Mitsubishi Motors has been famous in China for a while, but how long has it been since you heard the voice of this manufacturer? Looking at the success of Volkswagen, Honda, and General Motors in the Chinese automobile market, you will know how wonderful it is for multinational companies to have a reliable Chinese partner. If a multinational company does not have a backer, it will probably end up in a miserable state and wandering around the world. Over the past five or six years, Mitsubishi Motors has been living a tight life in this way. In the two market segments with the largest sales volume-compact car and mid-to-high-end car market, even though Japan's fourth largest automobile company has launched the Lancer and Galan are two flagship models, but their average monthly sales of several hundred units have almost become the worst-performing models in these two market segments. Two other domestically produced SUV models have also been discontinued due to the merger and acquisition of their partner Changfeng Automobile. Mitsubishi Motors is now fighting hard to get consumers' attention. On November 12, it and its partner Southeast Motor released the latest Lancer Wingshen model, which is priced at least 20,000 yuan cheaper than Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla models of the same displacement. Bringing its flagship model to the market at a low price is almost the last card Mitsubishi Motors can play. Naohiro Tanabe, deputy general manager of Southeast Motor, came to China early last year. His responsibility was to save the dying Mitsubishi brand in China. However, the Mitsubishi Junge, the first model launched after taking office, sold only more than 1,550 units in the first half of this year. Now, neither Southeast Motors nor Mitsubishi Motors are willing to talk too much about this high-profile rescue. The compact car Lancer Wingshen has become the latest life-saving straw. The Lancer series has a proud history. The classic myth of Lancer EVO in the WRC has always been talked about by fans around the world. Since its launch in 1973, the Lancer family has brought sales of more than 7 million units to Mitsubishi Motors and is its best-selling model. However, despite being a brave man, it is not easy for Lancer Wing God to save Mitsubishi Motors. In the first half of this year, Mitsubishi's sales of domestically produced models in China were less than 20,000 units, which is less than the monthly sales of Volkswagen's oldest model, the Jetta, in China, and only 1/10 of the slightly smaller Ford. In fact, Mitsubishi Motors once performed well in China. In 2003, Mitsubishi Motors' sales in China reached 145,000 units (including about 30,000 Pajeros, 23,000 Horseracing vehicles, and 34,000 Lingshuai vehicles). The sales volume has far exceeded the then-famous Guangzhou Honda's 110,000 units and Dongfeng Nissan's 74,000 units. Thousands of vehicles. At that time, Mitsubishi made enough money by selling engines and patents. Its joint venture engine companies in Shenyang and Harbin, Aerospace Mitsubishi and Dongan Mitsubishi, are equipped with nearly 20 domestic models such as Jinbei Ge Ruisi, New China, Foton Scenic, Chery Oriental, Great Wall Haval, Dongfeng Fengxing, etc., with annual sales of nearly 150,000 units. . However, behind the beautiful sales figures and considerable profits, except for the Pajero Speedster and Outlander produced by Beijing Jeep, none of the many models that have a deep blood relationship with Mitsubishi bears the Mitsubishi logo. What’s even more depressing is that more than 100,000 Mitsubishi vehicles in China are sold through three sales channels: Southeast, Beijing Jeep, and Hafei, while the number of vehicles sold through Mitsubishi’s sales network is zero—Mitsubishi does not yet have a complete sales network in China. . The direct consequence of this completely different approach from Toyota, Honda and Nissan is that it will be very difficult for Mitsubishi to take a further step in China. Since 2003, Japanese automobile manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki have invested in establishing joint ventures with China's large automobile companies such as FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor, Guangzhou Automobile and Changan Automobile, and have built large-scale production plants, laid out sales networks, and launched Sales of domestically produced models continue to rise. At this time, affected by the scandal of concealing car quality problems, Mitsubishi GT's financial situation and brand image fell to the lowest point in history, with losses of nearly 2 billion US dollars for two consecutive years. But in 2004, Mitsubishi announced a revitalization plan at the Beijing Auto Show: relying on the Chinese market to complete self-salvation. At that time, China was Mitsubishi Motors' second largest market in the world, second only to Japan.
