The new energy vehicle market has dropped to freezing point. How can car companies seek to survive?
M H On March 22, affected by the epidemic, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in 2020 fell sharply year-on-year, and the auto market dropped to freezing point. Faced with the status quo, the government has introduced policy interventions to save the market in the short term, but in the long run, it is still necessary to rely on car companies to resume production as soon as possible, and improving their own strength is the key.
The new energy vehicle market is frozen, production and sales in February fell by more than 70% year-on-year
Data show that in February, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 9,951 and 12,908, down 82.9% and 75.2% year-on-year, respectively. Compared with the lowest value in February last year, which was affected by the Spring Festival holiday, it shows that the epidemic has brought heavy damage to the auto market. From January to February, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 53,840 and 59,705, down 63.8% and 59.5% year-on-year, respectively. Since July 2019, the new energy vehicle market has declined for 8 consecutive months, and February this year has become the largest decline in recent years.
Data source: China Automobile Association
Some car companies announced the sales data of new energy vehicles in February (units)
Data source: Sales Express of various car companies
The main reason for the 8-month decline in new energy vehicles is the decline in subsidies. Entering 2020, it has been severely impacted by the Spring Festival holiday and the sudden epidemic. At present, the auto market is already in a weak state. In the face of the current situation, the auto market needs policy intervention and enhanced support to stabilize the market ups and downs.
Under the influence of the epidemic, the country and some localities have reiterated the lifting of restrictions on the purchase of new energy vehicles and the optimization and extension of subsidy measures. Due to the severe impact of the epidemic, the overall auto market has fallen into a downturn. After entering March, the first week still did not improve, sales fell 51%. The China Passenger Transport Association predicts that sales in March will continue to decline, with a drop of around 36%, but the actual situation far exceeds expectations.
At the local level, some cities mentioned the car purchase subsidy again. On February 16, Foshan City, Guangdong Province issued the “Several Measures of Foshan City to Promote the Upgrading of Automobile Market Consumption (Trial)” and implemented it on March 1, becoming the first domestic implementation to promote automobiles. consumption area. Subsequently, more and more cities followed up on subsidy policies or increased car purchase indicators to positively stimulate market consumption.
Subsidy policies and measures for automobile consumption in various regions in 2020
The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued a notice on “Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment of a Green Production and Consumption Regulatory Policy System”, which mentioned the establishment and improvement of a new energy vehicle promotion mechanism, and where conditions permit, appropriate support for consumers to purchase energy-saving new energy vehicles . At the same time, new and updated vehicles in the fields of public transportation, sanitation, rental, commuting, urban postal express delivery, and urban logistics are encouraged to adopt new energy and clean energy vehicles.
Subsidies can alleviate the urgent needs of enterprises under the epidemic, but in the long run, the favorable policies for new energy vehicles will shift to non-financial and taxation guidance.
In the downturn of the auto market, the auto industry needs to break the original industrial boundaries, promote the deep integration of information technology and automobile manufacturing technology, and achieve linkage with energy, information, communication and transportation fields. In February, the auto market still fell to the freezing point. In March, it is predicted that it will start to pick up, and the industry is gradually on the right track, but it still needs to be in a long recovery period. After fully resuming production, car companies need to focus their work on technology research and development. In the future, competition will be more intense, and overcoming core technical problems is the key to self-help.
