China's auto market opened in 2018! Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar Land Rover launch the "First Shot"

While the Beijing auto show was still in full swing, a wave of downfall was already underway. Under the slight growth of the auto market in China, this official launching battle initiated by a luxury brand will undoubtedly become one of the focuses of the second half of the auto market.

According to the requirements of Document 32 of Caixi [2018] issued by the State Administration of Taxation on April 4th, 2018, taxpayers' taxable sales activities or imported goods are subject to value-added tax, and the original rates of 17% and 11% are applied, and the tax rate is adjusted to 16 respectively. %, 10%, and implemented on May 1, 2018. Just on the first day of the implementation of the new policy, luxury car companies have started a new round of official decline.

According to the official announcement of Mercedes-Benz, the manufacturer's suggested retail price of vehicles for sale was reduced from May 1st, of which, smart models will have a maximum decrease of 2,000 yuan, and the maximum reduction of C-class vehicles and GLVs will be 4,000 yuan; S-class and Maybach The drop in the model ranged from 7,000 to 25,000 yuan, and the highest drop in the Mercedes-AMG model exceeded 32,000 yuan. At the same time, Jaguar Land Rover also announced that it will adjust the current models for sale in the Chinese market as soon as possible, while the Lincoln brand also announced the official price reduction decision at the same time. On average, each new car is 2,000 yuan less on the previous basis.

In 2018, the new round of official landings in the Chinese auto market has attracted particular attention. This official landing took the lead by the luxury auto market. According to global sales data released by Daimler Group, in the Asia-Pacific region, the Mercedes-Benz brand delivered a total of 249,106 new vehicles as of the end of March, up 13.5% year-on-year, setting a new record in the region's first-quarter history. Among them, in the Chinese market Mercedes-Benz sales reached 58471 in March, the first quarter cumulative sales of 169,932 units, an increase of 17.2%, as the first camp of the luxury car market "number one player", Mercedes-Benz took the lead in the Chinese market, "2018 official drop first Guns, naturally attract people's attention.

Jaguar Land Rover also performed well in the second-tier luxury car camp. In 2017, Jaguar Land Rover’s annual sales in China reached 146,399 units, a year-on-year increase of 23%, setting a sales record since the brand entered China. In March this year, it sold 13,596 units in China, an increase of 11% year-over-year, and accumulated 37,306 units in the first quarter. On the other hand, the sales volume of the Lincoln brand in China also hit record highs. In 2017, Lincoln's annual domestic sales reached 54,124 units, an increase of 66% year-on-year. In the first quarter, cumulative sales reached 12,710 units, a year-on-year increase of 10%.

Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, and Lincoln have successively entered the "Official Battle," which is bound to trigger the chain reaction of other players. A Chinese auto market's official storm "has a desire to come to the building."

According to the data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers in March, the auto market in China showed a "slightly higher growth year-on-year, slightly higher year-on-year" feature: sales volume increased by 46.97 percent month-on-month and 3.45% year-on-year. Accumulated sales in the January-March period increased 2.56% year-on-year. . Correspondingly, the dealer inventory index remains high.

According to the China Automobile Dealers Association recently released "China's auto dealers inventory early warning index survey" shows: in March China's auto dealers comprehensive inventory coefficient was 1.55, down 7% year-on-year, a decline of 5% from the chain, stock levels at 1.5 alert Above the line, the inventory warning index of auto dealers in March was 52.1%, which was a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, but the inventory warning index was above the warning line.

According to data from the CLUCC, sales in the general passenger vehicle market fell 1.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, with sedan down 9.4% and MPV down 13.6%. The actual increase in the SUV market has already fallen to single digits. According to industry insiders, the 38% increase in the auto market in 2018 is already a very optimistic result.

A number of high-level executives expressed their anxiety about the auto market knock-out. “All auto companies who have survived 2020 will be heroes and will not be eliminated if they don't.” And as the automakers battled down, the Chinese auto market The knockout is bound to present a bloody battle.