The year 2023 that has just passed is a bumper year for China's auto industry. However, before we got out of the euphoria of breaking 30 million for the first time, the auto circle exploded two big thunders in the first month of 2024. This reminds us that while we look forward to the sunny day, we must not lose our vigilance against the gloom that surrounds us.
According to the data of the China National Association, last year, China's automobile production and sales exceeded 30 million for the first time, achieving 3016 respectively10,000 and 300940,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 116% and 12%, ranking first in the world for 15 consecutive years. The United States, the world's second-largest company, sold less than 16 million cars last year, leaving China far behind. At the same time, China's auto exports also achieved a historic breakthrough, reaching 5.22 million units last year, a year-on-year increase of 57After surpassing South Korea and Germany, it surpassed Japan with 4.42 million units, becoming the world's largest automobile exporter.
Self-owned brand passenger cars have become the strongest growth engine in the auto market, with sales reaching 1,459 last year60,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 241%, far outperforming the market. The market share of domestic brands climbed to 56%, an increase of 6% year-on-year1 percentage point, which eroded the market share of many joint venture brands. On the list of the top five manufacturers in terms of sales volume, the joint venture car companies have only one seat left from dominating the list, and the other four seats are all occupied by independent car companies, namely BYD in the first place, Chery in the third, Geely in the fourth, and Changan in the fifth. Among them, BYD sold 3 million vehicles, representing its own brand for the first time among the world's top ten car companies.
But these fruitful results did not make us happy for long, just entering the first month of 2024, two big thunders in the car circle have exploded one after another. On the first day of the new year, Evergrande Automobile announced that Newton Group's 4 billion yuan "life-saving payment" would not arrive; On January 8, Liu Yongzhuo, president and executive director of Evergrande Automobile, was criminally detained in accordance with the law on suspicion of violating the law and committing crimes. In the past five or six years, Evergrande Automobile has suffered huge losses of hundreds of billions of yuan, and only delivered more than 1,000 vehicles, which can be called the biggest "loss king" of the new forces. In the first week of this year, Evergrande Automobile suffered two fatal blows, which was basically equivalent to life and death.
In fact, the current situation of Evergrande Automobile is only the tip of the iceberg in the Evergrande crisis. After Liu Yongzhuo was arrested, Evergrande has as many as nine executives, including Xu Jiayin and his second son Xu Tenghe. With such a large area of illegal crimes committed by the management team, Evergrande's pool of sewage is getting deeper and deeper. Recently, the High Court of Hong Kong ruled that Evergrande should be compulsorily wound up. In other words, Evergrande finally ushered in the end of its fate and entered the road of bankruptcy and liquidation. Evergrande's total debt is as high as 24 trillion, thus the largest bankruptcy case in the history of our country was born.
Following the accident of Evergrande Automobile, Guangdong's old car dealers also thundered. In mid-January, Guangdong Yongao, a South China auto dealer with a history of nearly 30 years, was exposed to the news that a number of its 4S stores had closed down, especially some stores in Liaobu, Dongguan, which had basically been suspended. Moreover, a number of ** were circulated on the Internet, and the relevant creditor of Yongao, the bank, organized a special person to go to the Yongao store overnight and towed away the existing car in the store in order to preserve property and reduce losses and risks as much as possible. For a while, people were panicked, especially the employees and prospective owners of Yongao.
Many Yongao employees have broken the news on the Internet that they are owed wages, about 3 to 8 months, and the average amount per capita is more than 10,000 yuan. If Yongao really thunders, it is likely that the wages of these employees will not be returned. There are also prospective car owners who paid for the car in Yongao but did not pick up the car, and they also suffered a blow all of a sudden. Yongao mortgaged the vehicle certificate to the bank, and the current car in the store was also towed away by the bank, and the prospective car owners could not get the car. Even if you pick up the car, you will face the risk of not being able to get a license plate and no insurance claim because you don't have a vehicle certificate. Evergrande let the people suffer from "unfinished buildings", and Yongao let the people suffer from "unfinished cars".
In the statement, Yongao admitted that "the business is experiencing a crisis", but at the same time said that "Yongao Group is suspected of fraud", "more than 80 auto brand stores in Dongguan have closed down in an emergency", "the actual controller and his spouse have absconded with the money" and other news are all rumors. As for the cause of the thunderstorm, Yongao officials attributed it to the epidemic and market adjustments. It is also said that it may be that there may be a problem with the business of the younger brother or son of Chen Zuyong, the boss of Yongao, which has affected Yongao. At present, the Dongguan local ** investigation team has been stationed in Yongao. We hope that Yongao will get out of the quagmire as soon as possible, and all relevant stakeholders will not suffer losses.