March car market sales slightly increased by 3.0%

On April 4, the Passenger Vehicle Market Information Joint Committee (hereinafter referred to as the "Passenger Car Association") released data showing that the retail sales of the passenger car market in March this year increased only slightly by 10.3% year-on-year. The passenger car association said more bluntly: "The month-on-month growth rate of retail sales in the passenger car market in March this year reached the weakest level in this century. In fact, the "priceless market" of the March car market is not unrelated to the chaotic car prices. The passenger association said: "The car market in March this year was a 'promotion tide', not a 'price reduction tide'. The consequence of excessive promotional publicity is a low level of buying confidence. ”

The weakest month-on-month growth rate in 23 years

According to the data, passenger car production in March this year was 3.207 million units, a year-on-year increase of 9.13% and a month-on-month increase of 8.24%. Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the Passenger Association, said: "The impact of the epidemic lockdown on the industrial chain has been completely eliminated, and the production of car companies has gradually returned to a normal rhythm. ”

However, production has returned to normal, and the retail sales situation in the car market is not optimistic. Data show that the retail sales of passenger cars in the first quarter of this year were 426.1 million units, down 13.4% year-on-year. Among them, retail sales of passenger cars in March were 3.158 million units, up 7.0% y/y and 3.14% m/m. The passenger association revealed that although retail sales in March showed double-digit month-on-month growth, it was the weakest month-on-month growth rate in March this century. "Under the dual factors of sluggish market consumption and chaotic market prices, consumers' wait-and-see mood has intensified, affecting car market sales." The passenger association explained.

The price chaos mentioned by the passenger association stems from the price war that began in the car market in March this year. In early March, Hubei Province launched a new round of government and enterprise subsidies for car purchases, subsidizing tens of thousands of yuan for Dongfeng Motor's main models of multiple brands such as Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng Citroen, Dongfeng Peugeot, Dongfeng Nissan, and Dongfeng Honda. Multi-brand and large-scale subsidies have allowed Wuhan's "Dongfeng" 3S stores to flood into a large number of consumers who order cars. Subsequently, many car companies issued promotional policies, according to incomplete statistics, as of March 3, at least 4 car companies officially announced promotional preferential policies.

However, for this round of price war, the passenger association believes that it is a "promotion" rather than a "price reduction". The passenger association said that although there was a large number of promotional information of car companies in the car market in March and the publicity was strong, there was actually no official price reduction action. Cui Dongshu believes: "These are mainly the promotion boom of limited time, limited region and limited models, and the core factor of promotion is the promotional clearance of old models of China VI. Due to the large-scale wait-and-see brought about by local strong promotion, some manufacturers have to carry out more vigorous promotion to resolve price concerns and achieve continuous sales. ”

At the same time, the data shows that in the first quarter of this year, there were 25 price reduction models and 94 price increase models, and they were basically concentrated in January. "This year's price war is just a large-scale promotion and excessive publicity, and the consequence is that it leads to low purchase confidence and low sales in the car market." The passenger association believes that the main factor affecting car companies is the cost sharing caused by the scale of sales, and the sales volume does not meet expectations, resulting in a sharp deterioration of the scale efficiency of the company.

Joint venture brands are under pressure

Overall sales increased slightly, and joint venture brands faced considerable pressure.

Data show that the retail sales of mainstream joint venture brands in March this year were 3,54 units, down 9% year-on-year; Own-brand retail sales were 77,2 units, up 27% y/y. Retail sales of luxury cars were 17,<> units, up <>% year-on-year, with only joint venture brands among the three major brand segments in the auto market declining.

At the same time, in the ranking of high-sales models, joint venture brand models are gradually declining. According to the data, there were 3 models with wholesale sales of passenger cars exceeding 2,12 units in March this year. Among them, the top five are Tesla Model Y, BYD Qin, BYD Song, BYD Yuan and MG ZS, and it was not until the sixth place that Dongfeng Nissan Xuanyi appeared, while Guangqi Honda Accord, SAIC Volkswagen Passat and GAC Toyota Camry ranked tenth to twelfth respectively.

Not only has sales been overtaken by a number of new energy models, but also from the perspective of models, the high-sales models of joint venture brands are still concentrated in the old hot-selling models, which means that the "new faces" launched by joint venture brands in recent years have not "been able to fight". An insider of an automobile company believes that in the past two years, independent brands have seized the sales share of joint venture brands by improving product performance and price advantages, while luxury brands have also begun to explore the price to seek increments, resulting in the sales space of joint venture brand car companies being squeezed.

In fact, the pressure on Sino-Japanese brands of joint venture brands is more obvious. Data show that in March this year, the retail share of Japanese brands was 3%, down 16.4 percentage points year-on-year. Compared with Japanese brands, the retail share of German and American brands increased year-on-year. From the perspective of brands, Honda's sales in China in March this year were 4,3 units, down 8.2% year-on-year; Toyota's sales in China were 18,8 units, down 13.64% y/y. Nissan's sales in China (including passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, and imported vehicles) were only 18,5 units, down 5.44% y/y.

Industry insiders believe that the sales of joint venture brands, especially Japanese brands, are sluggish, on the one hand, due to the fierce competition environment in the market, resulting in further squeeze of living space; On the other hand, it is related to the failure of joint venture brands to seize the market opportunities of new energy vehicles. According to the data, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles among joint venture brands in March this year was only 3.5%, and the market share was only 3.5%.

"New energy + export" two doses of strong shots

Despite the pressure, "new energy" and "export" have become stabilizers in the car market.

Among them, new energy vehicles still maintain a good growth momentum. Data show that in the first quarter of this year, the domestic retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 131.3 million units, a year-on-year increase of 22.4%. Among them, domestic retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in March reached 3,54 units, up 3.21% y/y and 9.23% m/m. As sales rise, the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles has also further increased. Data show that the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles reached 6.3% in March this year, a year-on-year increase of 34 percentage points.

It is worth mentioning that independent brands are still the support point for the high sales of new energy vehicles. According to the data, a total of 3 car companies exceeded 11,80 units of new energy vehicles in March this year, accounting for 7.10% of the total number of new energy passenger vehicles, of which 54 were their own brands. At the same time, the retail penetration rate of own-brand new energy vehicles was 7.<>%, far exceeding the broader market.

For the performance of the car market in April this year, the passenger association is still full of confidence. The passenger association believes that "April this year is the starting point of the second quarter, and the market environment is better to help the production and sales of car companies." At the same time, the promotion tide of the car market in March has gradually cooled down after the market gradually recognized that it was a small increase in conventional promotion policies. Driven by the national consumption promotion and the corresponding consumption promotion policies of many provinces and cities, as well as offline activities such as auto shows, the market atmosphere will be fully enlivened and the popularity will be accelerated. (Beijing Business Daily)