Whose tomorrow is cheetah today?

On April 27th, Geely Holding Group formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Hunan Provincial People's Government and Changsha Municipal People's Government, entrusting Changsha factory of Hunan Cheetah Automobile Co., Ltd., a provincial state-owned enterprise in Hunan Province, to engage in the production and sales of new energy vehicles.

After Geely officially hosted Changfeng Cheetah Automobile Factory, it will introduce new energy automobile products and technologies, promote resource integration and enhance the overall competitiveness of Cheetah Automobile Company. In the future, Geely will continue to deepen cooperation in the field of new energy and actively participate in and promote the structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading of Hunan's automobile industry.

In recent years, the competition in the domestic automobile market has become increasingly fierce, and with the impact of the epidemic at the beginning of this year, the elimination speed of the automobile industry has accelerated. M&A has obviously become the key word for auto companies to find a way out in 2020. Under the background of the overall decline of China automobile market, the survival of the fittest of marginal automobile enterprises is accelerating.

Cheetah's yesterday, today and the future of the automobile market.

Changfeng Cheetah is an old car company with a history of nearly 50 years, but many people may not be familiar with it. Hunan Changfeng Cheetah Co., Ltd. is affiliated to Hunan provincial state-owned enterprise Changfeng Group Co., Ltd. Changfeng Group was established in 1950. Its predecessor was China People's Liberation Army 73 19. Later, it cooperated with Mitsubishi to introduce Mitsubishi Pajero automobile related technology.

At present, Changfeng Cheetah has four vehicle production bases in Yongzhou, Hunan, Chuzhou, Anhui, Changsha, Hunan and Jingmen, Hubei, with an annual output of 6.5438+0.5 million light off-road vehicles, SUVs and 50,000 pickup trucks. There are six products in production, namely Cheetah CS 10, Cheetah CS9, Cheetah CS9 New Energy and Mattu, hardcore SUV Cheetah Q6 and pickup cheetah CT7. However, due to the switching of five countries and six countries and the operation of the company, some products have been discontinued.

In recent years, Cheetah cars have experienced ups and downs. In 20 17 years, it sold125,000 vehicles, up 40% year-on-year, and realized sales income of113.2 billion yuan. However, the "bad weather" in the domestic automobile market and the "fever reduction" of SUVs interrupted the explosive growth of Cheetah cars. In 20 18, the cumulative sales volume of Cheetah cars was 86,402, down 32% year-on-year, not as good as Brilliance and Huatai. In 20 19, the sales volume of cheetah cars was 33,200, down 6 1.6% year-on-year. The annual sales volume is not even comparable to the monthly sales volume of some models, and many of its main models have declined to varying degrees, which shows the difficulty of Cheetah.

In June 5438+February last year, an internal document of Ping An Bank was leaked, saying that four car companies, Cheetah, Zotye, Huatai and Lifan, would enter bankruptcy proceedings at the end of the year, requiring that the upstream and downstream industrial chains of the four car companies be investigated to control risks. At that time, four car companies had urgently rumored this news.

The mismatch between sales volume and production capacity makes basic production difficult to maintain, and Cheetah has taken many measures to save the crisis. Last year, Cheetah CS 10 and Cheetah CS9 were upgraded, and brand new logo were released. At the same time, a brand-new strategic model Cheetah coupe appeared. In addition, in the middle of 20 19, all employees reduced their salaries, closed their bases, raised funds, converted debts into shares, and changed land resources in order to reduce operating costs and keep cheetahs. It is reported that in addition to handing over the factory in Changsha to Geely's "trusteeship", Cheetah will also close Jingmen and Chuzhou bases, leaving only Yongzhou base.

Until April 27, Geely entrusted Cheetah Automobile Changsha Factory to officially announce that Cheetah finally got rid of the heavy "burden". Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, said: "We will actively help Changfeng Cheetah, a local automobile brand in Hunan, get out of trouble as soon as possible and achieve new development; At the same time, with new dreams, we will vigorously develop Hunan's new energy automobile industry. "

The way of "trusteeship" may also mean that Geely is responsible for capital contribution, but the overall production structure of cheetah may not change much. In other words, this does not mean that the Cheetah brand belongs to Geely Group. In the future, the models produced by the factory will still be sold with the logo of Cheetah.

