AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/27 Report--

On May 26, the passenger Union announced the import sales of Chinese cars in April 2024 and from January to April in 2024. According to the data, car imports in April were 51000, down 17 per cent from a year earlier and 3 per cent from March to April, down 8 per cent from a year earlier.

By country, the top three countries in April were Japan, Germany and the United States, with import sales of 16800, 12500 and 9800 respectively, of which Germany fell 44 per cent year-on-year. In addition, sales in Slovakia and the UK, which entered the top 10, also showed double-digit declines of 48 per cent and 46 per cent respectively compared with the same period last year. In contrast, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands and Italy all showed year-on-year surges, of which Hungary soared 565% year-on-year, but the overall sales accounted for a small proportion.

Overall, Japan, Germany and the United States still performed relatively well in the first four months of this year, but Germany fell significantly compared with the same period last year, falling 37 percent to 48900 units in the first four months of this year. Japan and the United States sold 61900 and 36200 imported cars, respectively.

In terms of brands, the top three import brands in April this year were Lexus, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, with sales of 14000, 13400 and 11400 respectively. In the first four months of this year, BMW ranked first ahead of Lexus, with cumulative sales of 61100 vehicles in the first four months, 55300 for Lexus and 45100 for Mercedes-Benz.

In terms of year-on-year growth from January to April, Lexus rose particularly sharply, rising 36% year-on-year, making it the highest increase in the chart. It should be noted that before this, Lexus also showed a significant decline, as a reference, Lexus fell by 7%, 16% and 2% respectively from 2021 to 2023. Industry insiders believe: "although Lexus is also in the transition to electrification, it has not been widely recognized by the market."

Audi is the only brand in the BBA camp to grow, with sales up 13 per cent year-on-year to 19600 vehicles in the first four months, while BMW and Mercedes-Benz fell 1 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively.

In addition to these brands, Porsche's cumulative sales in the first four months of this year were 17700, down 40 per cent from a year earlier. Porsche entered the Chinese market in 2001 and became the largest single market in the world in 2015. since then, Porsche has made a new sales performance in the Chinese market for 20 consecutive years. Porsche set an all-time high in China in 2022, importing 95000 new cars in the whole year. Porsche imported 81000 new cars to China in 2023, down 15% from the same period last year, the first decline since Porsche entered the Chinese market. Judging from the latest data, Porsche has not stopped falling.

In addition, in the first four months of this year, Land Rover, Volvo and Maybach also declined to varying degrees, down 7%, 16% and 18% respectively from a year earlier. But ultra-luxury brands fared even worse, including Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and McLaren, all of which fell by more than double digits, with McLaren plummeting 92 per cent.

It is understood that McLaren is a British supercar manufacturer. Although it is expensive as a supercar brand, what is different from other supercar manufacturers is that McLaren does not have a financier behind it, coupled with persistent losses, which has led to its financial difficulties and repeatedly sought financial assistance from investors. In March, McLaren was wholly owned by Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund holding company (Mumtalakat Holding Company), increasing its shareholding from 60 per cent to 100 per cent.

Generally speaking, at present, imported car owners have to rely on the demand for luxury cars, while the overall trend of ultra-luxury is weak. In addition, imported cars of joint venture brands are shrinking rapidly, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Subaru and other brands.

At present, China's imported car market is still undergoing drastic changes. According to the data, the cumulative import volume of cars in 2016 reached 1.43 million, and the import growth rate improved from 2014 to 2017, of which China's imported car sales reached 1.24 million in 2017, but has continued to decline since then, with imports of only 800000 units in 2023, down 10 per cent from the same period last year. Since the beginning of 2024, the decline in imported car sales has continued, which is still down from the low point of the past decade.

As for the reasons for the continued downturn in car import sales, it is related to the rapid rise of domestic cars and the electric transformation that has changed the demand for fuel vehicles. As electric vehicles gradually erode the market share of fuel vehicles, the demand for imported fuel vehicles has also declined significantly. On the contrary, China's car export sales are continuing to grow. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's automobile exports from January to April in 2024 were 1.827 million, an increase of 33.4% over the same period last year.

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