Sales of V-shaped rebound, transformation and acceleration
China's auto industry wins
"2020 will continue the plunge of 2019." "It is expected that auto retail will fall by 20% throughout the year"... If the clock is set back to the beginning of 2020, I am afraid that few people can predict the historical trajectory of the development of China's auto industry in the coming year.
At that time, the new crown pneumonia epidemic was like a "Sword of Damocles", hanging over the heads of all industries, making the auto industry in a period of in-depth adjustment "exacerbated".
The sales of the auto market have been steadily falling, and the new car plan is hopeless in the short term. The sudden epidemic has put a black veil on the otherwise not optimistic auto market.
Since February 2020, the auto industry chain has been almost completely shut down, and the retail volume in February is almost negligible.
Throughout the first quarter of 2020, China's auto sales totaled 3.672 million new vehicles, a sharp drop of 42.4% year-on-year.
At the same time, the epidemic has reduced the income of employees in many industries and damaged consumer confidence.
Therefore, the market’s optimistic prediction at the time was that if the domestic epidemic is effectively controlled, the domestic auto market's annual sales will fall by 10%-20% in 2020.
There are even pessimistic predictions that the domestic auto market may fall by 30% throughout the year.
For the auto industry, finding ways to "live" is a top priority.
More importantly, according to the data in 2019, the country will lose more than 15 billion yuan for every day of delay in resuming work in the automobile industry.
An industry consensus is that the timely resumption of work and production in the automotive industry not only has a huge boost to upstream and downstream industries, but also shoulders the mission of stabilizing consumption and stabilizing the economy.
In the face of adversity, the Chinese auto industry did not surrender, but bucked the trend.
On the one hand, under the premise of ensuring safety, the auto industry donated money and materials, launched various types of healthy car products, and accelerated the speed of resuming work and production, "the guardian of the industry."
On the other hand, the auto industry has adopted a number of measures to support suppliers and dealers, and "reduce the burden" for the upstream and downstream industries, deducing "usually mutual assistance and win-win situation, when it is difficult to rely on each other."
One of the most direct proof is that according to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (hereinafter referred to as "China Automobile Association"), as of February 12, 2020, among the over 300 production bases owned by the national automobile production group, the feedback The number of production bases that resumed work reached 183.
As of March 11, the 23 auto industry groups closely followed by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers (annual sales accounted for over 96%) had a work resumption rate of 90.1%. The domestic auto industry will basically resume work in May 2020.
At the same time, the new crown pneumonia epidemic has also forced the offline marketing and offline services used by the auto industry to "suspend".
The automobile industry quickly introduced measures including free vehicle rescue, free vehicle inspection, and special technical support, as well as new marketing methods such as online live broadcast, which broke out unprecedented speed of transformation.
It is with such efforts that the Chinese automobile industry has handed in a moving year-end answer.
At the China Automobile Association's January 2021 information conference, Chen Shihua, the deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Association, released the year-end report card for the Chinese automobile market in 2020.
According to the statistics of the China Automobile Association, in 2020, the annual automobile production and sales will be 25.225 million and 25.311 million, down 2% and 1.9% year-on-year, respectively, and the rate of decline narrowed by 5.5% and 6.3% respectively from the previous year.
Against the backdrop of a sharp drop in sales in major European and American auto markets, China's auto industry has become the engine for stabilizing the global auto market.
From the perspective of market segmentation, in 2020, the production and sales of passenger vehicles will be 19,994,400 and 2017,800 respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 6.5% and 6%, respectively, and the rate of decrease was 2.7% and 3.6% less than the previous year; Production and sales accounted for 79.3% and 79.7% of automobile production and sales, which were lower than the 3.7% and 3.5% of last year's production and sales respectively.
Driven by factors such as the elimination of National III vehicles, stricter regulations, and infrastructure investment, the production and sales of commercial vehicles have increased significantly throughout the year.
In 2020, the production and sales of commercial vehicles were 5.231 million and 5.133 million, exceeding 5 million for the first time, setting a record high. The production and sales of commercial vehicles increased by 20.0% and 18.7% year-on-year, and the output growth rate was 18.1% higher than the previous year. Last year, it changed from negative to positive.
"In 2020, the sudden new crown pneumonia epidemic has pressed the'pause button' for the auto industry. Under the huge impact, the whole industry is in the same boat, not afraid of difficulties, and steadily promoted the resumption of work and production, accelerated the transformation of marketing methods, and actively promoted automobile consumption. The automobile market has gradually recovered, and the annual growth rate of production and sales has been steadily and slightly reduced. The impact of the epidemic has been basically eliminated. The automobile industry has shown strong development resilience and endogenous motivation.” said Chen Shihua, deputy secretary general of the China Automobile Association.
