2021, this familiar time, has quietly passed almost a month. With less than a week to go, we will also usher in our New Year, during which time everyone seems to have put aside the busyness at hand and is ready to spend a short New Year's holiday and set sail again for the upcoming 2022.
The water rolling in the east of the Yangtze River, the waves exhaust the heroes. Success or failure turns empty. The green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red a few degrees.
White-haired fisherman on the river, used to watch the autumn moon and spring breeze. A pot of turbid wine is a happy encounter. How many things in ancient and modern times are in the process of laughter.
In 2021, the wholesale volume of domestic passenger cars reached 21.098 million units, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year, and the market sales met expectations. In front of this huge string of figures, some people will think that the automotive industry seems to be still strong in the cold winter.
But in this cruel domestic auto market, every year there are different new brands or traditional established enterprises that are eliminated in this one. Today we are also here to review the past year's replacement of old and new and the events of the automobile circulation industry.
Fold the sand
In March 2021, the media found that the original "Chongqing Changan Suzuki Automobile Co., Ltd." was quietly renamed "Chongqing Changan Suzuki Automobile Co., Ltd.", which marked the official withdrawal of Suzuki Motors from the Chinese market in its entirety, and the official website of Changan Suzuki was also shut down with the change of ownership.
However, even after the name change, because the agreement between Suzuki Motors and Changan Automobile will not end until 2022, the company's business scope remains unchanged, mainly producing and selling products such as cars and starters. It is still possible to produce, sell, and hang models with Suzuki Peugeot. Even so, it is still impossible to get rid of the day when Changan Suzuki will eventually say goodbye.
The Cheetah couldn't run.
On April 30, 2021, Cheetah Auto applied to the Intermediate People's Court of Changsha City, Hunan Province for bankruptcy review. Cheetah Motors, once one of the largest manufacturers of light off-road SUV vehicles in mainland China. The parent company, Changfeng Group, was built in 1950 and was also transformed from the 7319 factory of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and since the end of the 1980s, it has truly shifted from military factory products to civilian automobiles.
One of the most memorable is that at the end of 1995, a series of agreements such as technology transfer were signed with Mitsubishi, and cheetah CJY6421A light off-road vehicle was born, which was the second generation of Pajero, and increased the annual output to 500,000 SUVs and vans, becoming the market hegemon of SUV that was unique at that time, and this cheetah was still in production until 2010.
In May 2009, in accordance with the decision of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and the Hunan Provincial Government, Changfeng Group transferred its 29% stake in Changfeng Automobile to GUANGZHOU AUTOMOBILE Group for 1.053 billion yuan. GAC became the largest shareholder of Changfeng Automobile, and the company name was changed to GAC Changfeng Automobile Co., Ltd.
In March 2011, GAC Group fully absorbed and merged GAC Changfeng by way of share exchange, realizing the overall listing of A shares. In 2012, GAC established a joint venture with Mitsubishi, GAC Mitsubishi, resulting in the loss of high-quality resources in the hands of Changfeng in the past.
In the same year, Changfeng Group decided to return to the vehicle business, and in 2013, it repurchased the ownership of the production base and cheetah trademark, and established Hunan Changfeng Cheetah Automobile Co., Ltd. and Hunan Cheetah Automobile Co., Ltd.
In the first few years since 2015, Cheetah has finally improved, successively launching CS10, CS9, CS9EV, Mattu and other models, achieving sales of 45,000 units in 2015, 93,200 units in 2016, and 125,000 vehicles in 2017.
Blind expansion and overestimation of market expectations led to a serious decline in 2018 and 2019, facing a cliff-like decline in sales and car quality problems. Step by step, cheetahs broke the cards that should have been good, and finally ushered in only the results of bankruptcy review.
Two horses in one
On August 30, 2021, FAW Mazda posted its last Weibo on its official Weibo, announcing that FAW Mazda would merge its business with Changan Mazda, making Mazda the only Changan Mazda joint venture in China.
Changan Mazda was transformed into a joint venture jointly funded by three parties. Mazda holds 47.5% of the shares, China FAW holds 5% of the shares, and Changan Automobile accounts for 47.5%.
Since then, Changan Mazda has inherited all of Mazda's domestic business. FAW Mazda will be changed to a joint venture jointly funded by Mazda and (new) Changan Mazda, and will continue to undertake related business.
