AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)01/26 Report--

In the current automobile market, joint venture brands are facing an unprecedented squeeze. According to the Federation of passengers, sales of 20.542 million vehicles in 2022 were down 1.9% from the same period last year, of which 8.127 million were sold by mainstream joint ventures, down 11.6% from the same period last year, and 9.713 million by independent brands, up 16.9% from the same period last year.

The concentration of the market is increasing, weak brands are facing elimination, survival of the fittest is the current law of the development of the automobile industry. According to incomplete statistics, in the list of car companies whose sales fell by more than 50% in 2022, a total of 24 car companies were on the list, including five joint ventures, including Shanghai Auto Skoda, Guangzhou Automobile Mitsubishi, Guangzhou Automobile Fick, Dongfeng Infiniti, Guangzhou Automobile Acura, and so on. The rest are independent enterprises.

SAIC Skoda, Guangzhou Automobile Mitsubishi, Guangzhou Auto Fick, Dongfeng Infiniti and Guangzhou Automobile Acura are joint venture car companies whose sales have halved in 2022. Among them, SAIC Skoda fell 61.15%, Dongfeng Infiniti fell 57.81%, Guangzhou Automobile Mitsubishi fell 56.70%, while Guangzhou Auto Fick and Guangzhou Automobile Acura announced their withdrawal from the joint venture camp in 2022.

According to the insurance figures, GAC Fick's sales in 2022 were 6030, down 78.36 per cent from the same period last year. Shareholders of Guangzhou Auto Fick, GAC GROUP and Stellantis have approved a resolution authorizing Stellantis to file for bankruptcy at a loss, according to a notice posted on its website on October 31, 2022. After entering 2022, GAC Fick almost fell into a state of shutdown. According to GAC GROUP's announcement, as of June 30, 2022, GAC Fick had total assets of 7.657 billion yuan, total liabilities of 8.186 billion yuan, and an asset-liability ratio of 107%.

On April 8, 2022, Guangzhou Automobile Honda and Guangzhou Automobile Acura announced in a notice on their website that Guangzhou Automobile Honda will no longer produce and sell existing products of Guangzhou Automobile Acura brand from 2023, and relevant channels of Guangzhou Automobile Honda will continue to provide honorable services to Guangzhou Automobile Acura owners and always protect the rights and interests of car owners. At this point, GAC Acura stopped production and its models entered a state of inventory clearance. According to the insurance figures, GAC Acura sales of 2088 vehicles in 2022, a year-on-year drop of 68.14%, of which RDX fell 62.07% compared with the same period last year.

The current situation of GAC-Mitsubishi is very similar to that of GAC-Fick, which has just been delisted. 90 per cent of its sales come from one model. In 2022, GAC-Mitsubishi sold 29112 vehicles for the whole year, down 56.70 per cent from the same period last year, of which Olander sold 25860 vehicles, down 52.69 per cent from the same period last year. At the same time, GAC-Mitsubishi's debt ratio is extremely high. GAC Fick's debt ratio was 107% before delisting, seriously insolvent, while GAC-Mitsubishi's debt ratio was 80% as of the first half of 2022.

Skoda is the only German brand on the list. In 2022, SAIC Skoda sales plummeted, with full-year sales of only 44582 vehicles, down 61.15% from a year earlier. Previously, Skoda general manager Klaus Zelmer (Klaus Zellmer) has said publicly that the competition in China is so fierce that consideration can be given to selling cars in China instead of producing them. In response to the news, Skoda China said that as part of the company's normal commercial operation, Skoda will continue to evaluate its position in the international auto market and adjust its strategy to adapt to the development of the local auto market. This naturally includes the Chinese market.

As for whether Skoda will withdraw from the Chinese market? There is no clear answer yet, but today's Skoda is like a hot potato for SAIC Volkswagen, and it is possible to survive with a broken arm. In addition, India overtook China to become the third largest single market in the world. Skoda, by contrast, prefers to see India as a promising market. Skoda's sales in India rose 127.7% year-on-year to 51900 vehicles in 2022, according to the data.

