China Auto Market: Shifting Winds
China's consumer market is undergoing a shift, which can be succinctly described as the contraction of youth consumption, the rise of middle-aged consumption, and the untapped potential of elderly consumption.
The purchasing power of the 30 to 45 age group is becoming increasingly significant.
This is the result of multiple factors.
First, the base is large; in China's population pyramid, the generation in their thirties and forties stands out prominently.
Second, the quality is high; the careers of this generation have coincided with the rapid economic growth of China, witnessing several waves of wealth creation through real estate, the internet, and e-commerce.
Their demands are also very immediate.
Compared to the increasingly laid-back youth consumption and the yet-to-erupt silver economy, boosting consumption largely depends on them.
The current consumer industry is catering to them, and this is a period of reshaping the structure of many industries, especially for some bulk consumption, which is related to the survival of enterprises and will also affect the vital interests of consumers.
1.
In the real estate sector, improvement is the lifeline.
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The most typical example is housing.
The real estate market is sluggish, and the total scale of housing demand continues to contract.
In the first half of this year, the total transaction volume of first and second-hand houses in the 20 key cities monitored by CRIC decreased by 22% year-on-year.
However, in the transaction structure, the proportion of improvements exceeded that of the demand, and the transaction proportion of large-area products over 100 square meters has risen significantly, pulling small houses further and further away.
Now, in the new housing market, the proportion of houses over 100 square meters has reached as high as 64%.
The first and second improvement demands of middle-aged people with elderly above and children below have become the absolute core to support the real estate market.
For example, in Xi'an, the proportion of people who need their first house in 2024 is only 28%, down 9 percentage points from 2023, the proportion of the first improvement customer group is 43%, and the second improvement demand is 18%, adding up to more than 61%, which is consistent with the proportion of house types over 100 square meters.
The entire market has formed a pattern of demand going to second-hand houses to buy small houses, and improvement going to the new housing market to buy large houses.
Whether new houses can go to inventory is related to the current developers' financial pressure and the local government's increasingly anxious land sales revenue.
It can be said that those who have the ability to improve in the new housing market are the lifeline of China's real estate market.
Their housing needs and preferences have also deeply affected the speed of developers' inventory removal.
Recently, developers have launched the "fourth-generation housing", which has made progress in public sharing, house type design, and smart houses, to better meet the needs of those who improve.
2.
In the automobile market, the demand for improvement has also become the mainstream.
In another bulk consumption of automobiles, there is also this trend.
Everyone usually pays more attention to new energy vehicles replacing oil vehicles, and few people notice the changes in the age structure of consumer groups, which brings changes in car usage demands, and then affects the entire market.
Such changes have occurred three times in China's automobile market.
The first time was before 2007, when the mainstream of China's car market was dominated by the rich and unit users, and the main car usage scenario was public business, mainly used to pick up leaders and customers.
When buying a car, they paid great attention to brand, quality, space, etc., and were basically monopolized by joint ventures.
Most independent brands could only grab a share in the low-end market.
After 2008, the post-80s generation began to emerge, and the urbanization process accelerated.
Many of the first generation of people entering the city began to buy cars for transportation, becoming the main body of the market.
The core use of this period was to commute to work, and everyone paid more attention to the practicality and economy of the car.
Independent brands also ushered in opportunities.
After several years of technological precipitation, they stood firm in the A-class car and began to rise.
By 2019, the post-80s car owners were over thirty years old, began to pay attention to enjoying life, and not only enjoyed themselves but also brought their families.
Family self-driving tours began to become the biggest demand.
This change in the age of the customer group brought about changes in demands, which had a greater impact on the market than the replacement of new energy by old energy.
It was at this stage that Chinese car companies began to differentiate.
Some car companies, mainly joint ventures, continued to lie in the A-class car market of the previous stage and were unwilling to take a step forward.
Another part of the car companies, imitating Europe and America to go to pure electric strategy, the car model towards the development of youth, while pursuing a sense of technology, but ignoring the changes in China's population structure, resulting in a large part of the group being ignored.
Especially the generation of people who bought cars after 08, according to age and car purchase time, there is actually a great demand for car replacement.
Most of them are in their thirties and forties, and their education is also with the popularization of higher education in China, mostly above undergraduate.
In the past few years of urbanization, they have settled down in the first and second lines, and their annual income is also in the prime of life, capable of upgrading from simple personal comfort to face and family comfort.
So their consumption concept when buying a car is both rational and enterprising.
When buying a car, they value the brand and also value family use, such as holidays when the whole family goes back to their hometown, self-driving tours and other scenes.
If they are only children, they are basically three generations in the same room, and the comfort of three rows also needs to be considered.
3.
Hongqi HS7 PHEV is an enterprising choice for family cars.
As a representative of domestic luxury car brands, Hongqi has always firmly grasped the changes in market direction and led the development direction of the industry.
The newly launched Hongqi HS7 PHEV is a hybrid SUV that is very suitable for Chinese families and firmly grasps the needs of this generation.
