The Development Status of the Automobile Industry in 2016
2017-05-10
The Development Status of the Automobile Industry in 2016
The development of the automobile market in China 2016 can be summed up as stable and on the rise. Despite the declining economy, the tendency of turning downward was not happened in the automobile market in China for the 1st half of 2016. Home-made cars, passenger cars in particular, are gaining more market share, while the market of new energy vehicles has also maintained high growth.
The sales of automobiles in China has achieved sound growth in 1st half of 2016, with 12,830,000 automobiles sold in the period, rising 8% from a year earlier, a big contrast compared to zero growth at the same time last year. There are 10,443,000 passenger cars sold, rising 11% from a year earlier. The sales of SUV are very strong, with 3,816,000 sold, rising 44.6% from a year earlier. Also, vehicles of self-owned brands have recorded very encouraging sales data, taking up 40% market share, a 2% increase compared to last year. It is worth mentioning that the sales of new energy vehicles in 1st half of 2016 are 120,000, rapidly rising 135% from last year.
In 1st half of 2016, SAIC has sold 3,000,000 cars, rising 419% from a year earlier, with operating revenue of CNY 351.2 billion, rising 8.54% from a year earlier. SAIC-Volkswagen has sold 968,700 cars, rising 3.19% from a year earlier. SAIC-GM has sold 827,500 cars, rising 4.87% from a year earlier. SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle has sold 109,700 cars, rising 60.84% from a year earlier. SAIC has also obtained great success in emerging markets. Through localization production, the sales of its self-owned brand MG has ranked the top 10 in the Thailand market, rising over 240% from a year earlier. As for the market trend of the automobile market this year, it is expected that it will be in the shape of a parabola, i.e. low growth rate in Q1, increased growth in Q2, strong growth of 15%-20% in Q3, and steady growth in Q4. The growth of cars is expected to be 8% this year, while the growth of passengers is expected to be 12%.
Development Trends of the Automobile Industry & Response Measures
There are four main development trends in the automobile industry both at home and abroad: electrical, internet connected, smart, and shared. These are the most critical opportunities as well as biggest challenges in the next five years for the automobile market. The key is innovation, to obtain the core technologies of internet, new energy and smart driving vehicles.
World Energy Council proposed that the sales of new energy vehicles, electric vehicles in particular, should account for 16% of all sales in 2020. This is because the annual demand for passenger cars in China, U.S. and the European Union has surpassed 40,000,000. With more and more strict regulations on fuel and emissions, it is hard for cars with traditional internal combustion engine to meet the requirements, except for electric vehicles. To achieve emission goals by 2020, the European Union should sell 140,000,000 electric vehicles or 11% of total vehicle sales, and U.S. should sell 900,000 electric vehicles or 10% of total vehicle sales, and China should sell 5,300,000 electric vehicles or 22% of total vehicle sales. Consequently, new energy cars have bright market prospects and great potential.
The Roewe RX5, "the world's first mass-produced internet car", which was jointly launched by SAIC and Alibaba two months ago, is a real representative of internet connected cars in the automobile market. Its excellent design and strong driving force have won praises from many SUV lovers and technology enthusiasts. Its sales were close to 10,000 in August alone, i.e. a Roewe RX5 is sold in every two minutes. Roewe RX5 has become a star car model with over 40,000 sold by now.
Intelligent driving is also an important trend for future cars. As is forecasted by related institutions, the market size of high-end cars with assisted driving is expected to reach CNY 200 billion. In the development planning of automobile industry of the 13th Five-Year Plan, internet connected smart cars will be actively developed and prepared for the comprehensive generalization in the future. Connected smart cars with assisted driving will take up 50% of the new car models, and automatic cars will take up 10% of new car models. Though the technologies of internet connected smart cars are not mature yet, many enterprises of automobile enterprise and giant car parts makers have already been positively engaged in. There are also many designs, developments and explorations toward internet connected cars and automotive driving cars carried out by researchers in China. China's R&D is at the same level with its foreign counterparts. This is a golden opportunity for parts manufacturers and supporting enterprises to enter into the core domains of future cars.
Rubber and plastics are important assembling materials for the automobile industry. It is important to develop lightweight rubber and plastic materials for cars, and to seize the opportunities in the frontiers of automobile technologies, such as, new energy vehicles, internet connected cars and intelligent driving.
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