The fourth national emission standard for non-road mobile machinery (hereinafter referred to as "National IV") will be implemented at sunset on December 1st. Since November, construction machinery enterprises have intensively held "National IV" new product launches and launched promotional activities. In addition to meeting the new emission standards, the new products of "National Four" have been upgraded in many dimensions such as intelligence, digitalization and operation experience.
At present, the products of "National III" and "National IV" are sold on the same stage. Because there is a price difference of about 20% between the two generations of products, and some enterprises also sell at reduced prices, clearing up the "National Three" inventory, which has boosted the sales of domestic excavator products in a short time. According to the manufacturer, the excavator sales are basically linked to the construction quantity, and the short-term purchasing fever brought by the policy switch will not overdraw the demand for next year.
The "National IV" emission standard is coming soon. Since November, construction machinery enterprises have intensively held new product launches and released a new generation of national IV products.
Shanhe recently announced that it will hold a meeting of the F series of "National Four" excavators on November 26th. Xugong Machinery participated in the 2022 China (Xuzhou) International Construction Machinery Fair last week, and officially released the G-series excavators that meet the "National IV" emission standard, covering all kinds of product types such as micro, small, medium, large and wheel.
Sany Heavy Industry and Liugong's centralized new product release started earlier, and preferential activities have been started.
On October 31st, Sany Heavy Industry held the launch conference of "National IV" excavators, which included nearly 40 products of excavators and loaders. The reporter learned from Sany Heavy Industry that if the deposit is paid from October 31 to December 31, the first batch of customers who ordered the "National Four" new machine can enjoy preferential policies.
On November 4th, Liugong held the groundbreaking ceremony of Huazhong Industrial Base Project and the conference of Liugong's comprehensive solution. At the conference, Liugong displayed a variety of Liugong's full series of "National Four" products such as loaders, excavators and minicomputers. At the same time, Liugong regards the new products of "National IV" as the marketing focus of "double 11", and has introduced preferential policies such as "the expansion of sincere money for ordering" and "free use of urea in the first 500 hours".
At present, downstream enterprises have a good acceptance of the new products of "National Four". The reporter learned from Liugong that the trial sale of the company's National Four excavators started earlier, and nearly 1,000 units have been sold in two months. At present, there are 32 national four excavators in Liugong that have completed the national four-stage environmental protection filing and sold in batches, and the number of certified product models is still increasing.
The price of "National Four" new products has increased by about 20% in many aspects.
Construction machinery enterprises are intensively engaged in new "National Four" products, which are directly related to the "National Four" to be enforced.
According to the requirements of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the "National Four" standard will be officially implemented from December 1st this year. All production, import and sales of non-road mobile machinery below 560kW (including 560kW) and its diesel engines must meet the requirements of the national fourth-stage emission standard. Otherwise, code registration will not be carried out on the information management platform, and non-road mobile machinery without code registration will stop using.
Compared with the current "National III" standard, the "National IV" standard has higher requirements for the emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and other exhaust gases from equipment. The main products involved in the new regulations include: excavators, loaders and other construction machinery, large tractors, combine harvesters and other agricultural machinery. Among them, the equipment in the power section below 37kW (such as the mini excavator below 6 tons) only needs to be further optimized technically, which is not much different from the national three standards.
According to the reporter's inquiry to the sales staff, it is known that the price increase of new products of various brands is relatively common when "National III" is switched to "National IV", and the price increase rate is generally around 20%.
A leading domestic construction machinery manufacturer confirmed this price increase to reporters. She said that the main reason for the price increase was the increase in purchasing cost. The "Guosi" model needed to be matched with a new engine, and at the same time, the overall product had been upgraded to some extent. "Our company only added a little premium on the basis of covering the cost".
Take SY235HHOPE, a new product of Sany Heavy Industry, as an example. In addition to meeting the "National Four" standard, the new products have also been upgraded in terms of fuel consumption, intelligence and driving experience. Among them, the fuel consumption index is reduced by more than 10%, the electric proportional control method is introduced to improve the leveling efficiency by 17%, and automotive-grade quality interiors are provided for interiors and cab seats. At the same time, customers can also choose intelligent auxiliary operating system, 10-inch large screen and other upgrade options.
Short-term boost excavator sales
It should be noted that the new regulations of "National Four" mainly affect the sales of equipment. If the enterprise purchases the "National Three" equipment and successfully codes and registers it before the new regulations come into effect on December 1st, it can continue to use it after the new regulations come into effect.
Therefore, at present, under the condition that "National III" and "National IV" equipment are sold at the same time, and there is a price difference, downstream customers with construction needs will purchase "National III" equipment in a short time. At the same time, the enterprises with high inventory in "Guosan" also offer preferential discounts to related equipment to realize sales payment.
In the past two months, the market has underestimated the sales of domestic excavators for two consecutive months. Previously, CME estimated that domestic excavators would sell 9,250 units in September 2022, but actually sold 10,520 units, with an underestimation of thousands of units. CME said that due to the disturbance of upgrading from "National III" to "National IV", it is more difficult to forecast the excavator market in China in the short term.
At present, there is only the last half month left in the sales window of "National Three" equipment, and the inventory level of the OEM is expected to have a greater impact on the short-term domestic market sales of excavators. However, if the inventory of this round of "National Three" equipment is cleared, will it overdraw the market demand of construction machinery in the first half of next year?
Respondents generally denied this possibility. Manufacturers pointed out that the short-term impact will indeed be there, but in the long run, the sales volume of excavators still depends on the amount of engineering construction. As an investment of millions at every turn, the excavator purchase will be made by customers only when the project construction is confirmed, and there will be no hoarding of excavators three or four months in advance.
