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The situation of Changan Ford is particularly grim, sales have continued to decline sharply, and performance has changed from profit to loss. Changan Ford fell to less than 380000 in 2018, and its cumulative sales in the first four months of this year were only 51600, down 70 per cent from a year earlier.

At this difficult time, Changan Ford was fined 162.8 million yuan by the State Administration of Market Supervision for its "monopoly". It is worth noting that recently, amid the tension in the Sino-US trade war, Changan Ford was suddenly punished, which also attracted some controversial voices.

The General Administration of Market Supervision said in a penalty notice issued today that Changan Ford Motor Co., Ltd. was fined 162.8 million yuan for implementing the vertical monopoly agreement in accordance with the law. The General Administration of Supervision believes that Changan Ford has deprived dealers of pricing autonomy.

According to the announcement, Changan Ford has limited the minimum resale price of downstream dealers in Chongqing since 2013 by formulating a "price list", signing a "price self-discipline agreement" and restricting downstream dealers' minimum prices and online minimum quotations during the auto show, in violation of the provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law prohibiting operators from reaching a monopoly agreement with their counterparties to resell goods to a third party. In the course of the investigation, Changan Ford did not provide evidence to prove that the relevant actions were in line with the exemption under Article 15 of the Anti-monopoly Law. The above behavior of Changan Ford deprives the downstream dealers of pricing autonomy, excludes and limits the competition within the brand, actually weakens the competition among brands, and harms the fair competition in the relevant markets and the legitimate interests of consumers. According to the Anti-monopoly Law, the General Administration of Market Supervision fined Changan Ford 4% of its sales in Chongqing in the previous year.

The General Administration of Market Supervision also said that it will continue to strengthen anti-monopoly law enforcement, effectively prevent and stop monopoly behavior, seriously investigate and deal with monopoly agreements, abuse of market dominant position and abuse of behavioral power to eliminate and restrict competition, and earnestly safeguard fair competition in the market. create a good business environment, promote high-quality economic development, and protect the legitimate interests of consumers.

According to the inquiry, the last time an automobile company was fined for "monopoly behavior" was December 2016. SAIC GM limits the minimum price for dealers to resell goods to consumers, violates the relevant provisions of the Anti-monopoly Law, excludes and restricts market price competition, and disrupts the normal order of market competition. it harms the legitimate rights and interests of other operators and consumers. According to the penalty announcement issued by the Shanghai Price Bureau in December 2016, SAIC GM was ordered by law to immediately stop its illegal activities and impose a fine of 4 per cent on the sales of the products involved in the previous year, totaling 201 million yuan.

At present, statistics show that six vehicle manufacturers have been punished. In addition to Changan Ford and SAIC GM, Dongfeng Nissan was fined a total of 142.42 million yuan, Audi 248.58 million yuan, Chrysler 31.682 million yuan and Mercedes-Benz 357 million yuan.

Changan Ford sales performance retrogression, already at a loss, coupled with this penalty of 160 million, can be said to make matters worse. Changan Ford contributed 80% of Changan's profits to 90% of its profits. As sales fell off the cliff, Changan also turned from profit to loss. The annual net profit of Changan Automobile in 2018 was only 681 million yuan, which plummeted 90% compared with the same period last year, of which Changan Ford lost 800 million yuan. The loss of Changan Automobile reached 2.1 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, down 250% from the same period last year. The sharp decline in investment income caused by the collapse in sales of Changan Ford is the main reason for the loss.

Changan Ford sold 678000 new cars in 2013, reaching 806000 in 2014, rising to 836000 in 2015, and peaking at 957000 in 2016, just short of millions of sales. However, Changan Ford declined in 2017 and fell to only 377800 in 2018, down 54.38 per cent from a year earlier. Changan Ford climbed rapidly in the golden age of the Chinese auto market, but it only took two years for it to fall off the altar.

It fell by 70 to 51600 vehicles from January to April this year, and Changan Ford's 2019 was even more difficult.

In fact, Ford is also struggling in the Chinese market. Ford sold 136279 vehicles in China in the first quarter of this year, down 35.8% from the same period last year.

The rapid decline of Ford in China is mainly related to the fact that the model is in the last generation of products, the application of three-cylinder new technology, and product reputation. China's car sales have declined one after another, further accelerating the decline in Ford's sales, and news of factory layoffs has spread like wildfire. Changan Ford's recovery plan will launch four new models one after another this year. Ford said that in the future, it will accelerate product renewal and introduction, accelerate the development of new technologies, and plans to return to the quality development track in three years.

After the tragedy of Waterloo in China, Ford pays more attention to the construction of localization team and sets up a brand-new business leadership team in China. Starting with Chen Anning as president and CEO of Ford in China, she also recruited local executives such as Yang Song and Huo Jing to join them and began to take over the foreign team to manage Ford's related business in China. Ford's move is aimed at accelerating a reversal of the continued decline in sales in the world's largest car market.

In Ford's China recovery plan, the slogan "more Ford, more China" is shouted. Chen Anning also said: "We need to understand what is the most suitable for the Chinese market managers, this is the principle of our leadership team."

In response to the 160 million fine for monopoly behavior, Changan Ford said today: "Changan Ford fully respects and resolutely implements the penalty decision made by the relevant state departments on this antitrust investigation. We have taken action with dealers to standardize regional sales management. At the same time, in accordance with the requirements of national laws and regulations, we will continue to further standardize business activities and earnestly safeguard a free and fair market competition environment. "

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