Eight major cold events in China's auto industry in the first half of 2018

In a blink of an eye, it has been halfway through 2018. Looking back at the first half of the year, the size of the Chinese auto market has continued to rise. Which events make you remember? What happened suddenly and made you unexpected? Through comprehensive consideration of the suddenness of news events, the intensity of communication, and the degree of influence on the industry, Geshi Automobile specially commented on the eight “cold” incidents of China's auto industry in the first half of 2018, and shared with you here.

I. Evergrande Xu Jiayin ç ¸6.7 billion Hong Kong dollar shares FF

Evergrande Health announced on June 25 that Evergrande acquired 100% of Hong Kong Shiying Company for HK$6.746 billion, thereby indirectly obtaining a 45% stake in Smart King and becoming the company's largest shareholder. Smart King, on the other hand, holds 100% of the new energy car companies Faraday Future (USA) and Faraday Future (Hong Kong) invested by Jia Yueting.

On June 26, Evergrande Health's share price soared 66%, and the market value increased by more than 26 billion Hong Kong dollars a day. At the same time, due to the relationship between Jia Yueting, LeTV's share price also swept away the haze of the decline, and the opening was a daily limit. It is not difficult to see that this combination is very good for the capital market.

For Evergrande Health, the indirect FF is expected to gain strong competitiveness in the fast-growing new energy vehicle industry, occupy market share and diversify its business. For FF, which has always been worried about funds, Evergrande Health has undoubtedly brought "life-saving money" to it. At present, FF has set up R&D centers in Beijing and Shanghai, and has established large-scale comprehensive R&D and production bases in Nansha, Guangzhou. However, FF91 has not been mass-produced in one day, and the industry's doubts about FF still exist. In such a critical period, the blessing of Evergrande Health not only brought funds to it, but also eliminated many obstacles for its subsequent planning, and also made the industry have some expectations for FF.

Second, Suzuki Motors withdrew from Changhe Suzuki

On June 15, Beiqi Changhe official website announced that Suzuki Motor will officially withdraw from Jiangxi Changhe Suzuki Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Changhe Suzuki”) and obtain approval from the competent authorities. It was approved on May 30, 2018. The registration procedure for the change of the shareholding and company name was completed on the day. At this point, Changhe Suzuki will officially withdraw from the Chinese automobile history stage.

In recent years, Changhe Suzuki has been almost stagnant in the launch of new products, and the market performance is not optimistic. The resulting decline in sales volume and loss of performance have made it less interested in the Chinese market. This vicious cycle ultimately makes it impossible. Do not fall into such a situation. However, although the sales volume is not satisfactory, Suzuki will not give up easily for China, the world's largest auto market. That is to say, as another joint venture car manufacturer in China, Changan Suzuki will not disintegrate temporarily. In response to this inference, Changan Automobile recently denied the news that it plans to acquire the equity of Changan Suzuki held by Suzuki.

For Changhe Automobile, the withdrawal of Suzuki may not be a good thing. Some insiders said that it is more conducive to light-loading the company that removes the burden. For the future development of Changhe Automobile, the relevant person in charge of BAIC Group disclosed that it is not excluded to introduce new strategic investors, but the premise is that it must have strong financial strength. Based on the multi-party news, this new future investor is likely to be Bao Neng, but this remains to be further verified. However, if Baoneng really wants to buy shares, the future development of Changhe Automobile is naturally worth looking forward to. After all, the Qiaozhi Automobile, which was acquired by Baoneng at the beginning of the year, is now full of blood.

Third, Beiqi New Energy backdoor SST forward was approved

On the evening of June 1, the SST forward announced that it had obtained approval from the CSRC for the issue of the purchase of shares of BAIC New Energy to BAIC Group. This means that Beiqi New Energy's backdoor listing has been reviewed by the regulatory authorities and is about to enter the final asset delivery phase. Previously, Xu Heyi, chairman of BAIC Group, publicly stated that BAIC New Energy will be listed in the third quarter of this year. Once successfully listed, it will become the first pure electric listed car company in China.

Beiqi New Energy was established in 2009, and BAIC Group has been independently listed for its future plans. It is understood that it has started preparatory work since 2014 and completed the transition from a limited company to a joint-stock company. In 2016, the company started the reform of mixed ownership and completed the A-billion-yuan round of financing. It attracted 22 non-state-owned capital to participate in the capital increase and shareholding. The total shareholding ratio reached 37.5%. In 2017, it further completed the B round of financing, raising a total of 11.118 billion yuan, and the market value rose to 28 billion yuan at the same time. After the B round of financing, the number of BAIC New Energy shareholders increased to 33. At the same time, it also completed the employee stock ownership plan.

BAIC New Energy has made a lot of preparations for the listing. However, according to the A-share listing conditions, three-year continuous profit is a necessary condition. Although the sales volume of BAIC New Energy has been good, but in terms of revenue in recent years, it was a loss in 2014 and 2015, and only achieved profit in 2016 (net profit was 108 million yuan), which means that BAIC New Energy must guarantee In 2017 and 2018, we will continue to make a profit in order to complete the listing in 2019. Of course, the listing in this way is obviously not fast through the backdoor, and this must be an important reason for BAIC New Energy to choose the backdoor SST forward.

