Fuel vehicles have been subverted, and the little brother who sold cars is also facing a reshuffle

The auto market downturn is affecting not only car companies, but also car dealers.

According to data from the China Automobile Dealers Association, the number of passenger car 4S sales and service networks nationwide at the end of 2021 was 29,000, an increase of 3.9% year-on-year. Among them, a total of 2468 new 4S dealer networks have been added, and the number of 4S dealer stores that have withdrawn from the network for various reasons has reached 1379.

It should be noted that among the 4S dealers who withdraw from the network, the joint venture brand withdrawal accounted for up to 57%, and more concentrated in Brands such as Beijing Hyundai, Buick, Dongfeng Peugeot, Guangfik, Skoda, and some dealers after changan Mazda and FAW Mazda were adjusted to the grid.

This is just one of the microcosm of the difficulties faced by some joint venture brand 4S stores in the domestic market in recent years.

Lang Xuehong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, pointed out at the 2022 Blue Book Forum of the automobile circulation industry that the outlets withdrawn are mainly joint venture brands facing the mass consumer market, and with the rise of independent brands, some joint venture brands that are close to the price of independent brand products are facing greater pressure, and there will be pressure to withdraw from the Chinese market in the future.

The former king began and lost in the new energy era

The sales model of 4S stores has been circulating in China for a long time.

On March 26, 1999, the first Guangqi Honda Automobile Special Sales Service Store was officially opened, marking the opening of the 4S store sales model in China, and the 4S investors also opened the era of "lying and earning".

After all, 20 years ago, cars were not just a means of transportation, but also a status symbol and a symbol of wealth. Because the car was in short supply at that time, in the seller's market, the 4S store was completely unsure of the car, the joint venture brand ordinary models mostly had a price increase, some popular models even had to take the back door, and the 4S store even created a myth of recovering the cost for 3 months in the early days.

But the reality is that with the gradual saturation of the domestic automobile market, China's automobile sales in 2018 ushered in negative growth for the first time, and the business of 4S stores changed from a cash cow to a tasteless and unfortunate chicken rib.

Because the 4S store belongs to the authorized dealer of the automobile manufacturer, the source of goods is completely controlled in the hands of the car company, there is no way to do it and the traditional sales store, the good to sell more purchases, the difficult to sell less purchase, 4S store can only passively accept the task of the manufacturer, in front of the main engine factory does not have much right to speak.

According to the latest issue of the "China Auto Dealer Inventory Early Warning Index Survey" released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, the Inventory Warning Index of Chinese Auto Dealers in April 2022 was 66.4%, up 10 percentage points year-on-year, reaching the highest peak since March 2020. The larger the index, the more vehicles the car company or dealer have in stock.

In addition to the factor that the car is not selling well, the escalation of the epidemic prevention and control policy has also become the "last straw" that crushed the 4S store.

As a representative of asset-heavy operations, the proportion of 4S store inventory in funds is very high. Since April this year, the epidemic situation in various places has not been effectively contained, and the upgrading of prevention and control policies in many places has greatly affected the operation of dealers, and the market demand, average daily sales, employees, and operating conditions index have shown a downward trend from the previous month.

On the other hand, it is the collective "loss of power" of the joint venture brand in this wave of new energy, and some joint venture brand dealers have lived a hard life.

In the past few years, the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market has led to the rapid expansion of the new energy vehicle channel network, and gradually formed a network of 4S sellers, showrooms/experience centers, and after-sales service centers that undertake different functions in the form of channels.

The data shows that in 2021, the number of various outlets of new energy vehicle channels will exceed 6,000, of which more than 5,000 are independent sales experience stores (including 4S forms). However, most of the above has nothing to do with joint venture brands, and the independent brands that take off with the help of new energy have become the main force of network growth.

This is undoubtedly worse for some joint venture brand dealers who are already having a bad time.

Every business is worth redone

The founder of Afu Essential Oil, Eagle Ye, once mentioned a sentence, "Every consumer product is worth doing again". This is actually universal in the automotive industry, and every business is worth redoing, but the process of redoing is far from being as simple as copying past experience.

Xiao Zhengsan, vice president and secretary general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that the exploration of channel models triggered by new energy vehicle products around the world is forcing the automobile circulation industry to accelerate transformation and upgrading.

Among them, the direct operation model has become the favored way for many new energy vehicle companies. Taking Tesla as an example, the experience and delivery of new car sales are handed over to the direct sales store, while the sheet metal spray paint and mechanical and electrical maintenance in the after-sales business are split and handed over to the authorization center, and this part of the profit does not belong to Tesla.

In this process, the offline direct experience store is only responsible for vehicle display and test drive, consumers need to purchase vehicles through Tesla's official website, and all direct experience stores cannot provide discounts.

The advantage of this is to solve the problem of opaque price in the traditional car buying link, directly face to face with consumers, grasp the initiative of price adjustment, and maximize profits, which is one of the reasons why Tesla can obtain higher bicycle profits.

This direct operation model is used as a reference by many new car-making forces, after all, due to the limited production capacity of a new brand in the early stage of construction, there is no need to invest in the construction of traditional 4S stores on a large scale, but it is necessary to establish an experience store in the core business circle to quickly establish brand power. Ideal Auto founder Li Xiang has previously publicly stated: "Because we found that if a city does not have a physical store, the market share will be 8 times different, and the existence of a physical store can greatly increase car sales." ”

Unfortunately, since the development of the new energy automobile industry, the traditional 4S store has long disappeared in the vehicle sales channel. Under the dual pressure of the industry environment entering a downward trend and the strong squeeze of new energy vehicles, traditional car dealers can only open the path of transformation and expansion of business in order to survive.

For example, many 4S stores have begun to emulate maintenance chain enterprises, and even sacrificed the profits of maintenance business to recover lost customers, and then tap the potential value of customers through in-depth services such as repairs, accident cars, second-hand cars, and auto finance. Therefore, more and more new car releases began to bundle after-sales maintenance services, and after-sales maintenance that sold new cars bundled for 5 years or even longer became a routine operation of 4S stores.

However, in today's new energy vehicles penetrating the Chinese auto market step by step, if the joint venture brand dealers want to really live a moist point, the most critical hope is still pinned on the joint venture brand in the new energy era, can really "support" up. (The picture comes from the Internet, if it is invaded and deleted)