On July 15, the engine plant jointly established by Volkswagen AG and FAW was established in Changchun. German Volkswagen stated that it will establish a new parts factory by 2005. The products involved include engines, frames, suspension systems, steering systems, and brake systems. And so on, the localized production of these core components will greatly strengthen the market competitiveness of Volkswagen.
As early as when multinational auto companies entered China, Visteon, Delphi and other world auto parts giants also made great inroads into the domestic market. Delphi, the world’s largest auto parts giant, has established 15 joint ventures in China, producing more than 100 A variety of auto parts and systems have become the most powerful auto parts group in the Chinese market. Visteon is also holding steam and Dongfeng, which account for about 12% of the domestic auto interior market share.
The large-scale entry of parts and components companies may promote the progress of the entire automobile manufacturing industry and strengthen the basic research of automobile manufacturing. However, for domestic parts and components companies, it is not good news. At the same time as the entire vehicle company competes with transnational companies at the door, the parts and components industry will inevitably face confrontation with cross-border components and parts, and will be at home. Multinational companies compete on the same stage.
In April of this year, the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce dispatched six teams to 13 provinces and municipalities in the northeast, southeast, and east China to conduct special research on the production and export of automobiles and their parts and components companies. The results show that at present, China's auto and parts and components companies are still at a relatively low level. The company has a small scale, low industrial concentration, weak product development capabilities, and the ability to supply systematized, modular, and electronic products has just begun. The export products of domestic parts and components manufacturers are mainly for the international auto parts maintenance market, while the export products are mainly concentrated on the mechanical parts with relatively low technological content.
Due to institutional reasons, a large number of parts factories have a low degree of concentration. A product often has several or even dozens of companies in production, causing the automobile and parts industry to be repeatedly dispersed, small in scale, and of poor quality. At the same time, the parts and components companies themselves have an unreasonable structure, but they are not large-scale but have a complete range of technologies and low levels of specialization. The domestic automobile and component export products are mainly labor-intensive products, and there are very few parts that have mastered core technologies and intellectual property. The quality of export products of parts and components is poor, and it does not conform to international standards. Many small enterprises are poorly equipped and technically backward. Product quality cannot be guaranteed and it is difficult to meet the requirements of the international market.
The disparity is the overall summary of the parts and components companies. By comparing the classification, we can easily see the gap between domestic auto parts enterprises and developed countries:
——Forty-four auto parts enterprises with sales revenues (including supporting and after-sales markets) in China’s auto parts industry exceeding RMB 200 million in 1998, the total sales revenue was only US$3.4 billion, ranking 100th in the world. The outstanding company's matching sales revenue is also far behind. In contrast, it can be seen that there is not an order of magnitude difference between China's auto parts and global auto parts.
- If the sales of high-tech electronic control products are compared, the gap between China's auto parts industry and the world's auto parts industry is even more alarming. Among the top five auto parts companies in China, the products listed in the first category are the front suspension and rear axle products of the sedan; followed by the universal joints, transmission shafts and bearings of the cars; and the third is the manual of the sedan. Transmission; the fourth is the micro-car engine; the fifth is the car dashboard and steering wheel. The technical content of these products is the level of the 1980s and does not contain electronic control technology at all.
The products of the world's 100 largest auto parts companies are new products in the late 1990s. These include engine management systems, thermal systems, safety systems, electronically controlled suspensions, electronic wiring harnesses, electronic components such as sensors, ecu, and electronically controlled motion systems such as abs and tcs. The amount of conventional products produced by these companies, such as interiors, seats, tires, and lighting fixtures, also represented technical levels at the end of the 20th century.
——From the perspective of the existing research and development capabilities and development trends, the gap between China's auto parts industry and the world’s top 100 auto parts companies is huge, and the distance is still widening.
Take the implementation of the "pngv plan" organized by the United States as an example. At present, the United States has successfully developed a fuel consumption of 3 liters per 100 kilometers in Europe and Japan, and is superior to blue in space and safety, and in fuel cells. The research and development have also achieved great results and are currently in critical state of use.
At the North American International Auto Show held in January 2000, GM's precept and Ford's prodigy were all unveiled, and it is expected that they will be available in volume in the near future. At the same time, the functions of the latest automobile equipment displayed at this exhibition were not completed by electronic control technology.
