Our reporters Yin Limei and Tong Haihua report from Beijing.
Recently, the news of Guangqi Honda's layoff of 900 people has aroused the most attention, although Guangqi Honda immediately made a response of "just terminating labor dispatch", but the industry is more sensitive to this news. To a certain extent, this reflects the current difficulties of joint venture car companies.
In the past two years, many joint venture car companies have faced the pressure of continuous decline in sales and slow transformation of new energy, and their living space has been squeezed.
According to data disclosed by the China *** Association, in October 2023, the sales volume of Chinese brand passenger cars was 14850,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 251%, with a market share of 597%, up 66 percentage points. In 2022, the market share of Chinese brand passenger cars is still 495%。If you push the time back to 2019, the market share of the joint venture brand at that time was as high as 60%. In just the past four years, joint venture brands and independent brands have been "offensive and defensive".
The reporter of China Business News noticed that the market involution has intensified, the competition is fierce, and under the "sword and sword", some joint venture car companies are gaining survival and development space through the path of going to sea.
It is worth noting that in the first 11 months of this year, the export sales data of joint venture car companies has accounted for half of their total sales. If we look at the single month in November, the export sales of the above-mentioned joint venture automakers accounted for more than 60% of the total sales.
With huge international cost advantages and gradually cultivated localization capabilities, joint venture car companies have chosen to build Chinese factories into export bases. An insider of a joint venture car company told reporters that on the one hand, increasing exports can expand the market scale and play a role in cost amortization;On the other hand, this move has released its determination not to withdraw from the Chinese market.
The challenges intensify
In the Chinese market, the pain of joint ventures continues.
Joint ventures play an important role in the history of China's passenger car market, and have been the representatives of advanced technology and high-quality industrial chains for a long time, and have also played an extremely important role in supporting and driving the development and growth of independent brands.
However, with the acceleration of the electrification and intelligent transformation of the industry, the original industrial advantages of joint venture car companies have weakened, and the pressure on production capacity has increased, facing new challenges for development.
The reporter learned that in terms of development strategy and product strategy, the dominance of most joint venture car companies is still in the hands of foreign shareholders and is oriented to the global market, which makes it slower to respond. At present, the model development cycle of joint venture car companies is about 4 years, but the domestic new energy car companies are basically about 2 years.
In recent years, the domestic automobile market has rapidly transformed to new energy vehicles, the market share of independent brands has been increasing, and the market share of joint venture car companies has been declining.
In the context of the shrinking fuel vehicle market, the anxiety of joint venture car companies has come to the fore.
In 2023, from the perspective of the overall automotive industry, it will be generally difficult and extremely involuted. The ups and downs of the first war, the rapid growth of the market share of electric vehicles, and the shrinking market share of gasoline vehicles, etc., traditional joint venture brands are facing great pressure. Therefore, in 2023, we will do our best to achieve the goal of 'stabilization'. Qi Xiaohui, deputy general manager of Beijing Hyundai, said in a recent interview with ** reporters.
The reporter noticed that many mainstream joint venture car companies in the market are facing pressure from declining sales. According to officially disclosed data, from January to November 2023, Changan Ford and Changan Mazda sold 205038 and 77,634 respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 116% and 2051%。In November this year, SAIC-GM-Wuling sold a total of 160,000 cars, a year-on-year decrease of 588%；In the first 11 months of this year, the cumulative decline reached 1458%。From January to November this year, Honda's cumulative sales in China were 106840,000 units, down 135%。In the vehicle segment, Honda's two joint ventures in China are Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda. From January to October 2023, Dongfeng Honda's sales volume will be 47340,000 units, down 16% y/y. From January to October this year, Dongfeng Nissan sold 582583 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of **2775%。In November this year, SAIC Volkswagen sold 120,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 732%, however, in the first 11 months of this year, its cumulative sales were 1.07 million units, down 1059%。SAIC-GM's sales in November were 870,000 units, down 1553%；From January to November this year, a total of 89630,000 units, down 1670%。
According to the data disclosed by the Passenger Car Market Information Association (hereinafter referred to as the "Passenger Car Association"), FAW Toyota's sales in the first 10 months of this year were 651763, a slight increase of 08%。Although the year-on-year increase is not large, its sales performance has been a rare "scenery" among joint venture car companies.
Some people in the industry believe that in the short term, joint venture car companies should strive to reduce costs and cope with market competitionIn the long run, joint ventures need to keep up with the pace of product development by domestic and local enterprises.
There are many new energy vehicles, fast research and development, and large investment. Every time we go to the auto show, we are scared by the joint venture car company's booth, and the new energy car company's booth is crowded. Wei Jianbin, full-time deputy director of the manufacturing headquarters of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company and general manager of Guangzhou Fengshen Automobile, said at an industry forum not long ago that joint venture car companies should change this situation, first, to ensure the mass production of new models and new technologies, quickly respond to customer needs, and shorten the development cycle;Second, it is necessary to continue to improve the level of localization and cost competitiveness, including localization of R&D and design, localization of procurement and key resource reservesThe third is to continue to build a flexible, lean and advanced smart chain system, take the smart chain collaboration platform as the starting point, continue to promote digital transformation, and realize the transparency of the whole process from order to delivery.
