In 2018, the overall operation of the automobile industry was stable. Due to the influence of policy factors and macroeconomics, the production and sales of automobiles were lower than expected at the beginning of the year. The annual production and sales of automobiles in China were 27.808 million and 28.081 million respectively. Although it is lower than the expected production and sales volume, it still ranks first in the world for ten consecutive years, and new energy vehicles continue to maintain high-speed and steady growth, with rapid export growth. The details are as follows:
(A) car production is lower than expected.
In 2018, China’s automobile industry is under great pressure, and the growth rate of major economic benefit indicators of the automobile industry has slowed down and the growth rate has declined. The reasons can be divided into: on the one hand, the impact of the comprehensive withdrawal of preferential purchase tax policies; On the other hand, it is still under great pressure in the short term due to the decline of macroeconomic growth, Sino-US trade war and consumer confidence. However, at present, China’s automobile industry is still in the popularization period, and there is still much room for growth, and the automobile industry has entered an important stage of brand-oriented and high-quality development.
In 2018, the production and sales of automobiles were 27.809 million and 28.081 million respectively, and the production and sales decreased by 4.2% and 2.8% respectively over the same period of last year. In the first half of the year, except February, sales in other months were higher than the same period of last year. In the second half of the year, the automobile market experienced continuous negative growth, and the annual growth rate dropped to 2.8%. The cumulative growth rate continued to decline in the second half of the year, and the overall pressure was greater.
(2) The production and sales of passenger cars are lower than the industry as a whole.
In 2018, the production and sales of passenger cars were 23.529 million and 23.71 million, respectively, down by 5.2% and 4.1% compared with the same period of last year, accounting for 84.6% and 84.4% of automobile production and sales, respectively, down by 0.9 and 1.2 percentage points from the previous year. Compared with the same period of last year, the growth rate in the first half of the year was significantly higher than that in the second half.
According to the production and sales situation of four types of passenger cars, all four types of passenger cars have negative growth, and the cross-market continues to shrink. Among them: the production and sales of cars decreased by 4% and 2.7% respectively over the same period of last year; The production and sales of SUV decreased by 3.2% and 2.5% respectively compared with the same period of last year; The production and sales of MPV decreased to 17.9% and 16.2% respectively over the same period of last year; The production and sales of cross-type passenger cars decreased by 20.8% and 17.3% respectively over the same period of last year.
(3) The production and sales of commercial vehicles increased year-on-year, and the growth rate dropped.
In 2018, the production and sales of commercial vehicles continued to increase year-on-year, and the growth rate dropped significantly. Driven by the growth of the truck market, the sales volume of commercial vehicles reached a record high. The production and sales of commercial vehicles reached 4.28 million and 4.371 million respectively, up by 1.7% and 5.1% respectively over the same period of last year, and the growth rate dropped by 12.1 percentage points and 8.9 percentage points respectively. Except for February, September and October, the monthly sales of commercial vehicles were higher than the same period of last year.
In terms of vehicle production and sales, the production and sales of passenger cars were 489,000 and 485,000 respectively, down by 7% and 8% respectively over the same period of last year. The production and sales of trucks reached 3.791 million and 3.886 million respectively, up by 2.9% and 6.9% respectively over the same period of last year, among which the production and sales of heavy trucks reached 1.112 million and 1.148 million respectively, and the sales reached a record high. The production and sales of semi-trailer tractors decreased by 19.6% and 17.2% respectively over the same period of last year.
(4) New energy vehicles grew at a high speed year-on-year.
In 2018, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 1.27 million and 1.256 million respectively, up by 59.9% and 61.7% respectively over the same period of last year. Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles were 986,000 and 984,000 respectively, up by 47.9% and 50.8% respectively over the same period of last year. The production and sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were 283,000 and 271,000 respectively, up by 122% and 118% respectively over the same period of last year. The production and sales of fuel cell vehicles all completed 1527 vehicles.
In terms of new energy classification, the production and sales of pure electric passenger cars were 792,000 and 788,000 respectively, up by 65.5% and 68.4% respectively over the same period of last year. The production and sales of plug-in hybrid passenger cars were 278,000 and 265,000 respectively, up by 143.3% and 139.6% respectively over the same period of last year. The production and sales of pure electric commercial vehicles were 194,000 and 196,000 respectively, with production and sales increasing by 3% and 6.3% respectively over the same period of last year. The production and sales of plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles were all 0.6 million, down 58% from the same period of last year.
(V) The market share of China brand passenger cars decreased year-on-year.
In 2018, China brand passenger cars sold a total of 9.98 million vehicles, down 8% year-on-year, accounting for 42.1% of the total passenger car sales, down 1.8 percentage points from the same period of last year; Among them: China brand cars sold 2.399 million vehicles, up 1.9% year-on-year, accounting for 20.8% of the total car sales, up 0.9 percentage points over the same period of last year; China brand SUV sold 5.8 million vehicles, down 6.7% year-on-year, accounting for 58% of the total SUV sales, down 2.6 percentage points over the same period of last year; China brand MPV sold 1.328 million vehicles, down 23.1% year-on-year, accounting for 76.6% of the total MPV sales, down 6.9 percentage points over the same period of last year.
(VI) The year-on-year decline of the top ten enterprises.
In 2018, the sales volume of the top ten enterprise groups in automobile sales totaled 25.036 million units, down 2.1% from the same period of last year, which was lower than the industry. It accounted for 89.2% of the total automobile sales, an increase of 0.6 percentage points over the same period of last year.
(VII) Automobile exports grew rapidly year-on-year.
In 2018, automobile exports reached 1.041 million, up 16.8% over the same period of last year, and continued to show a rapid growth trend, with the growth rate slowing down compared with the previous year. Among them, 758,000 passenger cars were exported, an increase of 18.5% over the same period of last year; The number of commercial vehicles exported was 283,000, up by 12.5% over the same period of last year. Except for the fourth quarter, the monthly export volume of automobiles was higher than that of the previous year.
(Source: Industry Information Department of China Automobile Association)