The 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China has been the 70 years in which my country’s auto industry has been striving to become stronger and growing. It has also been the 70 years in which my country’s auto consumption has gone from lifeless to vigorous growth and then standardized and mature. year. Nowadays, my country's automobile society has grown into a fully functional automobile society composed of a new car, a used car market, a diversified multi-level accessory market, and a rich and colorful automotive aftermarket. Growth has become an inherent attribute and characteristic of China's automotive society. We will summarize and review the growth experience of my country's automobile society in the past 70 years from the aspects of automobile society growth, changes in sales models, changes in automobile consumption views, evolution of automobile products, and the development of the second-hand car industry.

      From 1949 to 2019, New China has gone through a magnificent 70 years of glorious years. From the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the era of poverty and poverty, poverty and weakness, and abandonment, to the new era of prosperity, democracy and prosperity. . As one of the pillar industries in the development of the national economy, the automobile industry has always shared the same destiny with the new China. The development of China's automobile industry from scratch, from small to large, has also made automobiles an important participant in the development and changes of Chinese society. One of them. Looking at the glorious epic of the new China for 70 years, the history of the growth of my country's automobile society is indispensable.

From relying on imports to independent production

      On October 1, 1949, New China was founded. However, at that time, the Chinese people were faced with a situation of poverty and waste, waiting to be developed. The newly established New China did not establish its own industrial system at all. As ordinary people at that time, cars that are hard to reach are even rarer.

      Statistics show that in 1949, the national highway mileage was only 75,000 kilometers, and the car ownership was only about 51,000. The automobile transport volume is only 5.63 million tons, and the passenger volume is 18 million. It can be seen that road transportation was extremely backward at that time, and people carrying animals on their backs were still the main mode of transportation. In 1951, the first taxi company in New China was established in Beijing with only 6 operating vehicles.

      New China, which is waiting to be reborn, cannot be built without automobiles in any aspect. However, due to its weak industrial foundation, it does not have the ability to manufacture automobiles at all and has to rely on imports. Statistics show that from 1950 to 1956, my country imported 67,523 cars, of which trucks accounted for more than 75%.

      Beginning in 1953, one of the two major tasks of the first five-year plan was to concentrate efforts on industrialization. The completion and commissioning of China's No. 1 Automobile Manufacturing Plant was an important industrial construction achievement during the "First Five-Year Plan" period. On July 13, 1956, my country's first batch of Jiefang vehicles were successfully trial-produced at Changchun No. 1 Automobile Plant. It is reported that the driver immediately jumped into the cab after the assembler had finished adding water and oil to the off-line car. Then, with bursts of "Didi" horns, the tall and big dark green truck drove out of the assembly line.

      The advent of Jiefang brand cars put an end to my country’s history of not being able to produce cars, and made my country’s foreign imports directly drop by as much as 70%. Although the Jiefang brand car is a commercial vehicle, it is still far away from the common people buying and using cars, but it still arouses the joy of the people that the motherland can produce cars. According to records, the first batch of Jiefang trucks rolled off the assembly line participated in the National Day military parade in 1956, after which some of the vehicles remained on display at Tiananmen Square. There, countless people vie for the elegance of Jiefang Auto.

Hongqi cars have become memories of generations

      In the development of China's automobile society, the start of the car can be talked about from the birth of the Hongqi car.

      According to records, in August 1958, the central government assigned FAW the task of manufacturing domestically produced luxury cars. FAW workers used a 1955 Chrysler luxury sedan borrowed from Jilin University of Technology as a model. After making improvements based on Chinese national characteristics, they crafted a luxury sedan by hand. According to the memories of the older generation of FAW people: “Fighting for 33 days and nights, I started designing drawings from a piece of white paper, sampled boards with sludge models, hand-made body sheet metal panels, and tried out parts from a hundred miles, condensing all Chinese people. The first prototype of the Hongqi premium sedan was finally completed, with CA72 as the model code."

      On October 1, 1959, the brand-new CA72 Hongqi sedan was unveiled at the National Day celebration in the capital, attracting worldwide attention, and the people were cheering. Since then, people across the country have known the red flag.

      Beginning in the 1960s, Hongqi cars have been designated as the head coaches and foreign affairs courtesy cars of vice ministers and above. Riding in the red flag cars was once regarded as the highest courtesy given to foreign guests by the Chinese government and was known as the "national car."

