Although the continuous growth trend of the domestic automobile market ended in 2018, this does not prevent 2019 from becoming the most colorful year for major events in the automobile market. Yes, colorful replaces prosperity and good news. Couldn't be more appropriate.
In the same period last year in January, Tesla’s Shanghai factory officially started construction. This world-wide pure electric vehicle brand officially entered China as a domestic product. What is jaw-dropping is that in just the past 10 months, Tesla The first phase of the factory has completed acceptance and has obtained mass production qualifications.
February In February, FAW-Volkswagen announced that its first sub-brand, JETTA, was officially launched in Wolfsburg, its headquarters in Germany. Volkswagen said that the Jetta brand was established specifically for Chinese consumers and only launched products for the Chinese market. FAW-Volkswagen is responsible for operating, producing and selling. Facts have proved that the JETTA? brand has captured the sinking market very well, opening up huge space for the parent brand to expand its territory.
March March is very interesting. The Sagitar, which is at the top of the car food chain, and the low-end Peugeot 508 are both undergoing replacements. The new model of the former is called Sagitar L and the latter is called 508L. Due to the different product structure of the two, the Sagitar has increased its price and the Peugeot 508L has increased its price. For a time, the market has formed a united front. Wu Nao thinks that the Sagitar will fall from the altar and the 508L will make a comeback. However, half a year later, the new-generation Sagitar Long Axis has maintained high sales by anticipating the needs of domestic consumers; and the Peugeot 508L, which entered the game, only set a low-key target of 2,000 units per month, but it has never been able to meet its expectations. . The 508L, which was originally prepared to make a comeback, has an extremely poor and insincere configuration and optional structure. It has proved by itself that in the face of sincerity, appearance and price are almost nothing.
April In April, a female Mercedes-Benz car owner in Xi'an became famous on the Internet after her hood was posted, which in turn led the car circle to start to pay attention to gray illegal income such as "financial service fees". This incident has full positive significance. In order to avoid such incidents, many brands have begun to strictly control the PDI inspection process when new cars are delivered.
In May, Pang Qingnian, chairman of Youngman Auto, was investigated for suspected fraud of hydro-hydrogen fuel vehicles. It is rumored that the pure natural and pollution-free supply of hydro-hydrogen fuel vehicles can last for more than 1,000 kilometers at a time, just like the second farce. This "Ba Tie" became the flower in the mirror. And all the technical patents surrounding hydro-hydrogen vehicles are simply reflected in the appearance design...
In June, the increasingly hot weather made Cadillac become an Internet celebrity, and the country is about to switch to new regulations. 6 emission standards made the National 5 version of ATS-L a hot seller. For a while, new cars were cheaper than used cars, and second-hand car dealers scratched their heads for half a year. The phenomenon became a joke. Many car companies, led by Cadillac, also took advantage of the new emission regulations to switch. The warehouse clearance operation was completed in this stage, which also included the dying Ford.
July In July, as the National 6 standards began to be trialled, the new energy market also began to cool down on a large scale. This was all due to the cancellation of the huge subsidy policy for new energy at the end of June. With the implementation of the New Deal, many "technical" car companies rooted in the new energy field have completely gone on a hunger strike. This has accelerated the demise of car companies in the new energy field that are just waiting to die. There is no doubt that consumers collectively stood up and applauded.
August After August, the positive news in the cycling circle began to decrease. Ferdinand Piech, the godfather of Volkswagen, has passed away. The former chairman of the Volkswagen Group has made outstanding achievements within the group. Not only did he personally create a 5-cylinder engine, he also launched the all-aluminum body A8 and Phaeton, which are famous all over the world. work. To be honest, if Phaeton's brand premium hadn't limited its product capabilities, there would have been nothing like Mercedes-Benz and BMW in the domestic market. Great man should be remembered in memory!
September comes. On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lexus officially announced that its ES, NX, UX, and LS car series will be launched, and the prices will increase. The increase will be from 1.1% for the ES series. Prices range from 10,000 to 15,000 for the UX260h series. This move of only pursuing profits without fearing the market was criticized by the car circle, but it was followed by a steady increase in Lexus sales across the board in the fourth quarter.
At this time, the market began to diverge. How long will Lexus, which has always been silently making money, become popular?
On the last day of October, FCA and PSA, which are not doing well in China, announced their merger. For a while, some people said it was a flash wedding, some said it was a group reunion, some said it was Marchionne’s last wish, Some people say they are twins... But in any case, in the short to medium term, the marriage between the two companies has little to do with the domestic market. FCA has always maintained a very high market share in the North American market, and its main profits are in North America; while PSA acquired Opel 2 years ago. In the first half of last year, PSA Group's recurring operating profit was 3.338 billion euros, an increase of 10.6%. , all information is very different from domestic performance. However, the merger of these two brothers who have not reaped any benefits in the country can make the new company instantly become the fourth largest car company in the world. As for how glorious it will be by then, only time will be left.
In November, rumors of the bankruptcy of Youth Auto officially appeared on the People’s Court Announcement Website. The data showed that in accordance with the provisions of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Xiaoshan District People’s Court of Hangzhou City issued a lawsuit in 2019. On October 21, the ruling was made to end the bankruptcy proceedings of Hangzhou Youth Automobile Co., Ltd. This means that Youth Auto Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Youth Group, has officially come to an end, and Youth Lotus has entered history.
December December is the most interesting month. I originally thought that the Lexus official increase incident would be the last big negative in the automotive industry, but I didn't expect that Toyota would be fined 87 million yuan. It is reported that the Jiangsu Provincial Market Supervision Bureau made an administrative penalty decision on Toyota Motor's monopoly case and decided to impose a fine of 2% of sales on Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. when the incident occurred in 2016. Although this fine of 87 million is not large, it is a wake-up call. This has set a new high in the domestic market's rejection of Lexus's price monopoly, making Lexus dealerships across the country afraid to increase their price increases. It also gives consumers a clearer understanding that consumption is important, but dignity is even more important. When everyone was eagerly looking forward to New Year's Day 2020, former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn appeared in Lebanon. This savior who once turned the tide when Nissan was on the verge of bankruptcy, after experiencing the crisis of being imprisoned, he led the way again He staged a play of "The Golden Cicada Escapes" hidden in the cello box. Carlos Ghosn, known as a giant in the automotive industry, is no less famous than Piech in the industry. His experience in Michelin, Renault, and Nissan has made all professional managers have Ghosn's dogma in their hearts. Although his method of saving Nissan was drastic and To put it bluntly - layoffs, production line suspensions and factory closures, facts have proven that for heavy asset industries, cost reduction is always the most effective way.
Written at the end Of course, a short article is not enough to tell everything about the car industry, such as Geely teaming up with Daimler, Great Wall teaming up with BMW, BYD teaming up with Toyota, Chery hybrid reform, etc., but these are still Cases that are in their budding stage will take time to bear fruit. At this turbulent time in the automobile market, whether the fruit will be sweet or not, we need to keep our eyes open and wait for it to change.
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.