Auto parts refer to all parts and components except auto frame, in which parts refer to single components that cannot be disassembled, and components refer to the combination of parts that can realize a certain action or function. As the upstream of the automobile industry, the auto parts industry is an important part of the automobile industry, which promotes and develops together with the automobile industry. In the context of economic globalization and market integration, with the continuous increase of the number of motor vehicles in recent years, the demand for auto parts in the post market such as auto repair and auto refitting is also expanding, and the performance requirements for auto parts are getting higher and higher. As the foundation of the automobile industry, the automobile parts industry is an important factor supporting the sustainable and healthy development of the automobile industry.

1. Overview of China's auto parts industry

At present, the market concentration of automobile parts manufacturing enterprises in China is relatively low, and there are many small enterprises in the low-end market. At first, small and medium-sized enterprises can obtain a certain profit space by virtue of cost and price advantages, but with the intensification of market competition, the profit space is gradually compressed, and many small suppliers face the risk of being eliminated. However, large manufacturers of industry internal model can continue to give play to their independent innovation advantages, gradually expand their market share in the market by virtue of high-end high-quality products, accelerate the pace of mergers and acquisitions, integrate the industrial chain, and continue to expand to overseas markets. On the whole, China's auto parts industry has a trend of further increasing market concentration.

With the gradual realization of structural optimization and product upgrading of China's parts industry, China's auto parts enterprises have grown from 12090 in 2015 to 14018 in 2020. In 2020, the main business income totaled 3631.065 billion yuan. From 2010 to 2017, the average annual compound growth rate of industry revenue was 14.58%. The overall industry is in a state of rapid growth. In 2018, due to the overall downturn of the industry, the main business income of the auto parts industry decreased. However, with the recovery of China's economy and the expansion of domestic demand in the auto industry, the main business income of the industry increased in 2019 and 2020, with an increase of 5.98% and 1.55% respectively year-on-year, reversing the previous downward trend.

In addition, under the influence of the trend of globalization of the automobile industry chain, China's automobile parts and accessories export market also shows a growth trend. From 2017 to 2020, the export amount of China's auto parts and accessories increased from 210.12 billion yuan to 227.703 billion yuan. In 2020, the auto parts and accessories industry was affected by the COVID-19, with a slight decline compared with the previous year, but the decline was not significant compared with that of the whole vehicle industry. The main reason was that the supply capacity of overseas auto parts and accessories suppliers was insufficient, overseas import demand for domestic auto parts was still strong, and domestic after-sales demand rose steadily under the condition of large car ownership.

Due to years of competitive development and experience accumulation in China's auto parts industry, the production scale, product development ability and technological innovation ability of enterprises have been greatly improved.

In recent years, due to the impact of policies such as "national three phase elimination", "national six emission new standard", and the treatment of non compliant vehicles in the early stage, the phased centralized purchase and replacement of vehicles have been driven, and the market demand has been released. Secondly, the Medium and Long Term Development Plan of the Automobile Industry and the regional automobile industry development plans launched by Zhejiang, Guangdong and other provinces and other policies promote the guidance to further promote the product technology upgrading of automobile parts enterprises and increase the investment of automobile parts enterprises in important products that conform to the national strategic development plan, and actively carry out the layout. In addition, after years of development, domestic enterprises have continuously made breakthroughs in key technologies, and some enterprises have initially gained the strength to compete with foreign manufacturers in terms of service and technology. With the continuous improvement of the layout of the automobile industry, the competitiveness of China's automobile parts industry has been continuously enhanced, and we have made full use of our own advantages, seized the window of industrial chain transfer and procurement globalization, and deeply participated in the international automobile industry chain. China has gradually become an important area for the layout of parts giants, and the export amount of auto parts has steadily increased.

With the increase of industrial concentration, China's automobile parts manufacturing enterprises have gradually formed six industrial clusters, forming the cluster effect of the whole automobile industry chain, such as automobile manufacturing, spare parts manufacturing, which not only reduces the transportation cost, but also helps to expand the scale advantage, laying a good foundation for the automobile industry to further expand the market size. The six industrial clusters, which gather vehicle manufacturers and supporting industrial parks, are located in the Yangtze River Delta, Southwest China, Central China, Northeast China, Bohai Rim and Pearl River Delta, and are evenly distributed in all regions of the country. They are not only close to the consumer market, but also have the geographical advantage of exporting overseas. This layout is conducive to the sustainable and healthy development of China's auto parts industry and the gradual transition to a centralized and specialized mature market stage.

2. Future development trend of auto parts industry

As the automobile manufacturing industry has entered a mature stage of development, vehicle manufacturers are paying more and more attention to the production scale, specialization and cost control of automobile parts. The future development trend of auto parts industry mainly includes the following directions:

(1) Product integration and modularization: in order to improve the automation level and accuracy of the vehicle installation process, improve production efficiency, optimize the vehicle space structure, and improve the vehicle performance, auto parts are developed from a single component to an integrated and modular unit.

(2) High end and refined products: With the continuous improvement of China's industrial strength, the production mode of auto parts has gradually developed from the original low-end extensive type to the high-end refined type, and more and more domestic high-end products have begun to replace the original imported high-end products.

(3) Lightweight and energy-saving products: At present, the huge number of automobiles in the world has increased the consumption of oil resources and the emission of automobile exhaust, causing global energy security and environmental protection problems. Countries around the world have promulgated corresponding laws, regulations and policies to promote the concept of energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection. In this context, the realization of lightweight and energy-saving vehicles can reduce the use of oil resources, reduce exhaust emissions, and reduce consumer costs. The development of new energy vehicles is also a global consensus. In the EU's public environmental protection and emission reduction plan, EU countries agreed to ban the sale of fuel vehicles by 2035 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. At the 75th United Nations General Assembly, China proposed that China will strive to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Therefore, encouraging the development of new energy vehicles and low energy consumption, small emission vehicles has become an effective way to save energy and reduce emissions in the automotive industry.

(4) Operation automation and intelligence: With the improvement of China's economic level, the level of labor remuneration has increased, and the labor cost of manufacturing enterprises has also increased correspondingly, and the original advantages of demographic dividend have weakened. Therefore, improving the level of enterprise operation automation and intelligence, and strengthening the control over production, procurement, sales, transportation and other aspects of enterprises can effectively reduce the operating costs of enterprises and increase their profits.