Author: Li Suwan Nan Ying

  The fate of Pangda Automobile Trading Group Co., Ltd. (601258.SH, hereinafter referred to as "Panga"), which is registered in Tangshan, is embarrassing.

As the former boss of the domestic auto dealer industry and the king of 4S stores, after going through bankruptcy and reorganization in 2019, the road to "self-rescue" is still bumpy.

In the first half of this year, the huge performance was hit hard, and the net profit was pre-reduced by more than 90%, which was far from the expectations of the reorganizers.

  Huge sales network all over the country.

At 10:00 a.m. on July 22, with the scorching sun in the sky, Yicai reporters visited the huge automobile park located on Chuangyuan Road, Shibi Street, Panyu District, Guangzhou City. Audi sales center and huge new energy.

In the FAW-Volkswagen sales center, there are 6 cars of different styles parked in the hall, and there are no customers at this time.

A staff member told the first financial reporter that compared with before the epidemic, there are relatively few customers who buy cars now. The Magotan model sells about 10 vehicles a month, and there are new energy vehicles in the store, and the monthly sales are also more than 10 vehicles. .

  "After the customer places the order, the fuel vehicle can be delivered within a few days. The new energy vehicle will take longer, about a month. The price can be discounted by one or two thousand yuan." The above staff told the first financial reporter Say.

  Different from the deserted FAW-Volkswagen sales center, in the Audi sales center, there are more than a dozen cars of different styles parked in the hall, and several customers are looking at the cars or making inquiries.

The sales staff here also told reporters that compared with before the epidemic, the current sales have indeed decreased.

"Audi A6 models can sell more than 10 cars a month, and Q7 models can be sold only two cars a month. At present, the price of Q7 can be reduced by 70,000 yuan." He said.

  Due to the low passenger flow, many new cars in Pangda Auto Park are on discount.

  Shi Jie (pseudonym) has been deeply involved in the circle of car dealers for many years and has dealt with some insiders of Pang Pang. In an interview with a reporter from China Business News, he said that Pang Pang once fell due to both internal and external reasons. He has frequently acquired land “without doing business”, and heavy assets are one of the reasons for the break in the previous capital chain. In addition, his management of car sales outlets is relatively loose, and it is difficult to adapt to the change from “laying down to make money” to brutal competition.

After bankruptcy and reorganization, it is difficult to make a comeback in the current environment.

  Not only is the huge hit, but most dealers have a hard time this year.

In addition to the impact of the epidemic, it is also related to the rapid changes in automotive products, sales channels, and after-sales services.

In Shi Jie's view, traditional dealers are facing an unprecedented test, and the number of 4S stores will shrink further.

  Huge continues to sell assets for self-help

  On July 15, Pangda released an announcement on the pre-reduction of semi-annual results in 2022, stating that the company expects that the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the semi-annual 2022 will decrease by RMB 552.6649 million to RMB 562.6649 million, a year-on-year decrease of 94.85% to RMB 562.6649 million. It is estimated that the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses in the first half of 2022 will decrease by RMB 69.8016 million to RMB 79.8016 million compared with the same period of the previous year, a decrease of 60.42% to 69.08%.

  In the first half of 2021, the huge net profit was 582,664,900 yuan, and the deducted non-net profit was -115,528,400 yuan.

Dangda said that the reason for the pre-decrease in the first half of this year was that, on the one hand, the operating income decreased year-on-year, and the gross profit margin of sales showed a downward trend, resulting in a decrease in non-net profit compared with the same period of the previous year; on the other hand, the disposal of subsidiaries The amount of non-recurring gains and losses arising from equity interests decreased compared with the same period of the previous year.

  Just last month, Pang Dang issued an announcement on the sale of equity interests in subsidiaries to pay off debts, and will transfer its holdings of Cangzhou Dangda Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Cangzhou Industrial") to Tianjin Zhongyuanxing Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongyuanxing"). ”) 100% of the equity, and the transfer price is 342 million yuan.

Cangzhou Industry has no actual business, but holds land use rights and real estate resources.

The transaction is expected to bring revenue of about 195 million yuan to the company.

  Dangda said that the company's transfer and disposal of the target equity will be used to offset the borrowings of the company's subsidiary and the transferee's related party, Beixing (Tianjin) Automobile Co., Ltd., reducing liabilities and burdens, which is in line with the company's integration of resources and revitalization of assets. The overall planning is conducive to the long-term development of the company and the interests of shareholders.

  In recent years, Huge has frequently sold assets for emergency relief.

At the end of 2020, Pangda first sold the land and above-ground buildings under the name of its subsidiary, Inner Mongolia Pengshun Automobile, for 64 million yuan.

