China Association of Automobile Manufacturers: Imports of auto parts in January-February were 5.97 billion US dollars, down 17.7% year-on-year, according to the national customs import and export data of auto goods organized by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in January-February 2022, imports of auto parts were 5.97 billion US dollars, down 17.7% year-on-year. In the main varieties of auto parts, compared with the same period last year, the import amount of automobile and motorcycle tires showed rapid growth, and the other three categories of parts showed a significant decline.

Auto parts industry trends

Under the background of increasingly severe global energy demand and environmental pollution pressure, reducing vehicle energy consumption and reducing emissions has become one of the main issues faced by governments and the automotive industry. Automobile lightweight is an important way to realize automobile energy saving and emission reduction, and has become the trend of world automobile development. As one of the main development directions of automotive lightweight material technology, aluminum alloy materials are increasingly used in the automotive parts industry.

Energy and environmental issues are the challenges that China's automobile industry must face to achieve sustainable development, and automotive lightweight is also an important development path for China's automobile and parts industry. As a traditional resource country, China has maintained the first position in global production of aluminum alloy and other materials for several years, and rich lightweight material resources provide conditions for the development of China's automobile lightweight.

The 14th Five-Year Plan for China and the Outline of the Vision Goals for 2035 put forward an action plan for peaking carbon emissions by 2030, striving to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, promoting clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient use of energy, and deepening low-carbon transformation in industry, construction, transportation and other sectors. Automobile lightweight is an important way to achieve energy saving and emission reduction in the automotive field.

In addition to the air resistance that must be overcome during the driving of the car, a variety of resistance is proportional to the mass of the vehicle, therefore, reducing the mass of the car can effectively reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Automobile lightweight is the common choice of global automobile manufacturers to cope with energy and environmental challenges, and it is also the only way for the sustainable development of the automobile industry. For China's automobile industry, the development of automobile lightweight technology is the need of China's energy saving and emission reduction, but also the need of industrial structure adjustment, but also to enhance the international competitiveness of China's automobile products, enhance the ability of independent innovation, and build an automobile power.

Automotive lightweight is a comprehensive project integrating material technology, manufacturing technology and structural design technology, including the application of lightweight materials, new manufacturing technologies and processes, as well as advanced structural optimization or design methods, reflected in three aspects of product structure, materials and manufacturing. In terms of materials, it is necessary to vigorously promote the application of high-strength steel, aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy, engineering plastics, composite materials and so on in automobiles.

The density of aluminum alloy is small, only one-third of steel, with good technology, corrosion resistance, vibration absorption, weldability and easy recycling characteristics, is an excellent lightweight material. The weight reduction effect can reach 30%-40% after the traditional structural parts are replaced by aluminum. After the body weight is reduced, due to the reduced load, the brake system and suspension and other components can be designed to be lighter, thereby bringing secondary weight reduction, and the weight reduction effect can reach 50%. Therefore, replacing steel with aluminum alloy as a structural material can bring significant weight reduction. At the same time, aluminum has the characteristics of easy recycling. According to the analysis of the European Aluminum Association, 95% of the aluminum material can be recycled after the car is scrapped, and 95% of the energy consumption can be saved compared to the production of primary aluminum.

According to statistics from the European Aluminum Association, the amount of aluminum used in each car in Europe has risen sharply in the past 20 years, from 50 kg in 1990 to 140 kg in 2012, and is expected to reach 160 kg in 2020, and the amount of aluminum used in some models has even exceeded 500 kg. According to the "Energy Saving and New energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap" compiled by the China Society of Automotive Engineering, the development goals of China's automotive lightweight technology include the amount of aluminum used in bicycles to reach 190 kg in 2020, 250 kg in 2025, and 350 kg in 2030.

As a non-renewable energy source, oil is difficult to sustain the huge demand for vehicle fuel in the long run, and it is difficult to avoid carbon emissions and other pollution problems. Therefore, new energy vehicles as a product of the development of the automobile industry came into being. As one of China's strategic emerging industries, the development of new energy vehicles bears the historical mission of easing the pressure on oil resources, solving the problem of environmental pollution, realizing the structural adjustment and transformation and upgrading of China's automobile industry, and making the automobile industry bigger and stronger.

Auto parts industry status

With the strong support of national policies, China's new energy vehicle industry has developed rapidly. According to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China in 2020 will be 1.36700 million, with a year-on-year growth rate of 10.90%.

China's car sales in 2020 will be 25.3110 million, according to which the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China in 2020 has risen to 5.40%. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Public Security, by the end of 2021, the number of new energy vehicles in China was 7.84 million, accounting for 2.6% of the total number of vehicles, of which 6.4 million were pure electric vehicles, an increase of 60% year-on-year, accounting for 81.6% of the total number of new energy vehicles.

According to the data of the China Automobile Association, in the whole year of 2021, the production and sales of new energy vehicles completed 3.545 million and 3.521 million, respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, and the market share reached 13.4%, which was 8 percentage points higher than the previous year. Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles completed 2.942 million and 2.916 million, respectively, an increase of 1.7 times and 1.6 times. The production and sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were 601,000 and 603,000, up 1.3 times and 1.4 times respectively. The production and sales of fuel cell vehicles completed 2,000 units, showing year-on-year growth.

The "New energy automobile industry Development plan" mentioned that by 2025, China's new energy penetration rate should reach 20%, and the continuous development of the new energy automobile industry has brought new development opportunities and challenges for auto parts. On the one hand, new energy vehicles are one of the important development directions of the automotive industry in the future, which can bring a broader incremental market space for the automotive industry, and also promote the innovation of technology and products in the auto parts industry. On the other hand, there are also certain differences between new energy vehicles and traditional vehicles in structural design and power system, which requires auto parts manufacturers to quickly respond to the needs of downstream Oems and develop and produce products suitable for the development trend of new energy vehicles.

The prosperity of the automobile industry is closely related to macroeconomic factors such as domestic and foreign economic development, trade pattern, industrial policy, and upstream and downstream supply and demand. When the growth rate of macroeconomic development and per capita disposable income slows down, the state's support for the automobile industry decreases, and the price of raw materials or products rises due to trade policies, the sales scale of automobiles is often affected. At the same time, the automotive industry is a huge industrial chain, when the key parts in the industrial chain are not delivered in time, it will affect the output of downstream vehicles.