Blog

The automotive industry in China has experienced a lightning advance to become one of the five largest industries in the country. Despite the rapid growth of all sectors of China’s prosperous economy, automotive industry outperformed others during the past seven years with high annual growth rates. China may well become a prosperous market of production and a large consumer market with more than a fifth of the population and rapid growth in almost all sectors of the economy of the world.

The Global Automotive Market

From 2001 to 2005, China increased its share in the global auto market from 4% to 10%, to be equal to Japan’s automotive market. Given current conditions and the inertia in Japanese sales. The rapid growth produces, a greater emergence of modern and business technologies with aggressive manufacturing. In order to encourage the investment and the increasing of the ‘made in China’ vehicles, the Chinese Government has forced heavy customs duties on imported parts. automotive industry of China has continued to thrive despite highly regulated. Current Government regulations require any investor foreign commercial relations with a local company. As a result, almost all global car manufacturers have created joint ventures with local partners and expressed their interest in the long term in the automotive industry of China. Meanwhile, the number of enterprises has also increased. In 2005, more than 28% of market share was taken by Chinese companies.

Overview of the Automotive Industry in China

The automotive industry in China has a little over half a century. Since the beginning of the 1990s, it spread very quickly.  In 1992, for the first time,the annual production of cars in China has exceeded 1 million. In 2000, China has produced more than 2 million vehicles. In 2001, after joining, the Chinese WTO development of the automobile market has further accelerated. Between 2002 and 2007, the growth of the domestic market of the automobile of China averaged 21% or 1 million vehicles on an

annualized basis. Indeed, since November 2009, China is the largest car market in the world. In 2009, China produced 13.79 million vehicles, including 8 000 000 cars. 44.3% of the vehicles produced are local brands such as BYD, Lifan, Chang ‘an Geely, Chery, great wall, Hafei, Jianghuai, Roewe, etc. and others are produced in joint ventures with foreign manufacturers like Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, General Motors, Hyundai, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, etc. Most cars made in China, are sold on the domestic market. So in 2009, only 369.6 thousand cars were exported. In the same year, China produced 13759000 vehicles, exceeding the Japanese production and thus ranking as the largest automaker in the world. In 2010, the sales and production have exceeded 18 million units. The manufacturing processed incr
eased by 32.4% over 2009 and reached 18.26 million vehicles, including 11.6 million cars, which contributed to preserve and consolidate China’s first place in the world. In 2011, the automobile industry of China still has progressed of 10-15%, and for the first time in the history of the global auto industry for a country has exceeded the production level of 20 million vehicles. However, the actual production of cars according to the China Association of automobile manufacturers (CAAM) increased in 2011 by only 0.84%, amounting to 18,42 million cars produced 14.89 million, and the  sales in the automotive market in China reached 18.51 million which is only 2.45% more than in 2010 sales. Even though there was a decline in production and sales in the year 2011, China maintains its leading position as the largest manufacturer of automobiles in the world and the largest market car of the world. China has reached 62 million in 2009 and expected to exceed 200 million by 2020.

The Principal Local Manufacturers

China has its leading national, more known under the name of ‘Big four’ namely: Shanghai General Motors, Dongfeng, FAW and Chang’an.

• Shanghai general Motors, also known as SAIC and SAIC-GM is a company of manufacturing automobile Chinese owned by the State which is headquartered in Shanghai and joint-venture with General Motors. The company owned the largest Chinese automobile production volume in 2014 or more than 4.5 million vehicles. SAIC sells vehicles under various brands. Exclusive brands of SAIC are Yuejin, Maxus, MG and Roewe. Products manufactured by SAIC joint ventures are sold under brands such as Buick, Chevrolet, Iveco, Baojun, Škoda, Volkswagen and Wuling.
• Dongfeng Motor Corporation is an automobile manufacturer belonging to the Chinese State whose headquarters is in Wuhan. The Chinese vehicle manufacturing company is second by production volume, or 3.5 million vehicles. its own brands include Dongfeng, Venucia and Fengshen. joint ventures are Cummins, Dana, Honda, Nissan, Infiniti, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Kia and Yulon.
• FAW Group Corporation is also a motor manufacturing company Chinese belonging to the State which is headquartered in Changchun. She is ranked third in terms of production, or 2.7 million vehicles. FAW sells under at least ten different brands, including its own such as Besturn/Bēnteng, Dario, Haima, Hongqi, Jiaxing, Jie Fang, Jilin, Oley, Jie Fang Zheng Yuan, and Tianjin Xiali. joint ventures are Audi, General Motors, Mazda, Toyota and Volkswagen.
• Beijing Automotive Group, also known as BAIC or Beiqi is also a State company and the holding company of several automobile Chinese. In 2014, the company ranked fourth in terms of production, or 2.6 million vehicles. its principal subsidiaries include the manufacturer of passenger car engine BAIC, the military vehicle manufacturer SUV BAW and the truck, buses and agricultural equipment manufacturer Foton Motor. Parent of BAIC is the Commission of Administration and Supervision of Beijing State-owned assets.
• Chang Automobile Group is a car manufacturer whose headquarters is in Chongqing and is a State enterprise. the company ranked fifth in terms of production, or 2.1 million vehicles. Changan designs develop, manufactures and sells cars, under the Changan brand and under the brand name Chana. foreign joint ventures include Suzuki, Ford, Mazda and PSA Peugeot Citroën.

Other Chinese automakers such as: JAC, the sixth largest manufacturer, Great wall, the seventh largest manufacturer, the world’s largest maker of SUVS and a major exporter, Chery, which exports cars worldwide, BYD Auto, the ninth largest manufacturer and Geely, which takes its name from the “conducive” from the Chinese word 吉利 and was the tenth largest manufacturer. A Taiwanese car manufacturer is also well known which is Yulon.

The best-selling car brand in China is Volkswagen, Shanghai Wuling, Beijing Hyundai, Changan, Toyota, Buick, Nissan, Changan Ford, Honda, Shanghai Chevrolet, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, Dongfeng, Audi, Chery. BYD, Haval (great wall) and Geely.

Contact us to know more about China’s market at dx@daxueconsulting.com

See also:

• FGD: Focus group discussion 
• Industry 4.0 in China