A few days later, the company packaged up the entire equity of five auto sales subsidiaries in Binzhou, Zibo, Qinhuangdao and other places and sold it to Zhongyuanxing at a price of 571 million yuan.

  In 2021, the pace of disposal of huge assets will be accelerated.

According to the announcement issued by Huge, in March, the company disposes of a piece of land of its Luoyang subsidiary for 67.19 million yuan; in April, it plans to sell Zhongji Leye (Beijing) Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. for 655 million yuan; in June, it plans to sell it at a price of 270 million yuan The entire equity of the subsidiary Zigong Automobile Sales Co., Ltd.

  Dangda had fallen into serious losses before, and the capital chain was broken for a time. The deducted non-net profit from 2018 to 2019 was -6.84 billion yuan and -4.052 billion yuan respectively.

On May 13, 2019, Jidongfeng, which has absolute control over Pangda, said that due to the maturity of the huge debt of 17 million yuan and its apparent insolvency, the company filed a bankruptcy reorganization with the court.

  Subsequently, Pang Qinghua, the head of the giant, was out.

In December 2019, Pangda completed the reorganization, and Huang Jihong, President of Shenzhen Business Group, became the actual controller of Pangda Group.

The reorganizers composed of Shenzhen Business Group, National Transport and Yuanwei Assets promised that Huge's net profit in 2020, 2021 and 2022 should not be less than 700 million yuan, 1.1 billion yuan, and 1.7 billion yuan respectively, or 2020, 2021. The total net profit in 2022 and 2022 will reach 3.5 billion yuan.

  However, even if the assets are frequently sold, the huge performance is still far worse than the expectations of the reorganizers.

The data shows that from 2020 to 2021, the huge net profit will be 580 million yuan and 898 million yuan respectively.

  In recent years, due to the adjustment of the auto market and the impact of the epidemic, Huge has continued to shrink the number of operating outlets.

  According to public information, Huge, which was established on March 3, 2003, was the largest auto dealer in China in 2010. In its heyday, the number of outlets reached 1,439, but then it continued to decrease, dropping to 806 in 2018.

After bankruptcy and reorganization, the number of its operating outlets is still shrinking.

From 2019 to 2021, the number of huge operating outlets will be 402, 329 and 283 respectively.

  What is the profit of the 4S store?

  On July 14, the China Automobile Dealers Association announced the "2022 Top 100 Chinese Auto Dealer Group Rankings", which are sorted based on the 2021 annual operating income of auto dealers.

Pangda ranked 17th with an operating income of 28.633 billion yuan, a big gap with the top Zhongsheng Group (175.103 billion yuan).

  Huge's main business is automobile distribution, repair and maintenance.

However, if it were not for the frequent selling of assets, Huge would still not get out of the quagmire of losses in 2021.

Dangda’s net profit margin last year was 3.12%, but it is worth noting that Dangda’s investment income due to equity transfer reached 1.418 billion yuan, and its non-net profit deducted was -389 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 308.48%, deducting non-net profit The rate was -1.36%.

  The huge status quo, to a certain extent, reflects the current plight of most traditional Chinese car dealers.

  "From the ex-factory price to the manufacturer's guide price, fuel vehicle manufacturers often reserve a profit margin of about 6% for dealers, and new energy vehicle manufacturers have about 10%. In the early years, the competition in the auto market was not so fierce, and they sold a fuel vehicle. It can earn 10,000 or 20,000 vehicles or even more, but with the intensification of competition in recent years, only a few hot-selling models can earn more than 10,000 yuan. Many dealers give profits and promote, and some models that are not easy to sell, dealers give up all profit margins , and even sell cars at a loss in order to improve performance. Different car companies have different incentives for dealers to achieve their expected goals and to oversell new cars, which is a trade secret in the dealer circle.” Shi Jie said.

  The construction area of ​​a 4S store is often 4,000 to 5,000 square meters, and there are often one or two hundred employees.

Shi Jie said that the operating costs and profits of each 4S store are different, because the land lease fees and labor costs are different in different cities, and even the land rent is different in different periods.

For example, in Guangzhou where land rent is more expensive, the monthly operating cost of a standard 4S store is almost 1 million yuan. If it is a luxury car brand, the area of ​​the 4S store may be larger, some more than 10,000 square meters, and the operating cost higher.

  A relevant person in charge of a new energy vehicle company said in an interview with the first financial reporter that the gross profit margin of new energy vehicle dealers should be within 10%, while in the field of fuel vehicles, GAC Toyota’s new car sales gross profit margin is about 5%. It is basically the highest. At present, the gross profit margin of new car sales of many dealers of other fuel vehicle brands is basically zero or even negative.

  Shi Jie said that on the whole, the current net profit margin of the top 100 dealer groups generally does not exceed 2%, and the gross profit margin is a relatively complex concept due to cost, and the differences are relatively large.

