The automobile industry is a pillar industry of the national economy and one of the important areas to stimulate domestic demand and expand consumption. With the arrival of the peak consumption season at the end of the year, many places have intensively introduced multiple rounds of car purchase subsidy policies to fully promote automobile consumption, which has played an important supporting role in boosting consumer confidence, stimulating industrial development, and stabilizing the upward trend of consumption.

Subsidy policies have been intensively introduced

Since November 11, Nanjing has launched the second round of automobile consumption subsidies this year, and consumers can enjoy the corresponding amount of consumption subsidies for the purchase of eligible cars.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, this round of subsidy new policies presents three characteristics: municipal-level and district-level preferential treatment, government-enterprise linkage, and clear and easy-to-understand policy settings.

In order to further stimulate and expand automobile consumption, from November 11, Longgang District, Shenzhen launched a new round (fifth round) of car purchase subsidy measures, with a total subsidy of 17 million yuan, valid until December 5000 this year.

Chen Jiawei, chief of the circulation and consumption promotion section of the Luohu District Bureau of Commerce of Shenzhen, introduced that Luohu launched a new round of car purchase subsidies on November 11, issuing 13 million yuan of car purchase subsidies, and joined hands with automobile and gold jewelry enterprises in the jurisdiction to launch the "buy a car and send jewelry" activity, forming a two-way superposition effect of cross-border linkage.

On November 11, the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued the "Several Measures on the Recovery and Expansion of Consumption", proposing to further expand the consumption of new energy vehicles, accelerate the process of comprehensive electrification in the public sector, and increase the promotion and use of new energy vehicles in the public sector such as official business, public transportation, and taxis to promote consumption.

Consumption potential is being released at an accelerated pace

Active and effective consumption promotion activities are an important support for enhancing consumption willingness and stimulating the potential of domestic demand. In June this year, the first round of automobile consumption subsidies issued by Nanjing drove car sales of more than 6,1 units, of which new energy vehicle sales accounted for about 3%, directly driving car market sales of nearly 40.26 billion yuan.

As soon as the automobile consumption subsidy policy came out, Xin Fei, the sales manager of the Tangshan store of Nanjing Xieao Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd., began to get busy, "In the past few days, in terms of sales, the average daily sales volume of the store on weekdays has increased by 20% compared with before, and the increase on weekends is even greater."

Shenzhen uses the combination of "International Auto Show + Subsidy Policy" to amplify momentum and release potential. At the 2023 (18839th) Shenzhen International Automobile Exhibition (Car Carnival) and Intelligent Connected and Future Mobility Automobile Expo, a total of 57,10 vehicles were booked and traded, with a total turnover of more than 8563.09 billion yuan. The heating up of automobile consumption has provided a boost to the recovery of Shenzhen's consumer market. According to the data, in the first 7 months of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Shenzhen reached 3.<> billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of <>.<>%.

"Since the beginning of this year, major car companies have launched a lot of discount promotions in Sichuan, and the role of stimulating consumption is very obvious." Tang Jiqiang, director and chief research scientist of the Xicai Think Tank of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, said. In the first three quarters, Sichuan's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 18940,6.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%, and the growth rate was 4.67 percentage points higher than that of the whole country. Among them, the retail sales of new energy vehicles increased by 2.<>% year-on-year.

Adapt to future industry trends

"The recovery of the automobile market is an important part of the recovery of the entire economy. At present, it is the peak season of automobile sales at the end of the year, and the government departments have come up with favorable policies to stimulate the auto market, which will surely stimulate consumers' desire and enthusiasm to buy cars in the short term, and drive the growth of automobile sales. Xu Shigang, secretary general of Jiangsu Automobile Dealers Association, said.

In Xu Shigang's view, as a bulk consumer goods, the sales of automobiles are still under great pressure, and the long-term economic recovery requires comprehensive industrial revitalization, which requires both short-term effects and maintenance of stable and sustainable market order when formulating policies, and at the same time consider how to guide the adjustment of industrial structure through policies to adapt to future development trends.

It is worth mentioning that in the Shenzhen consumer market, new energy vehicles have become the main consumer goods. How to resolve "charging anxiety" is the key to driving the consumption of new energy vehicles. Shenzhen issued on September 9 "on a number of measures to promote consumption" proposed to increase the promotion of new energy vehicles, accelerate the construction of a "supercharging city", support the development of new energy vehicles battery swap mode pilot, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of electric bicycle charging facilities. At present, 15 supercharging stations have been built in Shenzhen.

From the perspective of promoting the construction of supporting facilities, Sichuan proposes to implement the "endurance project" of green travel, compile a special plan for charging infrastructure in Sichuan Province, incorporate the construction of charging infrastructure into the transformation and upgrading of old urban communities, and build 100% of the fixed parking spaces in new residential communities to build charging infrastructure or reserve installation conditions, and encourage the development of charging facilities in residential communities.

Jiang Bo, Yang Yangteng, Liu Chang (Source: Economic Daily)