Autonomous car companies account for most of the list, and most of them are on the verge of bankruptcy. On November 29, 2022, BAIC Foton issued a notice that the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate people's Court ruled to declare Beijing Baowo Motor Co., Ltd. bankrupt. The court held that, based on the results of the confirmation of the claim and the assets of the debtor confirmed by the assessment, Bowo Motor Company was unable to pay off the debts due and the assets were significantly smaller than the liabilities and insufficient to pay off all the debts. So far, no application for restructuring or reconciliation has been submitted. To sum up, Bowo already has the legal conditions to declare bankruptcy. Figures show that Bowo sold 1669 vehicles in 2022, down 57.40% from a year earlier.

Guanzhi had hoped to revive under Baoneng Group, but its products have not been updated for many years, and its market competitiveness has declined sharply. Its sales in 2022 were 720, a year-on-year drop of 84.76%. Starting from 2021, Guanzhi Motor began to have internal staff loss, external suppliers and dealers to protect the rights and other problems, the current operating situation is particularly difficult. According to the China referee Writing Network, the people's courts of nine provinces and cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hebei, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, have issued a total of 185 rulings on Guanzhi Automobile, of which 64 were in 2022, of which 52 were based on enforcement. According to the inquiry, in the past few years, the above-mentioned people's courts have come to the conclusion that Guanzhi has no immediate enforceable property through financial institutions, on-the-spot investigation and other means to inquire about the clues of Guanzhi automobile property information.

According to the Tianyan investigation, at present, there are more than 999 pieces of risk information about Qoros, and the legal action amount of the defendant / appellee is 494 million yuan; the consumption restriction order is 186times; the total amount of the subject matter of the final case is 543 million yuan, of which the outstanding amount is 542 million yuan. In addition, Guanzhi Motor is listed as the executee by the people's courts of Suzhou, Changshu, Xianyang, Zengcheng District of Guangzhou, Huangpu District of Shanghai, Luohu District of Shenzhen, Longquanyi District of Chengdu and so on.

By contrast, the collapse of WEY, a premium brand owned by Great Wall, was unexpected. According to the insurance figures, the annual sales of WEY in 2022 were only 25293, down 51.54% from the same period last year. Starting from 2021, WEY has stopped producing VV models and launched "Coffee" models, including mocha, latte and macchiato. However, the new car did not drive WEY's performance in the end market. Figures show that in 2022, macchiato sales were 2703, lattes PHEV sales were 3999, mochas were 5229 and lattes were 8634.

At the 2022 Guangzhou Auto Show, Wei Brand debuted a new six-seat flagship SUV model, named "Blue Mountain DHT-PHEV", based on the "Coffee Intelligence" technology platform, with a price between 350000 and 400000 yuan. After launch, it will compete with hot models such as the ideal L8 and the M7. As a contrast, the ideal L8 will deliver 10189 new cars in December, and it is worth looking forward to whether the new car can reverse the sluggish market performance of Wei Brand.

Aichi, Guoji Zhijun, Hanteng, Cheetah, Hanlong, brilliance China, Mahayana, guide cars, Lufeng and other brands are all declining brands in recent years, with annual sales falling by about 90%. Facing great risk of delisting, brilliance China went bankrupt and restructured as early as November 2020 and is still in a state of bankruptcy restructuring.

With the economic downturn and the gradual slowdown of market increment, China's automobile market is entering a new stage of stock competition. Due to the influence of COVID-19 's epidemic situation, China's macro-economy and automobile market will face severe tests in stages this year. From the perspective of the industry pattern, the concentration of the market is increasing, and weak brands are facing elimination. Industry insiders believe that now, both independent, joint venture and foreign-funded car companies are facing the market test together, and the market share is concentrated to the head car enterprises, leaving little time for weak brands, and the knockout stage of survival of the fittest in China's auto market has entered a white-hot stage.

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