Auto-First| Sun Jinfeng Editor's Note:
In the blink of an eye, 2021 is still a few days away.
As in previous years, at the end of each year, Auto-First will take stock of the past year's auto market.
The blockbuster new cars listed in 2021, the big events and small things that happen in the automotive circle, and the people in the automotive industry... Sour, sweet and bitter, the car industry is varied, and will be presented one by one in the year-end planning of Auto-First.
The car market is also like a race, in the middle of the year, we will name the car market half a year as "midfield watch", near the end of the year, the "second half" also entered the countdown, to the final whistle, the time to reveal the winner or loser.
Take stock of 2021, know the loss, know the direction, and welcome 2022 together.
Carbon neutrality, chip shortage, cross-border car manufacturing, mergers and acquisitions... Become the key word throughout the automotive industry in 2021. The major events that occur in the automotive industry in 2021 will not only affect the trend of the automotive industry in 2021, but also profoundly affect 2022.
In 2021, carbon peaking and carbon neutrality have become hot words in the automotive industry. As a goal and action to deal with climate change, carbon neutrality has been incorporated into the outline of China's five-year plan for national economic and social development, which will have a profound impact on various industries.
As China clearly put forward the goal of striving to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and striving to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, China has formulated stricter energy conservation and emission reduction targets for fuel vehicles. On July 1, 2021, the national emission standards of China VI were officially implemented nationwide. According to the plan, the average fuel consumption level of new passenger cars in China will drop to 4L per 100 kilometers by 2025.
At the same time, the new energy automobile industry plays a vital role, and the state has also introduced relevant policies for the new energy automobile industry. The "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" issued by the General Office of the State Council proposes that by 2025, the sales volume of new energy vehicles will reach about 20% of the total sales of new vehicles; by 2035, pure electric vehicles will become the mainstream of new sales vehicles.
In the automotive industry, multinational car companies such as Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and General Motors have defined the carbon neutrality timetable and actively implemented carbon neutrality through measures such as electrification transformation and carbon reduction in the whole industry chain. China's SAIC, GAC and other automobile groups, BYD, Geely, Great Wall and other Chinese auto brands are also accelerating electrification.
This wave of automotive electrification, driven by carbon neutrality and led by the Chinese market, is changing the pattern of the world's automobiles.
In 2021, the small chip affects the overall production and sales of the automobile market, and the lack of core has become a pain point for the entire industry.
From December 2020, the supply of vehicle-grade chips began to be tight, and in 2021, the "core shortage" continued to affect the automobile market and had a growing trend. Many automakers have cut production or suspended production of some models due to chip shortages, and terminal deliveries have also been affected, and many popular family cars need to wait for months to pick up. Due to the chip shortage, industry bodies predict that global automobile production will be reduced by 3.9 million units in 2021.
Under the haze of lack of cores, China's auto market is also relatively sluggish, and the traditional "golden nine silver ten" is no longer there. However, from the retail sales data released by car companies, monthly sales are steadily climbing year-on-year, which also reflects that the tight supply of chips is gradually being alleviated. Some institutions predict that the chip shortage is expected to ease in the second quarter of 2022.
At the same time, due to the shortage of chips, the phenomenon of asking for prices, shoddy charging and even counterfeiting and shoddy products has also begun to emerge, and the national level has taken action to rectify, to a certain extent, alleviating a series of problems brought about by the shortage of chips. However, from the deep-seated reasons for the shortage of chips, the lack of core technology is the fundamental reason. Independent enterprises urgently need technical research, so that the upstream production links are not controlled by people, which is the root cause of the real solution to supply chain problems.
Facing the new four modernizations, the new forces of car manufacturing are menacing, and traditional car companies have stepped up the pace of transformation, and the replacement of standards has become one of the important symbols of transformation.
In 2021, multinational car companies including GM, Renault, Peugeot, Kia, etc. have changed their bids, and domestic BYD and Geely have also kept up.
The new LOGO is generally more concise and has the characteristics of a flat smartphone. According to car companies, this can bring them closer to young consumers.
In fact, the change of standard is only the appearance, enterprises deepen the change, comprehensive strategic transformation, and embrace the new four modernizations is the real motivation.
Traditional car companies have accelerated their transformation, and Xiaopeng Automobile, as a new force, has also replaced its LOGO in 2021. According to the plan of He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, Xiaopeng will not only make cars in the future, but also use the exploration of science and technology to lead the future travel reform and become an explorer of future travel, which is Xiaopeng's new brand positioning. Whether it is the exploration of low-altitude travel methods or the intelligent machine horse, xiaopeng motors have expanded the exploration field of Xiaopeng Automobile to a broader space outside the car.
On August 30, 2021, with the release of the last push article by FAW Mazda on its official public account - "The road is long, don't forget it", officially announced the merger of Changan Mazda and FAW Mazda, and faw Mazda, which was established for 16 years, officially became history.
