After the new "Automotive Industry Development Policy" promulgated regulations that restricted laymen's "door-to-door carmakers," lay carmakers began to stray from the spotlight on the stage. Recently, Bird suddenly announced that he had withdrawn from the Nanjing Automobile Group, which had worked with him for less than a year, forcing this short-lived marriage to a full stop. The Bird incident is a signal and a warning light for the lay-up capital that has flocked since last year. This year's auto market recession is an indisputable fact. Price wars and mergers have alternately staged, and the car industry is trying hard to eliminate the A group of victims.
Come and go in a hurry
"Our plan to form a joint venture with a Romanian car company to set up a car manufacturing company has gone bankrupt." Mr. Luo, who has been in the automotive industry for years, reluctantly stated. Just six months ago, Mr. Luo was very excited when he talked about the joint venture car company they were going to build.
Mr. Luo, who used to be a professional manager of a car company, originally planned to bring technology into the new company. In Zhejiang Jinhua, three import trading companies engaged in auto trading, real estate development and military restructuring respectively provided land and production plants. It plans to relocate its controlling Romanian Jeep production enterprise to China for production. The foreign investment of the joint venture plan totals US$250 million, including cash and some machinery and equipment. The Chinese side converts the land and production facilities with equivalent capital into shares.
“We plan to first modify vehicles to convert high-performance vehicles into amphibious armored command vehicles. This product caters to the current needs of the military. After such conditions mature, it will further transition to the production of general civilian vehicles. It was planned to finalize the project when the Romanian President visited China in March this year."
“But as we continued to deepen cooperation, we discovered that these companies in Zhejiang did not make preparations for follow-up funds. Some of them had only local relations and were able to get the land.†Next macro control, car boundary lending, The production and sales volume of the auto market declined, and a few pots of cold water poured over. This tripartite cooperation automobile manufacturing project made it easy to declare bankruptcy. "Under the high profits of the automotive industry last year, companies with strength and no strength wanted to try one and compete for auto projects. Some companies simply want to fish in trouble." Mr. Luo's summary is quite profound.
In fact, the joint venture company mentioned by Mr. Luo was only a part of the layman’s army last year. Last year’s layman’s hot runners were actually home appliance companies.
Appliance impulse
In November 1997, Jiangsu Chunlan Group took over Nanjing Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. with 720 million yuan, and established Nanjing Chunlan Automobile Co., Ltd., which became the first shot of the home appliance industry to enter the auto industry. Since then, household appliances companies have significantly accelerated the pace of entry into the automobile manufacturing industry. Midea, Oaks, Bird, Xinfei, Greencool and others have joined forces with auto companies. “Building a car†has become a “fashion†that household appliance companies have been catching up with.
It now appears that this heat does not last long. After less than a year in a joint venture with Nanjing Automobile Group, Bird hastily announced his withdrawal. The insiders of the Nanjing Automobile Group did not comment on Waveguide’s decision: “Because of the failure of the acquisition of Freer, Bird decided to enter into a joint venture with Nanjing Auto. When they entered the automotive industry, they lacked calm and rational considerations. It is also reasonable to exit now. According to an industry insider who is more familiar with Bird, when Bird was initially deciding whether to enter the automobile manufacturing industry, there were differences within the high-level, which was also the reason why Bird Technology and not Bird Co., Ltd. invested in the cooperation with NAC. . In addition, the waveguide is borrowed from the Inger production line and license originally produced in Nanjing and entered the production of cars. The production of Jiangsu in different places must be approved by the relevant authorities. Bird has been eager to introduce new products without approval, leading to the British Geer’s sales in the field suffered policy barriers. The "black May" and the subsequent downturn in the auto market have inadvertently catalyzed the passiveness of Bird in the auto manufacturing industry. The ultimate choice to withdraw from Nanjing Auto is inevitable.
Asked why household electrical appliance companies are crowding into the automobile manufacturing industry, Zhao Yong, head of the US automotive investment project, may be quite representative: "Compared with the home appliance industry, the automotive industry has a relatively stable profit margin. We are optimistic about this opportunity. â€
At the end of last year, when the home appliance industry concentrated on “borrowersâ€, the automobile industry policy was in an alternating phase of old and new. At that time, there was a buzz in the circle saying that the new policy would restrict laymen from entering the automobile industry through “backdoor†methods. Many home appliance companies hold With the idea of ​​"taking the last train," he rushed to acquire some of the unprofitable and difficult-to-maintain auto companies.
After the United States announced that it had invested 1.7 billion yuan to acquire the Hunan Sanxiang Passenger Car, it had been nearly a year, but today its automobile production base is still in the stage of plant construction. Huang Jiangwei of the Oakes Group Strategic Development Department stated that Oaks chose Shenyang Shuangma to use it to “test the water†automobile industry in order to become familiar with the automobile manufacturing process and market operation practices. The company’s future focus will be on the sedan project, but it is still not yet in use. To the car production catalog, there is only time to wait.
Chen Wenkai, deputy general manager of Shanghai Kewei Automotive Parts Co., Ltd. believes that after the market environment is getting colder, multinational car companies have begun to increase investment and competition levels in the Chinese market, and their overall strength is far greater than that of “laters.†In the next three years, auto companies will fight more fiercely in the domestic market. Without the long-term planning, the foreign capital that can not fully judge the market will be difficult to avoid the merciless elimination of the market.
In addition to the loss of the company’s own interests, other negative influences are also emerging. According to an auto company source, Bird once said that when he was “digging†technicians and industrial workers at various automobile companies, he said, “Take your pay slip and go to our company to work, and multiply them by 3.†Now Bird quit. The original promise became a reflection of the moon and water in the mirror, and many people were therefore unemployed.
Spiritual opium?
Regarding the various doubts posed by the industry’s external manufacturers, Fan Chengwei, who is in charge of the Oaks Group’s automotive sales company, believes that “Japan’s Toyota, Honda, and other companies have also developed from textiles and other industries into world-class automotive companies if the laymen cannot build vehicles. If the rules are consciously observed by everyone, then there will be no outstanding companies like Toyota and Honda."
However, Chen Wenkai said that the successful cases of Toyota and Honda have become the “spiritual opium†for China’s home appliance companies to enter the auto manufacturing industry. However, they overlooked the fact that the growth environment of the auto market has changed. easy. The “blowout†of the auto market has been replaced by rational consumption, and the market is now entering a period of steady development. Several major international automobile brands have firmly controlled the Chinese automobile market. They have built a strong system in China from production bases to R&D centers, from sales networks to automotive financial services. Their financial and technological advantages are similar. New entrants such as Oaks are out of reach.
In the automobile industry, the Oaks Group had put forward a slogan: "To give China's auto industry high profits and lose weight," and now it seems that this has almost become a joke. Household appliance companies hope to win a piece of their own market by copying their own "low-price competition" strategy in their original field. It never occurred to us that the strong players in the market did not give them a chance to gain a firm foothold. Foreign giants manipulated joint ventures in China. Counter-offensive counter-attack in the auto market, through the brand advantage and frequent price cuts to achieve the purpose of eliminating SMEs and expand their own market share.
According to the latest statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the cumulative inventory of cars in the first seven months of this year exceeded 110,000. According to a certain agency that has long been engaged in statistics of automobile statistics, “In the first half of this year, the automobile inventory has reached more than 600,000 units. In July, the inventory has increased by 20,000 units.†Such a huge car inventory The quantity predicts that the competition among auto companies will become more intense, the living environment will further deteriorate, and the future market will become fluctuating. The situation of amateur carmakers can be described as a constant danger.