One quarter ahead of schedule, China's auto industry achieved more impressive results than the whole of last year. On October 11, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (hereinafter referred to as the "CAAM") and the National Passenger Federation held a communication meeting respectively to disclose the key data of the automotive industry and the latest operation of enterprises in the first three quarters of 2023. Data show that in the first three quarters of this year, China's automobile exports 3.388 million, last year's exports of 3.111 million; The penetration rate (market share) of new energy vehicles in China was 29.8%, and the penetration rate was 25.6% last year, all of which achieved catch-up.

The person in charge of the China Automobile Association and the Passenger Federation told the Shanghai Securities News reporter that the Chinese auto market "gold nine silver ten" can be fully realized, and it is expected that with the landing of various policies to promote automobile consumption and stabilize the growth of the industry, China's automobile exports and new energy vehicle production and sales will become stronger and stronger, and the entire industry and major enterprises will be expected to climb to a new peak.

We are confident of achieving the annual sales target

China Association of Automobile data show that in September 2023, China's automobile production and sales were 2.85 million and 2.858 million, respectively, an increase of 10.7% month-on-month, an increase of 6.6% and 9.5% year-on-year, and production and sales reached a record high in the same period, continuing the growth trend. In the first three quarters, the production and sales of automobiles were 210.75 million and 210.69 million, respectively, up 7.3% and 8.2% year-on-year.

Progress in the field of new energy vehicles is even more encouraging. In September, China's new energy vehicle production and sales completed 879,000 and 904,000, respectively, up 16.1% and 27.7% year-on-year. In the first three quarters, the production and sales of new energy vehicles completed 6.313 million and 6.278 million, respectively, an increase of 33.7% and 37.5%, and the market share reached 29.8%. According to statistics, the cumulative sales volume of 150,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan new energy passenger vehicles was 1.933 million, an increase of 66.4%.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments jointly issued the "Work Plan for stable Growth of the Automobile industry (2023-2024)" on September 1, proposed that in 2023, China's automobile industry should maintain a stable and good development trend, and strive to achieve annual car sales of about 27 million, an increase of about 3%, of which the sales of new energy vehicles should reach about 9 million. Year-on-year growth of about 30 per cent.

According to the above goals, China's new energy vehicles need to complete the sales target of about 2.722 million units in the fourth quarter, and the average monthly sales volume should reach more than 900,000 units.

Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Association, said that with the continuous landing of various policies to promote automobile consumption and stabilize the growth of the industry, its effect is also accumulating. Combined with the performance of the new energy vehicle market in September, the annual sales target of 9 million new energy vehicles in 2023 can be basically achieved.

Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Federation, told reporters that with the improvement of overall market confidence, the "gold nine silver ten" market of the Chinese car market in 2023 can be fully realized. Moreover, due to the price reduction of upstream raw materials, in September, some Chinese new energy vehicle enterprises took the initiative to reduce production, and enterprises hope to use raw materials such as low-cost lithium carbonate in subsequent production to reduce the cost of car manufacturing and further enhance competitiveness.

According to the data released by the Passenger Association, with the multi-line development of China's autonomous vehicle enterprises on the new energy route, the market base continues to expand, and the wholesale sales of enterprises exceeding 10,000 units in September has reached 17 (2 month-on-month, 2 year-on-year), accounting for 88.4% of the total number of new energy passenger vehicles. According to the wholesale sales of new energy vehicles, the top five Chinese car companies are: BYD (286,903 vehicles), Geely Automobile (54,472 vehicles), GAC Aean (51,596 vehicles), Changan Automobile (42,812 vehicles) and Ideal Automobile (360,060 vehicles).

Exports drive the entire Chinese auto industry

Sailing has become a beautiful scenery in China's automobile industry. China exported 444,000 vehicles in September, exceeding 400,000 for two consecutive months, up 9 per cent month-on-month and 47.7 per cent year on year, according to CAAM. In the first three quarters, China exported 3.388 million vehicles, up 60 percent year on year.

The export growth rate of China's new energy vehicles is significantly higher than that of traditional fuel vehicles. In September, 96,000 new energy vehicles were exported, up 92.8% year on year. In the first three quarters, 825,000 new energy vehicles were exported, an increase of more than 110% year-on-year.

"In the whole year of 2023, China's auto exports are expected to exceed 4.5 million units, and exports will drive China's auto industry to a new peak." China Automobile Association deputy chief engineer Xu Haidong told reporters.

Xu Haidong said that the main force of China's automobile exports is still traditional fuel vehicles, while new energy vehicles have also played a great role, Chinese cars have a strong international competitiveness, has been accepted by many foreign consumers.

Given the rapid growth of China's auto industry, some countries want to take measures to cushion the impact of new Chinese car imports. In this regard, Xu Haidong believes that trade means alone can not stop the rise of Chinese car companies. Moreover, according to the practice of the automobile industry, Chinese automobile enterprises and industrial chain enterprises can solve the problems encountered in exports through direct investment and localized production, and then achieve multi-win.

According to the export data of the first three quarters, the top three Chinese enterprises in terms of vehicle export growth rate are: BYD (export 154,000 vehicles, an increase of more than 520%), Chery (export 648,000 vehicles, an increase of more than 110%) and Great Wall Motor (export 212,000 vehicles, an increase of 89.4%).

From January to August this year, among the top ten countries in China's auto exports, Russia and Spain have a strong market performance, with year-on-year growth of more than 670% and 650% respectively; The top three markets for NEV exports are Belgium, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

The whole industrial chain will benefit

The rapid growth of China's automobile production, sales and exports, represented by new energy vehicles, has also benefited upstream and downstream industries and enterprises in the industrial chain. Tong Zongqi, deputy secretary-general of the China electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, told reporters that in the first three quarters, the increase of domestic charging infrastructure was 2.432 million units, of which the increase of public charging piles was 664,000 units, and the increase of private charging piles with vehicles was 1.768 million units, an increase of 27.9%.

As of September 2023, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure in the country was 7.642 million units, an increase of 70.3% year-on-year. Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other top ten areas of the construction of public charging pile accounted for 71.0%. According to the number of public charging piles, the top five public charging pile operators are: special call, star charging, cloud fast charging, National grid and small orange charging.

In terms of power batteries, the core component of new energy vehicles, Chinese enterprises are also developing rapidly. The person in charge of the China Automotive power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance introduced that in the first three quarters, the total cumulative output of China's power and energy storage batteries was 533.7GWh, an increase of 44.9%. Among them, the output of power batteries accounted for about 92.1%.

According to the loading data, the top five power battery companies are: Ningde Times (14.35GWh), BYD (9.83GWh), Zhongchuang New Aviation (3.66GWh), Yi Wei Lithium Energy (1.84GWh) and Guoxian High-tech (1.47GWh).

At the same time, affected by overseas market demand, China's power and energy storage battery exports are growing. The relevant person in charge of Zhongchuang Xinhang said that following the example of China's new energy vehicles to the sea, domestic power battery companies are actively expanding overseas markets and building new overseas production bases, and the company's Portuguese factory project is in the process of accelerating. (Shanghai Securities News)