In contrast, the latest round of imported cars in China was not just the product of the mid-to-late 1990s, but most of the key components were not domesticated. At present, the engine localization rate is only 25%-60%; the automatic transmission part is zero; the front and rear axle parts are 20%-60%; the air conditioning part is only 40%.
When car electronics, digitization, and automotive design micro-computerization will end the traditional auto industry technology concept, China's entire technology for the traditional automotive industry has not yet been fully mastered. This contrast cannot but be said to be enormous.
——The revolutionary changes have taken place in the production and supply of auto parts products in the world. Delphi, Bosch, and Weston presented epoch-making challenges to the traditional model of production and supply at the 99 annual meeting of suppliers. This is also a revolution in the automotive assembly industry. The establishment of modularization and promotion of the “ready-to-install†assembly concept has had a positive impact on improving the operational efficiency of the automotive industry, reducing production costs, and increasing market competitiveness.
This mode of production is used by some auto parts suppliers and car manufacturers. For example, in 1998 the Mercedes-Benz m-class suv car cockpit produced in Alabama, USA was supplied in a modular manner. By Delphi, 140 kinds of components from 35 suppliers in 6 countries are combined into various types of cockpit supply manufacturers, and the time taken from order taking to the installation site is 120 minutes.
At present, the small-scale modular supply mode of China's auto parts industry has begun to be used in some enterprises, and the modular supply mode is in its infancy in China.
——In the matching relationship between auto parts companies and automobile manufacturers, there are fundamental differences between domestic and foreign companies.
In foreign countries, the relationship between automakers and OEM companies is entirely based on the laws of market economy. This depends on the consistency of the two goals, namely, market maximization and profit maximization. Under this premise, as long as the price can be met, technical standards are met, quality is reliable, and services are in place, the cooperation between the two can be concluded.
In China, it is often subject to affiliation, regional division, and other factors, resulting in all regions, major groups have their own auto parts supporting enterprise groups, so that auto parts companies "scattered" phenomenon is still not much Change.
From the distribution perspective, domestic auto parts industrial enterprises are mainly concentrated in Tianjin, Liaoning, Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, and Chongqing, with sales of over 100 million yuan. Large enterprises are mainly concentrated in the above provinces. From this distribution, it is easy to see that auto parts companies are also mainly distributed in the vicinity of major domestic automakers, and it is extremely common for several parts and components factories to be attached to an auto factory. Under this organizational model, cross-regional and inter-group mergers and acquisitions, reorganization of assets, scale-up, and up-scaling are bound to be empty talk. At the same time, due to such a huge gap in terms of scale and concept, the gap between Chinese and foreign auto parts and technology levels, product costs, product quality, and service networks will inevitably increase.
In the face of economic globalization and the increasingly deep competition of domestic auto companies, we must compete with multinational parts and components companies, and where are the domestic auto parts companies?
Some time ago, some participants at the symposium on "Extending Auto and Parts Exports" held in Changchun had already pointed out that if domestic parts and components companies want to become bigger, they must cooperate extensively in the competition and continue to grow bigger and stronger. In order to gain a place in the fierce market competition.
As the competition pressure of vehicle companies intensifies, the pressure of competition must be transmitted to parts and components companies. This requires parts and components companies to reduce costs and do large-scale operations. The most effective way is to implement joint operations with the industry to achieve the market as far as possible. Maximization, maximization of benefits, and minimization of costs. Domestic parts and components companies should have open minds and look at international perspectives, abandon the competition methods of singles and divisions, and conduct extensive cooperation so as to achieve complementary advantages and resources sharing, and achieve leapfrog development in strength and scale.
In May, when SAIC President Hu Maoyuan paid a visit to Dongfeng, the leaders of the two groups affirmed the results of the cooperation between Yanfeng Visteon and Dongfeng Visteon during the talks. At the same time, they proposed to cooperate extensively in parts and components. The two parties proposed to open up the parts market to each other, and the two parties divided the parts and components companies into three categories. One is that there is no competition between the two companies, and the other is to merge development, sharing the two complete vehicle markets of SAIC and Dongfeng; and the second is competition. For the time being, each of them develops on its own initiative; the third category is that the two parties do not have, and they cooperate and develop jointly.
The two parties also proposed that, under conditions of mature conditions, join FAW to expand cooperation in parts and components, jointly improve the industry standardization work, improve industry technical barriers, achieve market and resource sharing, improve the basic research level of the automotive industry, and promote domestic The rapid development and rapid expansion of the automotive parts industry.