Source: China Economic Network Huang Chunmian
"Thousands of households dawn day, always replace the new peach with the old charm"! The waxing moon has arrived, the new year is in sight, the end of the year, may wish to use a word to try to summarize the situation of the past year, China Economic Network Automobile Channel in the Chinese lunar calendar ugly year into the Waxing Moon, choose a word - "jian" to summarize and summarize the past 2021, that is, the Chinese people call the "year of the ox" of the automobile industry.
In the mainland's traditional "Six Books" method of making characters, "Jian" is classified as a shape and sound character. According to the "Commentary on the Interpretation of Texts" and the "History of Chen Shijia", it is recorded: Jian, Gangye; Phi is strong and sharp. The basic meanings of the words directly or indirectly derived from the original meaning are: firmness, persistence, perseverance, etc. A "strong" word, I am afraid, appropriately shows the spiritual outlook of facing difficulties and working hard in the ugly years.
2021 is also an extraordinary year, this year is the opening year of the "14th Five-Year Plan", the mainland's economic and social development has made new historic achievements, and the national economy has leapt to a new level; This year, as an important pillar industry of the national economy, automobiles still showed strong resilience under various pressures, and strived to overcome the impact of tight chip supply, scattered epidemic outbreaks, policy and regulatory adjustments, etc., and achieved a slight increase in production and sales of more than 26 million vehicles.
From a global perspective, China has been the world's largest automobile market for 13 consecutive years, and "new energy, independent brands and exports" is undoubtedly the three keywords of the automotive industry last year; The industrial structure further improves quality and efficiency, strong enterprises (or brands) further consolidate their advantages, new brands remain active, new car-making forces leap to the 100,000 mark, and electric and intelligent have become a trend.
In the upcoming Lunar Year of the Ox, systematic summary and review can better meet the future, with the word "strong" as the keyword, is the actual evaluation of the automotive industry, but also for the upcoming new year to boost morale, both difficult and strong, more profound.
Cargo world exports reveal strategic opportunities
Looking at the world's first-class automobile companies, they will not only stick to the local market, the global layout is the necessary condition for enterprises (or brands) to become bigger and stronger, and to rank among the world's first-class, including Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, etc., almost realizing the strategic layout of three important markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
In 2021, the performance of mainland automobile exports is very eye-catching. According to the export statistics caliber of vehicle enterprises, in 2021, automobile exports will be 2.015 million units, an increase of 1 times year-on-year, accounting for 7.7% of total automobile sales, an increase of 3.7 percentage points over the previous year. This is the first time that mainland automobile exports have exceeded 2 million units, achieving a breakthrough that has been hovering around 1 million vehicles for many years. Among them, the performance of new energy vehicles is outstanding, with a cumulative export of 310,000 vehicles in 2021, an increase of 3 times year-on-year.
Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Automobile Association, said that the exports of Chinese automobile companies have shown rapid growth, and 9 of the top 10 enterprises have achieved growth; Passenger cars and commercial vehicles are growing at a high speed, and the export of new energy vehicles is growing explosively; The direct investment model plays an important role in laying the foundation for continued growth in the future.
The trend of global economic integration in today's world is constantly strengthening, the changes in the international automobile competition pattern are intensifying, and brand globalization has become a major trend of development. Looking at the growth experience of the world's top 500 multinational companies, almost all of them have a global expansion strategy. Chinese auto brands are beginning to increase their global layout and actively participate in international competition.
Taking Great Wall Motors as an example, it has continuously accelerated its global development in recent years, and accelerated its landing in research-production-marketing. In the past 2021, Great Wall Motors achieved overseas sales of 143,000 units, an increase of 103.7% year-on-year, a record high. The cumulative overseas sales of more than 900,000 vehicles, the vehicle exported to more than 170 countries and regions, in the global market to show the charm of Chinese cars.
The Tiggo 5x set sail in the port of Shanghai, heading to overseas markets such as Russia
Taking Chery Automobile as an example, Chery Group exported nearly 270,000 vehicles in 2021, an increase of 136.3% year-on-year, ranking first in the export of Chinese brand passenger cars for 19 consecutive years. From 2021 onwards, Chery has been abroad for a full 20 years, and with China accelerating the pace of high-level opening up, it has handed over an excellent answer sheet for globalization. Up to now, Chery Group has accumulated 1.95 million overseas users, and has become a "Chinese business card" loved by car owners in more than 80 countries and regions around the world.
In addition, many independent enterprises, including SAIC Passenger Vehicles, BYD, Geely, etc., are also going wider and wider on the road of internationalization. As Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, said, "What we have to do is to go abroad and expand into a broader overseas market." Creating globally competitive products and achieving brands with global influence is the real dream of Chinese auto companies." Just this persistence and commitment is worthy of praise.
Innovation and change, joint venture and independent "hard rigidity"
According to the data, in 2021, a total of 9.543 million Chinese brand passenger cars were sold, an increase of 23.1% year-on-year, and the market share was 44.4%, an increase of 6.0 percentage points over the previous year. Zhu Huarong, rotating president of the China Automobile Association, said that independent brands have developed by leaps and bounds in recent years, and the concentration is also increasing. On the one hand, the technical capabilities of independent brands are fully constructed, and they fully have the ability of independent research and development; On the other hand, product innovation continues to meet the needs of consumers in the Chinese market for upgrading.
Specifically, the market share of Chinese brand cars, SUVs and MPVs was 31.7%, 52.3% and 68.3% respectively, compared with the previous year, the market share of Chinese brand cars and SUVs showed growth, and Chinese brand MPV declined. From the category point of view, the new energy vehicles of Chinese brands have achieved absolute market dominance, whether it is the low-key and pragmatic Wuling MINI, or the long-term deep ploughing by BYD, as well as the growth of new car-making forces such as Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, and Weima, from a global perspective, Chinese brands have the courage to compete with competitors.
In contrast, among the major foreign brands, in 2021, compared with the previous year, Ashkenazi, Japanese and Korean passenger cars all showed a decline, of which Koreans led the decline; French passenger cars have achieved a certain "rebound" in 2021 because the previous base is too low, so the sales growth rate is the most obvious, but it is difficult to form a climate. The more prominent performance is the United States, which showed double-digit rapid growth.
On the one hand, there is an absolute quantity comparison, and on the other hand, a comparison of bicycle prices. The new car-making forces can be described as the first to set an example, not only with the price of joint venture products is roughly equivalent, in the face of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi as the representative of luxury brands, there are still models of the same price. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the Hongqi brand has achieved sales of more than 300,000 vehicles in 2021, beating Cadillac and winning the second-tier high-end car championship.
Geely's high-end brand Lynk & Co has set a new record for annual sales in history, with annual sales of 221,000 units in 2021, an increase of about 26% year-on-year, and cumulative sales exceeding 600,000 units, creating a new growth rate. In contrast, the Great Wall Wei brand model is only supported by the Mocha, Macchiato and Latte series, and the annual sales volume is only 58,400 vehicles, the performance is relatively bleak, but as a pioneer who independently breaks through the high-end, it is still worth encouraging.
In addition, electric vehicles such as BYD Han, Xiaopeng P7, and Weilai ES6 have performed prominently, and their price ranges also reflect the confidence of Chinese brands. Driven by the trend of "national tide", some domestic brands have risen strongly with high-quality and novel, personality and high cost performance, and are favored by consumers. With the continuous improvement of China's brand development capabilities, the continuous increase of marketing efforts, and the transformation of young people's consumption concepts, the future will gain more recognition and expectations from the market. (China Economic Network reporter Huang Chunmian)