Recently, the data analysis agency J.D. Power has released the 2022 China Auto Dealer Satisfaction Study. In 2021, more than half (52%) of dealers achieved profitability, and the revenue of dealers' single stores rose from 154 million yuan in 2020 to 172 million yuan, an average increase of 12%; the average profit of dealers' single stores increased from 2.74 million yuan in 2020 to 3.78 million yuan, an average increase of 38%.
In the dealer revenue structure, the proportion of new car sales revenue rose from 77% in 2020 to 84% in 2021. In contrast, the proportion of used car revenue was only 2%, unchanged from last year, and the proportion of after-sales business revenue fell from 9% in 2020 to 6%. Among them, the proportion of independent brand profitable dealers increased the most, compared with the previous year, the proportion of independent brand profitable dealers increased by 14 percentage points.
BYD and Dongben dealers are the most satisfied
The Auto Dealer Satisfaction Study measures dealers' views and attitudes towards automakers and shows how well car companies and dealers cooperate.
According to the research report, since 2017, Japanese brands (846 points) have led dealer satisfaction with a large score of 30 to 40 points for six consecutive years. Last year, the progress of Japanese brands has been less than the overall level. This year, Japanese brand dealer satisfaction is the highest among the five major car series, but it has dropped by 14 points compared with last year, and it is also the only brand in the major car series that has regressed. The Korean brand (805 points) made the biggest progression, improving by 27 points, breaking a new scoring record.
In the 2022 China Auto Dealer Satisfaction Study, BYD and Dongfeng Honda ranked first among mainstream car brands with 860 points, and Changan Automobile (859 points) ranked third among mainstream brands. At the same time, BYD is also the first Chinese independent brand, Changan Automobile and Baojun (846 points) ranked second and third respectively.
BMW topped the luxury car brand list with 865 points, while Porsche (863 points) and Mercedes-Benz (850 points) ranked second and third respectively.
Dealer satisfaction is the view of the manufacturer, so that the dealer is most satisfied with the course of "making money". Generally speaking, the operating income of a car dealer mainly comes from the sales price difference between new cars and second-hand cars; maintenance and repair service fees; commissions for financial products such as car insurance and loans, and rebates from manufacturers.
Among them, the sales price difference and the rebate of the manufacturer are closely related to the business policy of the manufacturer. Therefore, dealer satisfaction can basically be seen as "dealers make no money". Dongfeng Honda and BYD, which rank first in mainstream brand satisfaction, are worth a closer look. Compared with luxury brand dealers, mainstream brand dealers seem to have a harder time making money.
Satisfaction comes from "making money"
Although dongfeng Honda's sales volume has no longer maintained the high growth model of the past in recent years, its dealer satisfaction is still among the best. Good business policies, as well as well-sold cars that are not low in profits, are important reasons.
From the business policies given by Dongfeng Honda to dealers when they are in difficulty, we can "glimpse", during the epidemic period in 2021, Dongfeng Honda has made dealers feel great sincerity. In order to alleviate the pressure on dealers, the company decided to cancel the sales target assessment for dealers from January to February, and give rebate support according to 110% of the actual sales. Business policies will also be adjusted in a timely manner according to market conditions, and financing support for dealers will be increased. ”
In fact, the formation of a benign relationship between Dongfeng Honda and dealers has also experienced twists and turns. In 2014, Dongfeng Honda dealers were also burdened by "high inventory". "Dealers are carried by a single model of sales, the inventory index is too high and the market competes, and the inventory coefficient is as high as 2.5."
Realizing that marketing reform was imminent, Dongfeng Honda's first step was to take the inventory and open the knife. In 2015, Dongfeng Honda focused on the implementation of the "inventory management" as the center of the marketing strategy, around the total inventory coefficient and inventory structure to control the core goal of a reasonable range, accurately grasp the sales rhythm according to the market conditions, through strengthening the inventory management of the special store, enhancing the coordination of production and marketing capabilities and other measures, to achieve "according to the actual situation to develop the departure plan", only 4 months to completely reduce the inventory coefficient to less than 1, dealers can be lightly loaded, but also have the confidence to move forward.
It is also important that Dongfeng Honda has best-selling models such as CRV, XRV and Civic. In mid-2021, Civic has sold more than 20,000 in several months, and unlike other compact models with higher sales, Civic's price and bicycle profit are higher. CRV, an evergreen product in the SUV market, has long been in the top ten of the SUV sales list.
BYD, which ranks first with Dongfeng Honda, is also an independent brand. In the past automobile market, due to the smaller investment of independent brands, lower profits and the difficulty of long-term replacement of product lines, the stability of many independent brand dealers was worrying, and few dealers became long-term dealers of an independent brand, not to mention higher satisfaction.
However, with the improvement of the product strength and service of independent brands, independent brands are no less than joint venture brands in all aspects, and even have many surpasses. For example, BYD, which ranks first in dealer satisfaction among mainstream brands, is the leader in the new energy vehicle market, and BYD completely turned to new energy vehicles in March.
The rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market since 2021 has made BYD one of the biggest beneficiaries. Correspondingly, BYD's dealers also earn "full pots". In 2021, BYD's auto sales exceeded 740,000 units, an increase of 73.34% year-on-year. Among them, the cumulative sales of new energy vehicles were about 603,800 units, an increase of 218.3% year-on-year, accounting for 81.59% of ATD's annual automobile sales in 2021. In addition to the rapid growth of volume, dealers have also felt the increase in profits.
Since 2021, BYD's new energy models have basically maintained the state of queuing up to pick up cars and no preferential treatment for car purchases. The reporter visited the market and learned that many BYD dealers still have hundreds of undelivered orders. Many other dealers in the same market are worried about the low number of customers arriving.
In addition to making money now, dealers are satisfied with the long-term rate of return. BYD's sales growth is still maintained, by Q1 2022, BYD's new energy vehicle sales reached 286,000 units, once again hit a record high, according to the data of the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, BYD's share in the new energy passenger car market has reached 26.7%, ranking first for four consecutive quarters.
At the same time, BYD has released information showing that in 2022 alone, there will be many models such as seals and D9s, which will also boost the long-term confidence of dealers.
In order to let dealers keep up with the speed of "selling cars to make money", BYD also organized the "Iron Army Training Camp" with "great efforts". It is understood that BYD has summoned almost all the sales and service personnel in the dealer stores to the Shenzhen headquarters in batches and conducted a closed training of about one week.
This move has greatly improved the sales capacity of dealers, and the sales staff of a BYD 4S store in Changsha Zhongnan Automobile introduced to reporters that "after participating in the Iron Army training camp, the ability to complete orders with colleagues has increased by several percent."
"Let you make money, tell you that you can make money in the future, teach you how to make money, as long as you can do these points, dealers will definitely be satisfied", Wang Wenyong (pseudonym), sales manager of central China, a brand car company, told reporters that it is not difficult to improve dealer satisfaction, it is difficult to "make money".
With the growth of today's new power brands, models such as direct operation by manufacturers have begun to rise. However, the industry still believes that the dealer model will remain the mainstream in the long run, and the channel coverage, capital reservoir, professional training and other functions provided by dealers are still indispensable to car companies. For a long time to come, how to achieve high satisfaction for dealers? It is a problem that car companies need to seriously face.
Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Hu Xiong