Shanghai Automobile Production Recoveres to Pre-Pandemic Levels

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) reported on Tuesday that the Shanghai production bases of several major vehicle companies had, by mid-June, increased their single-day  production numbers. Of the companies mentioned, SAIC Motor, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM had reached 13,000 vehicles, which equal to pre-pandemic numbers. Further, more than 1,000 automobile part manufacturers have resumed production.

So far, about 17,000 vehicles from four Chinese brands including IM, Rising Auto, ROEWE and MG, rolled off the production line one after another, and these companies have officially started double-shift productions as of June 18. SAIC’s production base in Shanghai has produced more than 200,000 vehicles in the first half of June, with an increase of about 30% year-on-year. Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai is adopting a double-shift system for closed production, and the capacity utilization has recovered to 100% in early June.

Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said on June 14 that the output of SAIC Motor in early June increased by nearly 60% year-on-year, and that Tesla has now achieved full production capacity. Judging from the situation in the Greater Bay Area, Guangdong’s industrial enterprises have basically resumed normal production. At present, the resumption rate of work and production of industrial enterprises has exceeded 98%, and key industries such as automobiles and electronic information, which were greatly affected by the epidemic in the early stages, have now basically returned to normal levels.

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According to data previously released by the CPCA, retail sales of passenger cars had reached 1.354 million vehicles in May 2022, a decrease of 16.9% year-on-year and an increase of 29.7% month-on-month. The growth rate of retail sales in May was at the highest in the same period over the last six years. From January to May, cumulative retail sales totalled 7.315 million vehicles, a decrease of 1.07 million vehicles year-on-year and a decrease of 12.8% year-on-year. In terms of year-on-year, a decline of 860,000 vehicles from April to May had a great impact.

In May, the wholesale sales volume of new energy passenger cars reached 421,000 vehicles, an increase of 111.5% year-on-year and 49.8% month-on-month. The development of new energy was also impacted by the current epidemic, but the month-on-month improvement exceeded expectations. From January to May, 1.892 million new energy passenger vehicles were sold through wholesale channels, an increase of 117.4% year-on-year. In May, the retail sales of new energy passenger cars reached 360,000 vehicles, an increase of 91.2% year-on-year and 26.9% month-on-month, forming a “W-shaped” trend from January to May. From January to May, the domestic retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles was 1.712 million, an increase of 119.5% year-on-year.