Shandong auto market topped national level

　　2009Automotive Consumption Survey of Shandong White Paper

　　As the statistics of December last year released by Qilu Evening News recently, freshly baked, the sales of Shandong auto market throughout the whole year finally settled down. In 2009, with a sales volume of more than 13.64 million units, China’s automobile overtook the U.S. to be the world’s No. 1 in terms of both auto producer and consumer. China’s automobile appeared such a rapid growth that production and sales volume increased by 48.30% and 46.15% respectively. Among all the cities, Shandong province, China’s No. 1 geographical market has the biggest contribution to the sales. According to statistics, in the year of 2009, Passenger Cars registered in Shandong Province reached a record of 757,604, which was a staggering yearly growth of 72.58% far exceeded the national average level.

　　Sales jumped 252% in December year on year

　　Since the beginning of 2009, cars registered in Shandong auto market has been keeping a more than 50,000 units high, rapidly overtaking Guangdong Province to be auto market leader in China. The situation was especially excellent in the second half, the traditional good seasons of September and October. In September registration volume reached 77,552 units, firstly hitting 70,000. In October and November, the numbers were respectively more than 60,000 and 70,000. It can be said that we has been accustomed to the explosive growth in Shandong auto market. However, the data of 103672 units in December, a growth of 34% compared to November while 252% compared to the same period of last year still sounded incredible.

　　There were 100,000 cars registered only a month’s time in Shandong province. What did that mean? According to related data, last May, car sales in Japan was 159,600 and in the United Kingdom, Canada and South Korea, sales volumes were all at around 100,000 units nationwide, including passenger and commercial car, including most of about 10 million units; and in Australia, sales were only 75,441 units. As a province, that the sales of Shandong were competitive to that of developed countries meant the Chinese auto market fully deserves the title of NO.1 indeed. Pulled by the staggering sales in December, all 17 cities in Shandong Province refreshed their record monthly number, among which, the top three Jinan, Qingdao and Weifang all topped 12,000. Similarly, on the manufacturers’ list, except Dongfeng Nissan, the first nine car manufacturers all refreshed the monthly number in Shandong Province. It is worth mentioning that with a excellent result of 7761, BYD became the top three while Chery won fourth place with a sales of 7334. Self-owned brands took up half of the market was unprecedented in Shandong.

　　Jinan and Qingdao led a strong rise of second-tier markets

　　Like two engines, Jinan and Qinghai’s dominant position in Shandong province-level is hard to shake. In the year of 2009, the cars registered in these two cities were 93,616 and 93,248 units, a growth of 58% compared to the year before. However, in this year, the highlight of Shandong auto market is the rise of a strong is the strong rise of second-tier markets. Encouraged by national favorable policies in the early last year such as low-emission vehicles purchase tax cut- down and cars to the countries, second-tier markets represented by Weifang and Linyi rose rapidly, becoming a new growth point in Shandong auto market. According to related data, in 2009, cars registered in Weifang were 88,886 cars, up 91% while in Linyi 65,483, an increase of nearly 80%. Annual sales of other cities like Yantai, Zibo, and Jining also exceeded 40,000 units. Among these 17 cities, with a number of 21 873 units, twice of 2008, Zaozhuang got the biggest growth. In addition, increase of Weihai and Dezhou were both more than 90%.

　　Comprehensively speaking, Shandong auto market has a balanced development structure, which is led by Jinan, Qingdao and Weifang, and the west, middle and east of Shandong Province kept pace. Throughout the whole year of2008, only 5 in 17 cities of Shandong registered more than 30,000 cars while in 2009, 12 cities reached this level. Even Heze and Laiwu which fell at the end, gained a annual sales of more than 10,000 units.

