Auto & Transportation

Currently, driven by the hot sales in the new energy vehicle market, the automotive industry is steadily developing. Recently, the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference released an analysis of the national passenger car market in April, showing that the wholesale sales of new energy passenger cars reached 607000 units, a year-on-year increase of 115.6% and a month on month decrease of 1.7%; Since the beginning of this year, a total of 2.108 million vehicles have been wholesale, a year-on-year increase of 43.0%. In April, the retail sales of new energy vehicles in the market reached 527000 units, an increase of 85.6% year-on-year and a decrease of 3.6% month on month; Since the beginning of this year, a total of 1.843 million retail vehicles have been sold, a year-on-year increase of 36%, according to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.

In April, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles was 32.3%, an increase of 6.6 percentage points from the 25.7% penetration rate in the same period last year. Among them, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles among domestic brands is 56.5%; The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury cars is 23.8%; The penetration rate of new energy vehicles among mainstream joint venture brands is only 4.4%. From the monthly domestic retail share, the retail share of mainstream independent brand new energy vehicles reached 70.5% in April, a year-on-year decrease of 5 percentage points; The share of joint venture brand new energy vehicles reached 5.8%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.2 percentage points; The share of new forces reached 13.1%, a year-on-year decrease of 3.9 percentage points; Tesla's share reached 7.6%, a year-on-year increase of 7 percentage points.

From a wholesale perspective, the wholesale penetration rate of new energy vehicle manufacturers is 33.9%, an increase of 5.9 percentage points from the 28% penetration rate in April 2022. The penetration rate of independent brand new energy vehicles is 49.5%; The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury cars is 35.5%; The penetration rate of mainstream joint venture brand new energy vehicles is only 4.1%, as reported by Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.

From the perspective of power type, the wholesale sales of pure electric vehicles reached 437000, a year-on-year increase of 104.0% and a month on month decrease of 3.6%; The sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles reached 170000 units, an increase of 152.3% year-on-year and 3.3% month on month. New energy vehicles accounted for 28%, an increase of 4 percentage points compared to the same period.

Specifically for manufacturers, the retail share of New Power was 13.1%, a year-on-year decrease of 3.9 percentage points; New power car companies such as NIO and Ideal still have strong year-on-year and month on month sales performance. Among the mainstream joint venture brands, North and South Volkswagen has a strong lead, with 12405 new energy vehicles wholesale, accounting for over 50% of the mainstream joint venture pure electric market share. Volkswagen's steadfast electrification transformation strategy has shown initial results. Other joint ventures and luxury brands still need to make efforts.

From the perspective of exports, according to import and export data, the export of 91000 new energy passenger vehicles increased by 1028.5% year-on-year and 29.4% month on month, accounting for 31% of passenger vehicle exports. According to import and export data, pure electric vehicles account for 92.8% of new energy exports, while A0 and A00 level pure electric vehicles account for 48% of new energy exports.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers stated that with the scale advantage and market expansion demand of China's new energy, as well as the continuous improvement of its service network, more and more Chinese made new energy product brands are going abroad, and their recognition overseas continues to increase. As a result, the new energy export market remains positive and the prospects are promising.

At the same time, according to the retail data monitoring of overseas markets for independent exports, A0 level electric vehicles account for 60%, making them the absolute mainstay of exports. Self owned brands such as SAIC have shown strong performance in Europe, while BYD has risen in Southeast Asia. In addition to the impressive performance of traditional export car companies, new power exports have also gradually started recently, and data from overseas markets has also begun to emerge.

Regarding the recent price increase of Tesla, Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the Federation of Automobile Manufacturers, believes that this reflects the attention of car companies to business quality, which is conducive to improving consumer wait-and-see mentality, allowing consumers to break away from excessive expectations of price reductions, and restore normal purchasing rhythm.

In addition, according to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, the China Railway Federation emphasizes that the rural population in China is as high as 510 million, which is an important direction to tap into the potential of domestic demand. Recently, the Executive Meeting of the State Council also pointed out that the market space for rural new energy vehicles is vast. Accelerating the construction of charging infrastructure is not only conducive to promoting the purchase and use of new energy vehicles, unleashing rural consumption potential, but also conducive to the development of new business forms such as rural tourism, adding new impetus to rural revitalization.

The Passenger Transport Association believes that new energy vehicles have greater potential for popularization in the rural market than in large cities. At present, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the big city market is high, and the proportion of sales is high. This is an important consumption growth opportunity, but promoting the development of new energy vehicles in the rural market of small and medium-sized cities is also an inevitable trend, especially as China has entered an aging society, and there is a huge opportunity for the development of middle-aged and elderly electric vehicles.

With the increasingly clear policy direction of new energy vehicles going to the countryside, the development potential of economic electric vehicles will gradually be reflected. Currently, the demand for China's new energy vehicle exports to the international market is also mainly economic electric vehicles. In the future, with the improvement of basic charging facilities, economic electric vehicles will inevitably resume their explosive trend with the increasing consumption demand of middle-aged and elderly counties and townships. "Cui Dongshu said.