There are ideals but no sales of independent brands

On March 28th, since Geely and Ford reached the M&A agreement, nearly 2,000 teams responsible for M&A transactions worked day and night. During the entire process, M&A team members sleep as long as they find an opportunity, including airplanes, cars, and after meals. At this time only one person is always full of energy and buzz. He is Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Automobile.

A year ago, when Volvo, a Scandinavian beauty, took the opportunity to recruit relatives, Li Shufu, a “car madman,” couldn’t help but wanted to use the rich dowry of all his personal mortgages to greet the beauty in his heart. But the problem is this: It is difficult to predict what kind of outcome the marriage will end. Even Li Shufu, who has played with the capital bureau recently, is unpredictable. What is still relatively certain is that Volvo's domestic base, which has just been acquired by Geely Automobile, will be located in Chengdu. Since ancient times, it has been difficult to interpret it as “difficult to get on the blue sky.” Geely has joined Volvo in Sichuan and will be bravely promoted by its own brand. A new chapter.

Tough road

From 2008, from Roewe 750 to Jianghuai Pinyue, BYD F6 and earlier Chery Oriental son, as well as Chery Automobile launched a new brand “Kirin” in 2009, domestic independent brand car companies unanimously launched the brand upgrade plan. , have launched a relatively high-end new brand, and strive to fight with the "foreign brand." The real question is: Whether it is the earliest son of the East or holding high the Roewe 750, whether it is the magnificent Ruiqi G5 or the hard-earned Jianghuai Bin Yue, self-advanced road, how hard it is to go. BYD's F6 can stimulate sales through substantial price cuts, but this does not help the brand's improvement. Therefore, "there is ideal, no sales" has become the embarrassment of self-owned brands, and it has become the sword of Damocles hung on top of many independent sales. Therefore, Geely Automobile chose to take advantage of Volvo's escapade.

In contrast, another independent brand, Chery Automobile, chose to break through alone. Because of the brand threshold and positioning restrictions, high-end cars in the self-owned brand seldom rushed out of 100,000 yuan, but Rui Qi is the exception, the price of the main model G5 went straight to more than 140,000 yuan, product reputation and quality were unanimously praised. However, Yang Bo, deputy general manager of Chery Automobile and general manager of Qilin (including Qilin and Rui Lin), is still troubled by the sales of the car, which means that Rui Qi is still not satisfied with sales. "We are often said: There are ideals, no sales!" Yang Bo said with a smile.

Along with the growth of China's economy, independent brands not only survived powerfully but also began to step into the world step by step. At first glance, the situation is excellent and the self-owned brands have contributed greatly to the rapid growth of the domestic private car consumer market. However, the self-owned brands are not born with jade. Instead, they grow up in the cracks and coffers of joint-venture brands. The hardships experienced only they know. In any case, the upgrading of independent brands has become the most pressing topic of the moment. "If we do not think of ways to rush, then I am sorry for myself, but also sorry ancestors." Chairman Yin Tongyue said Chery. The original "Battery King" Wang Chuanfu, for many years, adhered to his view of breaking through the technology: "In order to achieve true innovation, a company should go through a process. First, it must have the ability to independently research and develop and produce, and then it should be self-certified. The goal is to cultivate the brand of independent innovation. Only through this series of processes will it complete the independent innovation.” And Buffett’s investment in BYD was considered to be the best affirmation of Wang’s “technology supremacy” theory.

Ten years winding road

In 1995, it was the deputy mayor of Wuhu City, Mr. Zhan Xia, who always “had nothing to do for foreigners. You came and we were Chinese people’s own vehicles.” Deeply infected, Yin Tongyue thinks that no one understands this sentence. More profound. As a result, Yin Tongyue, who worked for nearly ten years at FAW, resolutely returned to his hometown of Wuhu, Anhui, to host the auto project. This is the initial difficulty of China's autonomous car brands. In April 1999, the first engine went offline and the engine was successfully ignited in May. On December 18th, the first Chery car rolled off the assembly line. 30,000 cars, 200,000 cars to today's 2 million cars, the domestic market, Asia Syria, Iran to the future of the European and American markets, the most advanced coating production line, high-performance engine production line in line with international standards to the internationalization of research and development. Until now, Chery has opened up international cooperation in the entire industry chain and pushed the door of Chinese cars to the world.

The strong rise of Geely, Chery, and BYD accelerated along with the overall arrival of the consumption boom in the Chinese auto industry. The market share of self-owned brand cars surged from less than 4% seven years ago to over 35% now, and the average annual growth rate has reached an astonishing 40%. Since the end of last year, the independent brands have become more than 35% of the market share in accordance with national models. Category market segment champion.

Jinqiao Says Car: The Automobile Industry and the Dream of Great Powers

In the Chinese market, sales growth rates of 30 to 40% are frequently used, which deviates from the original car brand building that has natural growth rules and brand building cycles. In the normal automobile market, the sales growth of automobiles can reach 3 to 5% is quite good, but under the specific premise of the Chinese market, the increase of 10% will not be taken. This lack of patience, for the car brand building may Not a good thing. However, fortunately, the healthy growth of self-owned brands has avoided the concerns that the national auto industry has been completely isolated by foreign auto companies. On the one hand, it is the country’s policy-oriented tilt. On the other hand, it is inextricably linked to the strong growth of the country’s economic strength. It is closely linked with the continuous growth of spending power. The reason why the automotive industry in Latin American countries is hollow is that their economic lifelines are almost monopolized by European and American powers.

Looking at the world map of the automobile is in fact the map of the world's largest country. Traditional powers in the world have their own auto industry and auto brands. In the concept of automakers, there is an international division of labor, but there is no national division of labor. The production of automobiles may not become the patent right of one or two countries like household appliances or electronic products, because each country understands that the strength of automotive products and even the strength of the automobile industry is the embodiment of the industry’s greatest interests and “face”. engineering.

Based on such a mentality, it is the outbreak of responsibility for rich and powerful countries behind the promotion of self-owned brands. As the world’s most populous country and the third largest country in the world, starting from the establishment of the first joint venture, China has become the best showcase for the world’s automotive brands, and also has established national brands such as Chery, Geely, and BYD. Since 2007, Kwong Ben started to launch a joint venture "brand" concept, which also means that the joint venture company's strategic path in China has undergone a fundamental change. With the huge capacity and prospects of the Chinese auto market, even the development of foreign companies in China will inevitably change in accordance with the characteristics of the Chinese auto market, because of the large capacity of China's auto future auto market, which is enough to dominate a model in the world auto industry. The status - whether this is a joint venture brand or an independent brand.