If we discuss the historical node of China's auto joint venture process now, then October 11, 2018 must be the day that needs to be focused.
On this day, which coincided with the 15th anniversary of the establishment of BMW Brilliance, Brilliance and BMW jointly announced that BMW would acquire part of BMW Brilliance for 3.6 billion euros, increasing the share ratio to 75%.
Recently, this equity adjustment has also been officially settled.
A stone stirs up a thousand layers of waves.
After BMW toppled the first domino brand, almost all the Chinese and foreign shareholders of the joint venture car brands in China were concerned.
For outsiders, China is the world's largest market, and no one wants to dare to make a mistake.
For the Chinese side, it has a significant stake in the joint ventures, many of which are the profit cows of the Chinese group. Therefore, when talking about the topic of opening up the stock ratio, both the Chinese side and the foreign side must be careful.
Nowadays, coinciding with the unprecedented changes in the automotive industry in a hundred years, the "new four modernizations" and the opening of the stock ratio have accelerated the reshuffle speed of the industry. The strong are becoming more prominent, the weak are accelerating their exit, and reform has never stopped for the automotive industry.
In this context, how to find a new cooperation model suitable for the times in the Chinese auto market has become a problem that both Chinese and foreign parties in the joint ventures urgently need to face. In view of the different situations they face, they are also actively exploring the model that suits them best.
Recently, a rumor of the adjustment of the "two-bedroom and one-hall" structure of DPCA Automobile has aroused widespread concern in the industry.
In the eye of BMW Brilliance, GAC FCA and other stock ratio changes, what does it mean for DPCA to adjust this step? Can this model bring further revival to the dragons that are beginning to improve?
(1) The dragon "divides" and starts over
As the name suggests, "two rooms" refers to the fact that under the condition that the existing share ratio remains unchanged, china and France dominate the two brands of Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot respectively. "One hall" refers to the sharing of existing public areas such as commodity planning, technology, quality, and industrial production.
Previously, Kung Fu Automobile learned that under the premise of maintaining the 50%:50% equity ratio between China and France, the French side will account for 75% of the equity of Dongfeng Peugeot, and the Chinese side will account for 75% of the equity of Dongfeng Citroen. This statement coincides with the "two rooms, one hall" scheme.
In the view of Kung Fu Automobile, the reason for the launch of the "two rooms and one hall" model at this time has a great relationship with the recovery of Shenlong last year.
At the DPCA Cultural Festival on October 24, 2020, Chen Bin, general manager and party secretary of the newly appointed DPCA Automobile Co., Ltd., released the "Yuan + Plan" and the Five Hearts Guardian Action at the scene.
Then at the end of the year, it ushered in the first positive year-on-year growth in 30 months of decline. Subsequently, in 2021, the Versailles C5X was launched, and DPCA gradually opened the road back to the track, and throughout 2021, the production and sales of DPCA broke through the 100,000 mark again.
At the beginning of 2022, DPCA's sales in January also reached another good result, exceeding 13,000 units, the best in four years. Such achievements are inseparable from the localization efforts made by DPCA.
In this context, the spirit of the Dragon People has been completely awakened, and the introduction of the "two rooms and one hall" model at this time will greatly extend this recovery momentum.
From china's point of view, the implementation of the "two rooms and one hall" model can prompt DPCA to absorb more advantages from the Chinese market, especially China's advantages in electrification, intelligent networking, software, etc., so that products can better adapt to the Chinese market and bring more suitable and better products to Chinese consumers.
From the perspective of the French side, the "two rooms and one living room" model can share Dongfeng's excellent achievements in the field of intelligence and electric power on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can also continue to export its accumulation in the fields of design and manufacturing to the Chinese market through the leading brand of Dongfeng Peugeot, and establish a more original circle of French car culture.
As a result, the "division" of Shenlong will bring more efficiency, flatness, pragmatism and autonomy to the two brands of Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot. In a sense, this may be the beginning of a new round of deepening cooperation between the two sides.
(2) What does it mean for China to lead Citroën?
Since the "two-bedroom, one-room" model is feasible, why is the pattern that the French side dominates Peugeot and the Chinese side dominates Citroën?
This problem, in the eyes of Kung Fu Cars, has three points.
The first point, of course, is continuity. Last year's Versailles C5 X's brilliance was largely based on the Chinese-led marketing strategy.
As a product of the DPCA's product more Chinese strategic reform, Versailles C5 X has become the best-selling product of Peugeot Dragon in recent years with a design and configuration that is more in line with the preferences of Chinese users since its listing on September 23, 2021.
In the future, the Chinese side will continue to lead the Citroën brand, and it will continue to continue and improve a complete set of marketing systems for the brand.
The second point is Citroën's brand proposition. Unlike the elegant Peugeot brand, Citroën has always been independent, bold, innovative and individual. China leads the Dongfeng Citroen brand, which can import domestic advantageous resources in terms of electrification and intelligent networking, making future products more Chinese.
The third point is piloting. The Dongfeng Citroen brand led by the Chinese side is actually a more Chinese "first to try", if done well, Dongfeng Peugeot can also learn from and keep up later.
In fact, in the past year, through a new marketing model created with users, Dongfeng Citroen has achieved a double harvest of sales and word of mouth, and has triggered the "Versailles phenomenon" throughout the country. These achievements have proved that China's reform in DPCA is powerful and fruitful.
Therefore, in a sense, the Chinese side dominates the Citroën brand, in fact, it is also the vanguard of the accelerated transformation of the entire DPCA, and dominates the direction of the reform of the DPCA.
(3) Kung Fu shooting
The liberalization of the share ratio is a challenge and an opportunity for domestic joint venture car companies.
Combined with today's entire internal and external environment, the idea of building a "two-room, one-room" structure proposed by China and France is based on a higher quality and longer-term development angle, not just a simple "division" on the surface, after all, reform is only a means and not an end.
Perhaps this kind of brave attempt is an active embrace of the great changes in the automotive era, and the future may be able to achieve the mainstream joint venture choice of an era.