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After Zhongtai Automobile, Lifan Motor also issued an annual pre-loss announcement for 2019, which said that the net profit attributed to shareholders of listed companies is expected to be-4.981 billion yuan in 2019, a decrease of 5.234 billion yuan compared with the same period last year, or 2,068.77 percent year-on-year.

It is worth mentioning that Lifan's net profit to shareholders of listed companies in the first three quarters of 2019 was-2.633 billion yuan, while according to the 2019 results forecast, the fourth-quarter loss increased by nearly 50%. It is enough to see that the loss in the fourth quarter is still very large.

In view of the reasons for the substantial loss in performance, Lifan Automobile said in the announcement that on the one hand, due to the impact of the general environment of the domestic automobile industry and the constraints of the company's tight funds, the company's automobile business was affected and its revenue dropped sharply. On the other hand, affected by the national leverage reduction, the company has external financing difficulties and high financial costs, which affects the amount of profit.

Lifan Automobile is also a high-profile car brand, but this kind of attention is not what Lifan wants. Lifan, as an enterprise that started with motorcycle business, can be traced back to 2003 to enter the automobile industry. In August 2003, Lifan acquired 80% of the shares in Chongqing Special purpose vehicle Factory. In 2006, Lifan officially entered the passenger car industry, and the first car, 520, was officially listed.

Lifan and Zhongtai are brothers. Due to the immaturity of capital and technology, Lifan embarked on the road of imitation, through "copy and paste" BMW mini, BMW 3-Series, Ford S-MAX, Hanlanda and other models to achieve product updates, but unlike Zhongtai cars, the copied Lifan car has not become a popular style in the market.

After 14 years of development in the automotive industry, Lifan Automobile has updated its products through replication, but it has failed to form an advantage in technology, product strength and service. Xu Haidong, assistant secretary general of the China Automobile Association, said: "Lifan still has deficiencies in the core competence of building cars, and new energy vehicles are the future strategy, and it is hopeless to be used as an 'emergency' now."

Lifan has been at the forefront of public opinion last year. In May 2019, a number of dealers went to Chongqing Lifan Automobile headquarters to protect their rights because Lifan Motor sold cars to non-dealers at low prices. In October 2019, the media reported that four car companies, including Lifan Automobile, would enter bankruptcy proceedings at the end of the year. Lifan Automobile issued a clarification notice saying that the report was untrue, but the company was indeed in high debt and under greater pressure on capital liquidity. In November 2019, a CCTV reporter visited the production base where Lifan Motor is located and found that the Lifan automobile production line was in a state of semi-shutdown and that employees were in arrears of wages.

Lifan Automobile is still very important to the development of Chongqing. In order to save Lifan Motor, the Chongqing municipal government helped Lifan Motor set up a debt committee, requiring banks to "do not draw loans, do not hold down loans, and keep lending." Lifan also said it would actively resolve the debt crisis.

Obviously, the Chongqing municipal government has done everything it can to save Lifan, but judging from the current performance of Lifan, the future development is still difficult to be optimistic.

According to sales figures released by Lifan Motor, Lifan accumulated sales of 22536 vehicles in 2019, down 75.52 per cent from the same period last year, while new energy vehicles sold 3091 vehicles, down 69.49 per cent from the same period last year.

In the past year, under the influence of macro-control, the decline of the automobile market and other factors, the sales and performance of most of China's automobile enterprises have declined to varying degrees in 2019. In 2020, Lifan Automobile is still facing huge market pressure, the factory is in a state of semi-shutdown, the renewal of automotive products can not keep up with the pace of the market, coupled with the collapse of dealer cooperation, Lifan Automobile survival is worrying. Although the Chongqing Municipal Government has provided a glimmer of survival, if it does not improve in the new year, it may not be far from leaving the field.

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