As early as 20 15, Beijing automotive co., ltd and Mercedes-benz technology group established a joint venture company named "Beiqi deben technology center co., ltd", and both parties held 5 1% and 49% respectively. BAIC holds more shares, and this joint venture company is also responsible for the technical research of BAIC's high-end cars and the development of high-end car platforms and models.
BJ90 is a high-end model of BAIC, and also a masterpiece of BAIC Deben. I thought this would be the beginning, but I didn't expect BJ90 to become a swan song. 13 On May 3rd, BAIC Deben changed the shareholders' equity, and the shareholding ratio of BAIC and Mercedes-Benz Technology Group was changed from 5 1:49 to 100:0, which means that Mercedes-Benz Technology Group officially withdrew from the joint venture company.
Mercedes-Benz's low-key exit.
In addition to the equity change, all foreign executives of Mercedes-Benz who withdrew in May this year also withdrew from the company's board of directors. Kaixinbao information shows that the supervisors, directors, directors and general manager of BAIC Deben have been changed to Chinese personnel. At the same time, the registered capital of BAIC Deben increased from 6.5438+million yuan to 6.90255438+0.6 million yuan, and the company was officially changed into an independent investment company with 654.38+0.000% shares held by Saab. The future high-end models of BAIC will be separated from Mercedes-Benz technology and developed by BAIC itself.
In fact, the most surprising thing at this time is the "sudden" withdrawal of Mercedes-Benz. Although this is also the development of the enterprise, we don't know how long this matter has been discussed, but the exit time of Mercedes-Benz is a little urgent.
First of all, BAIC's new BJ90 just went on sale in July. Although it has all the elements of BAIC, this car is actually built with the old Mercedes-Benz GL chassis, and the 3.0T engine and 4.0T engine used have reached the level of Mercedes-Benz flagship model GLS. So this car is a typical behavior of "selling dog meat by hanging sheep's head" in the car wiki. Even if this technical behavior is justified, it cannot represent its own research and development level. It's already 2020.
Secondly, due to financial pressure, Mercedes-Benz didn't want to rely on BAIC to get more profits, so it quit the joint venture company to withdraw funds and invest them in higher-profit projects.
In 2020, affected by the epidemic and vehicle recall, Mercedes-Benz is streamlining the management of financial, production and development departments and integrating its business, just to survive the crisis in 2020. A few months ago, the withdrawal of MErcedes-Benz Me in Sanlitun and the withdrawal of Beiqi Deben were both profit optimization and timely stop loss of Mercedes-Benz.
Brand transformation of BAIC
20 19, 10 In June, BAIC Group officially released the Beijing brand of BAIC autonomous passenger car and made brand changes. However, in the process of brand transformation, BAIC also gave up a brand named "Sic Bo", that is, since then, Sic Bo has officially withdrawn from the historical stage.
After Sic Bo withdraws from the market, BAIC Group will work with BAIC to promote the development of the whole brand, which may also be the fuse for the separation of BAIC Deben.
In fact, Sic Bo was originally a brand that originated from BAIC's purchase of Saab's internal combustion engine production technology. In the following time, the main task of BAIC Deben was also handed over to Sic Bo models, which made most of Sic Bo models find the shadow of Mercedes-Benz. After several years of development, the market share of Suibao brand is getting lower and lower, and it cannot become a new growth point of BAIC Group, which also makes Suibao a failed project.
In fact, in the second year of joining hands, the sales volume of BAIC reached its peak, but in the following years, the growth rate of China automobile market slowed down and the competition among independent brands began to intensify. Although there are many brands under BAIC, such as Sibao, Changhe, Magic Speed and Wang Wei, it is impossible to become a high-end brand. These brands have also lost their advantages in the market competition and gradually disappeared from the public's field of vision.
At the same time, it is difficult for BJ90, which is dominated by BAIC Deben, to become a mass production model, and the strength of high-end products is insufficient, which makes it difficult for BAIC's own brand plate to make a profit. Since it is unprofitable, Mercedes-Benz should quit. At this year's Beijing Auto Show, Beijing brand announced that it will fully implement the new energy vehicle strategy in 2025, and the fuel vehicle market is gradually declining, which also makes Mercedes-Benz technology no longer an advantage. On the other hand, BAIC has learned the technology brought by Mercedes-Benz, and cooperation is no longer important.
Beiqi Deben is mainly oriented by technology research and development, which has benefited Beiqi a lot. In just five years, it has become a high-end and intelligent brand. However, in this cooperation, Mercedes-Benz not only needs to export technology to BAIC, but also needs Mercedes-Benz to invest in R&D, but it has not received much beneficial help from BAIC, and it is only a matter of time before BAIC fully supports it.
In fact, the investment of Mercedes-Benz in China is not low, and it is in full bloom. North Mercedes-Benz truck, Yaxing Mercedes-Benz bus, Fujian Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle, Beiqi Deben passenger vehicle technical cooperation, and Tengshi automobile, a joint venture between BYD and Mercedes-Benz, are all joint ventures of Mercedes-Benz in China. However, at present, only Fujian Benz commercial vehicles and Tengshi vehicles are still in the planning of Mercedes-Benz. Fujian Mercedes-Benz's V-class commercial vehicle has just been upgraded and will not give up in a short time, and the confusing momentum may be Mercedes-Benz's next pain point.