The automobile consumer finance market has formed a “bank + automobile finance company + financial leasing company” three-legged pattern. By the end of 2024, the national automobile finance penetration rate will reach 58%, of which commercial banks will dominate with a 42% market share, followed by automobile finance companies (41%), and financial leasing companies and Internet platforms will share the remaining 17%. New energy vehicle finance has become a new growth pole. In 2023, the balance of new energy vehicle loans will surge by 90.68% year-on-year, and the growth rate of financial leasing business will reach 29.45%, far exceeding the growth rate of the traditional fuel vehicle market.
Scenario innovation and penetration
Institutions such as SAIC-GM Financial and BMW Automotive Finance have deeply tied up with OEMs and launched a combination of “0 interest rate + free maintenance”. For example, Tesla Finance launched “5 years of interest-free + charging pile installation subsidy” for Model Y, driving the financial penetration rate of this model to exceed 75%. Such institutions obtain vehicle data in real time through the DMS system, and can remotely lock the car for overdue customers, and the post-loan management efficiency is 40% higher than that of banks.
Risk-return balance
Credit risk: The approval rate of financial leasing companies for credit-free households is 25 percentage points higher than that of banks, but the default loss is reduced by means of vehicle GPS positioning and spare key retention.
Market risk: The price fluctuations in the used car market in 2024 will cause the residual value loss rate of financial leasing companies to increase by 1.8 percentage points, forcing institutions to improve their residual value prediction capabilities.
Operational risk: A leasing company was ordered to return the lessee’s deposit of 230,000 yuan due to unclear contract terms, highlighting the importance of compliance management
In the next three years, it is estimated that 40% of automobile consumer finance transactions will be completed through API interfaces embedded in automobile companies’ apps, truly realizing a seamless connection between “car purchase-finance-service”.