Half-year slowdown in domestic auto market is still the main tone

In 2012, although China’s auto market did not have a prosperous past, it still looked a lot.

Looking at the domestic auto market in the first half of 2012, we see the following picture of the market. On the one hand, each car company pushes new cars and expands the network to be extremely busy. On the other hand, dealers continue to slog the price reduction banner in the face of sluggish market, while the sophisticated Japanese car companies are trying to emerge as a hybrid force; Young domestic self-owned brand car companies fight overseas and hope to make achievements in the wider world.

What can be seen is that during the six months of the Chinese auto market, development remains the main tone.

Network expansion is overwhelming Although the pace of growth in the auto market has slowed down, manufacturers have continued to make rapid progress. In order to seize market share and meet the new wave of the next wave of Chinese auto market, the vast majority of car companies choose to continue to expand the scale of dealers.

General Motors has achieved impressive sales in the Chinese market, and its joint venture in China has also been leading the Chinese auto industry. In the face of a slightly weaker performance in the Chinese auto market, General Motors executives’ confidence in China’s auto market has not diminished. General Motors chairman Dan Ekson said at this year's Beijing auto show that in the long run, the Chinese market still has huge growth potential. This year, General Motors plans to add 600 dealers in China, increasing the number of dealerships from 2,900 to 3,500 at the end of 2011.

Most joint ventures are in line with GM's view. This year, Ford Motor plans to add 110 dealers; Mercedes plans to add 40 dealerships; FAW Volkswagen plans to add nearly 200 dealers. In the market, many new entrants are recruiting dealers, such as Guanzhi Auto, GAC Fiat, Changan PSA, and Beijing Auto. Overall, this year's domestic auto dealers will continue to grow, and future competition will also become more intense. .

Since the beginning of this year, domestic independent brands have almost stopped expanding their networks. Domestic car companies including Chery, Geely, BYD, and Great Wall have chosen to work hard to improve their networks and organize their channels.

At present, the total number of domestic distributors is about 65,900. The United States, the world’s second-largest automotive market, has sales of new cars that account for about two-thirds of China’s sales, but it owns only about 20,000 new car dealers, which is less than one-third of China’s. The rapid expansion of the Internet will determine how the Chinese auto market will be affected. It is still unknown.

Reduced price promotions One after another, the sky fell 38,000 yuan, Sonata dropped 30,000 yuan, Corolla dropped 20,000 yuan, Magotan dropped 10,000 yuan. Nowadays, as long as you step into the 4S shop, you will be surrounded by price information. Many of the luxury cars that had once been on the top began to lay down. Promotional information can be seen everywhere, from the Audi Q7 with more than 100,000 discounts to Mercedes-Benz, which has shrunk more than RMB 150,000.

"Down" has become the main tone of the auto market in the first half of the year. Although the auto market is expected to complete the industry's growth forecast of 8% at the beginning of this year, the trend of price cuts starting from luxury brands is gradually being transferred to mid- to high-class cars, mid-level cars, and economic vehicles dominated by self-owned brands as dominoes. According to the data from the National Development and Reform Commission's Price Monitoring Center, domestic automobile prices fell by 0.53% in May from the previous month through monitoring in 36 large and medium-sized cities throughout the country. This was the largest monthly drop since the beginning of the year, a decrease of 1.14% over the same period of last year. Passenger cars have become the driving force. The main factor in the price drop.

In fact, "price reduction and security" is also one of the marketing methods used by manufacturers. However, this year's auto market in China has presented different conditions: First, the price cut tide began with the high-end brand car prices "high-profile diving", frequently more than 10 million discount, making the price structure of a strong luxury brand has been destroyed Secondly, the price cuts of high-end brands are transmitted in layers, and mid-size cars and economical cars have also made price adjustments accordingly. Therefore, in the first half of this year, the biggest feature of China’s auto market is “price reduction across the board”, which has also become the most volatile stage in China's auto market price in the past 10 years.

Hybrid power gradually became a climate still remember five years ago, car companies on the development of electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, bio-fuel vehicles, hybrid vehicles, each holding their own words; and two years ago, the development of electric vehicles seems to have become many car prices Consensus. In the first half of this year, only a short period of six months, with the introduction of mixed strategies and models of car companies, the hybrid power market has gradually become a climate. Toyota and other car companies have even made small achievements.

On March 1st this year, Toyota (China) released a cloud initiative. The top priority was to promote hybrid vehicles in China. Immediately after the new Prius, the new Camry hybrid version of the low-cost listing, coupled with the previous Lexus CT200h, "troika" let Toyota take the lead in the hybrid market. Among them, CT200h monthly sales have been close to 1,500 vehicles, sales are gratifying.

On the other day, the giant carmaker Honda also announced the medium-term strategy for Chinese businesses in Beijing in April. Next year, it will introduce three models equipped with IMA hybrid systems, including Hon-da CR-Z and Insight. At the same time, Honda China is also actively preparing for localization work. By then, the core components such as batteries and motors will be domestically produced.

Nissan, GM, and Volkswagen also tentatively launched several hybrid products in the domestic market. In the field of luxury cars, Audi has recently launched a high-profile launch of the hybrid Q5, which is also Audi's first full hybrid medium-sized SUV in China. Audi has made it clear that it will vigorously develop hybrid technology in China. Companies such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo have also started to emphasize hybrid power this year. At present, independent car companies are relatively weak in terms of mixing, and most products are micro-mixed models.

In April of this year, the "Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2012-2020)" promulgated by the state clearly stated that "to popularize non-plug-in hybrid vehicles." The guiding role of policy coupled with the maturity of the hybrid technology, in line with the individual needs of consumers, is likely to achieve leapfrog development in China this year.

Auto exports have reached a record high in the first half of the year, and auto exports have become the biggest bright spot. According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, auto companies exported 56,300 vehicles in January, a month-on-month increase of 0.49%, an increase of 8.32% year-on-year, and achieved a good start. Since then, automobile exports have reached new heights of month and month, with a monthly growth rate of close to 10% less than that of the previous month, and more than 20%.

In May, the export of auto companies reached 103,400, and monthly auto exports exceeded 100,000 for the first time, a record high. From January to May, 382,500 vehicles were exported, a year-on-year increase of 28.8%. Among them, Chery Automobile's enterprises achieved exports of 20093 in May, an increase of 42.4% year-on-year, a year-on-year increase of 15.4%, creating a new monthly record for auto makers.

In the domestic market downturn, domestic independent car companies have paid more and more attention to the development of the international market and have achieved certain results. In this round of breakthroughs, independent car companies have adopted strategies to build factories overseas and develop global products.

Chery has established 16 production bases overseas. Another export giant Great Wall Motor currently has 12 overseas factories and plans to build 15 production bases overseas by 2015. Foton Motor plans to establish five major overseas factories in India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia in 2015. In terms of products, Chery A1 models, Geely Emgrand EC7, and Foton Topo all meet the needs of overseas customers.

With the rapid growth of automobile exports month and month, China Automobile Association has repeatedly said this year that the total domestic automobile exports this year will likely exceed one million vehicles. When SAIC Motor Co., Ltd. stated that domestic auto exports will continue to increase as automakers gradually improve their overseas sales networks, improve after-sales services, and expand brand influence.