Anti-acquisition
Qi Yumin, former secretary of the party committee and chairman of brilliance automotive group holdings co., LTD., was suspected of accepting bribes, embezzling public funds, and abusing their powers by personnel of a state-owned company, and the investigation by the Liaoning Provincial Supervision Commission was concluded and transferred to the procuratorial organs for review and prosecution.
Upon designation of jurisdiction by the Liaoning Provincial People's Procuratorate, the Chaoyang Municipal People's Procuratorate is to review and prosecute. In the same month, Shen Tiedong replaced Yan Bingzhe as the new party secretary and chairman of Brilliance Group. In August, BMW China acquired the "Brilliance China" automotive brand for 1.633 billion yuan.
Now BMW's acquisition of Brilliance China has triggered speculation about its wholly-owned factory in China in 2022. Because brilliance's multiple production lines are almost similar to BMW, and BMW can also be said to be on the "hitchhiker", so as to quickly put into domestic production; in this way, the cost is reduced, and there is no doubt that the price can change. The triangular relationship of the BBA will also be separated.
Yueda Kia has no east wind
Although Dongfeng Yueda Kia has not yet reached the situation of disappearing into the market, the name that has been shouted for 20 years may be about to change its mouth. According to the official website of the Shanghai United Property Rights Transaction on December 17, Dongfeng Group completed the transfer of 25% of its equity for 297 million yuan. The tripartite joint venture has also become a shareholding held by Kia and Yueda. The shareholding ratio of the two parties is expected to be announced in April 2021.
The offshore market is full of vitality
The market is changeable, and difficulties can also be opportunities for others. According to the statistics of China Automobile Association, from January to November 2021, self-owned brand automobile enterprises exported 1.793 million units, an increase of 110.8% year-on-year. Passenger car exports accounted for 1.427 million units. Year-over-year increase 1. Exported 366,000 commercial vehicles, up 77.0% year-on-year.
In recent years, Chinese enterprises such as BYD, SAIC, and Chery have achieved remarkable performance in exports, and many car companies have gradually opened up overseas markets and promoted global development. Although the current export volume is still relatively small, but compared with 2020, China's automobile exports are only 1.06 million units, and this year's results are even more encouraging.
On the other hand, new energy vehicles have also ushered in a small peak in the Chinese market, and the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China have reached 3.023 million units and 2.99 million units respectively. Deliveries reached 936,200 units in 2021, just one step away from 1 million units. BYD's annual sales of new energy passenger cars increased by 231.6% y/y to 593,700 units.
Led by "Wei, Small, Rational" a number of new car-making forces camp has also repeatedly reached new heights in production and sales, at the same time, the new energy second-hand car market has also opened up the pattern, Tesla, Weilai, Weima and other brands have set up officially certified second-hand car brands to enhance product circulation.
"Lack of core" production reduction
"Lack of core" has become the biggest pain in 2021. Since the second half of 2020, the lack of chips has become the biggest problem affecting global cars, with a cumulative reduction in car production in the Chinese market to 1.98 million units, close to 20% of the total. As a result, many domestic consumers have to wait in long lines after booking, and there is also a problem of price increases in the market.
Cross-border entry to build a car
As early as 5 years ago, there were rumors of Rebus's car-making plan, but it was denied until March this year, when Xiaomi Group announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it would establish a wholly-owned subsidiary and be responsible for the electric vehicle business. As another giant of domestic mobile phones - Huawei is not far behind, before the Guangzhou Auto Show also released a new brand AITO Q&I M5 jointly created with Xilis, and in just four days after the release, more than 6500 units were booked, and more real cars were immediately stationed in Huawei's flagship store. In addition, big guys in different fields of Baidu and Skyworth have entered the automotive field with their own skills.
The same cross-border car, the car that was once huge, from the original rich "buy, buy and buy" to the current bankruptcy rumors, almost reached the situation of difficult production. Finally, on December 27, ushered in a Hengchi 5-way line debugging car 00001 officially rolled off the line, no high-profile reports, only a few real photos, and the previous style of image strong contrast. But even so, Evergrande's life hangs on the line, and hengchi's future is still full of thorns.
2021 has passed, as the opening chapter said that the market is unpredictable, in 2022 the major manufacturers are also responding to the market, as if it is obvious in the layout of new energy, whether it is hybrid technology or pure electric vehicles, I believe it will present a more diversified and rich market.