Since the beginning of this year, Opel, which has a 21-year history in China, has officially withdrawn from the Chinese market, which has sparked heated discussions in the industry. Experts believe that some foreign brands have been succumbed to the Chinese market, reflecting that the Chinese auto market has already bid farewell to the era of high growth, and is no longer a safe haven for some foreign auto companies.
Opel officially withdraws from the Chinese market. The reporter recently confirmed from Opel China that the Opel brand officially withdrew from the Chinese market on January 15, 2015. Before this, it was reported that Opel had to withdraw from the Chinese market.
As for the detailed reasons for withdrawing from the Chinese market, Opel China’s reply is: “Opel headquarters has decided to focus resources on the core markets in Europe. Opel’s presence in the Chinese market is very limited. In China, pure imported brands are difficult to survive and need to rely on local Production to achieve quantitative growth, and thus become a mainstream brand."
It is understood that the Opel brand was founded in 1863, and in 1914 became the largest car company in Germany. In 1993, Opel officially entered China through import channels. Although Opel has a good reputation in terms of brand and quality, Opel's market performance in China is not satisfactory. After more than 20 years in China, Opel sales have been low, and have never escaped the role of niche brands. Domestic plans have been stuck in rumors. In the past three years, Opel's sales in China have reached 5,000, 4,500 and 4,300, respectively. In the Chinese market, where the scale of automobiles is the highest in the world, such figures are almost negligible.
The industry believes that the failure of Opel in the Chinese market should first be attributed to the Opel parent company GM does not want to enlarge Opel, so as to avoid "infighting" between Opel and Buick. Since the implementation of the "European-American technology, global platform" strategic transformation in 2009, GM has introduced Opel's platform in time and upgraded its models. This also directly led to direct competition between Opel products and general-purpose products. In recent years, Buick has become more powerful in the Chinese market. In GM's view, instead of creating a competitor for Buick in the Chinese market, it is better to let Opel withdraw.
In addition to the positioning blur, Opel's car layout is also a big problem, long-term only rely on an SUV - Andra is supporting 90% of sales. Other models introduced in recent years - such as Ying Su Ya, Zafira, Merlin and Astra GTC - are no one interested in it.
Opel has also been trying to reverse the decline. As early as 2010, Opel China announced its “five-year recovery plan” with a high-profile fund of 11 billion euros. The program will update Opel's 80% product line with a special emphasis on alternative drive energy drive technology. Although the plan proposes that Opel lost nearly 300 million U.S. dollars in the year, Opel is still looking forward to the Chinese market. In 2012 and 2013, it has proposed specific recovery plans and vehicle investment plans. The revitalization plan proposed in 2013 even involves the next decade. development of.
However, the revival plan does not seem to be a force. “In 2013, we introduced 4 models as the final attempt to enhance the influence of the Opel brand in China. According to the market acceptance of these products, we believe that we can no longer insist on investing in the Opel brand. The best solution is to stop it. Sales in the Chinese market.” GM said frankly that after the final stroke, Opel had to make a decision to retreat the brand.
The Chinese market is no longer a safe haven. In the eyes of the industry, Opel’s withdrawal from the Chinese market is certainly a GM’s initiative after considering global resource allocation; but it also shows that the Chinese market is no longer the “savior” of foreign-owned car companies, not Any car company can survive in this market.
It can be said that the temptation of the Chinese market is almost impossible for any brand of any enterprise to resist. The huge demand has made many foreign brands realize that as long as they enter China, they will have a chance to breathe. After the global financial crisis in 2008, this is obviously obvious. After GM fell, only the Chinese market was thriving, and relying on the outstanding performance of the Chinese market, it quickly recovered. In the past few years, after the Swedish brand Saab was in trouble, he also thought of the Chinese market for the first time, trying to join hands with Chinese car companies to open up the Chinese market to avoid closing the door.
Nowadays, Opel's initiative to withdraw from the Chinese market illustrates from the side that the current Chinese market is as competitive as the developed markets in Europe and America.
At present, the annual sales volume of Chinese cars has exceeded 23 million, and the base is already high, which makes it difficult to achieve double-digit growth in the future. According to a person in charge of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, under the background of China's economic development under the "new normal", the GDP growth rate will gradually stabilize. Affected by this, the Chinese auto market will also enter a relatively stable growth phase. It is estimated that China's automobile sales in 2015 will be 25.13 million units, a growth rate of 7%, while the demand for the automobile market in the whole year is about 25.83 million units.
Previously, some consulting companies also put forward the same statement: As the base of the Chinese market increases, the growth rate of the Chinese auto market will remain at about 5-7% in the next few years. At the same time, the average capacity utilization rate of Chinese automakers is maintained below 65%, while the industry's standard level of stable profits needs to reach 80% capacity utilization, and corporate risks are increasing.
"In the past, the Chinese market was a safe haven for some international brands. No matter who they are, they have to come here to pan for gold, but the current market structure is no longer a paradise for the lucky ones." A car industry analyst who did not want to be named Said that Opel and Saab are typical examples. At present, the car brands in the Chinese market are probably the most in the world. In the next few years, other brands will choose to quit like Opel.
The Chinese market tests the comprehensive capabilities of car companies. Industry insiders agree that after bidding farewell to the era of high growth, China's auto industry has gradually returned to rationality and entered a period of steady growth. Affected by this, most car companies did not pursue high growth rates as they set their 2015 sales targets. Instead, they generally chose to adapt to the general trend and reduce the expected growth rate of sales.
And precisely, in the future, market competition will further intensify. Some experts said that due to the overly optimistic judgment of car companies in previous years, it has led to today's market situation. Most car companies have been committed to capacity expansion in recent years, so that the current market has experienced serious oversupply and high inventory. Even more troublesome is that most of the world's major automakers are still building new capacity, while gradually increasing the production of their existing plants. GM, Ford and Volkswagen will have new assembly plants put into production this year. In this context, conflicts are inevitable between sales terminals, car companies and brands. At the same time, the production capacity of many car companies has not been fully released. How to seize more shares in a gradually stable market is a huge challenge that most car companies are facing.
Despite this, the Chinese market is still an important market that can influence the global trend of car companies. It is precisely because of the outstanding performance of the Chinese market that Volvo Car not only turned losses, but also hit a record high in China and the global market.
On January 5, 2015, Volvo Car Group China announced that in 2014, Volvo Cars sold 81,221 vehicles in the Chinese market, an increase of 32.8% year-on-year. It exceeded the sales target of 80,000 vehicles for the whole year and achieved “China Growth”. The phased goal of the strategy. Volvo Cars also sold its annual sales record for the first time since 2007, with a total of 465,866 vehicles, an increase of 8.9% from 2013.
In Volvo's view, the future Chinese market will test the comprehensive capabilities of car companies. It is in the steady advancement of the second domestic market strategy that Volvo has achieved breakthroughs in sales, brand building, product planning and industrialization system construction, and made 2014 a wonderful year for Volvo Cars.