Own brand: bloom the most colorful flowers after the storm
"Buy domestic products, use domestic products, and sell domestic products." Nowadays, "new domestic products" is not only about everyone's choice of food, clothing, housing, and transportation, but also implies the direction of transformation and upgrading of Chinese manufacturing.
Whether it is Li Ning, Huili and other domestic “time-honored brands” that once again become popular through the Internet, or new brands such as Yuanqi Forest and Zhong Xuegao have broken ground, the “new domestic products” have given people more hope for Chinese manufacturing.
According to Wu Xiaobo, a financial writer, the "newness" of the new domestic products is the newness of technology and aesthetics; the "nation" is the attribute of a kind of culture.
"The New Domestic Products Movement is a vivid Chinese story of the continuous evolution and iteration of commodities in the modernization process."
Looking at the current Chinese auto market, the main consumer groups are changing. More diversified car purchase demands and the pursuit of high-quality models have also prompted auto companies to continuously optimize and upgrade to create high-quality products and brand services.
Some analysts believe that, as a bulk consumer product, self-owned brand cars have a higher degree of difficulty and more epoch-making significance if they want to break the inherent perception of consumers.
According to Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Automobile Association, if we look back on the performance of the auto market last year, "self-owned brands strive to make progress" must be one of the key words.
"For the whole year of 2020, the sales of Chinese brand passenger vehicles reached 7.755 million, with a market share of 38.4%. Although the annual market share is not high, it is not difficult to see the independent Brand efforts." Xu Haidong said.
Statistics from the China Automobile Association show that in December 2020, the sales volume of Chinese brand passenger vehicles was 1.037 million, an increase of 12% year-on-year, and the market share reached 43.6%, an increase of 1.9%.
It is worth mentioning that, starting in June last year, the market share of Chinese brand passenger cars bottomed out and rose all the way, starting a counter-offensive.
Some analysts believe that in the one-year development of independent brands, two trends cannot be ignored.
On the one hand, in 2020, the sales of the top ten independent brands accounted for 85.8% of the total sales of independent brands, and the head effect is further highlighted.
Geely, Changan, and Great Wall still firmly occupy the top three, Changan's 21.4% year-on-year growth is even more impressive, and weaker brands such as Zotye have been eliminated.
On the other hand, independent brands represented by the Hongqi brand have entered a new stage of upward movement.
Statistics show that as of December 25, 2020, the annual sales of the Hongqi brand exceeded 200,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 100%.
Since the brand revitalization accelerator button was pressed in 2018, the annual sales volume of the Hongqi brand has maintained a growth rate of more than 100% for two consecutive years.
Some analysts believe that Hongqi has proved with practical actions that its own brands can also gain a foothold in the luxury car market.
To some extent, the upward trend of self-owned brands is a topic of the times.
According to Xu Liuping, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China FAW, China's automobile industry is facing crises such as market decline, industrial upgrading challenges, and adjustment of joint venture policies in 2022.
Self-owned brands need to have a firm grasp of core technologies, and adapt to the "explosion" of consumption through high-end technology, products and industries, and meet the high-end consumption.
Some industry experts said that in the luxury car market where the strong are like forests, the strong breakthrough of the Hongqi brand benefits not only from the "hard power" brought by the perfect product layout and R&D investment, but also from the younger marketing and after-sales service innovation. The "soft power."
It is understood that in terms of product layout, the product matrix of the Hongqi brand "Double 5 Double 9-Double Ship Double Star" has formally taken shape.
In 2020, Hongqi launched two flagship models of Hongqi H9 and E-HS9, which not only refreshed the brand image once again, but also demonstrated the latest technological achievements of Hongqi in the fields of electrification and intelligent network connection.
Most luxury car brands that have achieved dazzling results in the market have made full efforts in product development, manufacturing processes and brand image building.
Of course, the red flag trying to break the monopoly of foreign brands is no exception.
In the field of brand marketing and after-sales service, whether it is to create a "six-in-one smart" experiential marketing model, open up digital innovative marketing links for brands, products, and terminals, or launch industry-first services such as "three lifetimes and one exemption" , Or team up with the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team and the Palace Museum to create Chinese brand IP. Hongqi will attack in multiple ways to build a new system of competitiveness.
"With economic development and social progress, young people now have a more open global vision, and no longer superstitiously believe in foreign brands, especially luxury brands. The alienation that luxury brands used to be used in the past has been difficult to attract them." Some industry experts believe that In the past, due to lack of material, Chinese consumers have always preferred "good quality and low price", and no one wants to pay for technological innovation.
