According to the statistics released by the General Administration of Customs recently, China's auto product imports fell sharply in the first quarter of this year from the same period last year. Judging from the amount, the import value of automobiles and their key parts and accessories was US$2.275 billion, a decrease of 44.4% year-on-year. Among them, 25,281 vehicles (including spare parts) were imported, 812 million US dollars, down 50.6% and 47.9% respectively. The import value of key auto parts and accessories for automobiles was 590 million U.S. dollars and 872 million U.S. dollars, down 30.5% and 48.2% respectively. In the first quarter of the entire imported vehicle fleet, cars accounted for 60%, four-wheel drive SUVs accounted for 30%, and the rest were travel passenger cars, large and medium-sized passenger cars, trucks and special-purpose vehicles.
Judging from the quantity, in the first quarter of this year, China’s auto imports were only 25,000 vehicles, a decrease of 51.1% year-on-year. In the first two months, due to unclear policies, China had only 14,000 imported vehicles, a drop of up to 60% year-on-year. With the gradual clearness of the policy, domestic automobile import vehicles rebounded to 11,000 vehicles in March, decreasing to 27% year-on-year. Industry insiders estimate that this is a situation where import vehicles that have been rare in recent years have fallen significantly. At present, imported cars account for only 3.37% of the domestic car market, a decrease of 0.42 percentage points from 2003. The proportion of cars that account for most of the imported cars in the domestic market has also dropped from 6% three years ago to the current 5%.
According to the analysis, the reduction in the number of imported car brands and the sharp drop in their number are mainly caused by two major factors: policy and market.
On the one hand, the problem of policy convergence has made the channels of imported vehicles unreasonable, and import car dealers are not optimistic about the market, causing the number of imported cars to drop sharply.
Imported cars generally need to be ordered two or three months in advance, so cars imported in January and February of this year have been booked around November last year. Due to the fact that imported cars were basically lost-money operations at the end of last year, and the policies at that time were not clear, the “Automatic Quota License Management Measures†for imported cars stipulated in the automobile industry policy has not yet been introduced, so the situation of “unauthorized policies†for imported car dealers. Most of the companies are in a wait-and-see attitude. In November last year, most dealers did not dare to place orders with foreign manufacturers. As a result, the number of imported cars arriving onshore in January and February this year dropped sharply. Due to the cancellation of import licenses this year, which has improved the market access threshold, dealers mostly adopt a wait-and-see attitude towards the new policy, so they generally do not purchase, causing the sales volume of imported vehicles to decline. In addition, this year's policy requires manufacturers authorized dealers to sell imported cars, so many cars that were not authorized by manufacturers and imported through foreign agents have basically disappeared this year, which also reduces the import volume of cars this year to some extent.
In fact, the decline in China's auto imports began as early as the introduction of a new policy in the second half of last year. In June last year, China introduced a new "Automobile Industry Development Policy", which stipulates that "since 2005, all bonded ports in import ports must not store cars for the purpose of entering the domestic market", that is, the bonded area does not allow bonded cars to be used for domestic sales. The imported cars that were sold domestically had to be “taxed†on the ground, which greatly hit the import enthusiasm of most car importers. It is reported that after the implementation of the brand monopoly on April 1st, due to the half-year adjustment period, the country’s import car dealers are currently in the Ebb Tide period, and they have not been authorized by the manufacturers to actively fight for it, and some small distributors have gradually drop out.
On the other hand, the sharp increase in domestic automobile production, the increasing number of new models that can be provided, and the increasingly reasonable prices are the important reasons for the gradual decline in imported cars.
With the rapid development of China's automobile industry, the demand for domestic imported cars has declined, and the number of luxury cars imported from domestic brands has been reduced. The trend of domestic cars replacing imported cars is becoming more and more obvious. With the further development of China's auto manufacturers, the advantages of domestic cars have become increasingly apparent. The number of imported cars in China will decline for quite a long time.
At the beginning of the new year of 2005, domestic luxury cars began to make great strides. The new models led by Tianzhu, Crown, Rongyu, BMW 3 Series, etc., are not only squeezing the imported cars in terms of price, but also making the substitution of imported cars more obvious in the models. The industry believes that the imported car market share may be further compressed and will become a supplementary role for domestic cars.
It is understood that there are two types of cars imported from China: the first type is the mid-range car with a price of 300,000 to 500,000 yuan, and the Toyota, Japan, and South Korea are represented by Jiamei and Nissan, and the second is the price of 500,000 yuan. The luxury cars above the dollar are represented by the Mercedes-Benz, BMW, various sports cars and off-road vehicles of the European Union. Since last year, the domestic auto market has been accelerating, with mid-range new cars such as the Nissan Teana and BMW 3 Series being frequently launched, which has carved out many markets for imported cars of the first category. This year Cadillac will also have a Chinese version, and domestic Mercedes-Benz will also be listed. The "China version" of high-end luxury cars will use the latest models synchronized with foreign countries, but the price will be a lot cheaper. Take the Japanese car as an example, import Toyota. Jiamei's market price is more than 400,000 yuan, while the same price of the domestic joint venture Honda Accord 2.4L market price is about 260,000 yuan. The price advantage is obvious, and the new models are basically listed at home and abroad. The imported car market is facing a strong squeeze of new domestic cars. In addition, the domestic auto parts supply capacity has been continuously strengthened and the demand for imported parts has decreased; the domestic auto market has reduced the overall demand for imported auto vehicles and parts, which has further reduced the imported car market.
These changes will profoundly affect the pattern and direction of imported cars this year. Industry insiders predict that because the foot-land tax payment policy still has no footsteps, dealers are still cautious to wait and see, small-batch orders mainly for ordering cars from foreign manufacturers. In addition, if the tax payment policy is really introduced in June when the rumors are introduced, since the bonded policy is no longer implemented, all taxes and fees will be required to be paid for imported vehicles, and the funds for dealers will be tested hard. The money that can be used to enter two vehicles is now Only one car can be imported, so when the time comes, the car import volume will not suddenly increase, but will determine the import volume according to the market demand.
Insiders pointed out that the impact of the policy on the two major factors affecting imports is temporary and short-term, and is expected to be resolved in the third quarter. In the second half of this year, with the gradual standardization of imported car networks, the sales of imported cars will rebound, but this year's overall sales will certainly be less than last year. The impact of the market is long-term, so the prospects for the imported car market this year are not optimistic.