The reporter noted that the current auto market has entered the year-end sprint stage, and in the face of the intensifying domestic market, many joint venture car companies have sounded the year-end charge.
Celebrate the 21st anniversary of the factory, and in the year-end impulse season, the manufacturer will directly supplement 2.1 billion. Before opening the official website link, Beijing Hyundai's slogan "catches people's attention" and catches people's attention.
On December 4, SAIC Volkswagen officially announced the latest preferential policies for car purchases: from now until December 31, 2023, the purchase of Tourang, Lavida, Tuyue, Passat, Tiguan L and other models can enjoy comprehensive preferential policies, with a maximum comprehensive discount of 580,000 yuan. At the same time, you can enjoy up to 5 years of 0 interest rate when you buy hot-selling models such as the Tourang, New Tuyue, and Passat.
On December 1, FAW Toyota launched the "factory direct subsidy" preferential activity, with a time-limited purchase tax subsidy of 5,000 yuan. During the "Double 12" event from December 1st to December 18th, you can also enjoy a low down payment and zero interest rate when you buy some models of FAW Toyota. At the same time, during the event, the battery can enjoy a lifetime warranty when you purchase some of FAW Toyota's dual-engine models.
Collectively go to sea
In the context of shrinking fuel vehicles, how to move forward is a question that joint venture car companies must face at present.
After re-examination, more and more joint venture brands are adjusting their development strategies, taking advantage of China's production capacity and China's cost advantages, and turning around and exporting to the world.
As a member of the joint venture, Yueda Kia announced in September this year that it would build the Yancheng plant into a global export base.
The reporter learned from Yueda Group that Yueda Kia is working hard to develop the export business of vehicles and CKD. Its export strategic territory covers more than 70 countries and regions in Central and South America, North America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, and has formed a lineup of three export models, namely Huanchi, Yipao and Setus, and will increase export models such as K5 and EV5 in the future, and the effect of Yancheng's export base is gradually emerging.
On December 4, data released by Yueda Group showed that in November, Yueda Kia sold 18,224 cars, a year-on-year increase of 889%, of which 7,004 were sold in China, a year-on-year increase of 225%；The export shipment was 11,220 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 1856%。From January to November this year, Yueda Kia sold a total of 148168 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 232%, its first mouth was 75,837 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 923%。
This year, Yueda Kia has actively integrated into the 'dual cycle', made every effort to accelerate globalization, accelerated the transformation of electrification and export strategy, and achieved remarkable results. Yueda Group said.
At the Guangzhou International Auto Show, Qi Xiaohui said in an interview with reporters that Beijing Hyundai will be committed to improving the scale of export development, and Beijing Hyundai will become the global export base of Hyundai Motor, and strive to export 100,000 vehicles within three years.
Recently, Chen Hao, deputy general manager of Dongfeng Motor Group and executive vice president of Dongfeng Motor, also said that in terms of the vehicle market, Dongfeng Motor will carry out export business with the support of Dongfeng Group and Nissan Global. The plan will be launched in 2025, with an initial sales target of 100,000 units, including four Nissan brand new energy vehicles, and Dongfeng Motor will continue to expand its export scale according to the actual situation in the future. At the same time, in terms of technology, Dongfeng Co., Ltd. will export its self-developed electrification technology and intelligent driving technology to the global market to accelerate the "going out" of technology. In addition, Dongfeng Co., Ltd. will actively expand the export channels of Zhengzhou Nissan, Zhengzhou Nissan will export SUV and pickup truck models overseas, and Dongfeng Co., Ltd. parts companies will also export electrification and intelligent driving technology to the world.
Founded on June 9, 2003, Dongfeng Motor Group and Nissan Motor Company are a joint venture. The company has four major brands: Dongfeng, Nissan, Venucia and Infiniti, with a registered capital of 16.7 billion yuan.
Joint ventures have a natural advantage in export, and at the same time, they also have a strong international cost advantage. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger association, believes that China's new energy vehicles are developing rapidly, accounting for 65% of the world's market share, so the industrial chain has obvious advantages. The competitive performance of joint ventures in China is weak, but their comparative advantages in the international arena are still obvious. "Some new energy products that are mediocre in the Chinese market are doing well overseas, which is due to the difference in demand and the intensity of competition. ”
Wang Xia, chairman of the Automotive Industry Committee of the China International Promotion Committee and president of the China Chamber of International Commerce Automobile Industry Chamber of Commerce, said that in recent years, the market share of joint venture car companies has fallen below 50%, but it is still too early to be bearish on joint venture car companies. If joint venture car companies can change their concepts, adjust their strategies, and change their playing styles, they can still make great achievements.
The Chinese and foreign sides of the joint venture should redefine their roles and explore new cooperation models and methods, and the foreign side's China strategy should also be transformed and upgraded from 'in China, for China' to 'in China, for the world', so as to build the joint venture into a strategic highland for the Chinese market and the global market. Wang Xia said.