Decline in China's Imported Car Market

TapTechNews May 26th news, Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, pointed out in an article today that the import volume of imported cars in China has continued to decline at an average annual rate of about 8% from 1.24 million units in 2017 to only 800,000 units in 2023. From January to April 2024, 210,000 cars were imported, a year-on-year decrease of 8%, and the downward trend continues.

According to the article, after reaching a peak of 1.43 million imported cars in 2014, it has been on a downward trend. The import growth rate slightly stabilized and improved from 2016 to 2017, and has continued to decline since 2018. In 2023, the import scale shrank significantly, with only 800,000 units imported throughout the year, a year-on-year decrease of 10%. Currently, the monthly import volume in 2024 remains at around 50,000 units per month, and the pressure of continuous contraction is relatively large.

In April 2024, 51,000 imported cars were imported, a year-on-year decrease of 17%, and a 3% decrease from March; from January to April, 210,000 cars were imported, a year-on-year decrease of 8%. With the rise of domestic cars and the acceleration of the localization of international brands, the import of cars has continued to be sluggish in recent years, with negative growth for 3 consecutive years from January to April.

In this year's import structure of cars, passenger cars account for 98% of the absolute dominant position. Among them, from January to April 2024, 86,000 imported sedans accounted for 41%, and 70,000 imported four-wheel-drive SUVs accounted for 34%, while the unlisted motor vehicles of new energy vehicles imported 9,000 units, accounting for 4%.

At present, the import of cars mainly depends on the demand support of luxury cars. The proportion of the main imported luxury cars in the import of cars has increased significantly, and the import retail of Lexus has skyrocketed by 36%. The performance of BMW, Audi, and Land Rover is generally strong, while the recent performance of Porsche is relatively weak. The imported cars of joint venture brands have shrunk rapidly, and the imported cars of some brands such as Toyota, Volkswagen, and Subaru have shrunk severely.

According to the article, with the continuous strengthening of the Chinese automotive industry, the electrification transformation has changed the market demand structure, and the demand for fuel cars has continued to shrink, and the demand for imported fuel cars has also decreased significantly. With the continuous complexity of international relations, it is still necessary to plan ahead and establish more import models to maintain a reasonable scale of imported cars.

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