Ministry of Commerce: Three aspects to ensure the stable and healthy development of the automobile industry

The Information Office of the State Council will hold a regular policy briefing of the State Council at 3 pm on November 27, 2020 (Friday), invite Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan, Director of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Luo Junjie, Ministry of Commerce Wang Bin, head of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion, and Liu Jinxi, executive director, press spokesperson, and director of the Cooperation Guidance Department of the National Supply and Marketing Cooperatives introduced the situation regarding boosting major consumption and promoting the release of rural consumption potential and gave answers.

The automobile industry has a long chain, a wide range of areas, and a particularly high degree of internationalization. Since the beginning of this year, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia has been greatly affected. We focus on the combination of far and near, and concurrently promote the pull of the consumer side and the upgrade of the supply side, and strive to ensure the stable and healthy development of the automobile industry. In summary, there are mainly three aspects of work.

The first is to promote the introduction of relevant policies to promote consumption. In order to actively respond to the impact of the epidemic and solve the problem of insufficient effective demand, we have actively cooperated with relevant departments to study and introduce a 'package' of policy measures to stabilize and expand automobile consumption. At the same time, we have also urged more than ten provinces and cities including Guangdong, Shanghai, and Beijing to speed up the introduction. Specific policy measures to promote automobile consumption. With the emergence of policy effects, from January to October, my country’s automobile production reached 19.52 million vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 4.6%, which was significantly better than our expectations at the beginning of this year and also better than the global level for the same period. The double victory of social development has made positive contributions.

The second is to increase the promotion of new energy vehicles. Especially in rural areas, we also consider that we have many advantages for the promotion of new energy vehicles. In order to promote the consumption upgrade of new energy vehicles suitable for rural areas and guide the transformation of rural residents’ travel mode, we will work with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce this year. Since July, we have organized and carried out new energy vehicles going to the countryside. So far, we have completed special events in Qingdao, Jiangsu, Hainan, and Sichuan in Shandong. According to preliminary statistics, the four-month sales of the rural-style model has approached 100,000. At the same time, we are also promoting the electrification of public vehicles. This work not only effectively promotes energy saving and emission reduction, but also promotes the construction of charging and swapping infrastructure. To this end, we will work with relevant departments to launch a special action to promote the electrification of public vehicles, and further increase the promotion of new energy vehicles in the fields of public transportation, rental, logistics and distribution. Through the joint efforts of all parties, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in my country have shown a trend of rapid growth. Everyone knows that in October this year, our sales reached 160,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 104.5%.

The third is to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure. In order to promote the high-quality development of new energy vehicles, since this year, we have accelerated the organization and preparation of the 'New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)' mid- and long-term plan, which was officially issued by the General Office of the State Council on October 20. This 'Plan' is another programmatic document on my country's new energy automobile industry following the 'Energy-saving and New Energy Automobile Industry Development Plan (2012-2020)' that we formulated in 2012, achieving an orderly policy succession . These new plans will play an important guiding role in the future development of the industry. In order to adapt to the development trend of vehicle electrification, intelligence, and connectivity, we have also organized research on key technologies of smart connected vehicles and demonstrations of manned and passenger applications, and promoted the research and development of cutting-edge technologies such as computing platforms and lidars. Some initial results. At present, 15% of newly launched models are equipped with L2 advanced driving assistance systems, and the development of the intelligent networked automobile industry has also maintained a good momentum.

In the next step, we will conscientiously implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, establish a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and the domestic and international dual cycles promote each other, enhance innovation capabilities, improve policies and measures, and work hard. Promote the dual upgrade of automobile consumption and industry. Work in the following areas:

The first is to increase industrial innovation to generate new consumer demand. We must earnestly implement the work deployment of the 'New Energy Automobile Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)' issued by the General Office of the State Council, strengthen work coordination and policy linkage, and coordinate the development of in-depth integration of automobiles and energy, transportation, and information and communications industries. Do a good job in a series of key tasks such as research on intelligent networked vehicle technology, standard development, application demonstration, etc., promote the construction and application of 5G, LTE-V2X and other infrastructures, and start a pilot city for the coordinated development of smart city infrastructure and intelligent networked vehicles Work, through the mutual promotion and integrated development of electrification and intelligent network technology, develop more functions suitable for consumers' leisure and entertainment, life services, autonomous driving, etc., and promote more consumer demand.

The second is to improve policies and measures to promote automobile consumption. Encourage local governments to introduce more preferential policies for real money. We will work with relevant departments to formulate a plan for car-going to the countryside and further promote the consumption upgrade of rural cars. To declare, work with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant departments to study award and supplementary support policies to effectively drive private consumption through electrification in the public sector. At the same time, we will further strengthen industry management, strengthen safety supervision, optimize management policies, improve service levels, and provide guarantees and support to boost automobile consumption and promote industrial development. (Source: The Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China)