. Therefore, the relationship between stimulating automobile consumption and alleviating traffic congestion must be balanced. "With the continuous improvement of automobile intelligence, local management departments can use big data and more refined management methods to increase the reasonable car capacity value in cities and promote the release of automobile consumption potential." Cui Dongshu said.
Beijing News reporter Pei Jianfei