The price war has ignited the 2012 auto market

Supply and demand imbalances stocks surge "price cuts" "promotions" "promotions" "make profit" ... ... browse the major car websites or visit the major auto trading markets, filled with eyes filled with such words. “In the first five months of this year, the atmosphere of the auto market was extremely quiet and the inventory pressure of domestic brand dealers gradually increased. Foreign brand dealers did not dare to pick up cars. Everyone believed that the market environment this year was not as good as last year.” Beijing Beichen Asian Games Village Auto Trading Yan Jinghui, deputy general manager of the market (hereinafter referred to as the "Asian city"), told the "China Business" reporter.

After the rapid cooling of the Chinese auto market in 2011, from the sales point of view, the situation in the auto market in 2012 has still not changed. Correspondingly, the price cut seems to be the only option after unwilling to relax and aggressively plan aggressive sales for companies that pursue sales. From the reporter's investigation, the auto market price war may be the subject of the auto market throughout 2012.

The spread of price wars is under pressure from inventory. “Because of channel integration, new car replacement, and other factors, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series have seen a 'hugee' phenomenon since the beginning of this year. After integrating various preferential measures, the above two car models are currently on the market. The minimum selling price is about 22 million, while the previous price is about 300,000 yuan.” A person in charge of a high-end brand dealer in Beijing told reporters.

It is understood that the explosive sales approach has caused the sales volume to increase rapidly. According to statistics from the National Association of Sports Federations, the BMW Brilliance 3 Series sold more than 20,000 units in the first four months of this year, an increase of 43.5% year-on-year; and Beijing-based Mercedes-Benz C-Class vehicles also sold It increased from 479 in February to 3,543 in April. However, according to the dealer's official told reporters that, now, each of the above two cars sold, dealers have to lose 3 million.

It is worth mentioning that as the high-end brand has been relatively strong prices of the SUV model market, the current price has also appeared loose: the domestic Audi Q5 models have changed from 20,000 yuan in April to parity sales; imported Audi Q5 from before The increase in sales has become the current discount of 20,000 yuan; BMW X5 and X6 price cuts from the early April discount of 10,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan to the current discount of 40,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan; Volvo XC60 prices from then on The pre-parity sale became a discount of 40,000 yuan; and the Beijing Benz GLK model, which was only listed in April, has also seen a profit of nearly 20,000 yuan. In addition, the Toyota RAV4, Hyundai ix35, Kia Smart Run and Nissan Leap in the middle and high-end SUV camps all increased their discount rates.

At the same time, the price concessions of mid-to-high-class cars are also constantly expanding, and the range of discounted models has reached more than 90% of all models surveyed by reporters (around 26 models). The discounts for the eighth-generation Sonata and K5 models of Korean cars exceed 30,000 yuan; the discount rates for Japanese cars such as the Camry, Accord, and Tianhe are approaching 35,000 yuan; the new Magotans in the German cars and the US-based New Regal, etc. There is also a huge discount in terminal market prices. Affected by this, the terminal sales prices of mid-size cars and economical cars have also experienced a chain reaction: the prices of Sagitar, Cruze, and other models have continued to decline; the prices of Golf 6, Mazda 3, and a number of self-owned brand economy cars have continued to decline. In the process.

The fuse of “price cut” also burned into the used car market. Take Beijing as an example. Under the effect of the decline in the price of new car markets and the obstruction of sales of used cars in other cities, the used car market in Beijing began to cool down sharply from January onwards. The price cuts of used car transactions continued to increase during the month of January to March. Prices fell by 5%, 15% and 20% respectively year-on-year.

The phenomenon of lower prices in the automotive terminal sales market has been confirmed by relevant national government data.

Not long ago, the National Development and Reform Commission price monitoring center released data show that after monitoring the price of cars in 36 large and medium-sized cities across the country, the price of the passenger vehicle segment models in the first quarter of this year was lower than the price level of the same period last year: Multiply The use of car prices decreased by 0.38% from the end of last year, and the price of cars in April also fell 0.76% compared to the same period last year.

