As the Chinese auto market continues to heat up this year, the demand for foreign cars, their key parts and accessories in the imported auto market has also risen sharply. According to the latest customs statistics, from January to May this year, the amount of auto products imported by China reached 5.42 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 118.1% over the same period of last year. Customs statistics show that in the first five months of this year, the total vehicle imports reached 72,399 (including 151,000 sets of spare parts), the amount was 1.968 billion US dollars, an increase of 82.6% and 107.5% respectively over the same period of last year; the import of key auto parts 10.28 Billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 144.5%; automotive spare parts imports were 2.424 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 117.2%.
According to relevant information provided by the Department of Electrical and Mechanical Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce, in the first five months of this year, cars and SUVs accounted for 85% of the total imported cars, of which 40,664 cars were imported, which accounted for 57% of the total. 20289 vehicles, accounting for 28% of the total. Other types of imported vehicles include passenger cars, large and medium-sized passenger vehicles, trucks and special-purpose vehicles. The imported quantities were 4,659 vehicles, 1,666 vehicles, 3,594 vehicles and 1,467 vehicles. Since the imported spare parts were assembled and sold as domestic cars to the domestic market, the sales volume of domestic cars in the first five months of the year was 680,000, and the market share of imported cars was less than 4%. Domestic cars occupy an absolute advantage with a very high market share.
After seeing this news, people who have been concerned about domestic cars seem to be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Two years after China’s accession to the WTO, domestic cars not only withstand the impact of imported cars, but also develop and expand in the competition and import cars. The market share is always 4% to 5%. There are also authoritative sources in the automotive industry that, despite the rapid growth of imported cars in the total volume, their market share will remain at a relatively low level of 4% to 5% during the transitional period. Therefore, both the consumers and experts in the industry are optimistic about the prospects of domestic cars, and even have the idea that the impact of imported cars after joining the WTO is no more than that.
But is imported cars so "soft"? Is 4% market share really scary? After careful study, we will find that although the market share of imported cars in China has always remained at a low level of 4% to 5%, the real market value has been ignored by industry professionals and experts. A person who has studied the imported automobile market has revealed that the market value of imported cars is not inferior to that of domestic cars. To a certain extent, it can even be said that it has surpassed the market value of domestic cars.
Since domestic cars in the first half of this year only had production statistics and lacked figures for market sales, they could only use the 2002 figures for analogy in comparison. According to statistics, in 2002, there was an explosive growth in the production and sales of domestic cars, reaching 1.09 million vehicles and 1.126 million vehicles, respectively, with an increase rate of 55% and 56%.
According to the data released by the National Development and Reform Commission, in 2002 the sales revenue of the automotive industry was 151.5 billion yuan, an increase of 30.8% over the previous year, and a profit of 43.1 billion yuan, an increase of 60.94%. The industry's average profit margin was 28.45%. Bicycles of individual high-end car companies The profit rate is as high as more than 10 million. At present, the average profit rate of the whole society is between 10% and 15%, which is more than twice the social average profit rate.
In 2002, the annual quota for imported cars was 7.935 billion U.S. dollars, and the total number of imported cars was 127,394, with a value of 3.17 billion U.S. dollars. In 2002, the total automobile production in China had exceeded 3,248,100 vehicles, including 1.09 million passenger cars, 1.09 million freight cars, and 1.06 million passenger cars, all surpassing the one million mark. Judging from the quantitative relationship, the number of 127,394 imported cars only accounts for 3.9% of domestic cars, but the market value of 3.17 billion US dollars is 17.3% of the value of domestic automobile market. Imported cars have achieved such a low market share. Excessive market value, the great contrast among them is surprising.
This year, this phenomenon has not been much improved. From January to May of this year, the amount of auto products imported by China reached 5.42 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 118.1% over the same period of last year. Customs statistics show that in the first five months of this year, the total vehicle imports reached 72,399 (including 151,000 sets of spare parts), amounting to 1.968 billion U.S. dollars, which was approximately RMB 16.275 billion. This is even more ferocious than last year. At present, domestically-made new models have already accounted for about 20% of the total amount of domestic cars, but the prices of domestically-made models that dominate the market are still between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan. In other words, although 680,000 domestic cars were sold on the market between January and May of this year, their market value was around 70 billion to 80 billion yuan, which is relative to the market value of imported cars of 16.25 billion yuan. Say that the gap is narrowing.
Many people in the industry are not without fear that, under the protection of non-tariff barriers such as high tariffs and import quotas, imported cars can achieve such good results in the Chinese automobile market. Under the circumstances of further reduction, the prospects of domestic cars cannot be optimistic. In the mid- to high-end automobile sector, domestic cars are now at a disadvantage. If service trade is liberalized, tariffs are lowered, and import quotas are cancelled, domestic cars will face increasing pressure.
This year, the import car market has a different feature from previous years in that foreign car manufacturers accelerate the construction of imported car networks. With the date of canceling the import auto quota on January 1, 2005, foreign automakers are planning and stepping up the construction of imported vehicles and stepping up the network layout, which will further exacerbate the competition between imported cars and domestic autos. Judging from the level of market competitiveness, there is still a huge gap between domestic and imported vehicles. From the comparison of the competitiveness of imported cars and domestic cars, the CIF price of imported cars is generally relatively low, but the retail price of imported cars is very high, which is basically more than twice the CIF price. This means that there is still a wide gap between domestic and imported cars, especially in the mid- to high-end models. With the reduction of tariffs and the relaxation of the control of non-tariff barriers, imported cars still exert greater pressure on domestic cars. We cannot believe that China's auto industry has already had the ability to compete with imported cars in the years following its accession to the WTO because the government imposed stricter controls on imported cars and caused imported cars to pose no threat to the survival of domestic cars. It can be said that so far, imported cars have not yet threatened the survival of domestic cars, not because of the increase in the competitiveness of domestic cars themselves, but mainly the severe protection of the government to achieve today's achievements.
With the approaching of 2005, the Chinese auto industry will face more fierce market competition. Under the protection of the current tariff and import quota system, it is the top task of domestic auto manufacturers to develop the market competitiveness of the Chinese auto industry as soon as possible. It is hoped that the domestic automobile manufacturers will not only focus on the immediate market interest, what means to increase sales of new cars, intentionally create market shortages, etc., or use less. Only by seeking to develop itself in the shortest possible time and making the domestic auto industry in a favorable position in the future market competition will it be the correct countermeasure.