China Passenger Car Association: Analysis of the Pickup Truck Market in October 2022

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association's Pickup Truck Market Information Joint Conference, the pickup truck market sold 41,000 vehicles in October 2022, down 7% year-on-year from October 2021 and down 7% month-on-month from September this year. Due to the obstruction of pickup truck production under the epidemic last year, the pickup truck production situation has improved this year, resulting in strong production and sales performance of pickup trucks in October 2022, especially the strong performance of 42% export growth, which is also a common feature of strong exports in the automotive industry. The overall pickup truck trend from January to October this year was relatively stable, reaching 428,000 units, a decrease of 3% from January to October 2021. Compared with the sharp year-on-year decline in trucks, the production and sales performance of pickup trucks is still very good.

In October, the sales ranking of pickup truck manufacturers changed significantly. Great Wall Motors maintained its strong leadership. Some pickup truck companies seized the export opportunity to achieve strong growth. In October, pickup truck exports reached 8,417 units, a year-on-year increase of 42%. This year, Great Wall Motors, SAIC Maxus, JAC Motors and Foton Motors have strong export trends, and exports account for nearly half of the total sales of some manufacturers. The pickup truck trend of the main manufacturers in the domestic retail market is still relatively stable. Jiangling Motors and Zhengzhou Nissan have performed well. The pickup truck top three of Great Wall Motors, Jiangling Motors and Zhengzhou Nissan are relatively stable.

Under the general tone of the national automobile consumption promotion policy, the three guarantees policy and road rights policy for pickup trucks strongly support pickup truck consumption, and major automakers have also launched passenger pickup truck products. Driven by the increasingly active pickup truck culture, the pickup truck market consumption continues to grow at a high rate. The combination of the commercial Cannon, King Kong Cannon, and passenger sports car of the Great Wall Cannon series reflects the new trend of pickup truck culture. Since the pilot of lifting the ban on pickup trucks in 2016, the country's attention to the liberalization of pickup trucks into cities has risen from the ministry level to the State Council level for the first time. The lifting of the ban on pickup trucks has once again received strong policy support, and a comprehensive lifting of the ban on pickup trucks is expected.

The national pickup truck market has returned to the north. In the past two years, the northwest and northeast markets have been very strong, while the market demand in the southwest, south China, and central and southern China has been relatively weak. However, the pickup truck demand in the northwest region in October was affected by the epidemic and sales losses were relatively large.

The pickup truck market will face great growth pressure in the coming period, especially as the real estate downturn has led to weak demand for pickup trucks, but pickup trucks still perform better than overall commercial vehicles. As the pickup truck consumption culture gradually rises, the efforts of various manufacturers to increase pickup truck consumption will also be effective, and the pickup truck market will benefit from the expansion of the passenger car market and will further show its effect.

1. Overall analysis of the pickup truck market

1. Comparison of national pickup truck market trends in October

The pickup truck wholesale market fluctuated greatly in 2022, but remained at a relatively high level in October. October 2022 was slightly weaker than October in previous years, and the monthly decline is expected to improve slightly in the future.

Pickup trucks are means of production vehicles. Since there are relatively few pickup truck purchases before the Spring Festival, pickup truck sales enter the peak season after the Spring Festival, which is also a growth point in demand for engineering projects and unit purchases.

The sales volume of passenger cars represents the quality of life and pursuit of Chinese consumers, but the sales volume of commercial vehicles represents the development status of China's small enterprises and small private owners. Only when the demand for commercial vehicles increases and basic people's livelihood issues are resolved, can the passenger car market have the possibility of recovery.

The pickup truck market also directly reflects the development of small private owners. In 2020, the pickup truck market represented by Great Wall Motors has become the vanguard of the recovery of the automobile market after the epidemic has eased. However, with the downturn in the real estate market and the interference of the epidemic, the operating pressure of the tertiary industry is relatively high, and the pickup truck market is also difficult.

As the trendy play culture and travel of the middle-aged group are restricted, the space for self-driving and suburban tours has increased, and more people are choosing pickup trucks for travel.