  "In the early days, Pangda seized the golden period of rapid growth of China's auto market and developed rapidly through extensive expansion. However, in recent years, the auto market has undergone structural adjustments, changing from an incremental market to a stock market, especially in the first-tier and other markets. It is getting bigger and bigger, and the requirements for products and services have increased significantly. The entire market is undergoing rapid changes. Not only is it huge, but the vast majority of dealer groups are in the throes of industry change and are looking for a way to break through.” Shi Jie think so.

  In 2009, my country first proposed the purchase tax reduction policy and superimposed the policy of "cars to the countryside". The sales of passenger cars in my country exceeded 10 million units for the first time that year, a year-on-year increase of 53%, surpassing the United States to become the world's largest auto market, and ushered in The golden age of rapid development.

In 2017, my country's auto sales reached a peak of 28.8789 million units, and then fell continuously.

By 2021, my country's auto sales will increase by 3.8% to 26.275 million units, ending the three-year downward trend since 2018.

However, in the first half of this year, my country's auto sales were not satisfactory, down 6.6% year-on-year to 12.057 million.

  With the structural adjustment of the market, intensified competition and the impact of the epidemic, the era of huge profits for auto dealers has come to an end, and they are encountering unprecedented challenges and "bumps" in the process of changing lanes.

  According to a survey report by the China Automobile Dealers Association, in the first half of 2020, the auto industry was hit hard by the epidemic, and the proportion of dealers that achieved sales growth was only 21.5%, of which 60% were luxury/imported brand dealers; dealers The loss area is also expanding, with 38.3% of dealers losing money; after dealers’ gross profit margin of new cars was negative for the first time in 2019, the gross profit margin of new cars in the first half of 2020 further dropped to negative 3.5%.

Due to the sudden increase in pressure, dealers' rights protection and network withdrawal incidents have also been staged. In the first half of 2020, the total number of passenger car dealers was 29,800, a decrease of 0.7% from the end of 2019. Among them, the number of newly authorized 4S stores was 824. The number of withdrawn 4S stores reached 1,019.

  In 2021, with the recovery of the auto market, the terminal discount margin will be narrowed, and more than half of the dealers will realize profits, with the profit rising to 53.8% and the loss falling to 17.5%.

In addition, 70% of the dealers completed more than 80% of the annual task targets, and 29.4% of the dealers completed the annual sales target.

However, this momentum did not continue.

In the first half of 2022, less than 10% of the dealers completed the half-year sales task as planned, and only about 40% of the dealers with a sales task completion rate of 70%.

In the first half of this year, dealers generally faced problems such as reduced profit per bike, declining performance, and slow capital turnover.

  Electric vehicle acceleration triggers channel fission

  The pressure on the huge and other car dealers comes not only from the competition among dealers, but also from the changes in the business format caused by the accelerated encroachment of electric vehicles on the territory of fuel vehicles.

  At present, the auto industry is switching from fuel vehicles to electric vehicles, forcing dealers to speed up the change.

Changes in products bring about changes in consumption and service patterns.

For manufacturers, the gameplay of fuel vehicles is completely different from that of electric vehicles. The majority of profits of fuel vehicles are in after-sales service (parts and maintenance), and the majority of profits of electric vehicles are in transactions, and after-sales maintenance costs are less.

Changes in new technologies and new products will inevitably put forward new demands on sales and services.

  Electric car companies such as Tesla, NIO, and Ideal have adopted the direct sales model, while electric car companies such as Xiaopeng Motors and GAC Aian have adopted the “direct sales + dealership” model.

BYD, GAC Toyota and other OEMs with good sales performance in the first half of this year have also added new models such as supermarkets and supermarkets on the basis of the original dealer network.

  Drawing on Tesla's direct-sale model, GAC Aian opened its first direct-sale store in Guangzhou last July. Xiao Yong, deputy general manager of GAC Aian, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News recently that this direct-sale store currently operates every month. There are orders for about 300 vehicles. After the customers who enter the store place an order on the APP, the directly-operated store will distribute the order to various dealers in Guangzhou, and the dealer will take over the baton to complete the delivery and follow-up services.

This directly-operated store has significantly boosted Aian's sales.

At present, Aion has 12 dealers in Guangzhou, and the total monthly sales volume is about 3,000~4,000 units. The orders from the directly-operated store account for about 10%. The order volume has reached the standard of a 4S store, and its showroom has been improved. The marketing ability mainly plays the role of display, clue collection and drainage, and promotion of APP order transactions, but currently there is no competition with Aian distribution franchise stores.

  Xiao Yong said that it is still the world of fuel vehicles, but with the gradual popularization of new energy vehicles, the model of 4S stores will undergo subversive changes.

