The slowdown in the growth rate of Japanese automakers was blocked in China

Recently, large international car companies have successively released their sales data in China in September. The growth rate of Japanese cars is lower than that of the United States, Germany, and South Korea, and the growth rate has slowed down. According to industry sources, although the production capacity of Japanese cars has been restored and the promotion efforts have been increased, the impact of disasters, recalls and other events on the brand will be long-term; in the event that the external environment becomes more severe, the Japanese cars will regain lost ground. The road will be more difficult.

The slowdown in the growth rate revealed that despite the unexpected rapid resumption of production of Japanese cars, the sales of the car makers in September have revealed the slowdown in sales growth of Japanese cars.

According to the statistics of international car companies that have announced sales in China in September, in the “Golden September” season, U.S. car makers General Motors and its joint ventures sold 220,200 vehicles in China in September, an increase of 15.3% year-on-year. 16.7%. The German-owned Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicle sales volume in China in September was 15,300, an increase of 12.7% year-on-year. In the first nine months of this year, Mercedes-Benz sold 135,500 vehicles in China, a significant increase of 32.8% from the same period last year.

At the same time, Korean cars are also catching up. Hyundai Motor Group sold a total of 116,800 vehicles in China in September, an increase of 16% year-on-year. Among them, Dongfeng Yueda KIA performed even more prominently, with sales of 43,500 units in September, a year-on-year increase of 19.5%.

The growth rate of Japanese cars is relatively slow. As a representative of the Japanese car, Toyota Motor sold sales of 86,400 vehicles in September, an increase of 10.5% year-on-year. In July and August, Toyota Motor resumed rapid production. Its sales in China increased by 28.4% and 14.9% year-on-year, but the growth rate in September declined significantly.

In addition, the import volume of Japanese cars resumed rapidly, and imports increased steadily, but the market share also declined. According to the August customs auto import data announced by the CLUCC, the Japanese brand share in August dropped by 2% from the previous month to 22%.

The general trend of the market is difficult to reverse the recovery of production capacity and it is difficult to recover lost ground. In just a few months, the market landscape has quietly changed.

"The German car sold very well, some models need to increase the price of car, the Japanese car's best-selling model price reduction of at least 1-2 million." An auto dealer told the China Securities Journal.

For this situation, Yan Jinghui, deputy general manager of Beijing Beichen Yayuncun Automotive Trading Market Center, said that although the earthquake and tsunami was a direct incident that caused it to lose its market, the quality trust crisis caused by multiple recalls also had a great impact on the brand image. Consumers' confidence in Japanese car brands is more long-term than direct economic losses.

The failure of Japanese cars has brought market opportunities to other car companies. Cui Dongshu, deputy secretary-general of the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Association, said that after the Japanese earthquake in Japan, the supply of the Japanese car market was insufficient, resulting in a decline in market share. During the same period, the German car production capacity rebounded, and the new Passat’s production capacity reached more than 20,000 per month. Vehicle.

In order to regain lost ground, the market conditions that Japanese cars currently face are no longer comparable. Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that the models in the mid-level car market are extremely rich and the degree of competition has increased significantly. In addition, in terms of products, German cars are faster and faster, new products are actively adopting new technologies, and prices have not increased significantly. This is more competitive than the Japanese cars that only look and feel in appearance.