The hottest overall market is declining, but segme

The overall market is declining, but segments such as plug-in and hybrid luxury cars are still hot

Abstract: the production and sales data released by the China Automobile Association show that the production and sales of cars in August 2018 were lower than the same period last year. In particular, the market share of Chinese brand passenger cars fell by 40% again after four years. "In the first seven months, the monthly market share changes and trends of independent brands are similar to those of last year, but there was a sharp decline in August, with poor performance." Xu Haidong said. According to the data, in August, the sales of Chinese brand passenger cars totaled 684100, a year-on-year decrease of 11.06%, accounting for 38.2% of the total sales of passenger cars, a decrease of 2.8 percentage points from 41% in the same period last year, reaching the lowest point in recent four years

the wolf came and shouted for a long time. This time, the wolf really came. "Compared with previous years, the production and sales situation in August was lower than expected." On September 11, at the monthly information conference held by the China Automobile Industry Association (hereinafter referred to as "the China Automobile Association"), Xu Haidong, Assistant Secretary General of the China Automobile Association, said

the production and sales data released by the China Automobile Association showed that the production and sales of automobiles in August 2018 were lower than the same period last year. In particular, the market share of Chinese brand passenger cars fell by 40% again after four years. "In the first seven months, the monthly market share changes and trends of independent brands are similar to those of last year, but there was a sharp decline in August, with poor performance." Xu Haidong said. According to the data, in August, the sales of Chinese brand passenger cars totaled 684100, a year-on-year decrease of 11.06%, accounting for 38.2% of the total sales of passenger cars, a decrease of 2.8 percentage points from 41% in the same period last year, reaching the lowest point in recent four years

according to the inquiry data of the economic observer, from 2010 to 2014, the market share of self owned brand cars fell for four consecutive years. By the first quarter of 2014, China's self owned brand passenger cars fell below the "red line" of 40% to 38.2%. Since then, the share of self owned brand passenger cars has continued to decline. In August 2014, the market share of self owned brand passenger cars was 37.90%, which became the lowest market share of self owned brands after 2010. "This round of decline is basically the enterprises without 'underpants', which are relatively poor in quality." A senior manager of Chery Automobile told the economic observer

in September 2014, the market share of self owned brand passenger cars rebounded to 38.54% for the first time, and entered a continuous upward trend. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, the market share of Chinese brand passenger cars was 41.32%, 46.8% and 48.8% respectively. In January this year, the sales volume of Chinese brand passenger cars was 6.429 million, and the market share was still 42.32%, but it decreased by 0.83 percentage points year-on-year. "Low end cars have fallen seriously. Wuling, Chang'an micro car and Lifan are under great pressure this year, and the decline is also serious." The middle-level of an independent brand told the economic observer

chenshihua, assistant to the Secretary General of the China Automobile Association, said that for the competition of the passenger car brand matrix, the market capacity of the municipal plastic extruder will be further expanded and the process of integration will be accelerated. The 40% market share is indeed an important boundary to judge whether it is successful or not, but the reduction of the market share does not mean that the strength of independent brands has declined compared with before. "There has always been a gap between independent brands and joint venture brands in terms of strength. When the market is good, you can still take a share. When the market is depressed, the products and system capabilities of independent brands are also greatly tested, and it is inevitable that the market will fall behind."

almost all-round decline in the market

from the perspective of automobile production and sales in January, although the overall growth has remained small, the situation is still not optimistic. According to statistics, the car sales volume was 18.0961 million, with a year-on-year increase of 3.53%, and the growth rate of production and sales fell compared with the previous seven months. In August, the production and sales of a single month also fell year-on-year and month on month. The China Automobile Association said that season, weather, consumer consumption habits, market policies, manufacturer strategies, economic situation and other factors are still the main causes, and the subsequent auto market will rebound

however, the continuous downturn in the field of passenger cars has attracted attention. The sales volume of passenger cars in August was 1.7899 million, with a month on month increase of 12.60% and a year-on-year decrease of 4.55%. For two consecutive months, both production and sales fell year-on-year. In January, the sales volume of passenger cars was 15.1926 million, with a year-on-year increase of 2.60%

in terms of subdivisions, although the sales of cars, SUVs and MPVS all showed rapid growth month on month, they still fell to varying degrees compared with the same period last year, with MPV falling by 13.59% year-on-year, the most serious, and only crossover passenger cars maintained year-on-year growth. It is worth mentioning that in August, cars fell by 3.42% year-on-year, and SUVs fell by 4.68% year-on-year. Since April this year, cars have exceeded SUVs for the fifth consecutive month. SUV is also the main driving force for the rapid growth of independent brands in the past three years

