The stock ratio was greatly adjusted, and Mitsubishi was abandoned? GAC Response: The report is wrong

Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Lin Qian

According to media reports on January 12, Qixinbao APP data shows that the equity of GAC Mitsubishi, a joint venture between GAC Group and Japan's Mitsubishi, has changed, and the joint venture share ratio between the two sides is no longer maintained at 50:50.

According to the aforementioned report, the shareholding ratio of GAC Group fell to 6.3431%, the shareholding of Mitsubishi Corporation Rose to 92.4705%, and the shareholding of Mitsubishi Motor Industry Co., Ltd. fell to 1.1864%. GAC Mitsubishi became the first Sino-foreign joint venture car company to change its shareholding ratio in 2022.

In this regard, when Times Finance inquired about the national enterprise credit information publicity system and platforms such as Tianyancha, it did not find any changes in the equity of GAC Mitsubishi. On the same day, an insider of the GAC Group told Times Finance that "the report was wrong, and Qixinbao has corrected the information."

Source | GAC Mitsubishi official website

According to Tianyancha data, GAC Mitsubishi was established in May 2012 with a registered capital of 1.947 billion yuan, and the current GAC Group, Mitsubishi Motor Industry Co., Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corporation hold 50%, 30% and 20% of the shares respectively.

The same Japanese brand camp, when Toyota, Honda, Nissan in the Chinese market sales are rising, GAC Mitsubishi, which has been established for 9 years, is not very good.

According to the data of GAC Group's production and sales report, GAC Mitsubishi produced and sold 7885 vehicles and 7012 vehicles in December 2021, respectively, down 21.45% and 36.14% respectively from the same period in 2020. For the whole year of 2021, GAC Mitsubishi produced and sold 61,106 units and 66,066 units, down 19.7% and 11% year-on-year, respectively.

"GAC Mitsubishi is small in size and its own channel layout is also limited. In the face of the post-epidemic market, it has not seized the opportunity to rebound. At the same time, its product strength and brand power are between the first-line joint venture brand and the head of the independent brand, and the position is somewhat awkward in the current fiercely competitive market environment. For GAC Mitsubishi's continuous downturn in the Chinese market in recent years, some insiders told Times Finance that "its new car launch and product camp construction are far inferior to other Japanese brands."

According to the official website of GAC Mitsubishi, there are currently 7 models on sale of GAC Mitsubishi, of which Atuka is a new energy model, Eurand, Xinjinxuan and Yige are fuel vehicles, and the collector's version of Pajero, PAJERO SPORT and Pajero are imported originally.

It is worth mentioning that due to the sluggish market performance, the focus of the business of GAC Mitsubishi and its parent company Mitsubishi Motors has been adjusted, and the media once reported that Mitsubishi would gradually withdraw from the Chinese market. But then, officials debunked and clarified. GAC Group has also put a lot of effort into boosting gahic Mitsubishi's market performance.

Since 2020, senior executives of GAC Group have visited Changsha many times to investigate GAC Mitsubishi. According to public information, in mid-2020, the GAC-Mitsubishi new energy vehicle project with a total investment of 1 billion yuan was officially started in Changsha Economic Development Zone; in December last year, GAC-Mitsubishi New Energy SUV model Atuka officially rolled off the production line, and Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, also attended the event for the station platform. It is reported that Atuka, which integrates GAC Mitsubishi manufacturing process, Mitsubishi Motors' latest design language and GAC Group's new energy technology, will help GAC Mitsubishi's product matrix.

In fact, behind the rumors of GAC Mitsubishi, it is closely related to the relaxation of the restrictions on the proportion of passenger cars in the mainland. According to the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2021 Edition), from 1 January this year, in the field of automobile manufacturing, the restriction on foreign ownership in passenger car manufacturing and the restriction that the same foreign investor can establish two or fewer joint ventures producing similar vehicle products in China will be abolished. Previously, the mainland has lifted the foreign ownership restriction on new energy vehicles in 2018 and the foreign ownership restriction on commercial vehicles in 2020.

In the post-joint venture era, who will become the next joint venture passenger car company to replace the equity has attracted much attention. At the end of December last year, Yueda Investment issued an announcement that the 25% equity held by Dongfeng Group has been held by Yueda Group, and dongfeng Yueda Kia Tripartite Shareholding Company will become a two-party shareholding company of "Yueda Kia" in the future. Dongfeng Yueda Kia ended the era of tripartite joint ventures. According to media reports, Kia will announce a new company name under the IPO structure at this year's Beijing Auto Show.

In the industry's view, with the liberalization of equity restrictions, the equity battle of the joint venture parties may be concentrated. In this regard, Times Finance will also continue to pay attention.