Enlarge the picture. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in March, the sales of Chinese automobiles were 2.694 million vehicles, increasing by 9.9% year-on-year and 70.2% month-on-month; the production was 2.687 million vehicles, increasing by 4% year-on-year and 78.4% month-on-month.
In the first quarter of this year, the sales of Chinese automobiles were 6.72 million vehicles, increasing by 10.6% year-on-year; the production was 6.606 million vehicles, rising by 6.4%, and the production and sales were the highest values in the first quarter since 2019; the exports were 1.324 million vehicles, growing by 33.2%.
In terms of new energy vehicles, the sales in March were 883,000 vehicles, increasing by 35.3% year-on-year; the production was 863,000 vehicles, growing by 28.1%. In the first quarter, the sales were 2.09 million vehicles, increasing by 31.8% year-on-year; the production was 2.115 million vehicles, rising by 28.2%.
Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said that according to the association’s measurement, the capacity utilization of the automobile industry throughout last year exceeded 70%, but the total capacity did not grow rapidly, and there was a phenomenon where invalid capacity was closed.
Xu Haidong, the deputy chief engineer of the association, expected that the price war in the auto market would not last too long. In the process of an industry moving from a high-speed development period to a mature period, the price downward trend brought about in the process is normal, especially as the industry develops and matures, the price indeed will relatively be lower. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers believes that all prices have a bottom line, after all, there is a production cost.
