AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)11/06 Report--

Since the second half of 2018, China's automobile production and sales have entered a decline channel. Under the environment of the rapid growth of domestic brands in the past two years, the development trend of automobile brands with the advantage of joint venture has been much lower than before. For this reason, there has been news that FCA Group will unilaterally invest in Guangzhou Auto Fick in order to reduce costs, but this news has been denied recently.

In response to the above report, FCA recently responded to the outside world: "Fick Group has been committed to expanding the Chinese market, and there are false reports that Fick Group withdrew its capital from its joint venture in China, Guangzhou Auto Fick." That is, the official official refuted the rumors of divestment, although GAC Fick sales fell continuously, but FCA did not withdraw investment from it, nor will it give up the Chinese market.

At the same time, in the anti-rumor statement, FCA also mentioned that Fick Group and GAC GROUP signed a memorandum of understanding in August this year to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and jointly injected 1 billion yuan into Guangzhou Auto Fick to promote the sustained and steady development of Guangzhou Auto Fick in China.

It has to be said that as "brothers", FCA and PSA, which are about to merge into the fourth largest automobile group in the world, have similar experiences in the Chinese market. Even as a multinational joint venture brand, it entered the Chinese market early and realized domestic production, but because of the continuous decline in sales, idle production capacity, operating losses and other conditions, it has been repeatedly reported that the decision to withdraw from the Chinese market, but the two companies often deny the decision to launch the Chinese market.

Although the Chinese market, as the largest single automobile market in the world, has great potential for development, being able to gain a certain market share in China is enough to help brands achieve considerable sales. However, judging from the past market performance of GAC Fick, it has always been the one with slightly poor performance under GAC GROUP. Even in the period when the joint venture brand had certain advantages a few years ago, GAC Fick's Fiat and JEEP were obviously lower than the market average.

Due to brand strength and product reasons, its Fiat brand has already withdrawn from the Chinese market. Although FCA and Guangzhou Auto Fick have not officially announced Fiat's withdrawal from China, in fact Fiat exists in name only in the Chinese market.

It is understood that GAC Fiat (later renamed GAC Fiat Chrysler) was established on March 9, 2010, jointly invested by GAC GROUP and Fick Group with a share ratio of 50:50, with a total investment of about 17 billion yuan. At first, only the Fiat brand was introduced, including its two models, Feixiang and Zhiyue, which went into production in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

At its peak, GAC Fiat sold 68000 vehicles in 2014, but soon, sales plunged 50% to 32000 in 2015, 7618 in 2016, and 2273 in 2017. Fiat can no longer be found in car sales figures.

Even though Guangzhou Auto Fick introduced the JEEP brand and realized the domestic brand in order to increase brand sales, Guangzhou Auto Fiat changed its name to Guangzhou Auto Fick, and quickly launched three SUV models, Free Light, Compass and Free Man, in 2016. Thanks to the launch of a number of new car groups, GAC Fick also completed sales of nearly 180000 vehicles in 2016, an increase of 260% over the same period last year, of which the sales of the Jeep brand rose 131% in 2016 compared with the same period last year, reaching a record high in China. Helped the brand achieve its best annual sales of 222000 vehicles in 2017.

Since the second half of 2018, China's automobile production and sales have entered a decline channel, GAC Fick's sales have plummeted and have been in a slump for three consecutive years. In the environment where the introduction of new cars by Guangzhou Auto Fick has basically stalled in 2020, only the JEEP brand is left to support, and only 27800 cars were sold in the first nine months of this year.

Therefore, in the serious decline in sales, coupled with the stagnation of business, it is undoubtedly difficult for the outside world to see the pace of development of Guangzhou Auto Fick. Therefore, it is not surprising that news such as divestment comes out.

According to the analysis of the industry, the fundamental reason why Fiat can not be recognized by the market is that the quality problem has not been solved. The same is true of either the Fiat brand or the JEEP brand, the most famous is the Jeep 2.4L model which has been repeatedly complained by users about engine oil burning.

Of course, it is also because the influence of American brands in China is ordinary, coupled with the reputation of Guangzhou Auto Fick's poor quality, it is difficult to boost the sales performance of new cars in China, and the rumors of divestment are also reasonable. Even if the current official has refuted the rumors, the problem that Guangzhou Auto Fick needs to face is exactly what the "brother" Dragon Motor needs to face, and how to find a way to save itself in the increasingly competitive market will become a prerequisite for whether the two groups can continue to stay in China in the future.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat