Dr. Herbert Diess, the latest head of the Volkswagen Group, appeared a little shy when he met for the first time in Beijing and chinese media on April 24. However, the words are not leaky - do not lose the general direction, do not take the lead, take care of the concerns of all parties, and in terms of the new pattern of the industry, they are rushing forward, which makes people feel not only old, but also old.
Whether it is the struggle for more shares of FAW-Volkswagen in that year, or the turmoil of the SAIC Audi project later, it fully shows Volkswagen's expectation of holding more shares in the joint venture. After all, China is the largest market for Volkswagen Group in the world, after all, profits from the Chinese market are the most important source of profits for Volkswagen... The Chinese market is too tempting, even if there is an extra percentage point of shares, it means a lot of benefits. However, due to the "Dieselgate" incident, Volkswagen's finances immediately became tense, and the matter of increasing its stake in FAW-Volkswagen was ruined; SAIC Audi caused strong opposition from dealers because of its premature exposure of intentions, and finally could only secretly chen cang. And all this, there was not a trace on Dees's face.
As soon as it sits on the throne of Volkswagen Group, Diess ushered in a major adjustment in China's auto policy - it will reduce tariffs and relax the 50:50 share ratio restriction on joint ventures. This is a major positive for any foreign company, and this policy is even more coveted for volkswagen, because Volkswagen invests more in China today than any multinational company in the world. In the interview, Diss made it clear: "The Chinese government's policy of liberalizing the share ratio has not made us reconsider the equity or financial arrangements that have been made so far." ”
In response to this major sensitive question about SAIC Audi, Diess replied tactfully, saying: "We have maintained a long-term relationship of mutual trust and good relationship between us and our joint venture partners, which has lasted for many years. Our success in China depends largely on our strong partners, SAIC and FAW. The change in this policy (liberalization of the shareholding ratio) will not have an impact on Volkswagen's development strategy in China in the foreseeable future. For the cooperation with FAW-Volkswagen Audi, Diess gave further good news, he said: "From Audi, the most important thing is the 10-year business plan and long-term development plan. In the joint venture, we have established several strategic working groups to specifically explore long-term strategic cooperation among the parties involved. In all the negotiations we are in, equity restructuring is not included. ”
On the China issue, Diess did not show the momentum of "three fires for new officials to take office", but was so old that he sacrificed the principle of "stability overrides everything", he clearly pointed out: "Based on the background of the introduction of the shareholding policy, first of all, the optimization of internal governance and our commitment to various Partners in China, which has no impact on the strategy." For the future market, we need to find the best model, so such an adjustment of the ownership structure, mainly from the governance, from a financial point of view is an optimization, which will not affect our strategy, for our commitment. In our negotiations with FAW-Volkswagen, we see that whether from Audi or from the Volkswagen Group, we are committed to long-term partnerships. Such a statement is undoubtedly the greatest comfort to the Chinese partners, and it also sends a strong signal to the Chinese government that Volkswagen is committed to steady development.
Diess clearly stuck to the direction of business in China as determined by its predecessor, Dr. Mullen, while showing a steady and aggressive momentum. He said: "In the new situation, the Volkswagen Group should further strengthen its research and development activities, because product development in the Chinese market is determined by the particularity of the Chinese market, including policies, rules and procurement like electric vehicles, which are very special. For such aspects as autonomous driving and inter-vehicle interconnection, the Chinese market also has special requirements and needs. In the field of the automobile industry, not only the traditional car companies, but also a number of world-renowned technology companies in China are also very active in this field, and we have to form partners with many technology companies to jointly do a good job in this market. At the same time, we also see that in the future development of passenger cars, the government gives priority to electric vehicles or new energy vehicles, which is also a very important direction for us. Of course, we have also noticed the adjustment of the share ratio policy, and our conclusion is that Volkswagen should further broaden our horizons in China, and we must not only maintain alliances with traditional car companies, but also form a new type of alliance with technology companies, and become part of the modern automobile value industry chain, including batteries, software development and other links. We have made a lot of the right decisions in these directions, and this has been done under the leadership of Professor Heizmann. Next, we need to further strengthen our activities in all these areas. ”
This kind of approach that does not touch the sensitive nerves of the industry and does not touch the strategic direction of the previous boss can be described as an old-fashioned move. In the industrial chain expanded under the impetus of electrification and intelligence, The speed and determination of Dies seems to surpass Mullen, which can be called old and spicy.
At a time when China's auto industry policy is making major adjustments, as the new head of volkswagen group, Dr. Diess' words and deeds deserve high attention, after all, Volkswagen's every move in China has a significant impact on the industry. Dr. Diess's strategic message of not talking about the equity ratio relationship and rapidly forming an advantage in the new business value chain indicates that Volkswagen has put the development of new business in the automotive field in the first place. How fast will Volkswagen develop in the fields of electrification and intelligence in the future? How deep is the cooperation with Chinese technology companies? How big is the impact on China's auto industry? We'll see. For this reason, we have selected Dr. Dees as the news person of the week for this issue.