Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 706: Kill the automobile giant and rise independently

On New Year's Day in 2012, Daystar Aerospace's drone show and the unmanned firefighting helicopter that followed attracted the attention of many netizens.

However, with the announcement of sales by various car companies, everyone's attention has once again been drawn back to the automobile industry.

Throughout 2011, Huaxia's car sales actually maintained an overall slight growth trend.

It was even close to negative growth.

This scene is completely different from previous years, so various car companies are less enthusiastic about releasing annual sales.

It wasn't until the end of the New Year's Day holiday that the first edition of the sales rankings was officially released.

"Mr. Cao, last year's No. 111.87 was still GM, with sales reaching million units, once again beating the North and South Volkswagen."

"And GM's global sales are likely to return to the number one position in the world."

After sorting out the data, Zeng Tingting naturally wanted to analyze and report to Cao Yang the overall situation of the automobile market last year.

This is something she does at the beginning of every year.

This report is also to prepare for the annual general meeting of Nanshan Group that will be held soon.

"Second place is Chery Automobile, but their sales not only did not increase, but dropped by 86.8 units to only units."

"The third place is still Volkswagen. Similarly, their sales performance is not good, but it is more than 83.4 more than last year's 84.5 units, reaching units, barely achieving positive growth."

"I feel that in the future, the sales volume of North and South Volkswagen will only increase to about 100 million at most and then it will not be able to increase."

“The rise of independent brands is very fast.”

"For example, the fourth, fifth and sixth places are all occupied by China's own brands this time."

"Last year, Spring City Volkswagen was still able to maintain its sixth place, but this year it dropped to seventh place."

"And Teitu Hyundai, which ranked seventh last year, fell directly out of the top ten this year."

"Among the entire top ten list, the number of independent brands has increased from 5 last year to 6 this year. Yangcheng Trumpchi has entered the TOP10 for the first time."

"According to this development pace, I feel that Xifeng Nissan's ninth position may not be secure, and it may be overtaken by the companies behind it at any time."

Zeng Tingting turned on the computer, placed it directly on Cao Yang's desktop, and then quickly analyzed it.

She is well aware of the sales data of the past few years, and she has truly witnessed the rise of China's independent brands.

"It seems that GM and Volkswagen are still very strong, and they can actually occupy the top positions."

"Although independent brands have emerged, it seems that it will still take some time to completely dominate the market."

Two of the top three positions in the Chinese market are owned by international automobile giants, which definitely makes Cao Yang dissatisfied.

Even though there are already 10 Chinese companies in the TOP7, which is a huge improvement, Cao Yang still feels it is not enough.

"General Motors is likely to be the leader in global car sales this year, Volkswagen is likely to be second, and Toyota will be dragged to third place."

"The global strength of these three companies cannot be underestimated, and it has taken a long time to enter the Chinese market. It is still difficult to surpass them in a short time."

"Actually, the current results are already remarkable. According to the previous situation, North and South Volkswagen and Modu General Motors monopolized the top three positions."

Zeng Tingting is quite satisfied with her current results.

Although the overall auto market is not doing so well this year, the sales of independent brands are still increasing overall, and their share is also increasing.

Correspondingly, Nanshan Group's auto parts business is also growing.

"The performance of our engines and gearboxes has been recognized by everyone, and we can compete with international automobile giants."

"From now on, Chinese companies must take the first place."

Cao Yang's idea was obviously not just nonsense.

Maybe it will happen in a few years.

"Mr. Cao, in fact, if you add up the global sales of Xingchen Auto, Future Auto and Jaguar Land Rover this year, it will actually exceed 111 million vehicles."

"We won't be able to keep our No. 1 position in Magic City Universal."

"In a few years, perhaps our entire group's total car sales in China will exceed 111 million units, surpassing GM and becoming the first in the country."

Zeng Tingting changed to a more beautiful calculation method to report to Cao Yang.

However, Cao Yang definitely does not approve of this statistical method.

"If you talk about global sales, the global sales of GM and Volkswagen have reached eight to nine million vehicles."

"The gap between us and others is quite big."

"Of course, I am not pursuing becoming the world's largest automobile company in a short period of time."

When Cao Yang said this, Zeng Tingting had no way to refute.

After all, if you compare global sales with sales in the Chinese market, it is not a one-dimensional comparison.

……

Just when Zeng Tingting was reporting last year's auto market sales to Cao Yang, the list was also announced on professional websites such as Autohome.

Everyone has written articles to comment on the performance of various car companies last year.

