Economy

What signals did the "price war" in China's auto market release?

2023-03-15   

Recently, China's car market has been unusually "lively". At least 30 auto brands have participated in this round of "price war", which has exceeded the joint price reduction of North and South Volkswagen in 2004 and the auto promotion during the global financial crisis in 2008. What's more, behind this round of "price reduction", not only many car companies participated, but also local governments directly ended up. What brings the "price war" of cars into the public's view is the subsidy activity for car purchase launched in early March in Hubei Province. Many auto brands under Dongfeng Motor Group have collectively reduced their prices, and Dongfeng Citroen C6 has become a "popular online car" with a comprehensive subsidy of up to 90000 yuan (the same below). The reporter of China News Agency observed that at present, the C6 has ranked first in the "focus list" and "hot list" of many domestic cars, but its sales volume in January this year was only 55. Then, the "butterfly effect" began to appear. Nationwide, FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC-Volkswagen, Chang'an Deep Blue, Chery and other auto companies have launched subsidized car purchase activities. Traditional luxury brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Cadillac have also "rubbed their hands" to deal with the "price war". According to He Songsong, the partner of Reese Strategic Positioning Consulting in China, the whole Chinese car market has been in a hot new energy market and the pressure on the fuel car market since last year. "It can be said that the new energy car price war launched in January has produced a" catfish effect "to a certain extent. In the car market, which was originally" ice and fire ", it ignited everyone's determination to participate in the price war." This round of car price reduction promotion has a feature, Many automobile enterprises or models have participated in the way of government and enterprise cooperation. Take Dongfeng Citroen C6 as an example. Among its 90000 yuan car purchase subsidy, the government and enterprises subsidized 45000 yuan respectively. It is undoubtedly an important reason that the government and enterprises work together to promote and drive the car market to recover as soon as possible. According to the data of the Passenger Car Federation, the retail sales of China's passenger car market in January 2023 was 1.293 million, down 37.9% year-on-year and 40.4% month-on-month. Both year-on-year and month-on-month figures are the lowest since the 21st century. Although the sales volume of the car market recovered in February, the total retail sales of 2.679 million vehicles in January-February was still 19.8% lower than that of the previous year. According to the Ministry of Commerce, 2023 was designated as the "year of consumption boost". In addition to Hubei, many provinces and cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shandong have also launched "gift packs" for car purchase policy since this year. For example, Beijing and Shanghai continue to implement subsidies for replacing new energy vehicles with passenger cars, while Shandong and Harbin issue auto consumption vouchers. In response, Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the National Passenger Transport Federation, analyzed that the car purchase subsidy policies introduced by various regions would provide a stable and strong support for the car market in the first quarter. "In particular, some targeted replacement subsidies are of great significance in promoting the development of new energy vehicles and eliminating old vehicles, which can better release the consumption potential of consumers and help to increase sales in the short term." The car market is under pressure, and the pressure of various car companies is not small. As a financial pillar enterprise in Hubei Province, Dongfeng Motor's sales volume has declined year by year in recent years. According to the data, from January to February 2023, the cumulative sales volume of Dongfeng Motor dropped by 48.48% year on year, with a drop of 5% in passenger cars

Edit:Hou Wenzhe Responsible editor:WeiZe

Source:chinanews.com

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