Xu Haidong pointed out that the decline of SUVs, especially the decline of Chinese self owned brand SUVs, reflects the changes in automotive demand in fifth and sixth tier cities. "Self owned brand SUVs are positioned at the low end to meet the purchasing groups in fifth and sixth tier cities, and this part of the market is where the current increment of automotive sales in China lies. Therefore, the sales volume of the entire automotive market has declined." Xu Haidong said

in fact, low-end models and independent brands have felt pressure since March this year. "Wuling is under great pressure, as is Baojun brand. These low price cars have been greatly impacted." Wuling an insider said. SAIC GM Wuling sold 146000 vehicles in August, a year-on-year decrease of 5.8%. The cumulative sales volume of this year reached 1.327 million, only a slight increase compared with the same period last year. Baojun brand is currently planning to launch products of more than 100000 yuan to alleviate the current pressure in the low-cost market

in the case of the overall market downturn, the gap between car companies is also widening. In August, the top ten enterprises in terms of auto sales were SAIC, Dongfeng, FAW, BAIC, Chang'an, GAC, Geely, great wall, brilliance and Chery. Compared with the same period of the previous year, the sales volume of Chang'an fell faster, the decline of great wall and Dongfeng was slightly lower, and other enterprises showed growth, among which Geely and Chery grew faster

some market segments are hot

however, in the case of the overall market decline, the sales volume of luxury cars in the Chinese market is still considerable. Mercedes Benz (including smart brand) sold 54885 new cars in Chinese Mainland in August, an increase of 5% year-on-year. In the first eight months, the cumulative sales volume of Mercedes Benz and smart brands was 457045 units, an increase of 12% year-on-year; Among them, domestic cars account for 72%. Audi sold 57271 vehicles in August, a year-on-year increase of 6%, breaking the sales record of the same period. Among them, the sales volume of domestic models reached 51724, with a year-on-year increase of 4.5%; The sales volume of imported models further increased, with a year-on-year increase of 23%. BMW was impacted by the tariff adjustment of imported cars from the United States, and its performance was slightly weaker than the above two, but the growth in the first eight months was also obvious

in the second camp of luxury cars, affected by the reduction of import tariff policy, Lexus' sales increased by 37.5% year-on-year in July and 17675 vehicles in August, with a year-on-year increase of 59.2%; Cadillac sold 16000 vehicles in August, with a year-on-year increase of 1.9%. At present, the cumulative monthly sales reached 143000 vehicles, with a year-on-year increase of 31.4%; In August, Volvo's sales volume in China reached 11385 vehicles, with a year-on-year increase of 18.4%, and the monthly cumulative sales volume also reached 82987 vehicles, with a year-on-year increase of 17.2%. "Although the growth rate of luxury cars has declined, the growth is still relatively fast, but the preferences of market terminals are also expanding." An insider of a luxury brand company told the economic observer. Take Volvo as an example, many of its models are kept at about 7.5% discount, and many models have huge discounts of up to 100000 yuan

the field of new energy vehicles also continued to maintain a rapid growth trend. In August, the sales volume of new energy vehicles exceeded 100000, with a year-on-year increase of 49.5%. Among them, the sales volume of new energy passenger vehicles was 88000, with a year-on-year increase of 52.2%, and the sales volume of commercial vehicles was 11000, with a year-on-year decrease of 17.6%. As of August, 607000 and 601000 new energy vehicles have been produced and sold this year, an increase of 75.4% and 88% respectively over the same period last year. The China Automobile Association predicts that the number of new energy vehicles will exceed one million this year. However, this scale still accounts for a small proportion of passenger cars

as a bright spot, plug-in hybrid vehicles have seen sustained and rapid growth in the new energy vehicle market. In August, the production and sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles were 27000 and 28000 respectively, an increase of 102.3% and 130.8% over the same period last year, while the production and sales growth of pure electric vehicles were 24.2% and 31.7% respectively

"in the future, new energy and fuel vehicles will be more integrated", said Shi Jian, Deputy Secretary General of the China Automobile Association, such as Jihua, a smaller power tensile test machine. In his view, fuel vehicles will still be the main sales force in the automotive market in the next decade. However, traditional fuel vehicles will gradually increase electrification, intelligence, connectivity and other factors. Due to the increasing proportion of electrification penetration, the boundary between fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles will become more blurred in the future. In particular, once the subsidy is cancelled, enterprises will have more choices about what new energy products to develop in the future

although the growth rate of China's auto sales is in a certain decline, the China Automobile Association said that the overall development performance of China's auto industry is still in line with the 3% growth target set at the beginning of 2018. Previously, a senior executive of Japanese luxury brands told the economic observer that the current market is cold, but it is expected that the market will gradually recover in 2019. "The resilience of China's economy is relatively large. The market has good and bad, and the good time is longer than the bad time, which has been verified in the previous two decades."

however, according to Zhou Yi, an assistant researcher of the Industrial Economic Research Department of the development research center of the State Council, the Chinese market has begun to recover in August. In an interview with the media, he said that the automobile production and sales rate in August was as high as 105.2%. Firstly, due to the high inventory rate in previous months, the production arrangement was further reduced, and secondly, due to seasonal reasons, the sales began to improve. Subsequently, China's auto sales will continue to improve