However, the situation has changed significantly in recent years. "New domestic products are "circling fans" to the younger generation."
According to the relevant person in charge of the FAW Hongqi sales team, among the Hongqi user groups, post-80s and post-90s car owners account for more than 70%.
With the younger generation of the Hongqi brand and product design, Hongqi is also accepted by more and more young consumers. "Buying Hongqi and starting a national car has become the new label of the national trend."
There are reasons to believe that in the window period of the world's auto industry's transformation to the "new four modernizations", independent brands that focus on innovation on the one hand and trends on the other will usher in a rising "golden age".
Joint venture brand: don't transform, or rather die
"Don't transform, or rather die", some people say that transformation used to be a unique weapon for the development of independent brands.
Accurate knowledge, understanding and pursuit of Chinese consumers' user experience is a unique strategy for independent brands and joint venture brands to survive adversity.
The indifference to the needs of Chinese consumers was once considered the Achilles heel of the development of joint ventures.
The fact that everyone knows is that the wave of intelligent interconnection and new energy is leading the transformation of the automobile industry, and the development of technology is bringing a brand new turning point in the industry, and brands that cannot keep up will be thrown away.
Industry experts analyzed that just like the mobile phone industry 10 years ago, the outs of Motorola, Nokia, and Ericsson will definitely happen.
The industry’s changing lanes of competition have given latecomers the opportunity to "come first," and if they seize this trend, everyone has a chance to succeed.
In 2020, for the joint venture brand, transformation is no longer a far-reaching vision, but a strategic choice ahead.
The joint venture brand that took the lead in "recollecting the taste" has already taken a step forward, transformed in a big step, and reaped substantial market returns.
"For consumers, if they buy this new energy vehicle, they can enjoy the preferential benefit of exempting vehicle purchase tax, and the cost of owning the car is greatly reduced." In 2020, learn how to adapt to the mobile phone lens to enter the car live broadcast circle. Ma Zhenshan, Executive Deputy General Manager of Sales Co., Ltd. and Executive Director of Volkswagen Brands, "fired."
"The color selection for the car should be considered three-dimensionally. The dolphin gray is very beautiful." "The appearance of the public is durable." Unlike the exaggerated display of "Li Jiaqi", Ma Zhenshan's simple interpretation has also won the recognition of many netizens.
Ma Zhenshan told reporters that when the live broadcast was launched in April 2020, many employees of the company volunteered to participate.
"This shows that in the face of the huge market test, everyone is not blindly pessimistic or waiting. Actively looking for new ways of working such as live broadcast has already formed a consensus within the company."
In fact, choosing to open up the “new world” of live broadcast is just a microcosm of FAW-Volkswagen’s efforts to “digitize” transformation.
At the same time, in the field of new energy vehicles, FAW-Volkswagen's transformational actions have also frequently landed.
From the introduction of the MEB platform, to the start of production of the MEB smart factory in Foshan, to the start of pre-sales of the ID.4 CROZZ, a pioneer in the electrification strategy, FAW-Volkswagen continued to accelerate on the electrification track.
Sales data shows that FAW-Volkswagen’s cumulative terminal sales (including imported cars) in 2020 reached 2,161,888, a year-on-year increase of 1.5%, ranking first in the Chinese passenger car market, which also allows people to see how joint venture brands respond to changes in the times. And iterative ability.
Some people believe that under the background of accelerating the transfer of users to online, how to maintain the connection with users through "digital" transformation and find a new way for marketing is the key to the success of auto companies' marketing upgrades.
In fact, there are still many participants on the new track of "digital" transformation.
According to Xiang Dongping, vice president of Hyundai Motor Group (China), deputy general manager of Beijing Hyundai, and director of sales department, in the era of digital marketing, "all products are services, all services are content, content is traffic, and traffic is sales."
In the eyes of this marketing veteran, more important than the innovation of marketing methods itself is the inheritance and change of concepts, “to achieve precise reach and effective interaction of users through innovation”.
Xiang Dongping revealed that in 2020, Beijing Hyundai will strive to create a more youthful, interactive, experiential, and scenario-based digital marketing experience in terms of marketing, and "integrate with young people."
"For example, Beijing Hyundai teamed up with Tencent Video Star Awards, Bazaar Charity Night, and NetEase Cloud Music Festival's well-known IPs to achieve an all-round, multi-layer, and large-flow network detonation, opening up the brand in a way that young people can accept. The road to younger marketing." Xiang Dongping said.