According to the statistics of the city of May in May, the price discount rate of the economical cars in the market accounted for 57.14% of the total number of models compared to April; in the mid-to-high-end models, the price discount range increased from April to April. 50% of the total number of models; in the SUV model market, the price discount rate increased from 66.77% in April.

Industry insiders believe that the high inventory is the biggest factor affecting the decline in the auto market price. The data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers recently showed that up to the end of April, the inventory of the Chinese auto market was as high as 757,400, much higher than the same period in 2011. From the point of view of the various markets, dealers’ inventory and profits declined further in May. According to report, there are many brands in the front-line car market that are “making losses and making profits”, especially for some Japanese brands and independent brand dealers. In order to complete the sales tasks of manufacturers, the average inventory digestion cycle has even reached three months ( In general, the inventory cycle is normal within 45 days.)

Statistics from China Imported Automobile Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Zhongjin Auto & Trading”) also show that from January to April 2012, China’s auto imports amounted to 372,500 units, a year-on-year increase of 21.6%, of which passenger vehicles imported 364,000 vehicles. The year-on-year increase was 21.8%. However, due to shrinking market demand led to a sharp increase in inventory, import car prices are no longer as strong as before, all the market segments showed a case of preferential increase in the amount of the case - in April, the average price discount for imported car market from March The 3.79 million yuan rose to 44.50 yuan.

In this regard, Wang Cun, manager of China Import & Export Automobile Marketing Department, stated: “In the first few months of this year, the demand for imported cars in first-tier cities has been gradually reduced due to the slowdown in the overall economic growth, especially in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The proportion of sales is rapidly falling. The contradiction between supply and demand has led to an increase in pressure on distributors' inventory, and sales at a reduced price are obviously the only way out."

Planning needs to be adjusted For the current situation of price divergence on the market, Xu Changming, director of the Information Resources Development Department of the National Information Center, stated that due to the overall economic development in China, the automobile market may continue to deteriorate in the second quarter of this year, “taking into account inflation, oil prices, etc. Factors, the annual growth rate is also difficult to achieve double-digit, so the second half of the auto market price war situation will always exist."

The industry generally believes that there are two main reasons for the decrease in terminal prices:

On the one hand, the relationship between production and demand tends to surplus, causing car prices to fall. Behind the “big step” development of car companies is the expansion of production in large enclosures and the push for new vehicles. However, with the market still sluggish this year, car manufacturers’ “high production scheduling” can only be formed. The more inventory pressure, and this pressure will eventually be passed on to the distributors. In order to complete the sales volume and get the rebate at the end of the year, the terminal price discount rate has to be further increased. On the other hand, the continued rise in the cost of keeping a car has indirectly affected demand growth to some extent. In addition, the high parking, insurance, and vehicle repair costs, and the continued implementation of the policy of restricting purchases by first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the economic slowdown of coastal cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, have slowed or postponed consumers to some extent. Car purchase plan. These factors are forcing distributors to sell their models for profit.

Cold weather in the auto market has caused the price of auto terminals to fall faster than expected. After dealers have staged price reductions, stop purchases, and even retired their nets, auto manufacturers are obviously not allowed to stay out of business.

In response to the current market situation, the reporter interviewed the Dongfeng Yueda Kia, Beijing Benz, Shanghai GM, and Chery, Jianghuai and other models of their affiliates with relatively large price declines. The basic information obtained was “supply and demand relations determine prices” and “will strengthen There are no ambiguous responses to the supervision of dealers. No company has said that it wants to tighten its production targets. At the same time, when the reporter contacted Guangqi Honda, which was recently affected by the dealer’s withdrawal from the network, the relevant parties did not want to give any answer. With regard to the current situation of the price of the automobile market, Jia Xinguang, a well-known analyst in the automobile industry, said: "At present, many manufacturers are also a mess. Everyone knows that this year's market environment is not good but they will not make planning adjustments. If manufacturers continue to silence, Ultimately it will only make the order in the terminal sales market more chaotic."