The Passenger Car Association recently released the latest data on my country's auto market. In April, the retail sales of passenger cars was 1.052 million, and the average daily retail was 35,000, down 35% year-on-year and 33% month-on-month. It is worth noting that the 2022 first quarter report and April production and sales data disclosed by listed vehicle companies show that sales of new energy vehicles have grown against the trend, with a significant year-on-year increase.

The passenger car market is greatly affected by the epidemic

In April, my country's passenger car manufacturers wholesaled 903,000 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 46% and a month-on-month decrease of 50%. The China Automobile Association estimates that from January to April, the sales volume of my country's auto industry was 7.68 million, down 12.3% year-on-year.

The Passenger Federation said that in April, the transactions of dealers in Jilin, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangdong, Hebei and other places were affected, and about 20% of the dealers of some brands suffered large losses due to interruption of passenger flow. Car retail losses are large.

A number of listed vehicle companies also recently disclosed the April production and sales data express. SAIC Motor's vehicle production in April was 158,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 62%; vehicle sales were 167,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 60.3%. The overall sales volume of GAC Group in April was 124,300 units, a year-on-year decrease of 33.7%; the cumulative sales from January to April exceeded 730,000 units. Benefiting from the rapid growth in sales of new energy brand GAC Aeon, as of the end of April, GAC Group's overall sales in 2022 will maintain growth.

Optimistic progress of supply chain resumption

Since March this year, the epidemic has spread in many places across the country, which has adversely affected the production of complete vehicles and related parts.

SAIC Motor said that by the end of April, the Shanghai base of OEMs has basically returned to single-shift production. The company will focus on promoting production capacity recovery with the recovery of the industrial chain and the opening of logistics. It is expected to gradually resume normal production in mid-May. Vehicle production and sales are striving to match the level of the same period last year.

As a pillar industry in Jilin Province, the automobile industry is of great significance to promote the resumption of work and production. On April 18, all five OEMs of FAW Group in Changchun resumed work. FAW Hongqi Ulsan Plant, FAW Volkswagen and FAW Fengyue quickly rolled off the production line after the resumption of production. At present, the supply chain of parts and components in Jilin Province is rapidly returning to normal operation.

With the gradual improvement of the epidemic prevention and control situation and the gradual weakening of the negative impact of the epidemic on the supply chain, my country's auto market is expected to pick up in May.

New energy vehicles perform well

It is worth noting that under the disturbance of the epidemic, new energy vehicles have achieved contrarian growth.

Data show that in April, GAC Group's independent new energy brand, GAC Aian, produced 9,867 vehicles, an increase of 8.5% year-on-year; sales were 10,212 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 23%. From January to April, GAC Aeon produced a total of 53,700 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 102.2%; the cumulative sales volume was 55,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 112.6%, and the year-on-year growth rate of production and sales exceeded 100%. GAC Group stated that it will help to further restore automobile production capacity and fully challenge the production and sales target of 15% increase in the whole year.

In the first quarter, BYD's car sales were 291,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 179.78%. Among them, the sales volume of new energy vehicles was 286,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 422.97%. The company's first-quarter net profit increased by 240.59% year-on-year. According to the production and sales data released by the company in April, the production and sales of BYD's new energy vehicles in April both exceeded 100,000 units, and the sales of new energy vehicles from January to April increased by over 387% year-on-year.