IAUTO
Speed Depth Attitude
Introduction |
2021/12/28
Certainty in chaos.
Author 丨 Yang Jing
Responsible editor 丨 Yang Jing
Edited by 丨tian lanthanum
From January 1, 2022, China will remove the restriction on foreign ownership in passenger car manufacturing and the restriction that the same foreign company can establish two or less joint ventures in China to produce similar vehicle products. Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce issued the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2021 Edition)
Starting in 2018, the 5-year period for the lifting of restrictions on foreign ownership in the automotive industry has arrived. This history, in layman's terms, is to first restrict foreign investment and cultivate their own industries. Their own industries are competitive, and then open up and finally canceled directly. As soon as the news was sent, no one argued again, only the crowd silently applauded.
"Simply put, the automobile factory began to fight, and the consumers benefited", "Let those car companies that touch the fish die", "The new energy era is really coming", and more people have an attitude of "anger and indisputability" for independent brands. Indeed, in theory, the abolition of the joint venture share ratio has made the situation facing the more severe situation for independent brands, but are they really powerless to fight against foreign brands?
"Open the door to guests"
Looking back at the past few years of independent brands, especially some independent brands rely on joint venture brands to bring rich profits without thinking of making progress. When the abyss of stock ratio opening has come, these independent brands lying for a few dollars have finally tasted the bitter fruit sown by their own hands. Brilliance's "lost horse", Volkswagen holding Jiangqi, and sichuan hyundai's sole proprietorship, Tesla's sole proprietorship, etc., continue to impact their own brands.
"Independence and joint venture a war, this is impossible to escape", Zotye, Lifan, Huatai, Bisu, Yulong, Brilliance, Cheetah and other weak independent brands gradually disappeared on the historical stage, while Geely, Great Wall, Changan and other strong independent brands are developing at an unexpected speed, continuing to lead the changes in China's auto market.
In recent years, independent brand car companies have accumulated a lot of money, through increasing investment in technology research and development, continuously improving product strength and brand power, creating a number of star products, meeting and leading the market demand. Affected by the epidemic and the supply chain, the automobile market has gradually differentiated, and while the joint venture brands have declined, independent brands have been able to stubbornly withstand the pressure and achieve growth against the trend.
According to the China Automobile Association, from January to November this year, the sales volume of Chinese brand passenger cars reached 8.406 million units, an increase of 25.1% year-on-year, and its market share increased from 37.7% to 44.1%, a significant increase over the same period. In October, the market share of independent brands swelled to 47%, reaching a historical peak.
The reason why independent brands can rise strongly is not just that the Ashkenazi and Japanese have lost the market and taken advantage of them independently, but that their own brands have achieved comprehensive progress and evolution from the aspects of product design, research and development, technology, product strength, and insight into consumer needs. At the same time, the share of high-end brand products has also shown a rapid growth trend.
In addition to market share, from the latest announcement of the average price of auto brand bicycles in 2021, independent brands have also begun to surpass joint venture brands. The average price of Weilai bicycles exceeds that of Lexus and BMW; the average price of ideal bicycles is above Audi and Tesla; and the average price of Xiaopeng and Hongqi bicycles has also reached more than 200,000 yuan.
If someone retorts that although the head of the new forces is high in unit price, the sample size base is low. Then look at the sales volume and average price of high-end bicycles of traditional car companies, Lynk & Co surpassed Volkswagen; WEY surpassed Mazda; and the average price of GAC E-An, BYD and Trumpchi all exceeded that of Nissan, Hyundai and Chevrolet, these examples are undoubtedly more convincing.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of China's formal accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and in the past two decades, China's economy and the auto industry have delivered satisfactory answers. China's new car sales have ranked first in the world for 12 consecutive years, and the China Automobile Association is expected to achieve the first positive growth in three years in 2021, and sales in 2022 are expected to exceed 27 million units.
China's own brand cars have blossomed within the wall, and have also achieved excellent performance in overseas markets. In the first 11 months of 2021, China's cumulative automobile exports reached 1.793 million units, an increase of 1.1 times year-on-year. Among them, the export volume in November reached 200,000 units, an increase of 59.1% year-on-year. With the emergence of multiple positive factors, it is expected that the export of more than 2 million vehicles in 2021 is expected.
