Written by / Liu Baohua
Editor/ Zhang Nan
Design / Zhao Haoran
A Chinese car veteran left us.
At 10 o'clock on February 13, the farewell ceremony of the body of Li Gang, former chairman of China Automobile Industry Corporation, was held at the Babaoshan Funeral Home in Beijing. The heavy snow that lasted from the early morning to the afternoon seemed to be using a silver-clad world to bid farewell to this important pioneer of China's automobile industry.
He Guangyuan, former minister of machinery industry, Miao Wei, former minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as well as leaders and representatives of industry organizations such as the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and the China Automotive Advisory Committee attended the farewell ceremony. Xu Liuping, chairman of the board of directors and secretary of the party committee of China FAW, flew from Changchun to Beijing the day before, got off the plane and went directly to Li Gang's home to offer condolences, and the next day came to Babaoshan to make a final farewell.
Li Gang died in Beijing on February 9, four days ago, at the age of 96 due to ineffective medical treatment.
There are 150,000 people in the country named Li Gang, but this common name has great significance for China's automobile industry, and is one of the founders, entrepreneurs and pioneers of China's automobile industry.
He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1948 and entered the Tianjin Automobile Factory, and in 1952, he participated in the preparation of FAW, represented the Chinese government in the approval of the overall design and implementation of the Soviet Union's aid to FAW, and was the ordering representative of any FAW project in the Soviet Union. After returning to China, he worked at FAW for 29 years, from engineer, chief of technical section and chief engineer to the fourth director of the plant. In 1982, he was appointed general manager of China Automobile Industry Corporation and chairman of the board in 1985, the first general manager and the second chairman of China Automobile Industry Corporation.
Li Gang is a technical research and development background, and has participated in the research and development of various engines such as Jiefang brand engine improvement, Hongqi car and rotor piston. Since the 1960s, he has led the FAW plant in planning and implementing the technical transformation and plant expansion work of increasing the annual production capacity from 30,000 to 80,000 units. In 1978, he led a team to study and inspect 11 japanese automobile companies, and comprehensively promoted toyota production methods throughout the factory. In the early 1980s, the organization independently developed the new FAW replacement truck CA141 (the project won the Technology Progress Award), and completed the whole plant transformation plan.
On the issue of the strategic direction of the development of China's automobile industry, Li Gang has always firmly supported independent innovation. When China's national automobile brand was weak and small, he repeatedly called for independent innovation.
In 2000, Li Gang wrote to Zhu Rongji, then premier of the State Council, "How china's automobile industry really develops", suggesting that China Automobile "should concentrate on making up for and innovating in the development of automobile products, so as to pave a kangzhuang road for an 'open and autonomous' automobile industry." ”
Reading this letter again 22 years later, its "open and autonomous" development path and other views in the article are not outdated, and it is still a very sober understanding and judgment of the global trend and industry pattern.
Another important article li gang has written in recent years is something he wrote specifically for automotive business reviews.
At the networking meeting on October 28, 2014, he joined more than 40 chinese automakers, including He Guangyuan, former minister of machinery industry, Cai Shiqing, former chairman of China Automotive Industry Corporation, Yao Jingyuan, special researcher of the Counsellor's Office of the State Council, Xu Bingjin, president of The China European Economic and Technical Cooperation Association, Xu Xingyao, former deputy general manager and chief engineer of FAW of China, Hu Maoyuan, former chairman of SAIC, and more than 40 older Generation of Chinese automakers around the "road of independent brand under the new energy pattern" Let's explore.
This topic once again opened up Li Gang's independent plot, and after a day of discussion, he would write an article entitled "Creating Socialist Automotive Cultural Values" and send it to Automotive Business Review, which was published on the public account of Automotive Business Review on November 8, 2014, and published in the November 2014 issue of Automotive Business Review Magazine.
At the time of Li's writing, Chinese national brand cars had just experienced their lowest trough – from September 2013 to August 2014, the market share of independent brands declined for 12 consecutive months.