Just a few days before FAW Mazda published this article, Mazda, Changan Automobile and China FAW issued a joint statement that China FAW had successfully taken over the Changan Mazda capital increase project, and That FAW, as the funder of the Changan Mazda capital increase project, would contribute to Changan Mazda for its 60% equity valuation of FAW Mazda Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. After the completion of the capital increase project, Changan Mazda will be changed to a joint venture jointly funded by three parties, which marks the dust settled on Changan Mazda's acquisition of FAW Mazda.
Since Mazda, Changan Automobile and China FAW have not announced the details of the merger, the two-HORSE combination is only speculation. But what is certain is that as Mazda's only joint venture company in China, Changan Mazda can better implement the "Zoom-Zoom Sustainable Development Declaration 2030", and the future product launch will be clearer and more direct.
On December 13, 2021, BAIC Group announced that it will increase its self-held daimler group shares to 9.98%, which also means that BAIC has surpassed Geely in one fell swoop and become the largest shareholder of Daimler Group. At the same time, Daimler will also hold 9.55% of the shares of BAIC Group listed companies in Hong Kong and 2.46% of the A shares.
BAIC Motor has a long history with Daimler, and since 2003, a long-term strategic partnership has been established between Daimler and BAIC Group. Since then, the two sides established a joint venture Beijing Benz Automobile Co., Ltd. in 2005, and the two parties jointly sell cars through Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd. In 2012, BEIQI Foton Motor Co., Ltd., which is controlled by BAIC Group, and Daimler established a joint venture to produce medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
In 2013, BAIC Group and Daimler proposed a plan for cross-shareholding between the two sides, known as "Beidaihe". Until February 2018, Geely Group acquired 9.69% of Daimler AG through its overseas corporate entities, becoming the largest shareholder of Daimler in one fell swoop.
Through this capital increase, BAIC surpassed Geely Group to become the largest shareholder of Daimler with a 0.29% advantage, and some analysts believe that BAIC has a strong desire to surpass Geely in order to lock in it into becoming Daimler's most senior partner in the Chinese market and provide favorable conditions for its later development. Some analysts have pointed out that who is Daimler's largest shareholder is both meaningless and meaningful. It doesn't make sense that the difference between BAIC and Geely is only 0.29%. It is significant that the chinese elements of the two together hold 19.67% of Daimler's shares, which is truly Daimler's largest shareholder.
Since the veteran car company Brilliance Auto was exposed to formal bankruptcy and restructuring in November 2020, the road has been blocked and long. Although more than a year later, both reorganization plans ended in stranding.
The latest news is that the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court recently ruled that the deadline for submitting the draft substantive merger and reorganization plan of 12 enterprises, including Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings Co., Ltd., has been extended to June 3, 2022. This is the second time that Brilliance's reorganization plan has been stranded, and the original deadline for submission of the draft reorganization plan was originally December 3, 2021.
In response to the second postponement, relevant people within Brilliance Group said that the restructuring plan was postponed because the epidemic prevention and control measures had an impact on the reorganization work.
Old debts are hard to pay, and new accounts are added. On December 16, Brilliance Auto received the latest lawsuit from Harbin Bank, China Everbright Bank, etc., according to the recent ruling of the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court, estimating that the group's maximum loss was about RMB1.391 billion, which added pressure to Brilliance Auto's restructuring.
At the second creditors' meeting at the end of August 2021, three agenda items were adopted, including BMW China's acquisition of the "Zhonghua" brand equity for 1.633 billion yuan. However, even if BMW China's acquisition is successful, 1.633 billion yuan is a drop in the bucket for Brilliance Group, which is riddled with hundreds of billions of debts.
Brilliance Group's 2020 semi-annual report shows that the group's total liabilities are 132.844 billion yuan, and the asset-liability ratio is 71.4% after deducting goodwill and intangible assets. On August 20, 2021, Brilliance Group issued an announcement that as of August 19, 2021, the administrator had accepted a total of 6,004 creditors to declare claims, with a total amount of RMB54.2 billion.
In addition, in September 2021, Brilliance Group was fined a total of 53.6 million yuan by the CSRC for a number of illegal acts such as information disclosure in the interbank bond market.
The industry generally believes that the current Brilliance Group is difficult to save itself. Jinbei Automobile also admitted in the announcement that at present, the relevant parties have not yet launched all plans and plans for the reorganization of Brilliance Group, and there is uncertainty about whether Brilliance Group can successfully reorganize.
Although the time for the full liberalization of the joint venture equity ratio is 2022, some weak joint venture brands have already begun to move.
In 2021, Dongfeng Yueda Kia is a typical example.
On December 17, the official website of the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange showed that Dongfeng Group had listed for sale its 25% stake in Dongfeng Yueda Kia and had been delisted at a transfer price of 297 million yuan.
In fact, in August 2021, Kia, Yueda and Dongfeng re-evaluated cooperation, Kia wanted to increase capital, Dongfeng felt that it did not make money, and the three parties reached an agreement. The delisting of Dongfeng equity is also a "prescribed action" for Dongfeng to withdraw from the tripartite cooperation.
According to people familiar with the matter, after Dongfeng's withdrawal, the company's future share ratio is still in consultation with Yueda, and the final result is expected to be announced in April 2022. But most in the industry believe Kia will increase its share ratio to 75 percent next year.