When foreign brands continue to extend their tentacles to the Chinese market, their own brands are also facing foreign brands in the global market. Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Association, analyzed that on the one hand, because of the epidemic, overseas local supply cannot keep up; on the other hand, China's automobile cost performance is indeed very high, and the product grade has improved.
With the gradual improvement of the manufacturing level of independent brands, the export of passenger cars continues to increase, the new forces of car companies gradually open overseas market strategies, the export growth rate of new energy vehicles is faster than that of traditional energy vehicles, and new energy vehicles are also an important part of the official declaration of war by independent brands to foreign brands.
"Lane Changing Overtaking"
When the market is good, even weak enterprises can enjoy the dividends of the development of China's auto market. When the market declines and competition intensifies, the Matthew effect of the stronger the stronger and the weaker the weaker, is more obvious. On the road of national automobile brands upwards, most companies are still groping for answers.
On the other side of the release of the joint venture share ratio cancellation information, an annual voice event of the TEDA Automotive Forum with the theme of "Integration and Competition - The Power of Change" also came to an end. "We are experiencing the most significant energy revolution in human history, and the dual carbon target will reshape the global political and economic landscape and profoundly affect the competitive landscape of the global automotive industry."
Behind the carbon neutrality strategy is the all-round competition of low-carbon manufacturing, low-carbon products and low-carbon business models of automobile enterprises. With the first-mover advantage of new energy vehicles, China's auto industry is no longer a catch-up that is left behind, and some companies have become one of the leaders in the global new energy vehicle field.
This year, China's new energy vehicles continued to grow rapidly, from January to November, the production and sales of new energy vehicles completed 3.023 million and 2.99 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.7 times year-on-year, the market penetration rate continued to increase to 12.7%, and it is expected to reach 3.4 million units in the whole year, an increase of 1.5 times year-on-year.
In 2021, the delivery volume of new car-making forces such as Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, and Nezha continued to break through, repeatedly reaching new highs, and the monthly sales volume has exceeded 10,000. The demand for new energy vehicles is strong, and the transformation from policy-driven to market-driven consumption has been basically realized, and consumers' acceptance of new energy vehicles is getting higher and higher.
In addition, traditional car companies are not willing to show weakness in the layout of new energy. They pursue the brand upwards and lay out high-end intelligent electric. At the same time, based on the advantages of traditional car companies, the launch of pure electricity + hybrid two-step walk. According to the data, in 2022, the competitive new generation of hybrid models of their respective main brands will be listed one after another, providing reliable support for the growth of new energy vehicles.
At present, with the new generation of consumers gradually becoming the main body of car purchases, consumption upgrades, personalized needs are increasing, consumers have also put forward higher requirements for automotive products. Cars are not only vehicles, but also play multiple roles such as emotional extension and mobility partners.
Today's China's new energy automobile industry has shown the obvious characteristics of automobile + technology, automobile + user, what are the real advantages of traditional automobile enterprises? In addition to technical reserves, there is also the intervention of the Internet and technology companies, which promote the diversified and personalized development of new energy vehicles. This is the weakness of foreign car companies, but it is the unique ability of independent brands.
Some car companies have worried that the opening of the stock ratio will not only squeeze their own brands, but also have an impact on the parts sector in the industrial chain. As everyone knows, today's auto parts industry is also ushering in a strong recovery, enterprise investigation data show that in the first 10 months of 2021, auto parts related enterprises registered a total of 129,000 new, an increase of 76.7% year-on-year, becoming one of the most sought after hot plates in the market.
When the foreign equity ratio is cancelled, independent brands have never been so confident and enterprising. The rapid expansion of independent brands through the acquisition of well-known foreign brands through wholly-owned or equity participation is not a new thing, SAIC's acquisition of MG, Geely's acquisition of Volvo, Geely Beiqi's desire to increase its holdings in Daimler, and BYD's acquisition of 90% of denza's shares are all powerful witnesses to the independent brands from weak to strong.
20 years ago, some car company leaders said, "Independent brands must endure loneliness for 20 years." Today, 20 years later, practice has proved that the national automobile brand has survived the lonely period and is full of vitality. Soochow Securities also recently released a report saying that it is time to look for world-class independent brand car companies.
| Yang Jing |
No sleep at noon
Afternoon crash