According to this plan, Mitsubishi Motors plans to launch 11 models (accounting for 1/4 of its global models) in China within the next four years (by the end of 2007), set up 300 sales stores, sell 300,000 new cars, and increase its market share to 5. In addition, Mitsubishi also plans to triple the current annual output of Mitsubishi engines at Shenyang Aerospace Mitsubishi Motors Engine Plant and Harbin Dongan Engine Manufacturing Plant to 300,000 units, becoming a parts supply base in Asia. But this ambitious plan did not materialize. Due to the shortage of funds, although Mitsubishi Motors invested in technology, patents, etc., it obtained a minority stake of approximately 20% each in Fujian Southeast Motor and Hunan Changfeng Motors, and successfully allowed the Mitsubishi models produced by these two companies to be officially registered with Mitsubishi. logo. However, due to the weak voice in the joint venture and the weak strength of its partners, Mitsubishi Motors separated from the strong sales channels of Beijing Benz-Daimler Chrysler Automobiles Co., Ltd. (BBDC, now Beijing Benz, the cooperation between the two parties was terminated). Sales dropped sharply, and several models launched, especially sedan models, received little attention. By the end of 2007, the total sales of cars in China had exceeded 8 million. However, Mitsubishi Motors not only failed to achieve its four-year sales target of 300,000 vehicles, but also failed to achieve its 2007 sales target of 130,000 vehicles. Even if it was achieved, it would be less than the four-year sales target. There is still a gap of nearly 20,000 vehicles. This year, Mitsubishi Motors' situation in China is even more embarrassing. Changfeng Automobile, one of its joint ventures in China, has been absorbed by Guangzhou Automobile Group. The technology transfer agreement signed with Changfeng Automobile also expired in June this year. Whether the two parties can continue to cooperate in the future is still unknown. In this case, Mitsubishi Motors placed its hope on Southeast Motors. In the first 10 months of this year, Southeast Motors has achieved the full-year target of 80,000 units three months ahead of schedule by virtue of the outstanding performance of the V3 Ling Yue, which has the bloodline of the previous generation Mitsubishi Lancer, averaging nearly 7,000 units per month. The growth rate is very impressive. It can be seen that Lancer Wingshen's low-price entry strategy is largely based on the successful experience of V3 Lingyue (Mitsubishi and Southeast have not had any successful cases before). The price of V3 Lingyue starting from 59,800 yuan is indeed very tempting. However, Southeast Motor's outstanding performance this year is largely due to its more than 100 sales outlets across the country. However, as of the end of September, there were less than 20 dealers of Mitsubishi brand domestic cars - although it announced plans to expand in 2010 Can this meager sales network of 100 stores deliver a charming report card for Mitsubishi Motors? Another uncertain factor is that Southeast Motor, its heavily relied upon partner, is also unable to protect itself and may be annexed or divided up by the ambitious BAIC Group and Guangzhou Automobile Group at any time. If Mitsubishi Motors cannot seize future cooperation opportunities with large automobile groups such as GAC or BAIC, its life will really be hanging by a thread. An important reason for Mitsubishi Motors' ill-fated fate is that the company was too cautious at the beginning and was only willing to enter the Chinese market through technical cooperation, thus missing a great opportunity to take root in China. Today, they are abandoning domestically produced models and focusing on providing powertrain supplies for China’s own brands, or turning to the highly profitable imported car business (Mitsubishi Motors took back the operating rights from Mitsubishi Corporation in April this year and established Mitsubishi Motors China Sales Co., Ltd.) may be a good choice for Mitsubishi Motors. After all, local Chinese automakers are still very hungry for engine and transmission technology; and there are also some owners who like off-road and modified cars, and they still want Mitsubishi Motors. Big fan of cars. I found it online, hope it's useful. According to my experience (just two years, I’m laughing), if the car has Chinese characters on the car body or the front and rear logos are different, it should be a joint venture brand, and the one with full letters is imported. Not sure if that's right?