The Shanghai auto market heated up in the third quarter, and auto retail sales increased by more than 30% year-on-year

Image source: Visual China

In the third quarter of 2022 , the Shanghai automobile industry will once again usher in a hot scene.

Recently, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics announced the operation of the national economy in the first three quarters of 2022. In the third quarter of this year, Shanghai’s auto retail sales increased by 32.3% year-on-year. From the perspective of the first three quarters, the total output value of Shanghai’s automobile manufacturing industry increased by 10.2%, and the growth rate increased by 9.8 percentage points compared with last year.

As a nationally renowned automobile town, automobiles have always been a major engine driving Shanghai’s economic development. Now, with the advent of the new energy era, Shanghai has also joined the trend of vehicle electrification transformation.

In the first three quarters of 2022 , the total automobile production in Shanghai will be 2,120,600 units, an increase of 13.1% from last year’s 1,874,500 units. Among them, the output of new energy vehicles reached 664,800 units, which is close to one-third of the total output of SAIC Motor. In terms of output value, the growth rate of new energy vehicles in the third quarter was close to 70%.

Take SAIC, a national auto leader located in Shanghai, for example. In the first half of this year, its cumulative sales volume was 2.234 million vehicles, which was close to the same period last year. However, in the third quarter, its sales volume increased by 16.2% year-on-year to 1.536 million vehicles. Among all sales in the third quarter, self-owned brands sold 794,000 units, accounting for more than 50% of the total sales, a year-on-year increase of 17.5%; new energy vehicle sales were 306,000 units, a year-on-year increase of more than 60%.

The outstanding performance in the third quarter drove SAIC’s total sales volume to 3.77 million in the first three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%.

The new car-making forces represented by Weilai have also played well. According to NIO’s official data, including ES6, EC6, ES8, ET7, ES7 and ET5, NIO delivered a total of 3,895 vehicles in Shanghai in the third quarter, accounting for 12.32% of NIO’s total deliveries in the third quarter.

A series of policies, such as new passenger car license quotas, automobile consumption subsidies, and halving of vehicle purchase tax, have become the driving force behind the hot market in Shanghai’s auto market in the third quarter.

In May , Shanghai announced the “Shanghai Action Plan for Accelerating Economic Recovery and Revitalization”, which included an increase of 40,000 non-commercial passenger vehicle license plates during the year. In Shanghai, where a license is hard to come by, the quota of 40,000 licenses is tantamount to giving money away.

In June , the “Detailed Implementation Rules of Shanghai Municipality to Promote Automobile Consumption Subsidies” was released. According to the document, from June 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, Shanghai will provide a one-time car purchase subsidy of 10,000 yuan to individual consumers who meet certain conditions.

In addition to local policies, the nationwide vehicle purchase tax reduction policy has also played a role in promoting car sales in Shanghai. The policy was officially released on May 31, for passenger cars with a displacement of 2.0 liters and below whose purchase date is between June 1 and December 31, 2022 and whose bicycle price (excluding VAT) does not exceed 300,000 yuan , to halve the vehicle purchase tax.

In June , the first month of the implementation of the policy, 1.097 million vehicles were reduced, and a total of 7.1 billion yuan in vehicle purchase tax was reduced nationwide. During this period, SAIC Volkswagen’s sales increased significantly. According to the SAIC Group’s production and sales report, SAIC Volkswagen sold 126,000 vehicles in June, a year-on-year increase of 93.90%. July and August also increased by varying degrees.