Reporters Yin Limei and Tong Haihua reported from Beijing
"Recently, the business is OK, the demand has been released, and after the first seven days of work, four or five second-hand cars have been sold in the store. In general, this year's business should be a little better than last year, last year there are a lot of popular used car models that need to be increased in price, and the discount has become less, and the phenomenon of used car price increase purchase this year has gradually returned to normal. Yu Kai (pseudonym), a used car dealer in the Beijing Huaxiang used car market, said that the BMW X4, X6 and BMW 3 series quasi-new cars currently operated in its used car stores, Mercedes-Benz E300, Audi A4, A6, A6L, Q7, Q8 and other popular models are still out of stock. On February 10, Yu Kai said in an interview with China Business Daily about the hot sales in some used car markets during the Spring Festival.
According to the data, since 2020, the ripples of industrial shocks caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic have impacted the automotive industry, and the chip shortage has become the biggest "black swan" event affecting the auto industry, and the global auto industry has been deeply troubled. Butterfly tremor, the era of "lack of core" has spawned a major industry phenomenon: the global auto market has appeared since 2021, new cars are out of stock, used cars are purchased at a higher price, and the prices of new cars and used cars are upside down.
A second-hand car dealer in Chengdu also expressed a similar view in an interview with this reporter: "As long as it is within 1 year and within 10,000 kilometers, like some models of BBA such as Mercedes-Benz E300 and Audi A6, we once bought back at a price of 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan higher than the new car price, because the market for these models is relatively scarce, and the second-hand cars of BBA and Japanese mid-to-high-end cars are relatively more sought-after." Although not every model will have a much higher recycling price, the recycling price of used cars since 2021 is indeed higher than in previous years. ”
The tightness of the used car market is also playing out in other countries. A person who lives in Hawaii and California for many years and has car purchase needs told this reporter: "The model of the Second-hand Car Surcharge in the United States is Mercedes-Benz Big G, and the premium of Mercedes-Benz Big G is relatively high. In addition, supercars, a small number of Japanese high-end cars, and antique classic cars are also hard to find. ”
A number of auto industry practitioners told reporters that it is expected that the hot situation of the global second-hand car market will continue for a period of time in 2022, and the price of second-hand cars will continue to remain high in the short term. According to a recent survey released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the global chip shortage will continue until at least the second half of 2022, which will continue to put pressure on industries such as automobiles.
Imported and joint venture vehicles are hot
The Year of the Tiger began, and the second-hand car market was still hot. According to the China Automobile Dealers Association, the domestic used car market maintained moderate growth in the third week of January 2022, with an average daily trading volume of 66,600 units, an increase of 0.25% month-on-month and 5.38% year-on-year in the third week of December 2021.
"Since 2021, the price of some family models is basically the same as before, but the prices of major imported models such as BBA and ultra-luxury brands such as Porsche and Land Rover have a premium, the price of receiving cars is relatively high, and now they can't receive cars, and there are more competitors who 'grab cars', and in order to increase the amount of cars we have now adopted the practice of reducing profits." A senior second-hand car dealer told reporters. According to the data released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, from January to December 2021, a total of 17.5851 million used cars were traded nationwide, an increase of 22.62% year-on-year, and the transaction amount was 1131.692 billion yuan, an increase of 27.32% year-on-year, showing a "prosperous" scene. At the same time, according to the data disclosed by the China Automobile Dealers Association, in November 2021, the average price of second-hand car transactions rose for four consecutive months, reaching 67,100 yuan / vehicle, a new high in four years.
The above-mentioned senior second-hand car dealers in Beijing told reporters: "Since the middle of 2021, the new car market has been seriously affected by the global chip shortage, production and sales have declined, the demand for used car markets has risen, and some models in the second-hand car market have increased significantly. Among them, the price of joint venture cars, imported cars and quasi-new cars with relatively good value preservation and good market circulation has increased significantly, such as Nissan Qida and Honda Fit. In 2021, about 70% of our models will be charged according to the new car sales price in 2019 and 2020, so the overall price of our takeaway car after the acquisition is rising. ”
The reporter saw on the online platform of a second-hand car dealer that a Mercedes-Benz G-class 2022 G350 used car with a mileage of 0.43 kilometers and a first listing date of November 2021 was priced at 1.828 million yuan, while the new car guidance price (including purchase tax) of this model was only 1.5919 million yuan.
