China Automobile Dealers Association: Analysis of China's imported automobile market in June 2022

(I) Supply: After three years of decline, automobile imports increased slightly in 2021 and entered negative growth again in 2022. From January to June, 446,000 vehicles were imported, a decrease of 16.7%; the import value reached 181.93 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.6%.

(2) Demand: In recent years, terminal demand for imported vehicles has remained relatively stable. Affected by the short-term impact of the epidemic and chips, the imported automobile market declined from 2020 to 2022. From January to June 2022, sales of 368,000 vehicles were down 25.6% year-on-year, of which June fell by 18.4%, and the decline narrowed compared with May.

(III) Inventory: With supply being less than demand in 2019-2020, the inventory depth of the entire imported automobile industry has declined significantly; supply and demand were basically balanced in 2021, but sales declined; as of June 2022, the inventory depth rose sharply to 4.5 months, a record high, but lower than in May.

(IV) Price: The unit price of imported automobiles has increased year by year. From 2015 to 2022, the unit price of imported automobiles has increased from 252,100 yuan to 407,900 yuan, breaking the 400,000 yuan mark for the first time. The first reason is the consumption upgrading trend, the second is the localization trend of low-priced products, and the third is the recent depreciation of the exchange rate.

(V) Brand structure: Affected by the epidemic, the overall imported car market has declined sharply, and super luxury cars and luxury cars are more popular among consumers. Super luxury cars have increased by 32.12% year-on-year this month. From January to June, luxury cars are still the main sales force, accounting for more than 90%.

From January to June 2022, only Toyota achieved year-on-year growth among the top ten brands, with a year-on-year growth of 5.1%, which was a decrease from the previous month; Lexus remained in first place, with a year-on-year decline of 29.68%, and Audi brand had the largest decline, with a year-on-year decline of 45.63%. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo's imports fell by more than 35% this month.

(VI) Vehicle model structure: From January to June 2022, all vehicle models experienced declines to varying degrees, among which MPVs declined by 2.66% from the previous month, and the year-on-year declines of sedans and SUVs accelerated, reaching 28.72% and 24.10% respectively; the year-on-year decline of sportback models was greater than the overall market, reaching more than 55.9%.

(VII) Displacement shifts downward: The 1.5-2.0L displacement range accounts for 48%, which has declined compared to 2021, but still remains the largest displacement range; the 2.5-3.0L displacement range has increased compared to 2021 and is the second largest displacement range; parallel imported models have gradually resumed supply, and the share of displacement above 3.0L has rebounded to 5.2%.

(VIII) Fluctuations in sales of imported new energy vehicles: From 2016 to 2018, sales of imported new energy vehicles were between 15,000 and 20,000 units. Driven by Model 3, sales of imported new energy vehicles soared to 60,000 units in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 191%, accounting for 5.4% of the total imported vehicles. With the domestic production of models, sales volume fell back to 27,500 units in 2020. With the contribution of PHEV, sales in 2021 increased by 26.2% year-on-year. As of June 2022, NEV sales were 13,044 units, a year-on-year decrease of 2.92%, an increase from the previous month, and the market is gradually improving.