Before Dongfeng Yueda Kia, in 2018, BMW had reached an agreement with Brilliance to increase the capital of BMW Brilliance to 75%, and in May 2020, Volkswagen increased the capital of Jianghuai Volkswagen to 75%, and Jianghuai Volkswagen changed its name to Volkswagen Anhui. From the perspective of the general trend of policy, It is a matter of course for Kia to expand its share ratio, and Dongfeng Yueda Kia will not be the last joint venture car company to change the joint venture share ratio.
The new car-making forces represented by Weilai, Ideal and Xiaopeng have now grown into an emerging force that cannot be ignored in the automobile industry, and although there are more new forces that have broken the sand, they still cannot stop the pace of new entrants. In 2021, cross-border car manufacturing is still hot.
Baidu, Xiaomi, Midea, and Skyworth have stepped into the field of car manufacturing, and the addition of Xiaomi Cars has attracted the most attention.
On March 30, 2021, at Xiaomi's spring 2021 new product launch conference, Xiaomi officially announced the construction of cars. On the same day, the 52-year-old Lei Jun spent 30 minutes detailing the road to the heart of the car, choking up several times. And said: "Xiaomi car will be the last major entrepreneurial project in my life, I will bet on all the achievements in my life, fight for Xiaomi car, Xiaomi will face this new battlefield with great investment and incomparable patience." "The 100 billion yuan of funds and millet ecology on the book is Lei Jun's confidence."
After the announcement of the car, Xiaomi Cars has steadily advanced. In September 2021, Xiaomi Auto settled in Yizhuang, Beijing. Two months later, the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone signed a cooperation agreement with Xiaomi Group, and the Xiaomi Automobile Project will build the Xiaomi Automobile Headquarters Base and sales headquarters and R&D headquarters in Yizhuang, Beijing, and will build a vehicle factory with an annual output of 300,000 vehicles in two phases, and it is expected that the first car will roll off the production line and achieve mass production in 2024.
The automotive industry is undergoing a once-in-a-century revolution, and this specific background of the times determines that the automotive industry is now in a state of blooming flowers. Whether it is an Internet giant, or a mobile phone dealer, or a home appliance, the addition of these cross-border car-making players has undoubtedly brought unprecedented vitality to the traditional automotive industry.
In 2021, cases of car owners' rights protection occurred frequently, and the most concerned by society was the rights protection incident of female car owners standing on the roof of the car and shouting "Tesla brake failure" at the Shanghai Auto Show in April.
Although the initial public opinion orientation was mainly to protect the interests of the car owner, as some netizens dug out the personal information of the car owner, some people pointed the spearhead at the car owner. During this period, some Tesla car owners filed lawsuits against female car owners, believing that their rights protection methods seriously affected the image of all Tesla owners in society, resulting in a series of Rashomon incidents.
In August this year, Tesla counterclaimed the female owner, demanding that the female car owner compensate for the loss of the right to reputation of 5 million yuan, in this context, the female owner requested the other party to pay moral damages from 50,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan.
When the waters are getting muddy, it is impossible for a bystander to know what the truth of the whole thing is.
On December 24, 2021, ms. Weiquan Car's lawsuit against Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd., and Tao Lin, global vice president of Tesla Co., Ltd., was tried at the Beiguan District People's Court in Anyang City, Henan Province. However, the trial experienced nearly 6 hours of intense debate, and the case was not pronounced in court.
Female car owners who have been sued for rights protection, infighting in the owner group, Tesla, which is still selling well, and many onlookers... This is perhaps the most authentic ukiyo-e painting in the current car market.
Two years ago, Xu Jiayin, who started in real estate, announced that Evergrande officially cross-border car manufacturing, followed by the intensive acquisition of a number of international car-related industrial companies and R & D institutions, and quickly obtained the vehicle research and development capabilities from design, research and development, testing and production bases, fully interpreting the "banknote capability".
Today, for more than two years, the rumors that Evergrande Made Cars have fallen into bankruptcy due to Evergrande Group are still confusing.
Evergrande Group, which is deeply in financial crisis, cannot afford Evergrande Automobile's large-scale "burning money", starting from the sale of Evergrande New Energy Automobile Group and part of the equity of Evergrande Property in August 2021, Evergrande New Energy has started the slimming process.
In October, Evergrande Automobile announced its plan to sell its subsidiary, Guoneng Electric Vehicle Sweden Co., Ltd., and raise HK$500 million in the Hong Kong stock market through the placement of shares for the research and development and manufacturing of Evergrande's new energy vehicles, laying the foundation for the smooth production of Hengchi new energy vehicles.
On December 27, some netizens said that Evergrande Automobile's first new car, Hengchi 5-pass line debugging car 00001, was officially rolled off the production line, and several real photos were released. Compared with the previous hype reports, Hengchi Automobile's off-line this time is particularly low-key, and did not invite the media to report on the scene. According to the plan, the new car will be officially launched next year.
However, for Evergrande, the mass production and listing has only taken the first step in the market fight, and how to make consumers pay is the real test. (Image from the Internet)