The second half of the auto market started to decline in sales growth

With the strong growth of German-American cars and the rebound of Japanese cars, the pattern of the auto market is changing quietly. The China Automobile Association has released the production and sales data of the automobile industry in July this year. Although the growth rate of the auto market remained at around 10% year-on-year, the number of production and sales has declined since last month.

Several agencies predict that the growth rate in the second half of the year is particularly important due to the unsatisfactory actual completion rate of sales of many auto companies in the first half of the year. In the situation where the policy is not yet clear, the sales of car companies will increase or decrease in the second half of the year. The auto market will also be re-divided at the end of the year.

Joint venture brand growth rate unabated

From the sales data released by car companies in July, it can be seen that, with the exception of a few joint-venture car companies, the sales volume of most joint-venture car companies still hit a record high despite a drop from the previous quarter.

General Motors and its joint ventures recorded a record number of sales in China in July, exceeding 220,000 vehicles, up 11.1% year-on-year. This is the first time in GM's sales in China in July, the first time exceeded 200,000; Ford China sales in July also hit a record high, an increase of 71%.

Statistics show that the German, Japanese, U.S., Korean and French passenger cars sold 266,600, 21.8, 168,800, 111,100 and 37,000 respectively, which accounted for the total sales of passenger cars. 21.38%, 17.61%, 13.6%, 9.01%, and 2.99%. Among them, Japanese brands, although sales are still negative growth year-on-year, but the decline has slowed.

Self-owned brands continue to slump
Compared with joint venture brands, the sales trend of self-owned brands in the second half of the year is still not optimistic. According to statistics, in July, the number of self-owned brand passenger cars sold was 435,500, which was a decrease of 17.3% from the previous month and an increase of 5.8% from the same period of last year; it accounted for 35.2% of the total sales of passenger cars. Market share is the lowest monthly level since the global financial crisis in 2008. Among them, the sales volume of Great Wall Motor, the best-selling brand in its own brand, was only 60,000 units, which was less than one-third of GM’s sales in China. Dong Yang, executive vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Automobile Association, said that in the absence of policy support at present, independent brands are facing double tests at home and abroad. Independent brands can only rely on improving their own strength, reducing the gap with foreign brands, and getting rid of the downward trend as soon as possible.

The market structure is expected to re-plan

In fact, with the gradual recovery of Japanese brands, the market share of joint venture brands is gradually increasing. Dong Yang is concerned that after the market share of the German cars surpassed their own brands last month, this month they will again be number one again, which will have an impact on the market share of self-owned brands in the second half of the year.

Dong Yang believes that since the start of April this year, the cumulative growth rate of auto sales has gradually declined. In October, the "Three Guarantees" automobile will be introduced, and the "limit, purchase, limit" policy introduced by the second and third tier cities will be introduced. Continual decline and other factors will affect the sales performance of auto companies in the second half of the year. However, Dong Yang said that the auto market will continue to maintain its annual growth rate of 7%.