In the first half of 2009, China's auto sales volume reached 6.0988 million sets while the registration volume of those imported autos is 153,000 sets. Only viewing such two data, the imported autos only take a very small proportion in China's auto market. But from the market performance of 1.6-liter-and-above autos in the first half of this year, it can be found that the sales volume of homemade vehicles in such an emission extent takes a small proportion. The registration volume of imported autos, all of which are basically in such an emission extent, has increased by 15.6 percent year on year. It is obviously that the imported autos still hold an important position in China's auto market.

At present, China's auto market is composed of self-independent brands, joint venture brands and imported autos. The imported auto market, which has been impressed by a portfolio of policies, for example, the adjustment on consumption tax, and the international financial crisis, is facing a new round of change and adjustment.

Increasingly open and standardized market

Since the launch of adjusted policy on consumption tax was brewing last year, people have been holding an unpromising attitude towards the domestic imported auto market of this year. But what surprises people is that the sales volume of the imported autos rose rapidly in the first half of this year, the actual sales volume did not decrease but otherwise increased, and the registration volume of those imported autos went up by 15.6 percent than the same period of last year, reaching 153,000 sets.       

                                                                                          
Song Xianmao, Director of Import Division, Electromechanical and Science & Technology Industry Department, Ministry of Commerce, revealed in the "Imported Auto Expo Beijing 2009 - High Level Summit on Strategic Development for China's Import Auto Enterprises" that China began to import autos from 1950s, by the end of June, 2009, China has imported 4.538 million sets of various autos, including the components and parts used for manufacture enterprises, and 92.8 percent of these autos are imported after the reform and opening-up policy is implemented: from 1978 to June, 2009, China's various imported auto volume totaled 4.21 million sets.

Under the background that the imported auto market is completely opened and the domestic auto market is full of competition, China's imported auto volume exceeded 400,000 sets in 2008. China has become the largest imported auto market in Asia and the traits of high grade, individuation and diversity in the imported auto market are more and more distinct.

The structural adjustment in the imported auto market is expedited

In the second half of 2008, auto importers suddenly felt them behind the eighth ball. In last September, due to the implementation of the policy on adjusting consumption tax, plus the hearsay of reforming fuel tax, the sales volume of above 3.0-liter imported autos slid down rapidly. And in rapid sequence, the international financial crisis that swept across the globe made the high grade, individuation and diversity-positioned imported auto market more wretched.

Undoubtedly, the unfavorable market situation leads a new round of structural adjustment in the imported auto market. In the first half of this year, many optimistic signals came to light, and the orientation of the structural adjustment in the imported auto market was emerging.

In accordance with the statistics from China Automobile Trading Co. Ltd, in the first half of 2009, all of the 3.0-litre-and-below autos increased by 38.5 percent year on year, all of the 3.0-litre-and-above autos decreased by 12.6 percent year on year, the imported autos with mid or low emission increased year on year while those with high emission decreased; correspondently, for such seven super-luxury brands as Bentley and Rolls-Royce, the registration volume of which reduced by 14.6 percent year on year in the first half of this year, and for such brands as Benz and BMW, the volume realized a favorable growth through richening mid and low-emission production lines and launching new product.

Additionally, in terms of the regional structure, on the one hand, the Class I market slipped down by 3.3 percent, on the other hand, the Class II, III and IV markets went up rapidly with 23 percent, 47 percent and 25 percent respectively. In the first six months of this year, in such coastal provinces and cities as Zhejiang province, Guangdong province and Shanghai municipal city, the "big clients" of registration volume of those imported autos, the growth rate slowed down, even showed a negative increase; but in the mid and western areas, the growth rate expedited obviously, for example, in Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi provinces, the year-on-year growth rates reached 91.2 percent and 178.1 percent respectively.

The one "increase" with one "decrease" whatever in emission or in regional sales volume, kept pace with the general tendency of the structural adjustment in China's auto consumption market. Ding Hongxiang, General Manager of China Automobile Trading Co. Ltd, believed that in China's imported auto market, no matter the breed structure, emission structure, regional structure or brand structure, all of them have changed greatly. He suggests that auto importers should go with the trend of market structural adjustment, adjust and optimize the auto and emission structures actively, add the proportion of SUV-typed autos, accelerate the transformation towards mid and low emission and expand Class II and III markets actively; consummate operation management and make full preparation to answer the opportunities and challenges on the operation of imported autos, which are brought by the pattern adjustment in global auto industry.

However, till now, such a crisis still disturbing the global auto industry will make the ongoing change in China's imported auto market more complex. For many international auto manufacturers in a hole, the consumption demand in China's auto market is of strong attraction. Leveraging China's imported auto market can still be considered an important method to get rid of difficulties. It is inevitable that the competition in China's imported auto market will be intensified. Competition will also bring opportunities, and the course of holding well the structural adjustment in imported auto market will be accelerated.

Source : internet

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