2. Analysis of pickup truck market environment

1. The Ministry of Public Security has issued another key measure to stimulate the potential of the pickup truck market

On August 17, the Ministry of Public Security formulated and issued a number of key measures to help stabilize the economy, proposing "further relaxing restrictions on truck traffic on urban roads", "no longer subdividing restrictions on trucks under 4.5 tons", "encouraging no restrictions on new energy light vans and closed trucks", "optimizing the motor vehicle inspection system" and many other subdivided measures. As we all know, the Ministry of Public Security is the competent authority for transportation. This time, it clearly pointed out that improving the efficiency of truck traffic will promote the implementation of relaxing restrictions on truck traffic on urban roads, which will benefit pickup trucks.

3. Regional Characteristics of Pickup Truck Sales

1. Regional changes in the pickup truck market

The pickup truck market is mainly located in the northwest and southwest, and the demand for pickup trucks in the western region is relatively large. In October, the demand for pickup trucks in the northwest region dropped sharply, accounting for only 11% of the national share, which is nearly 10 percentage points lower than the normal level.

At present, the pickup truck demand in the southwest and northwest regions accounts for more than 40% of the total demand, becoming the two core markets, among which the southwest market performs relatively well.

The western market has maintained a relatively stable trend recently, but has shown obvious signs of contraction due to the epidemic. The low prices in October were due to both seasonal factors and sluggish demand under the epidemic.

At present, the pickup truck markets in North China and the central Yellow River region are growing relatively fast, and the pickup truck market in Northeast China is also showing obvious signs of starting up.

However, at present, the pickup truck market in East China and South China has not seen significant growth.

Pickup trucks still perform relatively well in the northern and central-western markets. This is also because the market economies in the northern and central-western regions are relatively inactive, and demand is mainly driven by investment and engineering construction.

The development of private passenger pickup trucks needs to be further strengthened. The pickup truck sales in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai have recovered significantly this year, and the recent Great Wall passenger pickup trucks are worth looking forward to.

2. Analysis of pickup truck sales regions

The main sales areas of the pickup truck market are still mainly small and medium-sized cities and county and township markets, especially the county and township markets, which are relatively strong. The small and medium-sized city markets in October 2022 performed particularly well. The county and township market remained stable, and the large city market did not show any obvious breakthrough characteristics.

The market of megacities is gradually shrinking after the outbreak, and among the restricted cities, the Tianjin market is particularly outstanding, with a share of about 20% this year, and Guangzhou is also relatively strong. The Beijing market, which was relatively strong in the early stage, is currently in a weak state.

4. Competition Analysis of China’s Pickup Truck Market

1. Analysis of pickup truck manufacturers’ performance

In 2022, the main manufacturers in the pickup truck market performed well. Great Wall Motors Pickup Trucks maintained a stable and absolute dominant position, Jiangling Motors' leading position remained stable, and SAIC Maxus and others maintained strong growth.

In 2022, SAIC-GM-Wuling's new products gradually stabilized and did not significantly change the pickup truck pattern. JAC Motors, Changan Automobile, etc. performed well. SAIC Maxus Automobile still performed strongly in October, and Changan Automobile and others performed relatively strongly.

2. Domestic market share trends of pickup truck manufacturers

In October 2022, the pickup truck market still maintained the trend of 1 super strong, but began to gradually show a trend of differentiation. Great Wall Motors' pickup truck sales are outstanding, and the sales share of Great Wall pickup trucks has continued to increase in recent years. In 2019, it maintained 37% of the total pickup truck sales, in 2020 it maintained 49% of the total pickup truck sales, and in 2021 it reached 46%. The sales share in October 2022 remained good.

From January to October this year, Great Wall Motors had the leading pickup truck market share, while Jiangling Motors, Zhengzhou Nissan, Jiangxi Isuzu and others maintained a strong position.

3. Pickup truck exports performed strongly

Some pickup truck companies have performed relatively well recently, and exports have helped some companies to perform well. In October, the pickup trucks of SAIC Maxus and ZTE Auto performed well.

With the explosive growth of the export market, SAIC Maxus, JAC and Wuling pickups have risen rapidly, forming a pattern of leading companies squeezing the sales of trailing companies.

In 2022, the pickup truck manufacturers of traditional large groups are all very strong, especially SAIC Maxus and other companies with outstanding export performance. Great Wall's pickup trucks have performed well both at home and abroad, and the vitality of new product launches is strong. Jiangling pickup trucks have recovered quickly. Relatively speaking, the pickup trucks of SAIC Maxus and Changan Automobile, which are new forces, have performed well.

5. Monthly trends of pickup truck models