Hongqi HS7 PHEV is equipped with an advanced plug-in hybrid power system, which is composed of a 2.0T super hybrid engine and a dual-motor hybrid transmission, which is both powerful and efficient and fuel-saving.
The engine's highest thermal efficiency is 44.42%, which is the highest in the same class of SUVs, and the fuel consumption performance is very good, 8% lower than traditional cars.
The motor uses HDU35 high-efficiency hybrid special motors, which are very powerful.
Moreover, Hongqi also has multi-mode intelligent control technology, which can achieve pure electric, series, direct drive and two-wheel drive, four-wheel drive and other multi-mode control, and can quickly switch between "4 engines and 8 modes", which can be oil or electricity, intelligently match the most suitable mode, so that the vehicle is always in the best state, and it is very fuel-efficient to drive.
The fuel consumption is only 6.32L/100km, and the comprehensive range can reach more than 1100km.
As a car that focuses on families, Hongqi HS7 PHEV pays great attention to safety.
In terms of passive safety, its steel ratio and steel strength are all very strict standards, coupled with the newly upgraded 9H4M body, whether it is the driver's cabin or the passenger cabin, it can ensure the survival space of the occupants as much as possible.
Coupled with 6 airbags, dual-stage pretightening limit force seat belts and other configurations, it is rare in the same class of cars to have the highest level of products in both C-NCAP and China Insurance Automobile Safety Index (C-IASI).
In terms of active safety, Hongqi HS7 PHEV has everything and is very comprehensive, such as forward collision warning (FCW), active emergency braking system (AEB), rear collision warning, etc., which can help the vehicle avoid potential collision hazards during driving and achieve the industry-leading "national car safety".
All of the above are safety improvements in the era of oil cars.
In the new energy era, the safety of batteries is the top priority, and many car companies are increasing the research and development of battery safety.
Hongqi pioneered the active precision spray technology, which has a strong air heat technology and can control the battery temperature in all scenarios.
The sealing safety level of the battery pack has reached IP8X, and extreme weather and water do not affect it.
Hongqi has also specially developed a "power battery cloud safety guard", which can achieve full life cycle and all-round cloud monitoring, and can monitor and ensure the safety of the battery whether people are in the car or not.
In the trend of intelligence, Hongqi HS7 PHEV is not inferior.
The mainstream AR-HUD allows the driver to obtain vehicle and road conditions more clearly, and no matter how complex the weather and road conditions are, you can see it clearly at a glance.
All-weather, all-road conditions.
Coupled with the SACC advanced cruise system, if you are tired on a long journey, you can assist driving.
The car machine's intelligent interconnection is also excellent, whether it is human-computer interaction or intelligent voice assistants, you can control it with voice, and all seats can be awakened.
Its software also has a complete OTA upgrade, and the entire life cycle supports software optimization, coupled with the navigation customization based on the Gaode SDK version, which can provide users with a surprising and more scene-based travel experience.
As the latest masterpiece of the independent brand luxury car, Hongqi HS7 PHEV inherits the luxury of the Hongqi brand and has been fully upgraded in details.
The shape adopts the Hongqi family's iconic waterfall grille, and the chrome trim and the Hongqi logo inlaid in the center complement each other, highlighting the extraordinary temperament of the national car.
The streamlined body design is both tough and elegant, and the LED headlight group is sharp, not losing to any luxury joint venture car.
The interior is also luxurious, with a wing-like wrap-around cockpit layout, a large number of soft materials and leather wrapping, coupled with crystal and real aluminum trim panels, full of luxury texture.
The 12.3-inch LCD instrument panel and the 12.6-inch central control screen are also charming, and the car's Dynaudio brand audio and multi-color ambient lights bring people the ultimate audio-visual enjoyment.
This sense of luxury is not lost to the joint venture luxury cars of 40 to 50 ten thousand.
Moreover, before September 30th, you can enjoy the listed preferential price of 259,800 based on the official guide price of 315,000, as well as replacement subsidies, zero down payment and low interest rate and other preferential policies.
At the price of 250,000, compared with joint venture SUVs and some new forces, Hongqi HS7 PHEV has obvious advantages in both plug-in hybrid engines and electric motors and batteries, as well as the influence of luxury brands, and it can better meet the comprehensive car needs of a Chinese family.In the past two years, many people have been saying that the automotive industry is in turmoil, with dealerships going bankrupt, car manufacturers' profits sliding, and even the quality of cars becoming a concern, which affects consumers.
The reason for these issues is still the misalignment of supply and demand.
In today's consumer market, we talk the most about stimulating the demand side, but the matching of the supply side cannot be neglected either.
This is where our automotive industry needs to not only undergo a transformation in energy but also to diligently study the market, analyze the significant changes in population, age, and purchasing power, and then produce cars that satisfy consumers.
Finally, this feedback to the production side can lead to increased efficiency.
This is the virtuous cycle that breaks away from the vicious competition, where everyone can benefit.
For car manufacturers, only by being patient and forward-looking like Hongqi, firmly grasping the changes in market demand, can they walk more steadily and further in the second half of the new energy revolution, continuously bringing better products to users.
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