Around the beginning of 2018, Li Feng, who served as deputy general manager of Chery Automobile, executive deputy general manager of Beijing Hyundai, and known as an automobile sales wizard, joined Baoneng Automobile. He is the executive vice president of Baoneng Automobile Co., Ltd. and the CEO of Qoros Automobile, which has just been controlled by Baoneng.
Yao Zhenhua, the head of Baoneng Automobile and the head of Baoneng Group, was punished by the Insurance Regulatory Commission for its Qianhai Life Insurance insurance violations and speculation in the capital market. Qianhai Life Universal Insurance business was shut down, and Yao Zhenhua himself was banned from the insurance industry for ten years.
Can Such a bad yao zhenhua, who has a bad record in the capital market and insurance industry and is called a barbarian, really build a good car?
Baoneng Holding qoros car played smashed
Can Bao take charge of Qoros Auto and bring Qoros Auto back to life? Many people in the industry are seriously skeptical of this. At that time, I was going to write a hammer-and-nailed article, the title was: Barbarians Kill into the Car Circle Will Baoneng Build a Car Be LeTV's Second?
At that time, Li Feng had just been appointed vice president of Baoneng Automobile and CEO of Qoros Automobile. I communicated with Li Feng on WeChat. Li Feng told me that this article must not be written. For the barbarians' claims, Yao Zhenhua himself was also disgusted. For the sake of an old friend, I didn't write this article.
At the 2018 Beijing Auto Show, Qoros Auto registered to participate in the exhibition. According to an insider, Qoros' public relations department applied for a budget to invite the media to the Beijing Auto Show. As a result, he was beaten back by Yao Zhenhua, who proposed to let Qoros rub the media invited by other manufacturers at the auto show. Hearing this news, my heart can't help but beat the drum, even this little money is reluctant to spend, Qoros car has a future?
Li Feng worked at Qoros for more than a year before leaving Baoneng Automobile and Qoros Automobile. It is said that although Li Feng is the CEO of Qoros, he has limited authority in his hands and cannot be used at all.
In the first year of Baoneng Holding Qoros, that is, in 2018, a large number of Qoros automobiles were sold to Baoneng's car rental companies. Qoros auto sales reached 63,200 units that year, up 320% from 2017 before the acquisition. In 2019, Qoros sold 22,700 units, a sharp decline of 64%; in 2020, Qoros sales were 13,100 units, a further decline. In the first half of 2021, Qoros sold only 4,380 vehicles. In the second half of the year, monthly sales were less than 200 units, 81 units in November and 66 units in December. It is estimated that there are about 5,000 vehicles in the whole year, which can be said to be unbearable.
In the more than 4 years since taking over Qoros, Baoneng has completely crippled Qoros.
Is Baoneng building a car or a land enclosure?
In addition to holding Qoros, Baoneng also acquired Shenzhen-based Changan PSA in 2020 at a total cost of 10 billion yuan. Qoros has an automobile production base in Changshu, and the fixed assets alone are worth a lot. Chang'an PSA, located in Longhua District, Shenzhen, has three pieces of land for vehicles, R&D and logistics, totaling about 1.37 million square meters, of which 700,000 square meters of logistics land area has not yet been built. Baoneng acquired Changan PSA, and the value of the land alone is immeasurable.
Since 2017, Baoneng has been frantically acquiring land in Guangzhou, Xi'an, Kunming, Hangzhou, Kunshan and Guiyang in the name of building cars. Its car-making bases and projects cover an area of nearly 9,000 mu, with a total area of 4,574,400 square meters, including 81,500 square meters of residential land.
Among the eight major automobile bases of Baoneng Automobile, in addition to the two Jiangsu Changshu Qoros manufacturing bases and Shenzhen Baoneng Automobile Manufacturing Base (formerly Changan PSA Manufacturing Base), which were put into production before the acquisition, only the Xi'an base has completed the first phase of construction; the Guangzhou base was originally planned to sell cars at the end of 2020 and is still under construction; the Kunshan base is also in the state of construction.
According to media reports, although the progress of Baoneng Automobile Base is slow, the related real estate projects are progressing rapidly. Baoneng Automobile's Xi'an base has not yet been completed, and Baoneng's real estate less than 2 kilometers away from the base has been put on sale. Therefore, people have to question that Baoneng can encircle the land in the name of building cars.
Baoneng's cross-border car-making and land enclosure behavior has attracted the attention of relevant state departments. In November 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Notice on Carrying Out the Investigation of the Production and Project Of New Energy Vehicles, which requires all localities to report in detail on the local investment and proposed investment and construction of complete vehicles and parts projects (including projects that have been approved and filed and have not started construction) since 2017, including land occupation, construction content, project progress, and completed investment.
Since Baoneng's high-profile announcement of car manufacturing, it has been more than 4 years, and not a single new energy vehicle manufactured by Baoneng has been seen on the market. The automobile sector has also become a major drag on Baoneng.
In the past one or two years, there have been endless reports of Baoneng Automobile's arrears of wages, arrears of employee social security, and layoffs.
Since the second half of last year, Baoneng Group has repeatedly fallen into overdue payment and debt crises. Baoneng Automobile also made a large-scale layoff, from about 23,000 people to about 8,400 people in the automotive sector, and continues to lay off employees.
The two automakers acquired are in trouble, and the car base under construction is faltering, how to clean up the mess of Baoneng Automobile? Perhaps, Baoneng car really has the potential to become leTV's second! (End)
(This article was published simultaneously to China Automotive Trend Network)