In the history of Hongqi cars, I have to mention the story of US President Nixon's visit to China on the Hongqi cars. As usual, the President of the United States has always used the presidential car. The only exception was Nixon's visit to China in 1972. Prior to Nixon's visit to China that year, China and the United States discussed the details of the visit in advance. The Chinese insisted that Nixon had to take a Chinese plane and a bulletproof red-flag car provided by China in China, while the U.S. insisted on using the American presidential car. Negotiations fell into a stalemate. In the end, Nixon personally agreed to take a Chinese plane and car. Premier Zhou personally selected and tried the Hongqi 772 bulletproof car. Nixon's visit to China made Hongqi cars famous overseas.

      The Red Flag sedan has won great honors for the country and greatly inspired the national pride of the Chinese people. But one reality is that China in the era of planned economy has not established its own car market. For ordinary people, it is still unimaginable to get in and drive in a car.

      In the planned economy stage, the central and local governments at all levels strictly controlled automobile production and distribution, and automobile companies have never had the right to sell their products. Automobile distribution is generally prepared by the State Planning Commission first, and then issued to the original Ministry of Machinery Industry in charge of automobile production after approval by the State Council. The former Ministry of Machinery Industry organizes both the supplier and the demander to participate in the order fair, and signs the supply contract according to the distribution index. The automobile enterprise is responsible Production and supply.

      After 1976, automobiles were managed at the central and local levels. They belonged to the production plan arranged by the central government, where raw materials were supplied by the central government, and the products were allocated and distributed by the central government; the production plan arranged by the local government was organized by the local government for supply and marketing. By 1978, before the reform and opening up, my country's annual automobile sales were only 149,000, almost all of which were government vehicles and commercial vehicles.

The spring breeze of reform and opening up drives the auto market

      After 1978, with the spring breeze of reform and opening up, mass production of passenger cars in my country began. Sino-foreign joint ventures and the introduction of technology have become an important event of epoch-making significance in my country's automobile industry. The emergence of joint venture car companies has enabled my country's passenger cars to realize the key nature of "from nothing to something", creating new opportunities and injecting fresh blood into the development of passenger cars.

      In 1983, the State Council made a decision that auto manufacturers have a certain percentage of auto sales rights. This means that after completing the national supply contract, auto companies can arrange to produce some products that meet market demand. Beginning in 1984, the restrictions on private car purchases were broken for many years. The state recognized the rationality of individual economy and private car purchases, allowing private enterprises and individuals to participate in the transportation industry, and private car ownership began to increase.

      At this stage, joint venture brand passenger cars represented by the "oldest three" Santana, Jetta, and Fukang appeared in the eyes of ordinary people. But for the vast majority of Chinese consumers at that time, they still had no idea that they could own such a car, whose high price was beyond the reach of ordinary consumers. It is reported that the price of a Santana was about 200,000 yuan. Not only that, even if the money can be used, private purchases must obtain indicators from the Bureau of Industry and Commerce and related letters of introduction, as well as go through cumbersome car purchase procedures to qualify for purchase. Therefore, for a long period of time, cars such as Santana have always been a symbol of status and status, and they are also the first choice for official vehicles of many agencies and institutions.

      1989 was another key node in the development of my country's automobile society. This year, my country's automobile industry changed from a planned economic system to a market economic system. The following ten years have been a decade of rapid development of passenger cars in my country. Passenger car companies have possessed a certain degree of independent development capabilities and laid a basic production pattern and industrial foundation. Through the introduction of technology and joint ventures, the technical level of passenger car products has been greatly improved.

      In addition, the "Industrial Policy for the Automobile Industry" promulgated in 1994, through the macro-management of the automobile industry through industrial policies, confirmed the feasibility of private automobile purchases, and made it clear that by 2000, my country's total automobile production must meet more than 90% of the domestic market. Demand, the output of cars should reach more than half of the total output of cars, and basically meet the demand for entering the family. Since the mid-1990s, with the development of joint ventures, auto production has increased rapidly, and the auto market has begun to grow.

      Changes in the field of automobile circulation have promoted the development of the automobile market. Since 1998, some foreign automobile brands have begun to introduce brand monopoly methods in China. Many original automobile sales agents have been rectified by automobile companies and renamed or authorized as "licensed dealers." "Business", "Brand Store". The wholesale rights of so-called agency enterprises that were originally approved by the state have gradually disappeared. At the same time, large-scale automobile trading markets have developed rapidly in various regions.

      It can be said that 1999 was the "eve" of my country's automobile society. Due to the limited living standards and consumption capacity of the people, the consumption of passenger cars has not been activated. The car has become the pursuit of many people who "get rich first", but it will become a big market in the future. A relatively solid foundation has been laid for development.

