/Pogled.info/ Russia has become the largest market for the sale of cars in China. In the first five months of this year, the Chinese have sold almost twice as many cars to the Russians as in all of last year. The number of Chinese brands that came to conquer the Russian market has already reached almost 20 and continues to grow. The Chinese are building very ambitious plans to conquer not only the Russian, but also the entire world car market.
For the whole of 2022, China exported about 162 thousand cars to Russia. And for the five months of 2023 – almost 300 thousand (287 thousand) finished cars. Such data is provided by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Russia became the number one market for sales, overtaking Mexico, where almost half as many were sold – 159,000 cars in the five months of this year. Mexico is now in second place. Belgium (120 thousand), Australia (101 thousand), Great Britain (90 thousand) also enter the top five. In sixth place is Saudi Arabia (87 thousand), followed by Thailand (69 thousand), the United Arab Emirates (60 thousand), Spain (58 thousand), the Philippines (58 thousand).
Chinese car manufacturers began to conquer foreign markets so actively that Western car manufacturers began to worry about it. China may overtake the USA and South Korea and become the second largest exporter of passenger cars in the world, writes “Bloomberg”. In the three years after 2020, China has already tripled its overseas shipments of domestically produced cars to more than 2.5 million in 2022. That’s just 60,000 fewer than Germany, whose exports fell only in last years. Ahead by a wide margin, of course, is Japan. But for now.
China is building ambitious plans to further conquer the world market. By 2030, it plans to deliver 8 million cars abroad. That’s twice as much as Japan currently sells.
Further growth in sales of Chinese cars outside the Middle East could lead to global changes in the auto industry and create new tensions with Western trading partners, Bloomberg fears.
All this shows that China is no longer just a factory for toys, consumer goods and clothes. He knows how to create technologically complex products with high added value.
In the 2000s, Chinese car manufacturers first tried to conquer the highly competitive European market, but the first pancake was lumpy. A series of European safety tests on Chinese vehicles have failed miserably. It seemed that this was the end of the Chinese car industry. Even Russia in those years put obstacles in the way of Chinese cars, which fell short of Western competitors in terms of comfort and electronics, and were also dangerous.
Since then, however, China has made major inroads in the automotive industry. The ability of the Chinese to copy and develop technology, as well as the high level of robotization achieved in China’s car factories, probably helped. Now Chinese cars are quietly passing European safety tests. The turning point for Chinese cars was 2021. According to Eurostat, their exports to the EU grew by 156% to 435,000 in 2021. Chinese cars were on average cheaper than German and Japanese cars. And that was their advantage.
China continues to increase car exports. And Russia helps him a lot in this. Although in the 2000s, Russia also did not favor Chinese cars. Now the situation is different and Chinese products are of much higher quality.
“The engine of the growth of the Russian car market is now precisely “Chinese”. According to the results of the first half of the year, the number of officially presented brands from the Middle East increased from 12 to 19 during the year, and the market share increased from 10.6% to 46%”, reported the press service of “Otkritie Avto”.
“Chinese car manufacturers remain very interested in the Russian car market and plan to multiply their car sales as Russia is a big sales market for them with minimal competition amid its imposed sanctions.” In 2023, the share of Chinese cars in the Russian car market will continue to grow and may reach 60%,” says Ilya Petrov, General Director of AvtoSpec.
According to Otkritie Avto, the leaders of the Russian market among foreign car manufacturers are the Chinese Chery, which has sold almost 47,000 cars in six months. Its sales more than tripled. Three “Cherry” models at once fall into the top 10 of the most popular models – “Tigo 7 Pro”, “Tigo 4 Pro” and “Tigo 8 Pro”.
The second largest Chinese manufacturer Haval has sold almost 40,000 cars (an increase of almost 2.5 times) thanks to its Jolyon model. In third place among the “Chinese” – “Geely” with sales for the first half of the year of almost 33 thousand cars, which is also three times more than a year earlier. More than half of sales fall on the most affordable model – “Kulray”. This is what the top three leaders in the Chinese segment look like.
Exceed and Omora, the Chery-related brands, sold 15.2 and 14.6 thousand units, respectively. At the same time, in the Exceed range there are models whose price in June exceeded 6 million rubles, and the most affordable versions jumped the 3 million ruble mark. Such price positioning significantly narrows the circle of fans of the brand. “Omoda”, on the contrary, by successfully marketing the Tigo 7, maintains a relatively affordable price for the car and quite successfully wins back buyers with only one model,” Otkritie Auto notes.
The Chinese brand “Changan” brought as many as 12 car models to the Russian market, but it still cannot boast of the same sales results. It is true that in June, the brand’s sales jumped tenfold, and if these growth rates continue, then the annual results may exceed 30,000 units, according to Otkritie Avto.
“The sales of this year’s debutants – BAIK, “Khontze”, “Jetur”, “Livan”, SVM, “Kayi” and “Tank” – have been quite modest so far. Better than other newcomers, the market accepted the latest brand. Its business took off only in the second quarter, and by July, in less than three months, 2,200 of these vehicles had been sold, of which about 1,800 were the Tank 300 model, Otkritie Auto notes.
About ten more Chinese car brands are delivered to Russia through parallel imports, for example Li Xiang and BID. However, their sales are still miserable. In the second half of the year, however, these brands will certainly be more popular, Otkritie Auto believes.
Many Chinese concerns are looking for cooperation with local domestic manufacturers in order to enter the market faster and reduce transportation costs. For example, it recently became known that the Chinese brand “Donfen” is negotiating with “AvtoVAZ” to locate production in facilities in Izhevsk.
“In fact, the Russian car market has become almost Russian-Chinese. The latest examples of home projects almost all have Chinese roots. At the same time, “Chinese cars” are increasingly perceived by the Russian consumer as an acceptable alternative in conditions of shortage. And most likely, they will become even more widespread if they occupy a niche in the segment of budget cars, which is now basically empty. Chinese brands are preparing to actively develop it and sell sedans, but so far the “first signs” in this direction are much more expensive than local offers. The closest analogues of affordable cars, in addition to “Lada Granta” and “Lada Vesta”, is perhaps the Chinese “Kayi”, noted in “Otkritie Auto”.
This year, all “Chinese” companies together will sell about 380-400 thousand cars, and about half will be the brands that are part of the “Cherry” group. Despite the expansion of the range and the rapid growth of networks for many brands, it will be difficult to sell more for a number of reasons. First, due to the appreciation of the yuan against the ruble, which will inevitably lead to another rise in prices. Second, the further growth of the business of the currently leading Chinese brands will be further limited by the low purchasing power, Otkritie Avto believes.
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2023-07-15 12:51:43
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