At the same time, the sales list of each model last year was also released simultaneously.

It attracted a lot of people's attention.

As a first-time entrant into the TOP10 this year, Yangcheng Trumpchi is also very excited this time.

"Mr. Zhang, we ranked tenth in 11 with sales of 64.3, which is definitely a huge breakthrough."

"It seems that our strategy of joint development of multiple models has been successful."

Zeng Guangda came to Zhang Jiaqi's office very excitedly and discussed the sales list that had just been released.

As a relatively young company among independent brands, even the youngest company among the TOP10, Yangcheng Trumpchi's achievements are still very impressive.

Although it will be very difficult to continue to increase sales in the next step, it is not easy to break through the 60 threshold.

GS3、GS4、GS5、G57、GS8，5款SUV车型一起发力。

Both GM6 and GM8 MPVs have also been launched.

GA3, GA5, GA6 and GA8 sedans are also on sale.

It can be said that Yangcheng Trumpchi has used all the tricks he can use, and finally achieved his current results.

"We made our fortune through joint ventures, but it is indeed not easy for our own brands to successfully surpass the sales of Yangcheng Honda and Yangcheng Toyota."

"In the future, if Yangcheng Aian can further increase sales and become the same as Yangcheng Trumpchi, it is expected to become a model for domestic car companies."

Zhang Jiaqi was naturally in a very good mood.

Although in terms of overall scale, Spring City Automobile Group, Xifeng Automobile Group, Modu Automobile Group and other groups are stronger than Yangcheng Automobile Group.

However, the development of independent brands of these companies is not as good as that of Yangcheng Automobile Group.

As a state-owned enterprise affiliated to Yangcheng City, it is indeed reasonable for Zhang Jiaqi and Zeng Guangda to achieve the current results together.

However, if Cao Yang were to evaluate it, he would definitely think that Yangcheng Trumpchi still has too many models.

Even though the overall sales volume exceeded 60 units, it looks very good.

However, the annual sales volume of some individual models is only around 1 units.

This model is a total loss.

The key is that it will be very difficult to increase the sales of this kind of car in the future.

There is a high probability that it will only die silently in the end.

"If we can achieve a new breakthrough in sales volume and turn a profit in 2012, then the group's independent brands will have entered a stage of healthy development."

"What's a pity now is that although sales have increased, we still lost hundreds of millions last year."

When Zeng Guangda said this, Zhang Jiaqi's smile suddenly disappeared.

This is indeed a rather frustrating thing.

Although sales continued to increase, they never made any money.

Even whether it is Yangcheng Trumpchi or Yangcheng Aian, they are not making money now.

"Our previous investment in R&D was a bit high, and each factory was investing, so the amortization cost was relatively high."

"This situation should improve in the next few years, and profitability will definitely be achieved."

When Zhang Jiaqi said this, he actually didn't feel very confident.

Because so many models are now launched at the same time, the development potential of Yangcheng Trumpchi has been stimulated.

If we want to make further efforts in the next step, the space is already very limited.

He was even a little unsure of which direction to take next.

"I think the current market environment for hardcore SUV models has begun to improve. Should we launch two hardcore SUVs next?"

Zeng Guangda naturally knew that Yangcheng Trumpchi was a bit sluggish in development, so he began to discuss the next new model with Zhang Jiaqi.

As for whether continuing to invest in more new models will lead to more investment in research and development, there is no way.

Relatively speaking, the increase in sales is of greater significance to them.

As for making money, there are still Yangcheng Honda and Yangcheng Toyota.

In fact, they don’t have much pressure to make money in a short period of time.

"Hardcore SUVs are indeed a new track, but the market in this track is also relatively small. It is quite difficult for us to seize this part of the market."

"I think we can develop some crossover models?"

Zhang Jiaqi would definitely agree with the development of new models.

But he and Zeng Guangda still had different opinions on what model to build.

"Is it a crossover SUV like the BMW X6?"

Speaking of crossovers, the first thing Zeng Guangda thinks of is the X6.

In terms of popularity, the X6 is the highest among crossovers.

"Yes, urban SUVs are quite popular now, and we should try our best to develop them in this direction."

90% of Yangcheng Trumpchi's current sales are contributed by SUVs and MPVs, and the sales of those sedans are very dismal.

So they definitely don't dare to mount the sedan again easily.

As for SUVs, there are already five models. Then naturally we have to find something different.

The two bosses agreed, and the development of new projects was quickly launched.

Of course, if you want to go public, it will definitely not be that fast.

