Recently, the 2024 China New Energy Vehicle 10 Million Achievement Event was held in Wuhan, Hubei Province. All parties in the industry jointly welcomed the historic breakthrough of the first annual 10 million new energy vehicles, and the production and sales scale of China's new energy vehicles is entering the era of annual "tens of millions of vehicles".
Xin Guobin, Deputy Minister of Industry and Information Technology, stated that it took nearly 10 years for China's new energy vehicles to reach an annual production and sales volume of over one million vehicles, starting from the promotion of the "Ten Cities Thousand Vehicles" scale in 2009; By 2022, the annual production and sales volume will exceed 5 million vehicles, taking about 4 years; It only took about 2 years for this year's production to exceed 10 million vehicles per year for the first time.
After officially entering the annual production and sales level of millions, consumers' confidence and enthusiasm for purchasing new energy vehicles will further increase. With a series of government incentive measures, more consumers will choose new energy vehicles as their first choice for car purchases. With breakthroughs in new energy vehicle technologies such as power batteries, charging facilities, and intelligent driving, consumers will also have more diverse and high-quality products to choose from when choosing new energy vehicles.
What new consumer trends will China's new energy vehicle market face? Recently, the Chebai Think Tank, in collaboration with Lis Category Innovation Strategy Consulting, released a report titled "Observations and Suggestions on the Consumer Side of New Energy Intelligent Vehicles", which provides a detailed analysis of the three new characteristics of new energy vehicle consumption.
Domestic automobile consumption is undergoing a phase of kinetic energy transformation. The report points out that as of the end of June 2024, the total number of automobiles in China has reached 345 million. The last peak of car sales in China occurred from 2016 to 2018, reaching 28 million units. Combined with a 4-9-year car replacement cycle, it will enter a peak period of centralized car replacement in the near future. According to relevant institutions' calculations, the proportion of replacement purchases in 2023 has exceeded 50%; It is expected that by 2030, the proportion of Chinese passenger car buyers who increase their purchases through trade ins will rise to 80%. It can be seen that the demand for improvement has become the core driving force of the future market.
The diffusion of new energy vehicles from the early adopters to the mass market has been completed. In July 2024, the monthly retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles in China exceeded 50% for the first time, and the trend of diffusion to non restricted and purchase restricted cities became increasingly evident. The report points out that from January to July 2024, the sales growth rate of new energy vehicles in third tier and below cities reached 55%, which is 1.7 times the growth rate of first and second tier cities. At the same time, the price structure of new energy vehicles is returning to the spindle shaped distribution of mass demand, with mid-range models priced between 100000 and 200000 yuan becoming the mainstream in the market.
The younger generation of consumers has become an important force driving market change. The post-90s and post-00s generations are known as Generation Z, who have a higher level of identification with new energy vehicles and have driven a change in the concept of automobile consumption. Data shows that over 40% of Generation Z consumers consider the level of intelligent driving as an important consideration when purchasing a car, and they are willing to pay additional fees for more advanced intelligent driving technology. At the same time, this generation of young consumers pay more attention to obtaining information and making decisions online. They often delve into product details through the internet and social media before purchasing a car, forming a consumption model of "online car selection, offline experience". The change in this behavior pattern has prompted automotive companies to increase investment in digital marketing and user experience to cope with the profound changes in the market.