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According to "Interface News" and other media reports, SAIC Volkswagen's three vehicle factories in Anting are undergoing production line adjustment. The first factory ended production in July last year and has been permanently shut down at present. Some production lines have been moved to Yizheng, Jiangsu Province.

According to Volkswagen's official website, Anting Automobile Factory No.1 is located in Anting, Shanghai. It is the earliest car production base of SAIC Volkswagen and the oldest factory of SAIC Volkswagen. It was built in 1984. Before it was shut down, its production capacity was 160,000 vehicles, mainly responsible for the production of small cars including Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Jingrui.

Yizheng Factory, located in Automobile Industrial Park of Yizheng City, was completed and put into operation in July 2012. It is the first standardized factory of SAIC Volkswagen and the first standardized factory of German Volkswagen Group in China. It has stamping workshop, body workshop, paint workshop, assembly workshop, technical center, training center, energy center, loading and shipping center, parts distribution center, office building and other related auxiliary production facilities.

In addition, according to the above report, SAIC Volkswagen Anting No.2 Plant has started to combine shifts this year, that is, two production shifts will be combined into one shift, and some employees will be transferred to other factories. A number of people serving SAIC Volkswagen revealed to relevant media that it is confirmed that the second factory has been in the joint shift, but according to the company's internal information, the third factory is likely to start the joint shift in the second half of this year, but the official has not announced yet.

A SAIC Volkswagen insider said that SAIC Volkswagen Anting three whole vehicle factories are being transformed around electric transformation. Anting No.1 Plant will expand the functions of R & D center, and some employees will be transferred to MEB Plant for producing new energy vehicles after training. However, industry insiders believe that the closure of SAIC Volkswagen's Anting factory may be related to the current changes in China's electric vehicle market and SAIC Volkswagen's current poor sales performance.

According to the data, the annual sales volume of SAIC Group in 2022 was 5.3026 million vehicles, down 2.94% year-on-year, showing negative growth for the fourth consecutive year. The weak sales volume of SAIC Group is closely related to the decline of joint venture brands. Among them, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC GM, the two major profits of SAIC Group, have declined to varying degrees. According to the retail data of the Association, the retail sales volume of SAIC Volkswagen in 2022 was 1.2435 million vehicles, down 14.7% year-on-year. Among the subdivided models, at present, SAIC Volkswagen has three pure tram models ID.4X, ID.6X and ID.3. The first two models are sister models with ID.4CROZZ and ID.6CROZZ of FAW-Volkswagen, while ID.3 is the unique model of SAIC Volkswagen. Among them, the sales volume of ID.4X in 2022 is 35201, ID.4CROZZ is 46261, ID.6CROZZ (25968) is also higher than ID.6X (11396), and ID.3, known as "electric golf," is also difficult to become a hit, and the monthly sales are basically maintained at the level of 2000.

After entering 2023, SAIC Group's sales volume has not improved. According to the data, the cumulative sales volume of SAIC Group from January to April 2023 was 1,265,100 vehicles, down 8.80% year-on-year. According to the plan, the annual sales volume of SAIC Group in 2023 is currently 6 million vehicles, which also means that in the first April of this year, the completion rate of SAIC Group is only 21.09%, among which, the cumulative sales volume of SAIC Volkswagen is 314,700 vehicles, down 12.90% year-on-year.

In addition, Interface News reported that Shanghai Automotive Transmission Company, a subsidiary of SAIC Group, is laying off employees. An insider said: "Since March, there has been a rumor that the layoffs are relatively strong, so we should be mentally prepared. In April, each department will start to talk about communication for six times." Old employees over 50 years old, young employees who have not obtained leadership positions after social recruitment and whose three-year contracts expire are the main targets for dismissal, and most of them are employees of functional departments. By the end of May, about 300 people have signed negotiated resignation agreements or handled retirement. Reported that at the beginning of this year, Shanghai Automobile Transmission Company with cadres staff a total of more than 1900 people.

It is understood that Shanghai Automobile Transmission Company mainly produces transmissions among the three major parts of traditional fuel vehicles. With the change of automobile market pattern, Shanghai Automobile Transmission Company gradually transforms into new energy business, including providing electric drive and other parts for new energy brands Zhiji and Feifan under SAIC Group.

In November 2022, a letter titled "A Letter to All Employees of Volkswagen Transmission (Shanghai)" was exposed online. The letter shows that the automobile industry is undergoing a disruptive transformation from traditional fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles, and the company's only product is manual transmission, so it plans to officially stop production at the end of March this year and enter the shutdown liquidation process, that is to say, SAIC Volkswagen plans to stop manual transmission models. It is understood that there are reports that Shanghai Volkswagen Powertrain Company may also start the shutdown process.

Whether it is the shutdown of SAIC Volkswagen Anting No.1 Factory or the layoffs of Shanghai Automobile Transmission Company,"Automobile Industry Concern" believes that the main reason may be related to the rapid transformation of the automobile market pattern to new energy vehicles. At present, the transformation speed of new energy of domestic independent brands is extremely fast, while the joint venture brands are not fully prepared for the transformation of new energy and gradually lose pricing power in the domestic market. According to informed sources, Shanghai Automobile Transmission Company still relies on fuel vehicle business to maintain operation at present, and its overall profitability is at the middle level within SAIC Group. The senior management of SAIC Group intends to merge and reorganize its subsidiaries with electric drive business to save resources and transform to new energy.

It is an inevitable trend for new energy vehicles to replace fuel vehicles in the future. At present, Volkswagen is accelerating the strategic layout of electrification in the Chinese market. At the end of last month, Volkswagen Anhui announced plans to invest 23.1 billion yuan in the research and development of new energy models and try to build Volkswagen Anhui into a "middle Volkswagen" juxtaposed with North and South Volkswagen. It should be noted that this year is regarded by the industry as the year when the new energy track starts the knockout race. In other words, this year's automobile enterprises will face greater pressure than before. At present, Volkswagen is in a critical period of electric transformation, but it is clear that there is not much time left for Volkswagen to "transform".

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