Different fuel vehicles, the traditional service business of new energy vehicles will be less and less, including more and more online services such as OTA (over-the-air technology) ecology.

Offline dealers will mainly undertake car delivery and some services, while more business will be transferred to online operations.

  "At present, many fuel vehicle 4S store operators still believe that selling cars does not make money, and they must rely on after-sales service to support their stores. This model will definitely be broken in the future, and it is impossible to support 4S stores by relying on services. Therefore, some aspects of 4S stores are It may gradually disappear in the future." Xiao Yong said that the changes in the future are that on the one hand, new car sales will make money, and on the other hand, traditional services will no longer make money or make too much money, such as oil changes and maintenance in new energy The car no longer exists, and more profit points come from the ecology, software upgrades and services from the surrounding ecology.

  In order to promote the accelerated development of new energy vehicles, new energy vehicle manufacturers have tried to diversify their operations in terms of channels and services.

For example, BYD's auto dealer Haocheng Group currently has 4S stores, sales city exhibition halls, supermarket stores, online car-hailing maintenance service centers, operating vehicle divisions, new energy vehicle charging service stations and insurance divisions, etc. business.

  In the first half of this year, my country's new energy vehicle sales rose against the trend, with sales reaching 2.6 million units, a year-on-year increase of 115%, and the penetration rate as high as 21.6%. vehicle.

  The acceleration of electric vehicles squeezes the space for fuel vehicle manufacturers.

Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said at the Forum of 100 this year that in 2021, there will be 85 brands in the traditional fuel vehicle market, of which 34 brands have monthly sales of less than 1,000 vehicles, and 9 brands will die.

In the next 3 to 5 years, 80% of China's fuel vehicle brands will "shut down and transfer" (that is, shut down, stop production, merge, and transform).

  The "big guys" who once charged for the fuel vehicle brand are suffering the pain of sudden changes in the auto industry.

Shi Jie said that the core components such as engines and transmissions of fuel vehicles are replaced by batteries, motors and electronic controls in new energy vehicles, while core components such as batteries are basically outsourced to battery factories. For example, CATL only operates in Guangzhou. Dozens of repair centers were set up, and the battery repair business was basically taken away by the battery factory.

  "Repair and maintenance fees used to account for the bulk of the revenue of 4S stores for fuel vehicles. Unlike fuel vehicles, it is difficult for new energy vehicles to rely on after-sales service to make profits. New energy vehicle manufacturers generally promise consumers 'three electrics' and other core zeroes. Parts are guaranteed for life, and new energy vehicles generally only cost about 500 yuan for 20,000 kilometers of maintenance, so the model of 4S stores relying on after-sales service to make money is unsustainable.” Shi Jie believes that how to accelerate products, channels and services through technology. OEMs are looking for countermeasures to improve their profits through innovation. In the future, they will be more diversified in channels. They should adopt a variety of models such as direct sales, joint ventures, and franchisees. Especially in the future, the annual sales of some electric car companies will reach one million vehicles. After the scale, its sales channels and after-sales services will accelerate changes.

  The value chain of the automobile industry is being reconstructed. Some OEMs have directly reached C-end consumers through direct-sale stores and OTA technology. The division of labor with dealers is no longer as clear as in the era of fuel vehicles. Some electric OEMs have even begun to Directly extends to sales and after-sales service business.

And battery and other parts companies are also speeding up to cut away the "cake" of 4S stores through products and services.

  However, for new energy vehicles, whether it is the technology research and development, distribution channels, and service systems of car companies, or the regulations, standards, and regulatory mechanisms of relevant departments, they have not been fully improved.

According to the information released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, the group standard of "New Energy Vehicle After-sale Service Specification" is in full swing. After further revision and improvement after absorbing opinions from all aspects of the industry, it is planned to be officially released before the end of this year.

  There is currently no unified model for the establishment of the new energy vehicle after-sales service system. The paths of self-construction, cooperation and independent third parties of car companies are all in the process of exploration.

A large number of capital and cross-border enterprises are pouring into the hot new energy track, which is breaking the original pattern of the auto industry and entering the new energy "Spring and Autumn and Warring States" melee period.

  The giant, which is surrounded by enemies on all sides, is transforming.

In his 2022 Spring Festival congratulations, Zhao Tieliu, general manager of Dangda, mentioned Dangda's various efforts last year, including reaching a strategic partnership with state-owned enterprises in the field of new energy, cooperating with the Car Emperor Auto Information Platform for anchor certification, and focusing on marketing changes in the current auto market environment , to carry out in-depth cooperation on live broadcast, anchor incubation, post-link efficiency improvement, used cars, etc.

  However, judging from the performance in the first half of this year, how to break the original operational thinking, face the rapid changes in the industry and the brave rising stars, Huge has not yet found effective countermeasures, and the road to turning over is still difficult.