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Public data show that from March to May this year, GAC Fick's production and sales data are almost zero, and the production link is at a standstill. Specifically, the production and sales of Guangzhou Auto Fick were only one in March this year, down 99.96% and 99.97% respectively from the same period last year; April production and sales were "-", down 100% from the same period last year; and May production and sales were all 1 vehicle, down 99.89% and 99.93% respectively from the same period last year. As Guangzhou Auto Fick has had "abnormal" production and sales data for three consecutive months, and this situation is rare in the industry, it has attracted everyone's attention, and it has been said that "Guangzhou Automobile Fick has stopped production" and so on.

For April, GAC Fick production and sales are "-" problems, GAC GROUP relevant responsible person once explained: "affected by the epidemic, GAC Fick Changsha plant has not yet resumed work." At present, the company's business situation is normal, based on the advance prediction of market changes, retail product sales will not be affected. " Affected by the sporadic epidemic in March this year, the development of the entire automobile industry is not depressed, especially in April, a number of car companies were forced to stop production or cut production, resulting in the production of auto parts manufacturers stagnated in April, the auto market as a whole suffered a serious impact. Although we all know that the epidemic has had a certain impact on the automobile industry, if we move the time forward to the data before the epidemic spread, we can also directly see that the "abnormal" production and sales data of Guangzhou Auto Fick are not all attributed to the epidemic. From January to February this year, GAC Fick produced 785 and 35 cars respectively, that is to say, GAC Fick has been in a state of "shutdown" since February.

According to the official website of Guangzhou Auto Fick, Guangzhou Automobile Fiat Chrysler Co., Ltd. was established on March 9, 2010. it is jointly invested and constructed by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (GAC GROUP) and Stellantis Group with a share ratio of 50:50, with a total investment of about 17 billion yuan. In 2015, GAC Fick's main brand Jeep was officially localized. So far, GAC Fick's models on sale include the Compass, Commander, Free Light, Freeman, and Commander PHEV. According to statistics, from January to May this year, Guangzhou Auto Fick produced a total of 822 vehicles, down 89.34% from the same period last year, and wholesale sales of 1861 vehicles, down 83.39% from the same period last year.

According to the Daily Business News, a salesperson at a 4S store of a Jeep brand in Shanghai said: "now the domestic models are gone, the stock has long been sold out, and we do not accept bookings. The manufacturer has no production schedule and is currently in a state of suspension. At present, only imported models are sold in our store, and domestic models are estimated to have to wait another month or two, but we are not sure whether they will be able to produce them at that time, because there is no agreement between Chinese and foreign investors, and there are some issues that they need to study again. so it's not that fast. " In addition, in a Jeep brand 4S store in Pudong, Shanghai, in addition to imported models, there are still some free light and big commander's inventory cars to be sold, but they have been in stock for more than half a year. Store salesperson said: "Free Light and the Big Commander's inventory cars were produced last year, we must now give priority to selling inventory cars, and the discount is also strong." In this regard, the relevant person in charge of GAC GROUP's foreign shareholder Stellantis Group said that GAC Fick's monthly production and sales are only the monthly production and sales of Jeep models produced locally by the joint venture company, and as to when domestic models will resume production, follow-up business planning and stock ratio adjustment will disclose relevant information in due course.

According to public data, GAC Fick has two major factories in Changsha and Guangzhou, with a total annual production capacity of 328000 vehicles, of which GAC Fick is located in Hunan Changsha National Economic and technological Development Zone with a total vehicle production capacity of 164000 vehicles and 488000 engines. With nearly 2000 employees. Relevant data show that the actual annual production of Guangzhou Auto Fick in 2021 is 16300 vehicles. If calculated on the basis of a total annual production capacity of 328000 vehicles, the capacity utilization rate of the two major Guangzhou Auto Fick plants is only 4.97%. Obviously, the development of Guangzhou Auto Fick can not support the capacity of the two major factories. On Sept. 8 last year, the Stellantis Group said in a statement that GAC Fick's plant in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province had been closed, leaving only the plant in Changsha, due to low capacity utilization and aging of the plant's production line.

Reviewing the development process of GAC Fick since its establishment, GAC Fick also had a short highlight moment in its early days. Jeep, the main brand of Guangzhou Auto Fick, was officially localized in 2015, and the first model was widely welcomed by the market after its launch. Then Guangzhou Automobile Fick Jeep successively introduced models such as the Compass, Free Man and Free Light. GAC Fick sold 179900 vehicles in 2016 and 222300 in 2017, accounting for more than 10% of GAC GROUP's sales, which is the peak sales of Guangzhou Auto Fick since its establishment. But its sales continued to decline after 2018, and GAC's Fiat brand announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market in 2018 because of dismal sales. From 2018 to 2020, its sales were 125200, 73900 and 40500 respectively, while in the past 2021, GAC Fick's cumulative sales were only 20100, down 50.33% from the same period last year, making it the car company with the fastest decline in sales of GAC GROUP. From intuitive data, from 2018 to 2021, GAC Fick's sales almost showed a straight decline. At the same time, Guangzhou Auto Fick is also facing a financial crisis. In the past three years, the cumulative net loss of Guangzhou Auto Fick is close to 5 billion yuan, of which the net assets of Guangzhou Auto Fick in 2020 is-331 million yuan.

But in spite of this, GAC Fick did not give up "self-help" because of poor sales data and financial difficulties, but tried to reverse the predicament by means of capital increase, coach change and new strategy. In August 2020 and July 2021, Fick Group and GAC GROUP jointly injected 1 billion yuan and 3 billion yuan into Guangzhou Auto Fick, respectively, totaling 4 billion yuan. On May 10, 2021, the Fiat Chrysler Group announced that GAC Fick appointed Zhu Hengli as the deputy general manager and executive committee member of the company. On July 31 of the same year, with the nomination of Fiat Chrysler Group and the approval of the board of directors of GAC Fick, Mu Anze was appointed as the president of GAC Fick, fully responsible for the operation and management of the Jeep brand in China. In addition, in 2021, Guangzhou Auto Fick publicly announced that it would launch a new strategy of One Jeep in China, combining Jeep products from previous imported channels with Jeep products from domestic channels to unify the image of Jeep in the Chinese market. Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC GROUP, also said that Guangzhou Auto Fick needs to have a full sense of crisis, must speed up the pace of product renewal and improve product quality. however, a series of "self-rescue" methods such as increasing capital, changing coaches and proposing new strategies have not brought substantial growth to Guangzhou Auto Fick's sales.

On January 27th this year, Stellantis Group announced on its website that it plans to increase its stake in the joint venture Guangzhou Auto Fick from the current 50% to 75%. If the equity adjustment is approved, GAC GROUP and Stellantis Group's shareholding in Guangzhou Auto Fick will change from 50 ∶ 50 to 25 ∶ 75. However, not long after the news was released, GAC GROUP issued an announcement denying: "GAC GROUP learned of his announcement on the equity adjustment of Guangzhou Auto Fick from the official website of Stellantis. This release has not been approved by us, and the two sides have not yet signed a formal agreement on the equity adjustment of Guangzhou Auto Fick. With regard to foreign joint ventures and cooperation, GAC GROUP will strictly abide by the national policies and regulations and promote it on the principle of mutual trust and win-win results. However, industry insiders believe that from the current development of Guangzhou Auto Fick, equity change may only be a matter of time.

Judging from the current development of GAC Fick, GAC Fick does not have a very clear strategic plan, and the sales volume of its models for sale is not ideal. GAC Fick wants to reverse the dilemma or face greater challenges. As for the follow-up development of GAC Fick, there may be an answer in the near future.

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