[Introduction: On April 2, according to the Anhui Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, Amgen, the former head of JAC, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is currently under investigation. Amgen was investigated, bringing JAC into the public eye again. In addition, the car company has frequently undergone high-level personnel changes, and in less than a year, Yong Fengshan and other senior executives have resigned from their directorships, which has also attracted attention. 】
Written by Zhang Dachuan and edited by He Zi
Amgen, the former head of JAC, was called a "criminal minister" by the media, and during his tenure, the two businesses of commercial and passenger vehicles were sluggish, the new energy business was unable to support, and various sector projects deviated from the preset track. After his retirement, the car company has missed the best opportunity for the development of new energy vehicles.
On January 30, JAC Motors released its 2023 performance forecast, the company will sell 592,500 vehicles in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%, and is expected to achieve a net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company of about 136 million yuan in 2023, compared with the same period last year, will turn losses into profits. From 2017 to 2022, JAC has deducted non-net profit as a loss for 6 consecutive years, with a cumulative loss of more than 9 billion yuan. Last year's turnaround was of great significance to JAC. However, it is worth noting that JAC has been strongly supported by the local government in Anhui, and has received a total of 4.5 billion yuan in government subsidies in the past three years.
Jianghuai's take-it-or-leave-it-ism
Whether it is for NIO OEM, or with the support of national policies, to become the third joint venture car company of Volkswagen in China, the congenital conditions of JAC are not bad. However, the cooperation with NIO and Volkswagen has not brought a substantial all-round improvement to JAC.
In the cooperation with NIO, JAC has always been just a foundry role. Except for the mark "JAC NIO" on the rear of the car, there is no sense of presence. In the early days, when NIO had not yet obtained the qualification, JAC was still a provider of car manufacturing licenses. After breaking up with JAC, NIO will no longer have to pay OEM fees to JAC in the future.
In cooperation with Volkswagen, JAC is a relatively weak party. Volkswagen not only acquired a 50% stake in Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holding Co., Ltd. for 1 billion euros, but also increased its stake in the electric vehicle joint venture JAC Volkswagen to 75%, JAC Volkswagen officially changed its name to Volkswagen Anhui, and the German Volkswagen Group obtained the management rights of the joint venture. Now Volkswagen has already started to build its own new business in China based on JAC Volkswagen, and a large number of R&D resources and advanced platforms in the future will be prioritized to Volkswagen Anhui.
For Anhui Province, being able to bring Weilai and Volkswagen under the command of two heavyweight car companies at the same time will undoubtedly give Anhui a place in the era of new energy vehicles. However, JAC became the only "lost" party among the three parties of Anhui Province, Volkswagen Group and JAC. Anhui Province based on JAC Motors nesting to attract phoenixes, and finally attracted two phoenixes to fly alone. Jiang Huai was busy for a long time, and finally made wedding dresses for others.
Can a 10-year contract with Huawei save JAC?
After the cooperation with NIO and Volkswagen was slowly marginalized, JAC set its sights on Huawei. On December 1 last year, JAC Motors announced that it and Huawei had signed a "Smart New Energy Vehicle Cooperation Agreement". According to the agreement, Huawei will support JAC's product development, manufacturing, sales, and service throughout the year, and the agreement will be valid for up to 10 years. Among them, JAC Motors is responsible for the construction of the production base and the development of cooperative models, while Huawei provides sales services.
Regarding the first model of the cooperation between JAC and Huawei, it is rumored that it will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year. As for the first model, there are two ways to say it: one is a sedan model that benchmarks Maybach, and the other is a high-end new energy MPV. However, there is a consensus between the two statements: the first model of JAC and Huawei will be a million-dollar model.
With the blessing of Huawei, it is not easy to judge whether JAC can show the same momentum as the AITO brand. This is not only because the brand positioning of JAC and Huawei is higher, and the luxury car with millions of dollars at every turn, not to mention that JAC is difficult to afford, even if Huawei can afford it, it has yet to be tested by the market. Looking at the domestic auto market, even if it is as strong as the Yangwang brand launched by BYD, the current domestic sales are only at the level of about 1,000 vehicles. In the past March, the sales of the U8 were only 1,090 units. For BYD, looking up is to enhance the brand positioning and improve the company's gross profit margin. For JAC, it is trying to increase sales through cooperation with Huawei. In this case, the launch of a million-level model can bring how much sales can be put on a big question mark. Not to mention that the companies that have confirmed the adoption of Huawei's Hongmeng Zhixing model in the market now have four companies, such as Cialis, BAIC, JAC and Chery, and others such as Dongfeng, Changan and FAW are likely to introduce Huawei's HI mode, which will also introduce Huawei's technology in intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving. In the future, even if consumers want to choose Huawei's HarmonyOS intelligent cockpit and ADS 2.0 intelligent driving technology, they will have more choices, and the scarcity is not as strong as the original.
Who does JAC's future depend on?
In fact, the cooperation with Huawei cannot fundamentally improve JAC's system capabilities. In the final analysis, JAC, like Cialis, will be reduced to Huawei's foundry, and it will not even have the dominance of later sales. Every time a new ATIO car is unveiled, Yu Chengdong always repeats "far ahead" on the stage. For JAC, even if it signs a ten-year long-term contract with Huawei, what will happen in the future?
For JAC, cooperation with Huawei is far from a last resort. Huawei's all-round empowerment is not free, and JAC needs to pay Huawei a lot of money like other car companies. For Cialis, even if it is difficult to find a new M7 car now, the entire Cialis has still not been profitable. There is also a big difference between JAC and Cialis in that JAC has its own relatively complete business segments of passenger cars and commercial vehicles, and both of these sectors still require a lot of capital investment in the current domestic automobile market environment. If the cooperation with Huawei can achieve profitability in the short term, it is fine, but if it cannot be profitable in the short term like Cialis, then the cooperation between JAC and Huawei will inevitably squeeze out JAC's original R&D and operating funds, then JAC will not only continue to be marginalized in the passenger car market, but also face a lot of challenges due to insufficient investment in the commercial vehicle market, which still has advantages.
In April last year, JAC Motors released a new new energy passenger car brand - JAC Yttrium. As a new brand focusing on the domestic market of 7-150,000 yuan, JAC has set a revenue target of "one million vehicles + 100 billion yuan" for this brand in 2025. In May last year, Yttrium launched its first pure electric small car, the Yttrium 3. But judging from the sales figures, yttrium for 3 is still far from JAC's ambitions. As of December last year, Yttrium 3 had sold 11,384 units, and in January this year, Yttrium 3 sales fell to 500 units.
In the market of 7-150,000 yuan, it is BYD that JAC needs to face and compete. The latter is a car company with annual sales of more than 3 million, and has a slight ability in the industry to self-develop and manufacture its own three-electric system, especially worth mentioning that its blade battery has a great advantage in cost. Therefore, it is self-evident that yttrium is 3 or yttrium is the brand to win food in BYD's mouth.
Comments
Core technology is difficult to obtain through cooperation with other car companies. Neither SAIC nor FAW has been able to get any technology from Volkswagen, let alone what JAC can get from Huawei, Volkswagen and NIO. JAC's focus should be on commercial vehicles, after all, JAC's light trucks still have a certain competitiveness in domestic and overseas markets. Nowadays, the competition in the domestic new energy passenger car market is very fierce, and JAC has lost the opportunity. Instead of struggling to support yourself, it is better to break the wrist of a strong man as soon as possible and use limited resources in his own advantageous areas. After all, in the current market situation, survival is the most important thing.
(This article is the original of "Heyan Reading Cars", and may not be reproduced without authorization)