Dugo.
Photo taken at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November 2023.
It was supposed to be the stage of sprinting at the end of the year to welcome the New Year's Eve, but Guangqi Honda was hit by a "cold snap" and had to adjust the number of employees.
A few days ago, foreign media reported that Honda decided to cut about 900 contract workers at its Chinese joint venture, Guangqi Honda, accounting for about 7% of Guangqi Honda's total employees, and Guangqi Honda has issued a notice to relevant subjects in late November.
All of a sudden, the news of Guangqi Honda's "big layoffs" was hotly discussed. Later, Guangqi Honda explained that the so-called "layoffs" were misinterpretedThe company only terminated the agreement with the labor dispatch company and provided economic compensation to the labor dispatch personnel in a timely manner in accordance with laws and regulations.
Although the "layoff" theory is denied, a closer look shows that the agreement to terminate the labor dispatch personnel is not much different from the layoff, which is to streamline the staff. It is also understandable that under the wave of new energy, the situation of joint venture cars in the Chinese market in the past two years has been mostly difficult, even if it has been unlimited"Liangda" was not spared.
According to GAC Group's latest production and sales report, in the first 11 months of this year, GAC Honda's sales volume was 56110,000 units, down 1789%。Its all-electric model, the e:NP1, sold just over 100 units in September and October, which is no different from its marginal products.
In the face of unprecedented challenges, Guangqi Honda had to compromise with reality. It's just that in addition to laying off employees and reducing costs, perhaps Guangqi Honda should find a way to create a hit in the field of new energy as soon as possible.
Compromise with reality
Honda is one of the "Japanese Big Three", and in the past, with its excellent technical strength and people-friendly **, it was once called a brand of "buy an engine and send a car" by netizens. But now in the Japanese collective in ChinaIn the context of "stalling", it has not been able to stand alone.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales volume of Japanese cars in China in 2022 will be 40920,000 units, down 10% year-on-year3%, the decline is second only to the Korean 347%。At the same time, the market share of Japanese brands in China has also accelerated, falling below 20% in 2022, down 2% year-on-year7%。
This year, the situation has not improved. According to the data of the Passenger Car Association, in October this year, the retail share of Japanese brands in the domestic passenger car market was 177%, down 1. year-on-year2 percentage points. On the other hand, the retail share of independent brands reached 556%, a year-on-year increase of 4 percentage points.
Affected by this environment, the life of several major Japanese car companies is not easy, and both the sales side and the production side are under a lot of pressure.
Among them, Honda's cumulative sales of terminal vehicles in China in 2022 will be 137310,000 units, down 121%；Sales in the first 11 months of this year were 106840,000 units, up from 123 last year460,000 units continued to decline year-on-year.
If you look at the subdivision, according to the GAC Group's production and sales report,Last year, Guangqi Honda's cumulative sales were74.180,000 units, down 493%；In the first 11 months of this year, Guangqi Honda sold 56110,000 units, down 1789%, the decline is far more than GAC Toyota's 84%。
In addition to the Accord, its models are still strong, and the monthly sales of the past easily exceeded 10,000, and the Fit model, known as the "king of small cars", now has only four or five thousand monthly sales.
According to historical data, GAC Group has been strongly "dependent" on the joint venture for many years, and once the "two fields" fluctuate, the overall situation will also change.
Therefore, in the first three quarters of this year, GAC Group's overall sales and financial reports were not good, and the cumulative sales fell by 1 year-on-year69%, net profit decreased by 44% year-on-year05%。
In this case, it is not surprising that Guangqi Honda "laid off". A Honda spokesman said that the adjustment involves Guangqi Honda about 17% of 30,000 employees. For the labor dispatch personnel involved, Guangqi Honda will provide economic compensation in a timely manner in accordance with laws and regulations, and actively assist the relevant personnel in reemployment.
This is also the Honda car sinceIn 1998, the company established a joint venture with GAC Group for the first time in 25 years, quite a bit of a heroic twilight feeling.
Transformation seeks a way out
When explaining the reasons for terminating the labor dispatch agreement, Honda said that it was intended to quickly shift to the electric vehicle market. "In China, there is a high demand for new energy vehicles such as pure electric vehicles. Honda, which is mainly driven by engines, is currently making production adjustments as its sales volume continues to decline. ”
The ineffective transformation of electrification in the Chinese market is indeed the "heart disease" of many overseas car companies. Focusing on Honda, the main problem at present is that it has not yet created a fist product in the field of new energy.
It is understood that Honda made the wrong bet when it first entered the field of electrification. In 2019, considering Honda's strengths in hybrid technology, Honda's former CEO Takahiro Hachigo proposed "Vision 2030", which aims to make hybrids, plug-in hybrids, pure electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles account for 2 3 percent of its global sales by 2030.
This also caused Honda to miss the opportunity to take the lead in the field of pure electric vehicles, and it was not until April 2021, when the new head Toshihiro Mibe took office, that he decided to fully start the transformation to electrification.
Toshihiro Mibe plans to launch 10 electric vehicles within five years, 30 electric vehicles globally by 2030, 100% of electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel vehicles sold by 2040, and officially achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
In October 2021, Honda China officially launched a new pure electric vehicle brand "e:n". At the same time, Dongfeng Honda's e:NS1 special edition and GAC Honda's e:NP1 special edition made their world premieres.
However, as there are high hopesAfter the official delivery of the E:NP1 under the "E:N" brand, sales were not proportional to expectations.
According to the data of Chedi, in the year to October this year, the sales of e:NP1 were only 6,115 units, and even the sales in September and October were only more than 100 units, and the best performance of this year in June only sold 1,347 units, which is really not competitive.
In addition, in the wholesale sales data of new energy passenger car manufacturers in November 2023 released by the China Passenger Car Association, Guangqi Honda's new energy passenger vehicle sales were only 1,887 units, ranking the lowest among the seven joint venture brands in statistics.
In the case of all-round electrification, if there is no "playable" model and no stable sales base, it will be difficult to regain the right to speak in the era of fuel vehicles. Now, GAC Toyota may have to put its hopes on the next oneE: NP2.
At the 2023 Guangzhou Auto Show held in November, Guangqi Honda unveiled the all-new pure electric model e:NP2 Extreme 2, which is positioned as a compact pure electric SUV and is expected to be launched in the first half of 2024.
Whether it can stabilize the market and have a place in the era of electrification depends on the new models next year.
Author |Liu Yuanyuan.
* |Carvisibility
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Kunpeng Project