Against the backdrop of twelve consecutive falls, he wrote: "We have actually become a cornucopia and commercial colony of the autopower powers, south of South America. In this way, it is difficult to realize the dream of an automobile power. Creating a brand was originally a matter for enterprises, but the volume of automobile products is large and wide-ranging, and it has penetrated into thousands of households, and it is difficult to defeat foreign brands in the short term by relying on the efforts of enterprises. I believe that to create an independent brand, we must devote the strength of the whole society to overcoming the difficulties and reversing the situation within three or five years. ”
In terms of specific measures for the development of autonomy, Li Gang believes that this is not only a major event in the automobile industry, but also a major event for the whole society, from consumers, enterprises to the government need to perform their duties.
For example, he put forward the car purchase concept of "being ashamed of extravagance and showing off wealth and being proud of practical frugality; being ashamed of stepping on every occasion and being proud of its own brands; being ashamed of pursuing pleasure and being proud of environmental protection and energy conservation", and "being ashamed of shoddy manufacturing, being proud of independent innovation; being ashamed of greedy names and being proud of being practical and strong; being ashamed of being pompous and greedy, and being proud of being genuine".
Now that siren has passed away, it is touching that the year 2014 when Li Gang wrote this article is the key year for the beginning of the "four modernizations of automobiles" reform, and it is also the first year of the birth of the new car-making forces that later changed the pattern of the automobile industry.
But this new path still follows Li Gang's principle of "openness and autonomy". Li Gang's legacy is being realized by the descendants of Chinese automobiles.
The following is a summary of the article "Creating Socialist Automobile Cultural Values". There are abridgements.
At present, the situation of the mainland automobile industry, represented by cars, is grim.
The sales share of independent brand cars only accounts for about 19%, while 80% of the profits go abroad. Joint ventures producing foreign brands are growing rapidly. The number of capital increases, the number of countries, the length of joint ventures, and the wide range of model brands have no precedent in the history of world automobile development.
We have effectively become a cornucopia and commercial colony of the autopowers, south of South America. In this way, it is difficult to realize the dream of an automobile power. Creating a brand was originally a matter for enterprises, but the volume of automobile products is large and wide-ranging, and it has penetrated into thousands of households, and it is difficult to defeat foreign brands in the short term by relying on the efforts of enterprises.
I believe that to create an independent brand, we must devote the strength of the whole society to overcoming the difficulties and reversing the situation within three or five years.
Rely on what
Nowadays, many companies try their best to open up sales channels and create brands, such as holding various exhibitions and producing various advertisements. Even at great expense, he hired celebrity endorsements, model performances, media writers, and spent money to buy quality certifications to decorate the façade.
Of course, it will play a certain effect, but the iron must also be hard, in the final analysis, to rely on the strength of the enterprise itself, to produce products that meet brand standards.
This standard is much discussed in Western marketing books. There is a motto for doing business in the century-old shops of the Qing Dynasty on the mainland, called "authenticity, price, and innocence.". It is concise and concise, easy to learn and use, and is the crystallization of the traditional culture of the mainland. At that time, there was no brand concept, only an old brand, and I thought it should be the gold standard for contemporary brand creation.
For the current automotive products, authenticity, requiring the car in the appearance, a variety of technical performance (such as power, safety, environmental protection, economy, smooth, comfortable, etc.) quality and reliability, durability and market services and other five elements of true and excellent, and interlocking, layer by layer; price, is to achieve value for money, from the purchase of new cars to use, maintenance, repair and surplus value of the whole life cycle to have a lower input cost and higher cost performance; Tong Shuo is not deceived, that is, for any customer, at any time, any place, We must treat each other with integrity, without any deception and concealment, can stand the test of time, and have a good reputation, in exchange for the long-term and firm trust of users in the brand.