Beijing is not alone. The reporter visited the site and learned that the largest used car market in southwest China, the Chengdu used car market, also has the phenomenon of increasing prices and receiving cars.
"The price of used cars has risen significantly since 2021, even for Santana, which costs tens of thousands of dollars. Especially when chips were in short supply some time ago, the price of used cars was higher, and the price fell slightly recently. The above-mentioned second-hand car dealers in Chengdu told reporters.
There is still room for development in second- and third-tier cities
According to the latest data disclosed by the China Automobile Dealers Association, in December 2021, the transaction volume of the six major regions of the country increased to varying degrees month-on-month. Among them, the growth in North China was the most obvious, with an increase of 9.63 percentage points month-on-month, followed by the Northeast region with a month-on-month increase of 8.08%, the Southwest region with a month-on-month increase of 7.39%, and the three regions of Central South, East China and Northwest China with a smaller increase, with a month-on-month increase of 3.77%, 2.64% and 2.33% respectively.
Whether the volume and price of the domestic second-hand car market will continue in 2022 in 2021, the industry has given a more consistent answer to this question: it is expected that the domestic second-hand car market will continue to maintain prosperity in 2022.
It can be seen that the domestic second-hand car market is undergoing structural upgrading and adjustment, and the entire chess game is about to be revitalized. Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, expects that benefiting from the favorable factors such as the continuous "loosening" of the mainland's second-hand car market restrictions, the mainland's second-hand car trading volume will exceed 19 million in 2022, and will launch an impact on 20 million vehicles.
Buying used cars at high prices is not just happening in China. Affected by the chip shortage factor, the current global second-hand car market is experiencing an unprecedented crazy price increase situation, according to CCTV Finance previously reported, the US second-hand car market even appeared "nearly 50% price increase income outperformed the market index, bitcoin" rare phenomenon. According to the statistics of the used car industry disclosed by the United States, the price of used cars in the US market has risen by nearly 50% in 2021, and the upward trend is still continuing.
"The model of the American used car with a lot of price increases is the Mercedes-Benz big G, and the premium of the Mercedes-Benz big G is relatively high." A person who lives in Hawaii and California for many years and has the demand for car purchase told reporters in an interview that in the Us market, supercars, a small number of Japanese high-end cars and antique classic cars are also difficult to find.
Overseas, in addition to the US market, the used car market in Western countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, and Germany, and Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, and Thailand is also heating up.
It is worth noting that in order to further gain insight into the performance of the domestic used car market in the terminal market in 2022, the reporter recently visited the most important used car market in the southwest region of the mainland - Chengdu used car market. The reporter found that compared with other regions, chengdu's second-hand car market is currently slightly "deserted".
"From 2021 to now, the business of used cars has become even weaker. Now the store can only sell about 20 to 30 cars a month, compared with 40 in previous years. Liu Feng (pseudonym), a second-hand car salesman at the Jinhe Automobile Commercial Center in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, confided in reporters, "At this time in the first two years, a car will be sold if I stay here for a week at most, but this year, there are not many people who come to see the car on weekdays and weekends, as well as people who ask for prices." ”
The reporter also saw a similar scene in the Hongmeng used car trading market. According to the official website data, the Hongmeng used car trading market is the second largest in The country and the largest used car trading market in the southwest region.
Different from the overall hot situation of the national market, why is the used car market in Chengdu relatively cold? Su Hui, executive director of the tangible market branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association, analyzed to reporters that this is mainly because the purchasing power of the second-hand car market has been diverted to a certain extent. "There are statistics that show that there are currently 760,000 used car dealers in the country, which is much more than in 2020, there are more dealers selling used cars, and the sales volume of each dealership is less, and the sales data of large cities or large used car dealer groups is better." In addition, in April 2021, the Ministry of Public Security and other departments jointly issued a series of policies to promote the registration of used car transactions across provinces to facilitate the circulation of used cars in different places, which also led to the diversion of the second-hand car market. ”
For example, about 60% of the volume of used cars in Beijing has been moved to other cities for sale, while this data previously accounted for only about 50%. With the gradual liberalization of the second-hand car relocation policy, Beijing's second-hand cars have been relocated to various cities, and then sold by dealers after arriving in various cities, which may have secondary circulation in between. Su Hui said that the phenomenon of cold used car markets in various places caused by market diversion exists not only in Chengdu, but also in other places.