Yangcheng Evening News All media reporter Pan Liang intern Zhao Qiting
On May 11, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released the production and sales of the automobile industry in April. In April this year, the production and sales of automobiles were 2.406 million and 2.359 million, up 12.8% and 9.3% year on year respectively. In April, China's automobile export volume was 504000, up 34% year on year. On this basis, China's automobile export reached 1.827 million in the first four months, up 33.4% year on year. This growth is mainly due to the improvement of the performance price ratio of fuel vehicles, the surge in exports of new energy vehicles, and the huge contribution of the Russian and European markets.
The export of new energy vehicles continued to grow
According to the data of China Automobile Association, from January to April, 1.827 million cars were exported, up 33.4% year on year. In April, 504000 cars were exported, up 0.4% month on month and 34% year on year. Among them, 390000 traditional fuel vehicles were exported in April, up 3.3% month on month and 41.6% year on year; 114000 new energy vehicles were exported, up 13.3% year on year. From January to April, 1.407 million traditional fuel vehicles were exported, up 37.7% year on year; 421000 new energy vehicles were exported, up 20.8% year on year. Traditional fuel vehicles still dominate the export market.
Despite the challenges of fierce market competition and unstable global supply chain, China's automobile market, especially new energy vehicles, still shows a steady and vigorous development trend. From January to April, 337000 pure electric vehicles were exported, up 4.5% year on year; The export of plug-in vehicles was 83000, up 2.3 times year on year. In April, 89000 pure electric vehicles were exported, down 2.4% year on year; The export of plug-in hybrid vehicles was 25000, up 0.8% month on month and 1.7 times year on year. The export of plug-in hybrid vehicles grew rapidly.
The China Automobile Association said that in April, with the overall expansion of China's economic prosperity, the three indexes continued to remain in the expansion range, manufacturing enterprises continued to accelerate production, market demand continued to recover, and enterprises' confidence in recent market development was generally stable. The export of China's independent brands ushered in a new energy development opportunity period. The export of new energy brands increased significantly, while the export of fuel vehicles faced the challenge of technological backwardness. China takes the lead in new energy technology and has broad export space, which marks that the export of self owned brands has entered a new stage.
Localized automobile production becomes a trend
According to the data of German market research institute Dataforce, in March this year, the share of Chinese automobile manufacturers in the European market exceeded 4% for the first time, with the total sales volume of 57400 vehicles, which was higher than 53900 vehicles in March last year, with a year-on-year growth of 6.6%; The market share was 4.3%, higher than 3.9% in the same period last year. Among them, SAIC MG is still the champion of Chinese brand sales in Europe, with sales volume increasing by 10% to 25642 vehicles in March, accounting for nearly 45%. BYD's sales soared, with 2620 vehicles sold in March, up several times year-on-year. Xiaopeng sold 462 cars, up sharply year on year. In addition, Chery Omoda and Geely Krypton also achieved high sales growth.
Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the All China Passenger Car Federation, said that from January to March this year, the sales of self owned brands in China's overseas markets were 470000, up 40% year on year. The retail performance of China's self owned overseas markets was very good. The export growth is mainly due to the improvement of the international performance price ratio of fuel vehicles and the explosion of new energy vehicle exports. In addition, Russia has contributed nearly 800000 incremental vehicles, and the share of pure electricity in Europe will continue to rise to 9.2% in 2023. Therefore, both the quantity and average price of China's automobile exports grew strongly.
It is worth noting that in April this year, China's automobile exports maintained a rapid growth year on year. Among the top ten automobile export enterprises, compared with the previous year, the export growth of GAC was the most significant, with the export of 19000 vehicles, up 5.5 times year-on-year, ranking ninth. This is the first time that GAC's monthly automobile export scale has entered the top ten automobile export volume list in China. According to GAC Group's plan, this year, GAC's overseas sales will focus on building key markets in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, etc., and plan to enter 10 countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Finland, etc. The export sales of automobiles continue to grow, and the overseas market continues to expand, which shows that the influence of Chinese brand automobiles in the world is gradually expanding.
In order to deepen the layout of overseas markets, many automobile enterprises are actively building factories overseas. BYD has established Europe's first new energy vehicle factory in Hungary, with an investment of billions of euros, and will produce electric vehicles and power batteries. GAC Group has accelerated the construction of overseas factories in Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and other places. It only takes four months from the application to the approval of GAC Ai'an Thailand factory, which is the fastest bonded factory in the Thai electric vehicle industry. Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that local factory building can save logistics costs, reduce the cost of parts procurement, and bring practical convenience for Chinese automobile enterprises to meet challenges.
Chinese cars face many challenges when going to sea
Although many countries have "olive branch" to Chinese automobile enterprises, and Chinese automobile enterprises have also carried out localized production in many countries and regions, it is undeniable that these enterprises are still facing new challenges and problems in the process of building local factories due to the lack of relevant experience.
An authoritative person said that Chinese auto enterprises need to cross the "threshold" of local policies and regulations to build factories in the local area. The laws and regulations of some countries in Southeast Asia are relatively easy to deal with, but the European market has always been one of the most stringent regions in terms of automotive product regulations and standards worldwide. Smart car data is the focus of compliance, which is a new and higher threshold for Chinese car companies, especially new energy car companies. In addition, the EU has high standards and requirements for patents, designs, etc., and environmental protection standards are also increasingly high, which need Chinese car enterprises to fully understand and comply with.
At the same time, localized production also requires Chinese auto enterprises to adapt to localization requirements, and enterprises need to fully understand the local employment culture and business environment. For example, some European countries have statutory working hours requirements for enterprise employees. If employees work overtime, they need to obtain their consent and pay higher overtime pay. This is also a practical problem that Chinese automobile enterprises need to face.
The relevant personage of Xiaopeng Automobile said that the "sea going" campaign of Chinese automobile enterprises may be full of difficulties and obstacles, but only by facing challenges can we grasp the pulse of the market and embrace market opportunities.
Editor: Nie Yue
With the increasing number of cars in China, the quality, sales, after-sales and other problems caused by the use of cars are also increasing. In order to better safeguard the authority of consumers, Yangcheng Evening News and Golden Sheep. com collected clues on automobile consumption rights protection. If you encounter any consumption disputes in the automotive field, we will do our best to help you safeguard your rights.
Material reporting mailbox: auto@ycwb.com.cn