So, how does the gold standard reach? There is no other shortcut to relying on the strength of the enterprise. For example, enterprises should have a clear development strategy; abundant human, financial and material resources; strong product development and innovation capabilities; strict quality management system and corporate culture.
Now, compared with foreign brands of the same level in terms of authenticity, in general, there is no joint venture brand competition in the market for the time being, and independent brands have the advantage, but the technical content is relatively low, the premium ability is poor, and the joint venture brand is about to enter the market to compete.
Medium and high-end cars are the main force in the sedan market, with high technical level, high premium and profits, almost all of which are occupied by joint ventures and imported brands. However, in medium-sized cars and some small cars, the individual brands of a few enterprises have reached or approached the level of foreign brands.
In short, in terms of authenticity, a small number of brands in mainland china's independent car brands have caught up with or are close to joint venture brands, but they must be consolidated and improved. There is still a big gap in innovation and mastery of cutting-edge high technology. The price does not meet user expectations. Because foreign brands have a brand premium effect, cars are expensive to sell and users recognize.
However, for the same level of independent brand cars, it is natural to think that it should be cheaper, such as Qoros is 10% cheaper than the same level of competitors, Hongqi H7 is 25% cheaper than Audi A6L, which is not easy, but the online post is not satisfied, and the requirements are 40% cheaper to buy. This is difficult to do because the output is small, not up to the size of the economy, and it takes time to cut prices. Improving users' trust in the brand with integrity requires a long time to test, not a day's work. Some people say it's going to be ten years and eight years, some people say it's going to be another 100 years before they catch up with Mercedes,and I think that's too pessimistic.
With the superiority of our concentration on big things, we can brainstorm and come up with effective measures to overcome difficulties and create a number of standard independent car brands that are well-known at home and abroad in a short period of time, and develop side by side with joint ventures.
Three blind
In addition to the independent car enterprises continue to work hard to achieve the standard, the whole society should make efforts to clear obstacles for them, create opportunities, promote and help them grow, rather than seedlings to promote growth. Therefore, I propose the following three measures for participation in discussion.
The first is to advocate socialist automobile culture values.
Why advocate socialist automotive culture values? Because it is to overcome the three blindness of the current mainland car industry and affect the development needs of independent brands, it must be guided and regulated by ideology, morality and social culture. These three blindnesses are as follows:
First, the blindness of users to buy cars. Most of the users are newly enriched groups, they lack car knowledge, the purpose of buying cars is various, how to use the funds in hand, and the consumption concept is different. In China, the world's largest and immature automobile market, hundreds of Chinese and foreign brand cars, users are dazzled, do not know how to choose. Affected by bad social fashion and fixed thinking, users' perception of the brand is often followed by the clouds, and even with false rumors, they fall into the blindness of buying brands.
For example, some people worship Western civilization and think that all Western brand cars are good, and all Chinese cars are bad. They don't see that foreign brands are also good and bad, and they have had accidents, cut corners, recalls and claims. On the contrary, Chinese brands are on the rise, and there are also rising stars, and the cost performance is more reasonable.
Second, the blindness of the concept of enterprise development. The industrial structure of mainland cars is extremely unreasonable and is in the initial stage. Surrounded by multinational joint ventures, there are dozens of domestic vehicle enterprises large and small, but many enterprises are weak, under the protection of local governments, they cannot be eliminated, they cannot be merged, and there is blindness in the concept of enterprise development and path selection.
In order to compete and survive, they do not hesitate to use all kinds of improper means. If there is an enterprise that exaggerates the level of products, produces false advertisements, uses inferior materials and inferior parts to reduce costs, and arbitrarily lowers the national environmental protection and fuel-saving standards, shoddy and damages the interests of users. Some enterprises rely on foreign countries to respect themselves, use foreign genes, foreign systems, foreign names, and foreign character codes to flaunt themselves, and even take the opportunity to promote foreign brands to improve the reputation of their own brands, without saying whether they have real kung fu. Some enterprises rely on blind enclosure, paving the way to increase their strength and waste social resources. All of the above have damaged the reputation of independent brands and must be corrected.
