Every year in the middle of March, the information conveyed by the national "two sessions" has become a bellwether for the development of all walks of life. The suggestions and proposals of the delegates and members from all over the country are the places that the outside world is keen to track. During this year's "two sessions", Yin Tongyue, deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Chery Holding Group, as a representative of the automotive field, put forward thirteen proposals and suggestions on new energy, international two-way trade, and the development of ecological data industry.
One of them, "Accelerating The Negotiation of Free Trade Agreements with Relevant Countries to Provide Trade Facilitation for Chinese Car Companies to Go Global", is the most prominent of the many proposals on automobiles. Because when mainstream car companies focus on the domestic market, Chery still mentions the overseas market to a position of equal importance with the domestic market. If you look back at the development history of Chery Automobile, it is found that the entrepreneurial history of Chery Automobile is also a history of overseas market expansion, becoming the first Chinese car company to go overseas.
Today, after more than 20 years of deep overseas cultivation, Chery has accumulated 2 million units in overseas market sales, ranking first in Chinese brand exports for 19 consecutive years. And to achieve the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Chile and other more than 80 overseas countries and regions layout. During this year's "two sessions", Chery will break down the deep barriers to the sea as the next stage goal. This is enough to show the persistence and consistency of Chery Automobile's determination to go to sea.
| Yin Tongyue and his "going to sea" motion proposal
Among the proposals proposed by Yin Tongyue, there are proposals involving conventional double carbon, new energy and other proposals, which are often mentioned by other representatives of the automotive industry. In addition, among Yin Tongyue's thirteen proposals, one of the "accelerate negotiations on free trade agreements with relevant countries to provide trade facilitation for Chinese car companies going global" has become the focus of attention. Some commentators said that compared with the automotive industry's main focus on domestic proposals, Chery's proposals focus on domestic and at the same time focus on overseas, which has become an "alternative" among many proposals.
As the world's largest auto market, Data shows that China's auto sales reached 26.275 million units in 2021, up 3.8% year-on-year. Compared with the low-speed growth of the domestic automobile market, in the overseas market, China's automobile export volume exceeded 2 million units in 2021, an increase of up to 101%, and this is still in the case of repeated epidemics and chip shortages. That is to say, the domestic market competition is becoming increasingly saturated and white-hot, while the international market still has a lot of room for Chinese cars to play.
In Yin Tongyue's view, with the continuous improvement of China's automotive technology and research and development capabilities, the performance and quality of China's automotive products are gradually similar to those of Japan and South Korea, the main competitors in the international market, but because the Japanese and South Korean governments have signed free trade agreements in the countries where China's main overseas markets are located, Japanese and Korean auto companies enjoy more preferential policies, making Chinese auto brands in an unequal position in market competition. The signing of the free trade agreement is more conducive to the sales of Chinese brand cars in the local market, taking Chile as an example, Chile and China, Japan, South Korea have signed free trade agreements, of which Chinese brand car sales have accounted for nearly 25% of the entire automobile market, a number of products into the top 10 sales, the conclusion of the free trade agreement will undoubtedly provide better policy support for enterprises to go global.
In order to protect the exports of Chinese enterprises and enhance their international competitiveness, at the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2022, Yin Tongyue submitted a proposal to "accelerate the negotiation of free trade agreements with relevant countries and provide trade facilitation for Chinese car companies to go global".
Yin Tongyue suggested that the Ministry of Commerce speed up the comparison of the auto tariff policies of Japan, South Korea and other countries, accelerate the signing of trade agreements or customs alliances with countries and regions where China's major auto export markets are located, and formulate tariff policies involving automobiles.
Specifically:
Accelerate the conclusion of free trade agreements with the Latin American Common Market for the South (SADC), Mexico, South Africa and European countries to reduce tariffs.
Second, promote the second phase of negotiations with countries that have signed free trade agreements, and accelerate the process of mutual reduction of tariffs on auto products.
| Chery's cumulative sales in the past 20 years have exceeded 2 million
As the world's largest automotive market, China has ranked first in the world for 13 consecutive years by 2021. However, the mainland automobile industry still belongs to the automobile power, and it is far from being among the automobile powers. In order to realize China's progress from an automobile power to an automobile power, active participation in international market competition is one of the many key methods. Chery is one of the most representative Chinese enterprises.