Other car companies that have been squeezed out by Yangcheng Trumpchi must also be thinking about how to occupy a place in the TOP10.

……

"Chen Sang, last year the company's sales not only did not increase, but fell by 4 points. This is contrary to the development trend of the entire market."

"We have to find a way to change this situation, otherwise the future will become more difficult."

Just when China's car sales rankings are basically out, the global car sales rankings are almost out.

The three top three car companies, General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota, have all announced their sales, which means that the global top three rankings have been released.

After many years, General Motors has regained its No. 1 spot.

Volkswagen also successfully took the second place.

On the contrary, Toyota fell to third place due to its poor performance in the Chinese market and the American market.

In response to this situation, Toyota naturally requires all localities to work hard to increase sales in 2012, hoping to regain the number one position in 2012.

After all, the current sales volume of the three companies is not very different, and everyone has the ability to become the world's number one.

"The drop in sales is not the most troublesome thing. The key is that our sales only dropped by 4%, but our profits have dropped by 34%."

"This is the most troublesome thing. We need to introduce more competitive models."

Chen Wenzhan is also a little troubled by the current situation.

The entire Spring City Automobile Group mainly relies on Spring City Toyota and Spring City Volkswagen to make money, but the current sales and profit performance of the two joint ventures are not good.

As a resident of Spring City Automobile Group, Chen Wenzhan is naturally under a lot of pressure.

For Spring City Automobile Group, the main purpose of the joint venture's current existence is to make money.

If you can't make money, then sales are meaningless.

Only by making money can Spring City Automobile Group have the strength to develop its own brands.

The outstanding performance of self-owned brand state-owned enterprises such as Yangcheng Trumpchi and Changan still puts great pressure on the big brother Spring City Automobile Group.

Although Nanshan Hongqi's sales performance last year was also good, there was still a big gap with Yangcheng Trumpchi and Changan.

Not to mention that there are also outstanding companies such as Chery and BYD in the independent brand array.

"We are already working hard to introduce more new models, and our sister car on the same platform as Camry will also be officially launched this year."

"At the same time, medium and large SUVs on the same platform as the Highlander will also be launched."

"We will continue to introduce MPV models in the future to continuously enrich our own model layout."

"But the competition in the market is also very fierce now. The price of our models is almost 100,000 yuan higher than that of Chinese independent brands of the same level."

"In the past, this gap was considered reasonable and acceptable."

"But with the improvement of the brand power of China's own brands, everyone no longer recognizes this gap."

"So even if we launch more models, whether sales can continue to increase is still full of variables."

Miyazaki Himasa has a relatively clear understanding of the current situation.

But he has this understanding, but not everyone at Toyota headquarters has this understanding.

The location of many parts has been determined by Toyota headquarters, so they don't have much choice.

This makes it difficult to reduce the cost of models produced by Spring City Toyota.

"This is indeed a very big change. Before you know it, everyone has recognized the quality of independent brands such as Chery and Geely."

"But Toyota's brand influence is still there."

"What we need most now is for Toyota headquarters to let go of its interference in the fixed-point pricing of various parts, so that we can introduce more competitive local Chinese manufacturers."

"Only by achieving the same level of supply chain as Chery, Geely and other independent brand manufacturers can we achieve a cost close to theirs."

"Otherwise, the number of models will increase, but the sales volume will not increase, and the profits will not increase."

When Chen Wenzhan said this, the atmosphere became even more depressing.

Everyone is obviously working harder than before, but the results are not getting better.

Even the harder you work, the worse the results become.

This is what none of them want to see.

The rise of independent brands has brought tremendous pressure to these joint venture car companies.

……

"Mr. Cao, Nanshan Hongqi's sales this year reached 37 units, of which the annual sales of Hongqi HS5 and Hongqi H5 both exceeded the 10 unit mark, a year-on-year increase of 12%."

"The performance of HS6 and H6 is also pretty good, and HS8 has even raised our price ceiling. The future performance is worth looking forward to."

"However, compared with our competitors, our models are still a little smaller."

After the sales ranking came out, Zhu Zhengfeng naturally wanted to call Cao Yang to talk about Nanshan Hongqi.

So far, although Nanshan Hongqi's sales have been increasing, there is still a large gap compared with mainstream independent brands.

Zhu Zhengfeng was quite anxious about this.

In particular, Changan Automobile and Yangcheng Trumpchi are far ahead, so he hopes that Nanshan Hongqi's sales can also enter the top 10.

