The new year begins, all things fresh!
At the time to ring out the old year and ring in the new, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) would like to extend sincere New Year greetings and best wishes to the colleagues in the automotive industry at home and abroad, as well as the people from all walks of life who have long cared for and supported the development of the auto industry!
The year 2020 has been an extraordinary year destined to be deeply remembered in history.
During the past year, in the face of the severe and complex international situation, especially the huge shock of the COVID-19, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, China's national economic development has made remarkable achievements that have attracted worldwide attention, becoming the only major economy to achieve positive economic growth in the world, also the only country to achieve the overall stable development of the auto industry. As a pillar industry, the automobiles have made an important contribution to the stability and development of China's economy in 2020.
Under the epidemic situation, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council were concerned about the auto industry and placed great trust on it. Driven by a series of tax and fee cuts and the policies of promoting auto consumption by national and local governments, China's auto industry has quickly resumed work and production, through the concerted efforts of the whole industrial chain. The auto market rose after fall, with which the sales and production gradually recovered since the second quarter and continued to grow then. China's auto industry has withstood severe challenges and tests, showing a strong resilience and huge potential. The auto enterprises were also embracing social responsibilities. The annual sales of automobiles exceeded 25 million units, far more than expected. In particular, the commercial vehicles showed strong performance, with sales exceeding 5 million units, hitting a new high. The new energy vehicles were in full power in the second half, with a total of over 1.3 million units been sold. These are not easy and worthy of thumb up!
The sudden outbreak of the epidemic pressed the "pause" button on production and marketing, which was unprecedented. At such critical moment, under the leadership of the Council and the guidance of our Chairman units, CAAM quickly acted and took initiative to play an active role as an industrial organization. In view of the industrial supply chain partly blocked or cut-off, the upstream and downstream enterprises worked together to actively promote the resumption of work and production. In view of several policies and regulations difficult to enforce in such a special period, CAAM organized the industry to conduct studies, timely and objectively responded to the situation of industrial operation and cooperated with government departments to make rapid policy adaptive adjustments, which played a key role in the annual operation of the industry. At the same time, CAAM cooperated with relevant government departments to organize and carry out sales promotion activities for new energy vehicles to the countryside, effectively boosting the development of the new energy vehicle market.
During the past year, CAAM Secretariat made every effort to do a good job in providing services. We successfully held several major events with industry influence, such as China Auto T10 Summit, China Auto Forum, China Auto Supply Chain Conference and C8 truck enterprise summit, etc., and finished the change of the Council. Meanwhile, we constantly summarized the industrial development, analyzed the industrial problems, studied the coping strategies, put forward the policy suggestions, judged the "14th Five-Year" development trends, and actively led the healthy and sustainable development of China's auto industry.
The year 2021 is the first year of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the start of a new journey.
In the new year, China's economic and social development will embark on a new journey, and the auto industry will enter a new stage of transformation and upgrading of high-quality development. The "14th Five-Year Plan" and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 depicts a beautiful blueprint for the future development of China's national economy, also points out a new direction for the development of the auto industry. We are glad to see that in 2021, China's macroeconomic policies will maintain continuity, stability and sustainability, the national economy will usher in a strong recovery, and the auto market will maintain steady growth. According to the industry forecasts, in 2021, the sales of China automobiles will exceed 26 million units. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's auto industry will maintain a steady development, and the auto market scale is expected to reach 30 million units in 2025.
Electrification, intelligence, connectivity, and digitalization have brought rare development opportunities for the auto industry. Continuous innovation, cross-border integration and multilateral coordination are the keys to enhance the industrial competitiveness. As the low-carbon and green development are the basic idea of the industry, we will continue to take the industrial responsibility to accelerate the development of the auto industry toward higher quality, in accordance with the national strategic targets on carbon emission peak and carbon neutral.
A new year means a new starting point. Let us keep firm and confidence, to actively respond to new challenges and tightly seize new opportunities, to jointly create a better future for the auto industry; and to ensure that the "14th Five-Year Plan" gets off to a good start to greet the 100th anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China with excellent results!
Wish all colleagues in the automotive industry at home and abroad a Happy New Year!
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM)
December 31st, 2020
