Recently, the National Association of Passenger Vehicles released sales figures for the pickup truck market in January. In the case of a double-digit year-on-year decline at the beginning of this year, due to the favorable national policies, the pickup truck culture is becoming more and more popular, coupled with the main car companies to make passenger pickup products, so pickup truck consumption has shown a warming momentum. In contrast, the performance of independent brand pickup trucks is more eye-catching.
Pickup truck sales in January down 11.8% y/y
According to the statistics of the Association, the pickup truck market sales in January 2022 were 42,000 units, down 11.8% year-on-year and 28.9% month-on-month. However, under the strong support of the national automobile three-pack policy and the right-of-way policy for pickup truck consumption, the main car companies have begun to exert efforts to use passenger pickup products, coupled with the increasingly active pickup truck culture, under the joint promotion of a variety of factors, pickup truck consumption is still picking up, and there has been a growth momentum for two consecutive years. Except for the epidemic situation in January 2020, which is not counted, January 2021 increased by 36% compared with January 2019, and January 2022 increased by 20% compared with January 2019.
Although there is uncertain pressure under the continuous impact of the epidemic, coupled with the sluggish demand for engineering vehicles brought about by real estate adjustments, the pickup truck market is still relatively active recently, and the main pickup truck manufacturers have shown a momentum of overall growth.
Since the Great Wall Pickup showed an explosive growth momentum in 2020, the brand continued to maintain a strong leading position this year, while independent brands such as SAIC Maxus and Jianghuai Automobile also achieved a good start. Judging from the TOP15 sales ranking of domestic car companies in January, Great Wall Motors is still the leading boss, and although sales in January fell by 42.2% year-on-year, it is still almost double that of the second place. Saic Motor Chase also performed well, with sales of 6595 units, an increase of 120.6% year-on-year.
There is a seasonal impact on imported pickups
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Association of Passenger Transporters, pointed out that in the past two years, the pickup truck market has shown complex changes, and due to the good comfort, functionality, drag and other product attributes, there is a high market demand for imported pickup trucks. However, with the rise of some domestic pickup trucks in recent years, the import pickup truck market has declined, and the domestic independent brand pickup trucks have performed relatively well.
Compared with independent brand pickups, the sales trend of imported pickup trucks is affected by the season, and there will be a huge contrast. Generally speaking, imported pickup trucks are more explosive in spring and summer, and the demand is significantly reduced in autumn and winter. Cui Dongshu explained that this is because imported pickup trucks are more in line with the characteristics of play, mainly the needs of high-end consumer groups for wild travel cars, so the demand in spring and summer will be more vigorous. Moreover, the main sales areas for imported pickup trucks are in high-income areas. At present, the performance of megacities is relatively good, and the consumption capacity is relatively strong, while the consumption power of small and medium-sized cities and counties and townships is relatively poor, which is in stark contrast to the large demand for small cities and counties and townships in domestic pickup trucks. However, even in Beijing, where pickup truck culture is increasingly prosperous, the demand for imported pickup trucks is currently showing a relatively weak state, and the performance of imported pickup trucks in other cities is more general.
In recent years, independent brands have also begun to play new tricks on pickup trucks. Nandu reporter Liang Luozhe photographed
Demand for used pickup trucks has increased but vehicles have been reduced
In fact, the gradual increase in the demand for the pickup truck market has also brought some changes to used cars.
In some second-hand car stores in the Guangfo area that are mainly engaged in luxury second-hand car business, Nandu reporters have occasionally seen luxury pickup trucks such as Ford Raptor and Toyota Tantu for sale, but the overall number is not much. "Due to factors such as traffic restrictions and urbanization in the south, we have collected pickup trucks and sold them normally, so our interest in pickup products is not too big for the time being." A second-hand car dealer on Haiba Road in Foshan told Nandu reporters.
According to a salesman of Qianli Famous Car Exchange, although they are mainly engaged in luxury second-hand cars, their pickups are also limited to imported high-end pickup trucks such as Raptor and Tantu, and the number of transactions remains in single digits.
In this regard, He Qiming, chairman of the Guangdong Second-hand Car Dealers Association, pointed out that with the gradual popularization of domestic pickup truck culture in recent years, the player group has also expanded compared with before, and customer demand has also increased. However, one of the main problems currently faced by car dealers is that there are too few pickup trucks to receive cars.
Sun Mingxia, general manager of the guangzhou Baolijie used car trading market, said that compared with previous years, although pickup trucks have increased on the road in recent years, the overall number is still limited. Large models, inconvenient parking, and excessive fuel consumption have become common problems in such models. Although it has become the new favorite of the car players, after all, it is only an isolated phenomenon. In terms of mainstream car companies, there are not many who really form a scale. For used car dealers, the most important thing is the high turnover rate, but the current pickup truck market demand is still difficult to achieve, so it is reasonable to maintain only one or two transactions in the major trading markets. As for the retention rate, it has basically maintained its original level and has not changed much.
Tang Nuankang, general manager of Guangjun Used Car City, said that from the transfer volume of service stations in the market in the past two years, the share of second-hand pickup trucks has increased by about 5%, mainly concentrated in high-end brands, and the retention rate is relatively high. In contrast, independent brand pickup trucks are mainly traded in fourth- and fifth-tier cities, and the retention rate is still relatively low.
Nandu reporter learned from the Baolijie used car trading market that among the pickup trucks currently on sale, the new car priced at 572,800 yuan for the Ford Raptor F-150 (released in October 2019) the second-hand car price is 518,300 yuan, and the two-year retention rate has reached 90%; the new car price is 560,000 yuan Toyota Tantu (November 2017) The current price is 438,000 yuan, and the four-year and half-year retention rate is 78%.
Among the low-end pickup trucks, the new car is priced at 84,800 yuan, and the current price of the new car is 75,300 yuan, with a five-year retention rate of 88%. "For now, from buying and selling cars to receiving enthusiasm, the south is still a little worse than the north." A senior used car appraiser in Guangzhou explains the current situation of the pickup truck consumer market in South China.
Nandu reporter Liang Luozhe