New century cars enter the homes of ordinary people

      In October 2000, the "Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Tenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" first proposed "encourage cars to enter the family". In March 2001, the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" included the introduction of cars into households in the national development plan, which opened the curtain on the transformation of cars from "luxury goods" to household transportation tools, and my country's automobile market began to develop rapidly. Incentive measures have made it possible for ordinary families to buy cars, and companies have responded by launching models that meet the needs of ordinary private consumers. Since then, private consumption has gradually become the mainstream of my country's automobile consumption, and cars have begun to enter thousands of households, becoming a means of transportation for ordinary families, and greatly improving people's living standards.

      2002 was a special year. In this year, China's automobile production and sales exceeded 3 million for the first time, and both car production and sales exceeded 1 million. The ownership rate of family cars has risen sharply. 2002 was known as the first year of the popularization of private cars in China, and the auto market was booming.

      The automobile market, which has been growing rapidly for years, ushered in another iconic year in 2009. In this year, China's automobile production and sales exceeded 13 million, surpassing the United States for the first time to become the world's number one new car consumer market. What is even more unexpected is that since then, China's new car sales have ranked first in the world for 9 consecutive years, and in 2017 it created a record high of nearly 30 million vehicles.

      The prosperity of China's auto market is due to the great development of the supply side. Whether it is a joint venture brand or an independent brand, they have produced auto products with lower prices and better quality than before; the second is due to China With the rapid increase in consumer consumption levels, from cities to villages, buying a car is no longer a rare thing. Cars have gradually become an essential travel tool for a family.

      Since then, people's car consumption is no longer limited to cars, and SUVs have gradually taken a place. The explosive growth of SUVs in the past decade has once eroded more than 30% of the market share of sedan models, becoming a rapidly emerging category of passenger vehicles. In recent years, the proportion of passenger car sales has increased year by year. Statistics show that from the comparison of the average compound growth rate from 2009 to 2017, the average annual compound growth rate of SUV is 40.93%, which is much higher than the 9.83% of the overall market.

     According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, 31.72 million newly registered motor vehicles nationwide in 2018, the number of motor vehicles has reached 327 million, of which 240 million are cars, and the number of small passenger cars exceeds 200 million for the first time; motor vehicle drivers exceed 400 million There are 409 million people, including 369 million car drivers. Nowadays, in the land of China, cars are ubiquitous. They are used in cities for work trips, business receptions, or self-driving trips for families during holidays. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people are enjoying a good car life.

The harmonious coexistence of cars and society in the new era

      The rapid increase in car ownership has brought the convenience of car life to Chinese people on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has brought a series of social problems including urban traffic congestion, frequent traffic accidents, exhaust pollution, and the occupation of public resources. There is a serious contradiction between consumption and social development.

      In 2010, in order to curb the increasingly serious traffic congestion caused by motor vehicles, Beijing began to implement lottery ticket purchases on December 23 of that year and implemented measures to control the number of passenger cars. Since then, urban congestion caused by the number of motor vehicles has become widespread, and several cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen have begun to follow up and introduce purchase restrictions.

      Cars are also to blame for air pollution. Motor vehicle pollution has become one of the important sources of air pollution in our country, and one of the important causes of smog and photochemical smog pollution. The successive implementation of a series of escalating exhaust emission standards has put forward higher and higher requirements for automobile environmental protection. Even for a period of time, the car has become the target of Qianfu, and its contribution to social and economic development has been ignored.

      According to the World Bank’s latest data on car ownership per 1,000 people in 20 major countries in 2019, China has 173 cars per 1,000 people, ranking 17th on the list, and the United States has 837 cars per 1,000 people. Compared with cars, there is still a big gap. This means that for a long period of time in the future, China will still maintain high auto production and sales, and the car ownership will continue to rise.

      Not only must we unswervingly develop, we must also cooperate with society for a win-win situation. After learning from the pain, starting from the auto industry and even the entire Chinese society, how should cars develop in harmony with society.

      In the future, cars should be greener. Since 2008, with the support of a series of national policies, more and more new energy vehicles have begun to appear on the streets of China. With the rapid progress of technology and products and the continuous improvement of charging facilities, Chinese consumers are increasingly accepting this new thing.

       Future cars should be smarter and smarter. Chinese and foreign auto companies have begun to develop autonomous driving based on the road environment with Chinese characteristics. In the future, time-sharing car rental based on autonomous driving technology is worth the expectation of Chinese consumers. Once a mature commercial model is formed, it means that car use will be more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, safer and more comfortable.

Future cars should be smarter and smarter. Chinese and foreign auto companies have begun to develop autonomous driving based on the road environment with Chinese characteristics. In the future, time-sharing car rental based on autonomous driving technology is worth the expectation of Chinese consumers. Once a mature commercial model is formed, it means that car use will be more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, safer and more comfortable.

       Standing at a new starting point for 70 years of development in New China, China’s future car