The development momentum of new energy vehicles has not diminished

[Abstract] Recently, the domestic new crown pneumonia epidemic has spread in many places, and the production and market sales of automobile enterprises have been affected to a certain extent. On May 11, data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that in the first four months of this year, automobile production and sales completed 7.69 million and 7.691 million vehicles respectively, down 10.5% and 12.1% year-on-year, respectively, ending the growth trend in the first quarter.

  

      Recently, the domestic new crown pneumonia epidemic has spread in many places, and the production and market sales of automobile enterprises have been affected to a certain extent. On May 11, data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that in the first four months of this year, automobile production and sales completed 7.69 million and 7.691 million respectively, down 10.5% and 12.1% year-on-year, respectively, ending the growth trend in the first quarter.
  Regarding the “cold spring” encountered by the auto market, Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the launching ceremony of the national tour of the “Seeing Chinese Automobiles” brand tour that my country’s auto industry has strong resilience, large market space and deep gradients. With the effectiveness of epidemic prevention and control, the loss of production and sales in the second quarter is expected to be made up in the second half of the year, and stable development is expected throughout the year.

  Production and sales have dropped significantly

  Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in April, China’s automobile production and sales were 1.205 million and 1.181 million, down 46.2% and 47.1% month-on-month, and down 46.1% and 47.6% year-on-year.

  ”Auto sales in April fell below 1.2 million units, a new monthly low for the same period in the past 10 years.” Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Association, said that the production and sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles in April showed a significant drop in both month-on-month and year-on-year.

  Regarding the reasons for the decline in sales, Chen Shihua analyzed that in April, the domestic epidemic situation showed a trend of multiple distribution, and the industrial chain and supply chain of the automobile industry experienced severe tests. Some enterprises stopped work and production, affecting logistics and transportation, and declining production and supply capacity. At the same time, due to the impact of the epidemic, the willingness to consume has declined.

  The latest survey of the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference shows that due to the impact of the epidemic, there is a shortage of imported parts and components, and domestic parts and components system suppliers involved in the Yangtze River Delta region cannot supply in time, and some even completely stop work and operations. The transportation time is uncontrollable, and the problem of poor production is prominent. In April, the output of the five major automakers in Shanghai fell by 75% month-on-month, the output of major joint venture automakers in Changchun decreased by 54%, and the overall output in other regions decreased by 38%.

  Relevant staff of a new energy automobile company revealed to reporters that due to the shortage of some parts and components, the company’s product delivery time was prolonged. “The normal delivery time is about 8 weeks, but now it will take longer. At the same time, due to the large number of orders for some models, the delivery time will also be extended.”

  In this context, the April sales data released by most car companies are not optimistic. SAIC Group, GAC Group, Changan Automobile, Great Wall Motor and other auto companies experienced double-digit sales declines year-on-year and month-on-month in April, and more than 10 car companies saw sales drop month-on-month. (NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto) The decline in sales in April was also notable.

  Dealers are also under enormous pressure. According to the data from the Passenger Car Association, the growth rate of domestic passenger car retail sales in April was at the lowest level in the history of the month. From January to April, the cumulative retail sales were 5.957 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 11.9% and a year-on-year decrease of 800,000 units. Only in April Monthly sales fell by 570,000 units year-on-year.

  Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Passenger Federation, said: “In April, customers from dealers in Jilin, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangdong, Hebei and other places were affected.”

  New energy vehicles are still the bright spot

  . It was also affected by the epidemic, but it was still higher than the level of the same period last year, and the overall performance was better.

  Data show that in April this year, the domestic production and sales of new energy vehicles were 312,000 and 299,000, down 33% and 38.3% month-on-month, and up 43.9% and 44.6% year-on-year. Among them, the retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles in April was 27.1%, an increase of 17.3 percentage points year-on-year. Among the main varieties of new energy vehicles, compared with the same period of the previous year, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles continued to maintain a rapid growth momentum.

  ”The performance of new energy vehicles is relatively good, continuing the steady growth trend year-on-year, and the market share still maintains a high level.” Chen Shihua analyzed that the reason why the sales of new energy vehicles can continue to maintain year-on-year growth is on the one hand due to strong consumer demand, on the other hand On the one hand, it is also because the company actively maintains production. Under the overall pressure, most car companies choose to focus on the production of new energy vehicles to ensure stable sales.

  On April 3, BYD Auto announced that it will stop the production of fuel vehicles from March this year. Driven by the surge in orders and active production maintenance, BYD’s new energy vehicle sales in April achieved both year-on-year and month-on-month growth, completing about 106,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 134.3%. This enables BYD to surpass FAW-Volkswagen and take the top spot in the April narrow-sense passenger car retail sales manufacturer ranking released by the China Passenger Car Association.

  Cui Dongshu said that the new energy vehicle market has sufficient orders, but in April the shortage of new energy vehicles intensified, resulting in serious delays in undelivered orders. He estimates that orders for new energy vehicles that have not yet been delivered are between 600,000 and 800,000.

  It is worth mentioning that the performance of Chinese brand passenger cars in April was also a bright spot in the market. Data show that in April this year, Chinese brand passenger car sales were 551,000 units, down 39.1% month-on-month and 23.3% year-on-year. Although the sales volume decreased month-on-month and year-on-year, its market share has increased significantly. The current market share was 57%, an increase of 8.5 percentage points from the previous month and an increase of 14.9 percentage points from the same period of the previous year.

  Guaranteeing Supply and Promoting Consumption

  Recently, key enterprises in Shanghai, Changchun and other places have resumed work and production one after another, and most auto companies and parts companies are also stepping up to remedy the capacity gap. However, under multiple pressures such as demand contraction, supply shock, and weakening expectations, the task of stabilizing the growth of the auto industry is still relatively arduous.

  Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president of the China Automobile Association, pointed out: “At present, the key to stable growth is to unblock the automobile supply chain and logistics transportation, and to speed up the activation of the consumer market.”

  Cui Dongshu said that in the first four months of this year, the domestic passenger car retail market in China The loss of sales is relatively large, and stimulating consumption is the key to recovering the loss. The current automobile consumption environment is under great pressure. According to the statistics of the China Automobile Dealers Association, some dealers are facing huge operating pressure, and some consumers have shown a trend of consumption contraction.

  Regarding the situation of “supply and demand falling” faced by the dealer group, Lang Xuehong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that the most urgent thing at present is to coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development to ensure that consumers can buy cars in stores normally. Secondly, the wait-and-see psychology of consumers after the epidemic and the current rising raw material problem will affect the growth of automobile consumption to a certain extent. Therefore, a series of measures to promote consumption are essential to further tap consumer demand.

  Recently, from the central to local governments, measures to stimulate automobile consumption have been introduced intensively. Chen Shihua said that the CPC Central Committee and the State Council launched policies to stabilize growth and promote consumption in a timely manner, and the competent departments and local governments conscientiously implemented the decisions of the CPC Central Committee, actively acted and coordinated actions. He believes that auto companies overcame the impact of the epidemic, accelerated the resumption of work and production, and at the same time launched a large number of new models, which further activated the market. Judging from the current situation, the development situation of the automobile industry is gradually improving. Enterprises are striving to seize the key window periods in May and June to make up for the loss of production and sales. It is expected that the automobile industry is expected to maintain stable development throughout the year.

(Editor in charge: Zhu Xiaoli)

Post time: May-16-2022