Fight to the death? FAW-Volkswagen launched a "breakthrough action" to the whole system, and many of its models were reduced in price

National Business Daily

2024-05-15 17:33Posted on the official account of Sichuan Daily Economic News

Every reporter: Duan Siyao Every editor: Pei Jianru

The cold air of the automobile industry makes the head car companies "shudder".

A few days ago, an internal notice of FAW-Volkswagen called "Breakthrough Action" was exposed, "FAW-Volkswagen is in the last and only window of transformation, except for the last battle we have no way out, only to live to death."

In this regard, the reporter of "Daily Economic News" asked FAW-Volkswagen for verification, but did not receive a reply as of press time. However, the reporter learned from a person close to FAW-Volkswagen that the content of the above-mentioned "breakthrough action" is true, and it was sent by FAW-Volkswagen to employees in the whole system, including the Volkswagen brand, FAW Audi and Jetta brands.

According to the latest data from the Passenger Association, in the first four months of this year, FAW-Volkswagen's cumulative retail sales were about 514,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 0.9%, and the market share was 8.1%. However, FAW-Volkswagen's retail sales in April fell by 15.6% year-on-year to about 119,000 units.

The price of many models in the terminal has been reduced

"For now, it is indeed a challenge for FAW-Volkswagen to maintain its dominant position in terms of brand and product." Yan Jinghui, a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview with reporters.

The reporter noted that since the beginning of this year, FAW-Volkswagen's brands have launched time-limited promotion policies many times. For example, the Jetta brand launched a policy of direct subsidy of up to 30,000 yuan for a limited time in April. Recently, FAW-Volkswagen has launched a policy of doubling the national subsidy, and all models participate in the trade-in, of which the two models of Lancun and Lanjing have the largest subsidy, with a maximum subsidy of 26,000 yuan, and the subsidy of the pure electric ID. family is also 20,000 yuan.

"Bora now has a cash discount of 45,000 yuan, and if you pay in installments, you can get a cash discount of up to 50,000 yuan." A sales staff of an automobile-Volkswagen 4S store in Beijing said that the terminal price of Bora has been lowered many times in the past six months, and the latest fluctuation is the largest, and the cash discount in April is only 36,000 yuan.

Image source: Photo by reporter Kong Zesi (data map)

In addition, the terminal prices of FAW-Volkswagen's main sales models such as Sutar, Golf, Magotan , Tanying, Tanyue and Lancun have also been loosened. According to the sales staff of a Toyota-Volkswagen 4S store in Hefei, "the maximum cash discount for Lancun can reach 70,000 yuan, and the cash discount for the two SUV models of Tange and Tanyue is also about 50,000 yuan." ”

According to the sales staff of a Beijing automobile-Volkswagen 4S store, "the price of the models on sale in the store in the past year has been declining as a whole, for example, the cash discount of Magotan in the same period last year was only 30,000 yuan at most, and the discount at the end of April this year has been expanded to about 45,000 yuan." ”

FAW-Volkswagen is prepared for danger in times of peace

Is FAW-Volkswagen really to the point of "fighting against the water" and "living to die"?

In the view of the above-mentioned people close to FAW-Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen's "breakthrough action" sent to the employees of the whole system this time is quite a sense of being prepared for danger in times of peace.

In the first four months of this year, although FAW-Volkswagen ranked first among joint venture car companies, the gap between the two was about 325,800 units compared with BYD (retail sales of 840,100 units), which was the top seller in China. In addition, Geely Automobile and Changan Automobile behind FAW-Volkswagen are accelerating their catch-up through new energy expansion and eyeing it.

Judging from the content of FAW-Volkswagen's "breakthrough action" pushed to the whole system, it is obvious that it is aware of the urgency of transformation. "In the context of the increasingly competitive automotive market, FAW-Volkswagen will accelerate the launch of electric and hybrid products in 2024, and speed up the pace of brand exports." Pan Zhanfu, director, party secretary and general manager of FAW-Volkswagen, once said. According to the plan, FAW-Volkswagen will challenge the annual sales target of 1.9 million ~ 2 million units this year.

Image source: Photo by reporter Kong Zesi (data map)

In addition, FAW-Volkswagen's whistle of "breakthrough action" is not unrelated to the current market status of the joint venture automaker. According to the data of the passenger association, in April this year, the retail sales of mainstream joint venture brands were about 450,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 26%. Among them, the retail share of German brands was 19%, down 2.2 percentage points year-on-year, the retail share of Japanese brands was 15.2%, down 3.6 percentage points year-on-year, and the retail share of American brands was 5.9%, down 2.6 percentage points year-on-year.

Yan Jinghui said in an interview with reporters that not only FAW-Volkswagen, but also most joint venture car companies, need to be aware of danger in times of peace.

National Business Daily

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