As early as 2001, Chery Group opened the door to the Middle East market with the export of complete vehicles to Syria, and since then it has become the earliest export vehicle enterprise among its own brands, at this time Chery Automobile has just been established for 4 years. In the eyes of outsiders, Chery's export market is not a developed country, and even believes that Chery has not yet achieved impressive results in China, so it is a little anxious to open overseas markets. In this regard, Chery did not rush to respond to external questions.
Time back to 20 years ago, in December 2001, China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which means that China officially integrated into the tide of world economic development, for china's automotive industry, because it belongs to the initial stage of private car companies, the outside world is worried that this will cause multinational car companies to impact the Chinese market, "bring in" the worry is greater than the joy of "going out".
For Chery's car going to sea, the cause is not complicated. At the 2001 Beijing International Auto Show, Samir, an auto dealer from Syria, praised Chery after seeing chery's "Fengyun" sedan that had been on the market for only nine months. In this way, the first batch of 10 Chery "Fengyun" cars went out of the country. Since then, Chery has opened up the Syrian market.
In 2021, Chery Group's exports exceeded the 20,000 unit mark eight times in a single month, of which The monthly exports in December exceeded 30,000 units with a single monthly export of 31,253 units, setting a record for the highest monthly export volume, achieving nearly 270,000 units in the whole year. In the first two months of this year, Chery Automobile continued to maintain a high-growth export trend, achieving exports of 46,897 units, an increase of 33.9% year-on-year.
According to the latest statistical results, as of now, Chery Group's global automobile users have exceeded 10 million, including 2 million overseas users. Chery's products cover more than 80 countries and regions around the world, and more than 10 overseas countries and regions such as the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Chile, etc., and have applied for more than 500 foreign patents. And the establishment of a "sun does not set" global R & D system including six R & D centers in North America, Europe, Shanghai and other "sun does not set", with the country's largest and most advanced automotive engineering center. We have realized the development of product adaptability and laid a solid foundation for promoting the globalization strategy.
| Industrial chain layout + adaptive development take root in the local response to challenges
As the overseas market of Chinese car companies becomes more and more stable, it cannot be ignored that the repeated epidemics, chip shortages and changes in the international situation in recent years have intensified the challenges of overseas exports of mainland automobiles.
During this year's "two sessions", Yin Tongyue said in an interview with the media: "The impact of chips on us in the past year, especially now, is huge, and even about half of our actual demand is met, which will cause huge losses to our business activities, our market share, and our investment in new products and new technologies in the past." ”
For the chip shortage challenge, Chery said that it is actively coordinating alternative solutions, on the one hand, it coordinates with some foreign chip first-tier suppliers to increase the supply capacity of the Chinese market. The second is to coordinate some domestic chips, and domestic chip design companies have increased investment in vehicle-grade chips and capacity retention. In order to ensure the normal delivery of Chery Automobile.
In the overseas market layout, Chery will further deepen the local and gain insight into consumer needs, of which core components will adhere to self-research. Taking the power system as an example, Chery's cumulative total of 9 engines has been selected as the "Top Ten Engines of 'China Heart'". In addition, the world's first lightweight pure electric technology platform, the new energy "short-process aluminum frame technology" won the first prize of the China Automotive Industry Science and Technology Progress Award; in terms of new energy, Chery has completed the development of four generations of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, with a maximum cruising range of more than 700 kilometers.
In March 2015, chery automobile has become a representative of China's high-end manufacturing brand in Brazil, Russia and other places. At this time, Chery was different from the initial vehicle export, and Chery began to actively promote the principle of territoriality. Chery has invested in the construction of 10 production bases overseas, realizing the layout of Russia, Brazil, Egypt and other markets.
In 2017, Chery and CAOA Group, Brazil's largest automobile manufacturer and seller, announced a strategic cooperation between the two parties in the fields of research and development, manufacturing, procurement, sales and service, and jointly strengthened the influence of the Chery brand in the Latin American market. For example, in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and other countries that love football, Chery has studied the local football culture in depth and leveraged sports culture marketing to make the brand image deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
In recent years, before Chery enters an overseas market, it will "adjust" according to the local environment, market conditions and consumer behavior habits, etc., and establish research and development institutions in the local area to carry out adaptive development of products. At the same time, in the process of accelerating internationalization, we will innovate mechanisms, promote the 4P (products, brands, networks, services) + 2P (finance + logistics) work system, vigorously improve service efficiency, let the Chinese brand image "go up" overseas, and win the reputation of users. Overall, adaptive development, win-win cooperation, and cultural empowerment are the ways for Chery's globalization strategy to take root overseas and overcome challenges.