Operation of automobile industry in January 2023

With China's epidemic prevention and control entering a new stage, the order of production and life has been gradually restored, and China's economy has continued to recover, showing a rebound trend. According to the expected index of production and operation activities published by the National Bureau of Statistics, the expected index of manufacturing production and operation activities rose to the expansion range in January, and the manufacturing production and operation activities were running steadily. In January, due to the impact of the Spring Festival holiday and the advance overdraft of some consumer demand, and the withdrawal of the traditional fuel vehicle purchase tax preferential policy and the new energy vehicle subsidy policy, the automobile production and sales showed a double-digit decline on a month-on-month basis and year-on-year basis. Among them, the production and sales of passenger cars showed a significant decline, commercial vehicles were still operating at a low level, and the export of new energy vehicles and automobiles continued to perform well.

1、 Automobile production and sales declined in double digits

In January, the performance of the automobile market was flat, and the production and sales of automobiles showed a double-digit decline on a month-on-month basis and year-on-year basis. The monthly production and sales were 1.594 million and 1.649 million respectively, down 33.1% and 35.5% month-on-month and 34.3% and 35% year-on-year. Affected by the withdrawal of traditional fuel vehicle purchase tax preferential policies and new energy vehicle subsidies and other policies, the manufacturer's impulse effect at the end of the year, and the addition of this year's Spring Festival holiday to January ahead of schedule, and the reduction of enterprise production and operation time, consumers' demand for overdraft ahead of schedule. Compared with the February of the Spring Festival in 2022, the production and sales decreased by 12.1% and 5.1% respectively, and increased by 13% and 11.3% respectively compared with the February of the Spring Festival in 2019 (before the epidemic).

2、 The overall production and sales of passenger cars declined significantly

In January, the production and sales of passenger cars were 1.397 million and 1.469 million respectively, down 34.3% and 35.2% on a month-on-month basis and 32.9% on a year-on-year basis. Among the main types of passenger cars, the sales volume of the four major categories of vehicles decreased significantly on a month-on-month basis and on a year-on-year basis. Among them, the cross-type passenger cars decreased more significantly, with a year-on-year decrease of 62.4%.

In January, the sales of domestic high-end brand passenger cars reached 284000, down 26.7% year on year, 6.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of passenger cars, accounting for 19.3% of the total passenger car sales.

3、 Commercial vehicles are still in a low operating situation

In 2022, affected by multiple adverse factors, the overall demand for commercial vehicles slowed down. In January, the production and sales of commercial vehicles were 197000 and 180000 respectively, down 23.9% and 38.1% on a month-on-month basis and 43.1% and 47.7% on a year-on-year basis. Commercial vehicle enterprises generally resume work and production late during the Spring Festival, and market demand still needs time to recover after the epidemic. The low operating situation of commercial vehicle production and sales has not improved significantly.

4、 The production and sales of new energy vehicles decreased slightly year-on-year

Due to the decline of subsidy policy for new energy vehicles and the obvious fluctuation of market price, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 425000 and 408000 respectively in January, down 46.6% and 49.9% on a month-on-month basis, down 6.9% and 6.3% on a year-on-year basis, and the market share reached 24.7%. Compared with February of the Spring Festival in 2022, production and sales increased by 15.4% and 22.2% respectively.