If this goal is really achieved, he feels that his mission in Spring City Automobile Group has been completed.

When the time comes to transfer to another place, maybe your career will be bright.

Therefore, among all the industries under Spring City Automobile Group, Zhu Zhengfeng is most concerned about Nanshan Hongqi.

Many of his old leaders are also very concerned about the situation of Nanshan Red Flag.

"Nanshan Hongqi's positioning is higher than other independent brands, and the prices of related products are not low."

“比如我们的2012款红旗HS5搭载了2.0T发动机+8AT变速箱的动力组合，售价已经去到18.38-24.98万元。”

"This price range will not be lower than that of joint venture car companies, so I think it is actually quite good to achieve the current results."

"Of course, the next step is to launch one or two more models to boost sales."

Spring City Automobile Group does not want to make Hongqi's sense of quality too low, so most of its models are benchmarked against joint venture car companies.

As a result, the increase in sales will naturally not be that fast.

Originally, Nanshan Group wanted Nanshan Hongqi to take over the mid-to-low-end market share, but now this goal has not been achieved satisfactorily.

Fortunately, the cooperation between Nanshan Group and various independent brand car companies such as Changan Automobile is relatively smooth, and the sales of various core parts are still growing.

"I naturally recognize the efforts of all Nanshan Hongqi employees."

"But I always feel that the company still lacks a hot model, a model that can achieve monthly sales of more than 20,000 units."

"How about we simply focus on building the HS5 and H5, develop more models based on the existing models, and also lower the starting price?"

In terms of improving brand power and sales, Zhu Zhengfeng is obviously slowly tilting towards increasing sales.

After all, the improvement of brand power is a relatively fictitious thing that is difficult to quantify.

But the changes in sales can be seen directly by everyone.

If Nanshan Hongqi wants to break into the TOP10 in a short period of time, it must make a breakthrough in sales.

"There is naturally no problem with this plan. Some new plans for the reform of official vehicles were announced some time ago."

"We can step on the dividing line of the official vehicle reform policy and launch some models that can enter the official vehicle market."

"If this year's official vehicles can contribute 10 sales to Nanshan Hongqi, then the overall sales can exceed 50, or even hit 60."

"Especially now that Korean car companies are no longer viable, and Japanese car companies and American car companies do not have an advantage in terms of public opinion."

"Under this circumstance, I think the next three years are the best development opportunities for Nanshan Hongqi."

Cao Yang's words are not nonsense.

He knows what will happen in 2012.

After carving up part of the market of Korean car companies in 2011, we are expected to further carve up part of the market of Japanese car companies in 2012.

At that time, it will definitely be the best time for Nanshan Hongqi to develop.

"Official car reform?"

"This is a good entry point. I can go for a run."

It's not like Zhu Zhengfeng didn't have the idea of ​​using official cars before. Even now, part of Nanshan Hongqi's sales are contributed by official cars.

But before, he had always thought that by relying on market-oriented development, he could lead Nanshan Hongqi to become the leader of domestic independent brands.

Therefore, I am not willing to go to old leaders and colleagues to promote Nanshan Hongqi’s official vehicle bidding for Nanshan Hongqi.

Now that Cao Yang has taken the initiative to bring it up and feels that this is a promising thing, he doesn't think so much anymore and is ready to give it a go.

In 2012, Nanshan Hongqi must have a huge breakthrough.

"Official cars represent the image of China. Whether they are from Korea or Japan, or the United States, Germany or France, as long as they are official cars, they are almost all models of domestic brands."

“Only countries that don’t have a strong automobile industry in their own countries will use foreign automobile brands as official vehicles.”

"I think China can also follow international practices and make official vehicles a priority for independent brand car companies, making official vehicles an important area to enhance the influence of independent brands."

Cao Yang felt that since Zhu Zhengfeng was willing to contribute, he should do something well.

The market for official vehicles is not actually very small, and many of them are now occupied by joint venture car companies such as Volkswagen, General Motors, and Toyota.

This can be completely excluded through policy provisions or artificially setting some thresholds.

This approach can be regarded as an international practice. Even if other car companies have opinions, they can only suppress it.

Regarding Cao Yang's statement, Zhu Zhengfeng thought for a moment and then agreed.

However, this kind of policy is definitely not only beneficial to Nanshan Hongqi, but also beneficial to the entire independent brand.

So after he hung up the phone, he immediately communicated with the heads of car companies such as Xifeng Automobile, Modu Automobile, and Changan Automobile.

Everyone must work together to implement this policy as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)