Affected by the epidemic, the sales volume of Cheetah cars in the first quarter of this year was only 14 1. Geely Holding Group said, "Hosting Cheetah cars is conducive to revitalizing state-owned assets, giving play to the automobile production capacity effect and promoting the high-quality development of the automobile industry."

The problem of cheetah is not unique in the cold winter of the automobile market. Its embarrassing exit is just an example of the accelerated elimination of the automobile industry recently. With the gradual maturity of China automobile market, fierce market competition has accelerated the differentiation of automobile enterprises since 20 18.

In 20 18, Suzuki brand withdrew from China, and Changan Suzuki was completely taken over by Changan Automobile; In 20 19, changan automobile and PSA group both withdrew from the joint venture company, and changan PSA became history. In 2020, Renault withdrew from the joint venture company, and Dongfeng Renault was fully taken over by Dongfeng Motor Group. And more marginal car companies, such as Huatai Automobile, Lifan Automobile and Zotye Automobile, have encountered operational difficulties and are currently struggling on the line of life and death. In addition, the most typical acquisition phenomenon is that some brands are acquired by new forces. For example, Aichi Automobile acquired the management dominance of Jiangling Holdings with 50% equity, Baiteng acquired the equity of FAW Huali 1 yuan, and Chehejia acquired Lifan with 650 million yuan.

Nowadays, the overall sales volume of the automobile market is declining. The stronger the strong, the weaker the weak. In the face of the huge financial crisis, the profits of other businesses other than sales business are just a drop in the bucket. The transfer of loss-making equity and the liberation of idle production capacity have immediate results, and both sides have their own places.

Geely entrusts Cheetah:1+1> 2

As far as Geely is concerned, this helping hand can help Changfeng Cheetah get out of trouble. On the other hand, the deep industrial foundation of Changfeng Cheetah in the central region is also a rare resource for Geely, which is in a period of rapid development.

Geely will give full play to its product, technology, management and market advantages, introduce new energy vehicle products and technologies, promote resource integration, enhance the overall competitiveness of Changfeng Cheetah Company, help Changfeng Cheetah, a local automobile brand in Hunan, get rid of its predicament as soon as possible and realize new development, and at the same time, help Geely Automobile to vigorously develop Hunan's new energy automobile industry.

The fifth vehicle manufacturing base of Geely Group is located in Xiangtan Economic and Technological Development Zone, Hunan Province, which is an important strategic area. At present, there are many models produced by Xiangtan factory. It is understood that the base has two product platforms, namely Yuebin New Energy SUV and Vision Car, and produces small-displacement turbocharged SUVs, plug-in hybrid SUVs and other models with an annual production capacity of more than 200,000 vehicles. After hosting Changfeng Cheetah Factory, Geely will further expand the capacity reserve of its new energy SUV.

Geely has obtained a ready-made factory, which provides more convenience for its own transformation; Cheetah, which has not developed smoothly in the field of passenger cars, has obtained funds, talents and technology to accelerate the transformation to new energy and intelligence; Local governments also avoid inefficient or inefficient operation of state-owned assets. It can be said that this transaction is the effect of 1+ 1 >:2.

After decades of development, Geely Automobile has become a domestic elder brother under the leadership of Chairman Li Shufu, a courageous and charming "madman". In 20 19, Geely sold1360,000 vehicles, ranking first in China. Geely also owns several automobile brands.

Whether it is the acquisition of Volvo, Proton or holding a 6.8% stake in Daimler, Geely's expansion speed in recent years is unmatched by any independent brand in China. Through continuous layout, Geely has stood at the top of the food chain of independent car companies. As for those brands that can't keep up with the changing rhythm, they will face the risk of being eliminated by the market.

The survival of the fittest has become the necessity of market development. Under the influence of the epidemic, more car companies will be marginalized by the market this year and next, as will second-tier joint venture brands. According to Zhu Huarong, chairman of Geely Holding Group and president of Changan Automobile, there may be only four or five China automobile companies left in the market in the future.

In the long run, integrating superior production resources and devoting to producing high-quality products may be beneficial to the development of China automobile industry.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.