Imported car prices have declined significantly in May, and consumers have a wait-and-see attitude

According to the data released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, in May this year, the inventory warning index of auto dealers was 53.7%, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points from the previous month, but an increase of 1.9 percentage points from the same period of last year, and the inventory warning index was at 50. % above the alert line; dealers reflected that the market in May was quite different from expectations, and the May Day holiday did not drive sales in the auto market.

Lang Xuehong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, pointed out that the lack of market demand began to appear in April. In particular, after the adjustment policy for imported vehicle tariffs came out, there was no decrease or even a slight increase in consumers' arrivals to the stores, but the transaction volume dropped significantly. The wait-and-see atmosphere of consumers is relatively strong, and the prices of imported cars have been lowered. It is also believed that some domestic models that are close to imported car prices may also bring about adjustments.

In addition, analysts from the China Automobile Dealers Association said that in some regions, investment in enthusiasm for real estate investment has affected consumers' investment in car purchases; in some areas, the rural consumer's store-to-store rate has declined during the busy season; in May, car prices have continued to decline, and dealers Business pressure is still high.

Lang Xuehong said: “Originally, June was the traditional off-season, and the wait-and-see atmosphere will continue until early July. Therefore, we believe that June will be worse than the absence of this factor.

What are the implementation status of the imported terminal vehicle after the drop in the terminal market?

According to rough statistics, up to now, about 10 car companies including BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Lincoln, Volvo, Porsche, Tesla, Bentley, and Ford have made official responses to the reduction of import tariffs on cars. Some car companies have already Adjusted the price of its related imported models. Although the official implementation of the import tariff reduction on cars started from July 1, 2018, the auto makers apparently could not wait. They announced that they would cut the prices of the related models from May 25th. Tesla was even on the policy release date. The price of the latest tariff confirmation will be synchronized to the domestic sales outlets.

From this we can see that with the reduction of import tariffs on automobiles, no one wants to lose this "big sale" opportunity. In this regard, the automotive industry analyst Yan Jinghui believes that the tariff reduction of imported cars, so that luxury cars represented by imported cars have greater price concessions, although the price promotion is a double-edged sword but it is the manufacturers to compete in the market and increase sales. The most direct marketing tool.

Car price system may fear to reshape

According to CITIC Securities, after the reduction of import tariffs, the final payment price for consumers to purchase imported cars will be reduced by 8% to 15%, and the imported vehicle consumption will increase from the current 1 million to 1.2 million vehicles to 1.5 million vehicles. The scale of ~2 million vehicles is moving forward.

At the same time, according to data released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, China’s auto imports totaled 1.216 million in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%. Among them, the number of parallel imported cars reached 172,000, an increase of 29.8% year-on-year. Compared with the high growth of the import vehicle market, the domestic auto market in 2017 increased by only 2.1% year-on-year. This means that in the face of huge market space, car companies and dealers have to tighten their nerves.

However, it is worth noting that this time the auto import tariff adjustment, some car companies even drop up to several hundred thousand dollars. Taking a BMW 760LixxDrive as an example, the price was 2.65 million yuan before the tariff reduction, and the adjusted price dropped to 2.488 million yuan, a drop of 162,000 yuan.

In general, the official price drop is a double-edged sword. Sales promotion increases sales, but most of the brand's loyal customers, especially luxury brand customers, are mostly hurt. However, because this price reduction is a common practice caused by tariff cuts, it is less harmful than a brand's price cut alone.

Previously, in response to the fiercely competitive domestic auto market, luxury brands have begun to explore the price, and this time with many car prices significantly reduced the price of imported models, luxury brands, the competition between independent brands will further intensify? In this regard, the reporter believes that after the price of imported cars is lowered, the prices of the corresponding price range must be gradually lowered, which will allow the joint venture brand and its own brand to have some overlap. For independent brands, there should be greater adjustments. On this basis, fears will lead to the gradual suppression of car prices, the auto market price system or will face adjustments and remodeling.