On the 30th, data released by the China Automobile Dealers Association showed that in April 2022, the inventory warning index of Chinese auto dealers was 66.4%, an increase of 10 percentage points year-on-year and a month-on-month increase of 2.8 percentage points. The inventory warning index was above the line of prosperity and decline. The circulation industry is in a recession zone. The severe epidemic situation has caused the auto market to be cold. The supply crisis of new cars and the weak market demand have combined to affect the auto market. The auto market in April was not optimistic.
In April, the epidemic has not been effectively contained in various places, and the prevention and control policies in many places have been upgraded, causing some car companies to suspend production and reduce production in stages, and transportation is blocked, which affects the delivery of new cars to dealers. Due to factors such as high oil prices, the continued impact of the epidemic, and rising prices of new energy and traditional energy vehicles, consumers have expectations of price cuts, and at the same time, the demand for car purchases will be delayed under the risk aversion mentality. The weakening of terminal demand also further restrained the recovery of the auto market. It is estimated that the terminal sales of full-caliber narrow-sense passenger vehicles in April will be about 1.3 million units, a decrease of about 15% month-on-month and a decrease of about 25% year-on-year.
Among the 94 cities surveyed, dealers in 34 cities have closed stores due to the epidemic prevention and control policy. Among the dealers that have closed their stores, more than 60% have closed their stores for more than a week, and the epidemic has seriously affected their overall operations. Affected by this, dealers were unable to hold offline auto shows, and the rhythm of new car launches was completely adjusted. The effect of online marketing alone was limited, resulting in a serious decline in passenger flow and transactions. At the same time, the transportation of new cars was restricted, the pace of new car deliveries slowed down, some orders were lost, and capital turnover was tight.
In this survey, dealers reported that in response to the impact of the epidemic, manufacturers have successively introduced support measures, including reducing task indicators, adjusting assessment items, strengthening online marketing support, and providing epidemic prevention-related subsidies. At the same time, dealers also hope that local governments will give relevant policy support, including tax and fee reduction and interest discount support, policies to encourage car consumption, provision of car purchase subsidies and purchase tax reduction and exemption.
Regarding the market judgment for next month, the China Automobile Dealers Association said: The epidemic prevention and control has been tightened, and the production, transportation and terminal sales of car companies have been greatly affected in April. In addition, the delay of auto shows in many places has led to a slowdown in the pace of new car launches. The current income of consumers has decreased, and the risk aversion mentality of the epidemic has led to weak consumer demand in the auto market, affecting the growth of auto sales. The impact in the short term may be greater than the supply chain difficulties. Due to the complex market environment, the market performance in May is expected to be slightly better than that of April, but not as good as the same period last year.
The China Automobile Dealers Association suggested that the uncertainty of the future auto market will increase, and dealers should rationally estimate the actual market demand according to the actual situation, reasonably control the inventory level, and do not relax the epidemic prevention.
Post time: May-03-2022