Third, the blindness of government decision-making. In the development strategy of the automotive industry, the mainland government should not only develop joint ventures to ensure employment and taxation, but also ensure the growth of independent brands to enter the automobile power. Two brands of different natures are actually in a semi-competitive relationship. In the decision-making of urban traffic governance, it is necessary to develop it in order to meet the convenience of residents' travel and urban construction. In order to reduce casualties, traffic jams and pollution, it is necessary to limit the purchase limit for a limited time. Decision-making is very tangled and there is a certain blindness. Which brands and businesses should be supported and which should be eliminated should be decided.
In view of the above reasons, I boldly put forward specific suggestions for socialist automobile culture values (the concept of honor and disgrace), which are very immature and only for your reference.
Car buy view
Shame on extravagance and show off wealth Pride in practical frugality
Shame on every time you step on your own brand
Shame on the pursuit of pleasure Pride in environmental protection and energy saving
Car building view
Shame on shoddy manufacturing Pride in independent innovation
Shame on greedy names and foreign countries Pride in being practical and strong
Shame on exaggeration and greed, pride in authenticity
Automotive cultural values should be an integral part of the subsystem of socialist core values, which must be solicited from the bottom up and formulated and publicized from the top down. Civil servants of party and government organs, communist party members, and social elites take the lead in implementing them in order to achieve practical results.
Evaluation and motivation
The second is to establish a third-party authoritative car quality evaluation system.
In order to help users choose the car correctly, identify the advantages and disadvantages of the company's brand. The government should organize consulting institutions with rich experience and technical strength, use scientific and technological testing methods and strict tracking and investigation, evaluate all levels of independent brand cars every year, and compare them with foreign brand competitors at the same level.
The evaluation parameters should start from the five criteria for creating a "genuine" brand, including the level of product design innovation; the driving failure rate of 100 new cars in one year and three years; the surplus value and service quality of second-hand cars, which are publicly released to the public as user and service satisfaction indicators.
This not only points out the direction of car purchase for users, but also encourages advanced, spurs backwardness, and improves the industrial structure through survival of the fittest. Similar work has been carried out by the China Quality Association for many years and has improved year by year. This year, they visited 47 companies in four months to analyze and compare 19,471 valid samples of 53 Chinese and foreign brand models.
However, I believe that its investigation method is random interview, which is relatively arbitrary, the survey content is not standardized and comprehensive, the technical testing is not perfect enough, and the role of leading and warning enterprises is not strong enough.
It is recommended that the China Association of Quality and Quality combine well-known domestic automotive technology research institutions and universities to organize a stronger third-party evaluation team and refer to the J.D. Power evaluation system and model of the United States to carry out work.
The third is the government to establish an incentive mechanism for independent brand cars.
In order for brands that already have "authenticity" standards to quickly reach the gold standard, the government should create conditions to help them increase production, expand market share, survive profit and loss points, achieve economic scale, and expand brand awareness and competitiveness.
Governments should reward them for innovation and reform in product development and scientific management, and should use corporate tax breaks or direct subsidies to users as catalysts in the short term. This role is huge, and it is a rare opportunity to revitalize the mainland car industry, otherwise the opportunity is fleeting. In this regard, the subsidy scheme for electric vehicles can be compared.
The obstruction could come from foreign parties in the WTO and joint ventures. Article 3 of the WTO Agreement has anti-discrimination provisions on foreign investment, but it also has provisions on preferential treatment for developing countries and WTO provisions on the protection of infant industries.
For 30 years, multinational brands have been in a monopoly position, as evidenced by our inability to compete. For multinational companies, in the past, the Chinese market created huge profits for them, and in the future, with the development of society, the market capacity will continue to expand, allowing us to achieve a win-win situation in competition, and we can continue to cooperate and work together to go global.