【Introduction: On March 15, it was reported that the negotiations between Mercedes-Benz Group and BAIC Group on the former's proposed increase in the shareholding ratio of Beijing Benz have been basically completed, and are scheduled to be announced within this year. At present, both BAIC Group and Mercedes-Benz said: "I have not heard of this matter. ”。 However, since 2022 is the year of the policy of "abolishing the restriction on foreign ownership in passenger car manufacturing, and abolishing the restriction on no more than two joint ventures", this news may not be empty. 】
Written| by Zhang Chi and edited by | Kang Qiao
Recently, Mercedes-Benz announced the opening of its second technology center in Shanghai, which will focus on big data and autonomous driving. Only on October 20, 2021, the new Daimler China Technology and Development Center was officially opened in Beijing. The latter is functionally on an equal footing with the R&D center at the headquarters in Stuttgart. However, compared with the layout of R&D centers in Beijing and Shanghai, the two most important cities in China, Daimler's pursuit of a breakthrough in the share ratio of Beijing Mercedes-Benz can more provoke the nerves of the Chinese people.
In the current shareholding structure of Beijing Benz, BAIC Group accounts for 51% of the shares, and The German side Mercedes-Benz holds 49% of the shares. Once the proportion of German holdings is increased to a structure such as BMW Brilliance, it may have a relatively large impact on baic group and the entire domestic luxury brand automobile market pattern.
Mercedes-Benz urgently needs to regain its dominance in the domestic luxury car market
As early as 2018, the BMW Group acquired part of the equity of BMW Brilliance, a joint venture in China, for 3.6 billion euros, increasing its shareholding ratio to 75%. In bmw's eyes, BMW Brilliance has been upgraded from a joint venture car company to an important node radiating the entire Northeast Asian market. As for Audi, starting from January 2022, SAIC Audi's first model A7L will be delivered, and the later Audi Q5 e-tron and another full-size large SUV will also be launched to consolidate SAIC Audi's product matrix. Within the FAW Audi structure, Audi and FAW also established audi FAW new energy automobile company, which is 60% controlled by Audi. Driven by the troika of SAIC Audi, FAW Audi and FAW Audi New Energy Automobile Company, Audi's late staying power in the domestic market should not be underestimated.
For Mercedes-Benz, it is imperative to regain its dominance in the domestic luxury car market as soon as possible. In addition to introducing the latest technology and models to the Chinese market, improving the share ratio of Beijing Benz is a shortcut. Increasing the shareholding ratio not only means that more profits can be obtained from the joint venture company, but more importantly, it can accelerate the decision-making power of the joint venture company. At present, the domestic automobile market is developing rapidly, especially in the field of intelligent electric vehicles, and a number of new domestic car companies can make decisions at the first time when responding to market changes. On the other hand, foreign car companies not only need the consent of both shareholders, but sometimes they need the nod of foreign headquarters. If Beijing Benz becomes the company in which Mercedes-Benz occupies the majority shareholder, the authorization of the joint venture will inevitably be much larger. The intrepid consumption of internal processes, and the possibility that both parties exist only because of cultural mistrust, will be diluted to the greatest extent.
BAIC Group needs to do its best to avoid repeating brilliance's mistakes
The loss of the controlling stake in Beiben has a greater impact on baic group, and once it is slightly careless in handling, it is entirely possible to repeat brilliance's mistakes.
According to the announcement released by BAIC Motor, in 2021, BAIC Motor's revenue will be 22.809 billion euros, and Beijing Benz's revenue will reach 21.288 billion euros, accounting for about 93% of BAIC Motor's total revenue. From a profit point of view, the profit generated by Beijing Benz's continuing operations after tax reached 3.205 billion yuan, while the profit of Beijing Motor As a whole was only 1.868 billion yuan. In other words, after removing the contribution of Beijing Benz, the loss of other sectors of BAIC reached 1.337 billion yuan.
The reason for this situation is that on the one hand, Beijing Hyundai, another joint venture of BAIC, has had sluggish sales in recent years, not only in electric vehicles, but also in fuel vehicles that have been gradually marginalized. What is even more troublesome for BAIC is that with the success of Kia's increase in the original Dongfeng Yueda Kia and Hyundai's domestic holding of commercial vehicle companies, Hyundai also has a great willingness to increase its stake in Beijing Hyundai. On the other hand, BAIC's own brand business performance is sluggish, especially the sales volume of the Jihu brand joint venture with Magna has not achieved the expected results, even compared with Aeon, an independent new energy vehicle brand under GAC, the gap between BAIC Jihu is very obvious. At the end of January 2022, Beiqi Blue Valley issued a pre-loss announcement for its 2021 annual results, and it is expected that the net loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies in 2021 will be 4.8 billion yuan to 5.3 billion yuan. In particular, it is worth mentioning that once BAIC loses the controlling stake in Beijing Benz, it means that the revenue and profit of Beijing Benz cannot be included in baic's statements. BAIC will not only slip out of the world's top 500, but also lead to a sharp decline in the stock prices of its listed companies. This kind of influence, which can be called a bottom-up salary, can be described as a disaster for BAIC.
In order to maximize the influence on the board of directors and management of Mercedes-Benz, in December 2021, BAIC Group announced that it had held 9.98% of the shares of Daimler AG, and surpassed Geely in one fell swoop to become the largest shareholder of Daimler Group. However, the extent to which this impact can change the will of other shareholders or management at the Daimler level to increase their holdings of Beijing Benz is still a big question mark. Whether from the shareholder level or from the level of the Mercedes-Benz management team, holding Beijing Benz brings visible benefits, which is very valuable for Mercedes-Benz, which is now in the process of electrification and intelligent transformation.
The potential shocks that Geely and Smart face
In addition to BAIC Group, Mercedes-Benz also has its other major shareholder, Geely. However, after successively forming a mobility company with Geely and selling 50% of smart's equity to Geely, no new cooperation between the two sides has been announced. According to relevant reports, the first model based on geely SEA's vast architecture was named smart genie #1. The new car is positioned as a small SUV, similar to the POSITIONing of BYD Dolphin and Yuan PLUS, and the price is expected to be around 150,000 yuan. Whether Smart can become a hit in the domestic market, Genie #1 will be of strategic significance. However, the small SUV market has never been the mainstream of the domestic electric vehicle market, how to plan and layout this model, to build it into a blockbuster model, Geely's challenge is not small.
Once Mercedes-Benz can increase its stake in Beijing Benz to 65% or 75%, then smart's position will be more awkward. Smart, which was originally in a relatively marginal position inside Mercedes-Benz, is estimated to be even more marginal. At that time, Mercedes-Benz may further tilt its resources to Beijing Benz. For Geely, after spending a lot of money to inject technology, it may be exchanged for a hot potato like smart, caught in a dilemma. After all, Mercedes-Benz has completely let go of the Denza brand this year, which will be operated entirely by BYD. For Mercedes-Benz, which is now more challenged in the electrification transformation, abandoning unprofitable brands to focus on resources and energy on the core business will be the main consideration for Mercedes-Benz to make strategic trade-offs in the future.
Comments
Even if Mercedes-Benz's search for a controlling stake fails again this time, it does not mean that Mercedes-Benz will not continue to make relevant requests. Today's BAIC still has no cards in its hands in the end, if the BAIC Polar Fox can perform better like GAC Aean, then BAIC can completely ignore the relevant demands of Mercedes-Benz. Otherwise, Mercedes-Benz can use the introduction of new models and new technologies into Beijing Benz as leverage, and continue to put pressure on BAIC and even local governments to seek greater benefits for themselves. The story of the wolf coming is not only a story, because the wolf will come after all.
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