　　 VW & GM contending for control; the rankings of self-owned brands soaring

　　　Compared with 2008, the ranking of Shandong automobile manufacturers changed greatly. The first camp members are still four giants Shanghai Volkswagen, Shanghai GM, FAW Volkswagen and Beijing Hyundai, just the ranking got fine-tuning. The second camp has become the oyster of independent brands that the ranking of three leading self-owned brands Chery Automobile, Geely and BYD has been significantly promoted while old JV brands Guangzhou Honda and Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen kicked out. After the out of Guangzhou Honda, as the only Japanese brand in the list, Dongfeng Nissan has done an excellent job in the Shandong market. However, its ranking has not been able to be further improved for limited capacity. It was somewhat unexpected for DYK to appear on the list. Its performance in Shandong is much higher than that of its average level in the whole domestic market. The sales volume of more than 30,000 units throughout the year was really persuasive. This number was even higher that Beijing Hyundai, one of the four giants if placed in 2008. The specific rankings of major auto manufacturers in 2009 in Shandong were as follows:

　　With a sales volume of 79,471 and market share of 10.49%, Shanghai Volkswagen has no doubt been reelected as Champions for the 21st time after it entered into Shandong auto market 22 years before. Shanghai GM, who once beat down Shanghai Volkswagen in 2006 fought back in 2009 and got the second place with a sales volume of 70,289 and market share of 9.28%. Both these two manufacturers are far ahead of other competitors with excellent performance of more than 70,000 units. Surprisingly, the 60,000 section is a blank, which means in Shandong auto market the time VW and GM will contend for control has quietly came. With a sales volume of 59 536 and market share of 7.89%, old FAW-Volkswagen won the third place while the No. 4 Beijing Hyundai gained a sales amount of 57 824 and a market share of 7.63%. Then comes the No. 5 Chery with a sales volume of 44 199 and a market share of 5.83%; the No. 6BYD with a sales volume of 42,065 and a market share of 5.55% and then No. 7 Dongfeng Nissan with a sales amount of 37 753 and a market share of 4.98%; No. 8 Geely with a sales volume of 35 811 and a market share of 4.73% and finally No. 9 DYK with a sales volume of 31603 and a market share of 4.17%.

　　Compared with the previous year, the manufacturers developed so fast in Shandong automobile market in the year of 2009 that the growth rate of top nine all exceeded 40%. Shanghai GM was up to 73% and Beijing Hyundai 105%, both of which sold nearly more 30,000 units. DYKia’s growth rate also exceeded 100%. It was self-owned brands that actually stole the show. Geely grew by 102% while Chery cars increased by 136%, jumping from the No.7 in 2008 to No. 5. Besides, BYD moved up eight grades with an annual growth reached 245%.

　　Members of “1,000 Club” members expanded

　　With the significant increase of registration volume, the members of “1,000 Club” expanded largely from 13 to 19 in November in Shandong. In terms of the models on the list, only the new Passat Lingyu is still defending the honor of B-class car segment. Currently, “1,000 Club” is still the stage for the low-end sedans. Remarkably, the models of A00 Class now have been expanding since its accession for the first time in September. This month it has four models. Specific rankings are as follows: after reached the summit in October, BYD F3 successfully defended its title with a sales volume of 2869 units. The runner-up is still the new Buick Excelle sedan, with a sales volume of 2648 in November. Beijing Hyundai Elantra became third place holder with a sales volume of 2355. No. 4 FAW-Volkswagen Jetta had a sales volume of 2026. Then followed: No. 5 Chevrolet Lova sold out 1977 units; No. 5 Beijing Hyundai Elantra sold out 1646.No. 5 7 Chery QQ3 sold out1363 units. No. 8 Geely free shipping 1324 units; No. 9 DYK Cerato1290; No. 10 SAIC-GM-Wuling SPARK 1251 units; No. 11 Volkswagen New Bora 1233; No. 12 Shanghai Volkswagen Sunny 1226; No. 13 Changhe Beidouxing 1198; No. 14 Tianjin FAW Wei Chi sedan 1191; No. 15 chang’an Yuexiang 1122; No. 16 Shanghai-Volkswagen new Lingyu1067; No. 17 Chevrolet Cruz1043; No. 18 BYD F0 1004; No. 19 Dongfeng Nissan Bluebird SYLPHY1001.

　　Throughout the above members of “1,000 Club”, Shanghai Volkswagen, Beijing Hyundai, FAW-Volkswagen, and BYD all has two models been chosen while Shanghai GM has three. Dongfeng Nissan, Chery, Geely Automobile and DYK models also have a main model chosen. Only 4 months besides the Top 9 on brand list exceeded a thousand units, which mean the purchasing power of the current auto market concentrated on the mainstream brands.

　　(Translator: Yalong/Jessie)

　　See original Chinese report Please click: http://auto.sohu.com/20100420/n271634588.shtml