AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/25 Report--

Once again, Baowo's heartbroken dealers stand in front of manufacturers to protect their rights. Recently, representatives of Baowo car dealers gathered at BAIC's Futian headquarters, and the rights protection banner stated their purpose: "Fukuda Baowo, deceiving the operation, harming the dealers, and returning my hard-earned money."

From the joint letter from some dealers of the Baowo brand to BAIC Foton, we know that the dealers are dissatisfied with the early investment of Fukuda Bowo and the latest investment policy of the new shareholder in China.

1. In the early stage, it was fraudulent to attract investment in the name of the German top four "German Baowo" brand.

two。 Without notifying the dealers to transfer 67% of the shares to the actual control of China, there is serious discrimination and fairness in the latest investment promotion policy issued by China. The original policy of promising more than one store in one city and one partner has been completely abolished, and now the latest investment policy of thousands of cities and ten thousand stores can open a shop with only 50 square meters. This model makes it even worse for dealers who have invested tens of millions of dollars in standard 4S stores and are still losing money.

Dealers for many years operating serious losses, Baowo brand dealers across the country unanimously asked BAIC Foton to give "off the net compensation", otherwise the national collective stop after-sales service.

Due to poor sales, Bowo dealers struggled to support during the Fukuda control period and received Foton's business commitment. Until the emergence of Shenzhou funds, in order to expand sales and improve performance, it is bound to speed up the expansion of dealers. The original rules will be broken one by one. Both dealers and Bowo are in a dilemma.

It is said that BAIC Foton is in negotiations with dealers on the requirement of "off-net compensation". The collective protection of the rights of dealers has only been four months since the last incident.

Bowo was bought by BAIC Foton in 2014 for 5 million euros (nearly 38 million yuan) from Germans to open up the independent mid-to-high-end passenger car market. Although Bowo has been in a state of disobedience in the Chinese market, Fukuda has persisted for blood transfusion for Bowo for four years, and the cruel market competition has given Bowo a clear answer. Fukuda can't afford to spend it. According to incomplete statistics, Fukuda has spent as much as 10 billion yuan on Baowo since 2014.

In the end, Shenzhou took a 67 per cent stake in Bowo for nearly 4 billion yuan and repaid the loan of 4.271 billion yuan within three years, so the actual price of the 67 per cent stake is 8.2435 billion yuan. At the same time, Fukuda's stake in Bowo fell to 33%.

After the acquisition of Bowo, China announced a big move to launch a new retail platform for Bowo cars in China.

There are three main changes to this new retail platform: 1. Dealer zero inventory, direct delivery from 35 inventory centers across the country; 2. Expand the channel of thousands of thousands of stores, area sinking, from 4S store model to flagship store, franchise store and point of sale model, or even "zero franchise fee"; 3. Combined with the business of car rental and chauffeured cars in China, consumers can "enjoy first and buy later, refundable and exchangeable". Specific services include 0 down payment, in-depth test driving, 90-day unexplained return of cars, and so on.

It is understood that Lu Zhengyao, chairman and CEO of Shenzhou excellent car, said that he would reform the traditional sales model. If the original dealers are willing to join the construction of "thousands of cities and ten thousand stores", they are welcome, and if they are not willing to subsidize them in accordance with the terms previously negotiated with dealers by BAIC Foton.

At the pace of China's rapid expansion, dealers believe that the living space has been compressed, "this model makes it even worse for dealers who invest tens of millions of dollars in standard 4S stores and continue to lose money." The demand of Baowo's original dealers is that BAIC Foton can give "off the net compensation".

As a matter of fact, Fukuda is miserable enough to be "tortured" by Baowo. Fukuda is expected to lose as much as 3.2 billion yuan in 2018, compared with a profit of 112 million yuan in the same period last year.

Now that the original dealers are heartbroken and Futian is losing money, Bowo can only rely on China's new retail model to make a comeback. The channel sank thousands of thousands of stores, and Baowo, which used to focus on the mid-and high-end market, stepped down into the mainstream route, but there are still problems in brand building and product competitiveness, and it is still unknown whether Baowo can succeed under the leadership of China.

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