Luxury car brand: "Elephant turned around" and run
Following the record high of market share in 2019, this year, the luxury car market still maintains a trend of triumphant growth, and its market share has further increased.
Among them, the first luxury car group composed of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi is still stable, with sales of all three exceeding 700,000 vehicles, setting their respective annual sales records.
At the same time, Lexus, Cadillac and Hongqi all sold more than 200,000 vehicles, ranking 4-6 respectively.
Some analysts believe that behind the expansion of the luxury car market is the combined effect of consumption upgrades, the decline in luxury car prices, the peak of Chinese car owners, the younger age of consumption, and the rise of new energy vehicles.
There is no doubt that with the further upgrade of domestic car consumption, competition in the domestic luxury car market will intensify.
"Don't underestimate the speed at which the elephant runs." At the 2020 Beijing International Auto Show, Sun Huibin, executive deputy general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Audi Sales Division, threw an interesting metaphor that quickly became the headline of many media.
In 2020, FAW-Volkswagen Audi brand sold 726,300 vehicles in the whole year, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year, setting a new annual sales record again.
At the same time, the historical cumulative sales exceeded 6.6 million vehicles, making it the only domestic luxury car brand to achieve this achievement.
However, more important than sales volume is that, as the pioneer of the luxury car market, which is the first to establish a localized full value chain, FAW-Volkswagen Audi has left many enlightening "Audi phenomena": starting from the first domestic luxury The "lengthening" of cars is the first to introduce the 4S store service system...From the practice of FAW-Volkswagen Audi, it is not difficult to get a glimpse of the development path of luxury brands in the Chinese market.
A comparative data released by the market research organization JD Power shows that in 2019, the proportion of post-90s car owners in the Chinese auto market exceeded 30% for the first time, becoming the largest segmented generational group.
Of course, post-90s owners who are good at using the Internet and know more about cars have put forward higher requirements for automotive products and services, and they have also brought unprecedented challenges to new car sales.
A consensus in the industry is that in the increasingly competitive China luxury car market, "conformists" can never have the last laugh.
More and more luxury car brands have discovered that they have to change their precarious attitude in the face of increasingly young consumer groups.
In this regard, FAW-Volkswagen Audi took the lead in action.
From holding hands with the domestically produced animation masterpiece "Ling Cage", to signing a new generation of high-quality idol Wang Yibo, inviting him to act as the brand ambassador of Audi Elite, and then to becoming the brand sponsor of the participating team-TES Taobo e-sports club, FAW-Volkswagen Audi is now Continuously strengthen the emotional connection with young consumer groups, and actively try in the field of interest of the new generation.
It is worth mentioning that with the hot sales of electric vehicles, in 2020, new car-making forces represented by Tesla and Weilai will also enter the forefront of the luxury car camp.
Based on this, many industry insiders predict that the luxury car market will usher in a new pattern of electric competition.
FAW-Volkswagen Audi has already had a layout. At present, FAW-Volkswagen has launched various models such as Audi e-tron, e-tron Sportback, A6L TFSI e and so on.
It is understood that 2021 will also be the electric year of FAW-Volkswagen Audi and the first year of the development of the Audi e-tron electric family.
It is reported that FAW-Volkswagen Audi will launch 5 pure electric models including the domestic Audi e-tron, e-tron Sportback, e-tron S/S Sportback, and e-tron GT in the Chinese market, further improving the product lineup and This will accelerate the electrification and digital transformation of the entire value chain.
"The automobile industry is facing a disruption. Whether it is'software-defined cars' or'cross-border integration', the storm of reform and restructuring of the automobile industry has arrived." According to Fu Yuwu, honorary chairman of the Chinese Society of Automotive Engineers, only Only by actively embracing subversion can we gain a foothold in the future.
In fact, whether it is an independent brand, a joint venture brand or a luxury brand, the acceleration of the future of the auto industry has become their consensus.
It cannot be ignored that the challenges facing China's auto industry are still huge.
De-globalization, the rise of emerging economies has encountered obstacles; the impact of the epidemic, the reshaping of the global industrial chain; economic shifts, and the emergence of hidden contradictions during high-growth periods have also put pressure on the development of the auto industry.
In the eyes of many industry insiders, the time has come for China's auto industry to lead the world's auto development.
Looking back at 2020, China’s auto industry has overcome all obstacles and has emerged from the “independent market” in the world auto market.
Facing 2021, the auto industry, which anchors its future development goals, will also rush forward, becoming a leader and trender in the new round of transformation and upgrading.
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Cheng Honghe Source: China Youth Daily
January 21, 2021 T1 Edition