Search
China's CPI rises 4.5 pct in January
Ex-Maldivian president: I was threatened to resign
Govt aims to close income gap with wage hike
Wen urges stable energy partnership with Canada
Kidnapped Chinese workers safe and sound
Auto exports hit record high in 2011
Canada trade links tightened
Euro debt crisis 'creates opportunities'
Maserati to recall 222 autos in China
Greek party leaders agree in principle on debt deal
Xiaomi MI-ONE smartphone: Will its success last?
Open web platform tech boosts Internet portals
  Insight Tool: Save | Print | E-mail   
Small-displacement cars lead auto market
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2009-11-24 11:13
By Zhang Ya

In the beginning of this year, with the launch of policies of implementing fuel oil tax and halving purchase tax, consumers joined the auto purchase team successively, and the small-displacement car market became flourishing.

Statistics from China Association of Automobile Manufactures(CAAM) shows that from January to September of this year, both the output and sales volume of China's passenger vehicle has exceeded 7 million sets, up 37.93 percent and 41.90 percent respectively. Such passenger vehicles with 1.6L and below displacement performed best with the aggregated sales volume of 5.0608 million sets, occupying 69.89 percent of the total sales volume of passenger vehicles and hitting a historical record in market share.

Reinforce the sense of manufacturing"exquisite small autos"

Such an excellent sales performance gained by autos with small displacement in the first half of this year cannot realized without the drive of policies to a great extent.

Since January 1, 2009, China has implemented the tax reform on finished oil, which is closely followed by the policy of halving purchase tax on the passenger vehicles with 1.6L and below displacement, additionally, the subsequent policies of"Autos going to the countryside" and"old for new" have been implemented, so the sale of such autos with small displacement shows an explosive growth, and both the output and sales volume of the sedans and cross passenger cars with 1.6L and below displacement are flourishing.

And in accordance with the target of optimizing the structure of market demand proposed in Plan on Adjusting and Revitalizing Auto Industry issued by the government this March, by 2011, the market share of China's passenger vehicles with 1.5L and below displacement will reach above 40 percent, and above 15 percent for those passenger vehicles with 1.0L and below displacement. Based on such a target, China's autos with small volume still have a large space to develop, and to reduce the displacement has become a clearer and clearer development trend.

In China, most consumers prefer those with 1.6L displacement when purchasing autos, therefore, the autos with 1.6L displacement have also been called with"golden emission volume" in China's market for a long time. However, some experts point out that with the increasingly progress of engine technologies, the basic performance of the current engines with 1.4L displacement has been nearly equal to the engines with 2.0L displacement ten years ago.

On the"Summit Forum on Development of Passenger Vehicle Market and China's Autos with Golden Displacement", Zhang Xiaoyu, Deputy Executive Chairman of China Machinery Industry Federation expressed his views that the golden displacement of autos are increasingly descending with the progress of engine technologies.

And what has approved these views is that many auto enterprises have begun to plan and launch the auto type with 1.4L displacement. Shanghai Volkswagen's Sagitar 1.4T-typed autos have come into the market, while Magotan, which has always been being provided with 1.8L and above displacement, is also expected to launch 1.4T-typed autos next year. Plus the existing auto types, such as POLO, LOVA, FABIA and RIO, nowadays, the team of the autos with 1.4L displacement is expanding larger and larger. No matter the self-owned brands or joint-venture brands, all of them are striving for seizing the first chance, and to manufacture"exquisite small autos" has become a common development concept.

Increasingly improved quality of homemade autos with small displacement

With the increasingly reinforced sense of energy conservation and environmental protection, the autos with small displacement are being accepted by more and more consumers, and the transfer of such a consumption concept has great impact on developing the autos with small displacement. However, from acceptance to purchase, there exists some precondition, i.e. the technical progress and upgrade of auto products are needed for support. Only manufacture"exquisite small autos", can consumers pay for them.

Just realizing the market demand, in recent two years, many enterprises, such as Great Wall, Tianjin FAW and Jiangxi Changhe Automobile Limited Liability Company, have put forward the concept of"manufacturing exquisite small autos" without prior consultation. Although the displacement and space of such autos are relatively smaller, the autos cannot fail in quality.

No matter in terms of engines, or speed changers, or the safety settings on the auto body, all standards for the autos with small displacement are increasingly improved. In the appraisement of C-NCAP for the five auto types listed in the second batch of 2009, which was released not long ago by China Automotive Technology& Research Center, there are three types of homemade sedans with 1.6L displacement. Among which, two types was approved with five-star rating and one type four-star rating. It has fully illustrated that the safety performance of homemade autos with small displacement is enhancing constantly.

Promote upgrade of products and technologies by innovation

Data shows that the annual sales volume of autos overseas with 1.0L displacement has reached 4.5 million sets, occupying 35 percent of the total auto sales volume; if counting the compact hatch-back, the sales volume of small autos takes up above 60 percent. In France, the average length of home-used autos in 2008 lessened 2cm while the weight lessened 40kg. So the small autos with low price and high quality have become the development trend for home-used autos. In Japan, the market share of autos with 0.66L and below displacement has taken up more than 60 percent.

However, in the notion of some Chinese consumers, although the autos with small displacement energy-saving and environmental friendly, the space is not huge enough, and it will be too congested if the whole family members get on it and all luggage are put on. But actually, at present, the vacancy rate of China's private sedans is very high. Statistics shows that 70 percent of China's autos driving on the road are private sedans, and 70 percent of which only carries one person in the rush hour of morning and evening. In this manner, a large number of transportation resources are occupied, what's more, energy is wasted and environment is polluted.

For this, Song Xuebao, Vice Professor of Marketing Department, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, once appealed on the"Summit Forum on Development of Passenger Vehicle Market and China's Autos with Golden Displacement" that the transformation of consumption idea from"family sedan" to"individual sedan" should be promoted. That is to transform from household-used car that emphasizes the space, displacement and luxury settings to four-wheel closed auto purely used as a transportation tool. And the core conception of"individual sedan" is of single seat, single door, small volume, light weight and so on. Its main characters include low price, oil saving and convenient to park. Such a type has prevailed in Europe and Japan, where the fuel oil tax is extremely high.

In recent years, auto industry has always been stressing innovation. Besides the innovation in technological and product, it is also a new breakthrough orientation that the industry takes advantage of concept innovation to guide consumers to the rediscovery of their own needs, so as to promote the further upgrade of products and technologies of the industry.
Source:CE.cn 
Tool: Save | Print | E-mail