Summary: There will be no more domestic French cars in the new car market in China?
Reporter | Wang Shuaiguo
When Shenlong Auto frequently sends out signals that market sales have recovered rapidly, its foreign holding party released information that it will reduce investment in the Chinese market.
On October 17, Shenlong Auto officially announced that as of October 16, Shenlong Auto's sales exceeded 100,600 units this year, exceeding the whole year of 2021, achieving positive year-on-year growth for 23 consecutive months.
On the same day, at the Paris Auto Show thousands of miles away, Stellantis Group CEO O Tang Weishi said to the public that the group is considering implementing a "light asset" strategy for its brands such as Peugeot , Citroen in China.
According to AFP and other foreign media reports, Tang Weishi said at the Paris Auto Show: "If we advance the strategy we are now, then we don't need to set up factories in China. The company can export cars made in its European and American factories to China, just like Jeep and Alfa Romeo ." The statement of
's "light asset" strategy can be traced back to March 1 this year. At that time, Stellantis Group announced its "Dare Forward 2030" strategic plan. In the strategic plan, Stellantis Group proposed that it will plan an asset-light business model in the Chinese market to reduce fixed costs, with net revenue of 20 billion euros by 2030.
For Shenlong Automobile, the so-called "light asset business model" means that from 2022, Shenlong Factory will be opened to third parties. Stellantis Group is only responsible for managing the sales of the Peugeot brand, and Dongfeng Group manages the sales of the Citroen brand. This plan was called the "two-bedroom and one-living" model at the time.
In addition, GAC Fick implements the One Jeep strategy, sells relevant assets of the Guangzhou factory, and only retains the Changsha factory (proposed in 2021). Tang Weishi further mentioned at that time that the group's shareholding in the joint venture GAC Fick will be increased from 50% to 75%. The reason why
Stellantis Group proposed the above plan is that the two joint ventures of Shenlong Automobile and GAC Ficco have suffered a significant setback in the Chinese market in recent years: from 2015 to 2020, Shenlong Automobile's sales dropped from 700,000 to 50,000; from 2018 to 2021, GAC Ficco's sales decreased from 220,000 to 21,000.
But things went against my wishes, GAC Fick's Chinese shareholder GAC Group has always disagreed with the sale of more equity , and the two sides parted in disagreement. On July 18, Stellantis Group and GAC Group also stated that they were negotiating to terminate the joint venture.
At that time, Stellantis Group stated that due to the unsmooth progress of the Stellantis Group's plan to focus on distributing imported vehicles from the Jeep brand in China in the future, continue to strengthen the Jeep brand's product supply in China, increase the electrification lineup of imported cars, and leverage the potential of the brand and its iconic products through a light asset.
Now Tang Weishi once again mentioned the promotion of the "light asset" strategy in China for the Peugeot and Citroen brands. Will Shenlong Automobile, which operates these two brands in China, embark on the road of breaking the same joint venture relationship as GAC Fick?
In fact, in recent years, Stellantis Group has continued to be in a state of business contraction in the Chinese market. Previously, DS and Jeep, also under the Stellantis Group, both stopped domestic production due to development difficulties. Another brand under Stellantis Group, Opel , also gave up its plan to return to the Chinese market in September this year due to the sluggish performance of the same group brand in the Chinese market.
Currently, the Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen under Shenlong Auto are the only two domestic brands that Stellantis Group has achieved fruitful results in the Chinese market. If Stellantis Group determines to shut down its production factory, there will be no domestic French cars in the Chinese new car market in the future. Before the publication of
, Chen Bin, general manager of Shenlong Automobile, responded to the Economic Observer reporter: "Stocklandis Group and Dongfeng Group are closely negotiating new plans to strongly support the future development of Shenlong Company , and will announce it to the public after finalization."He also mentioned that the interpretation of Tang Weishi by domestic and foreign media was incorrect, "It is recommended that the bullets fly for a while."