Fourth, Audi shares in SAIC Volkswagen

After SAIC and Audi planned to set up SAIC Audi Sales Co., Ltd. in November 2016, due to various obstacles, the cooperation projects between Audi and SAIC Volkswagen have not progressed. On June 26, at the 2017 Annual General Meeting of SAIC, the chairman of SAIC Group, Chen Hong, told investors that Audi had already invested in SAIC and held a 1% stake. Although there are not many shares, SAIC Volkswagen has the qualification to produce and sell Audi products.

It is understood that as early as April 2018, Audi invested 115 million yuan to subscribe for 1% of the shares of SAIC Volkswagen. At present, SAIC Volkswagen has 5 shareholders, namely, Shanghai Automotive Group Co., Ltd. 50%, German Volkswagen AG 38%, Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd. 10%, Audi Co., Ltd. 1%, Skoda Automobile Company 1%.

According to Chen Hong, after holding a 1% stake in SAIC Volkswagen, Audi has laid an important foundation for the development and production preparation of SAIC Volkswagen's first product in the SAIC Audi project. Currently, the SAIC Audi project is in accordance with the parties. The established time plan is progressing steadily. Although it has not announced the relevant time plan to the outside world, according to the agreement reached by Audi Dealers Association, China FAW Group Corporation, FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co., and Audi, the third-party company may not be earlier than January 2022. Selling in China. It can be inferred that SAIC Audi products will officially enter the market in 2022. The early cooperation has set aside sufficient preparation time for both parties.

Since 2016, with the rapid growth of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Audi's leading position has become less and less prominent and even repeatedly surpassed. For Audi, the joint venture with SAIC is conducive to introducing more products into the Chinese market and expanding its market share in China. For SAIC, this move will also bring greater market influence.

V. Chery's equity transfer resolution was passed

On May 29th, it was reported that Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. held the second ninth employee representative conference in Wuhu. The meeting passed the resolution on Chery Automobile's equity transfer by secret ballot. Chery intends to use no less than 200. The cash injection method of 100 million yuan has been introduced to foreign investors, and the company has increased its capital and shares to participate in Chery Automobile.

According to relevant data, since last year, Chery Automobile's sales performance has been poor. In 2017, Chery Group sold 680,000 units, down year-on-year, and the downward trend continued into the first quarter of this year. In the ranking of car companies, the sales volume of Chery passenger cars in 2017 ranked fifth among independent car companies, which is far from the sales figures of Geely, Changan and Great Wall.

Chery is also not optimistic about the funds. According to relevant data, as of the end of 2017, Chery Automobile's short-term liabilities totaled 40.495 billion yuan, non-current liabilities reached 21.888 billion yuan, and liabilities totaled 62.382 billion yuan. In the first quarter of this year, Chery Automobile's operating profit was negative 6.7 billion yuan, an increase of four times compared with the loss in the same period last year, and the capital pressure was unprecedented. Due to poor performance and financial pressure, Chery Automobile sold the controlling shares of Qoros and Kay Wing at the end of 2017 and early 2018.

Based on the above, under the pressure of falling sales, increasing capital pressure and declining brand influence, it is reasonable for Chery to choose to introduce strategic investors to carry out “transfusion”. As for who will choose to "pull" Chery, only time to reveal.

Sixth, the Great Wall BMW cooperation or landing this fall

On February 23, Great Wall Motor announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it signed a letter of intent with BMW AG. The two parties will cooperate in the form of a joint venture to focus on new energy vehicles and future technologies. In May, BMW CEO Harald Kruger said in an interview with the overseas media "Automotive News": "The negotiations between BMW and Great Wall Motor are going well, but the negotiations may take a few months to finish, if asked in the fall. I will have an answer." This means that Great Wall BMW will cooperate or will officially land this fall.

Due to the changes in the domestic car market policy environment, the development of new energy vehicles in recent years is obvious to all, and this is attracting more and more foreign car companies into the wave of new energy vehicles. There is no doubt that the joint venture between BMW and Great Wall Motor is a key step in the electrification of BMW in China, which is conducive to the localization of its new energy vehicles. For Great Wall Motor, which has a late layout of new energy products, in the face of the upcoming dual-integration policy for passenger cars, cooperation with BMW in the field of new energy may solve its urgent needs.

7. Geely acquires 9.69% stake in Daimler

In November last year, Geely was rushed to acquire a 5% stake in Daimler, and the two scandals continued. Although Daimler categorically rejected the request of Geely to hold shares, it also welcomed its stock purchase in the open market. Although it is not known whether Daimler did this, but a few months later, Geely Chairman Li Shufu purchased 9.69% of Daimler shares through an investment fund. Since then, Li Shufu has become the largest shareholder of the Daimler Group.

From the perspective of Geely or Li Shufu, its investment in Daimler as the largest shareholder has two purposes: first, to cooperate with Daimler, and second, purely for the purpose of obtaining investment dividends. It is not difficult to see from Li Shufu’s “not seeking a seat in the supervisory board in Daimler” and “whether the two sides will have more cooperation will depend on the Daimler side.” It seems that it is not possible to cooperate with Daimler. Its preconditions for the acquisition of Daimler shares, as to whether it can further cooperate with it in the future, it is more to hold the idea of ​​"follow the edge." Perhaps, it’s really Daimler’s care.

Eight, Bao can win the control of Guanzhi

On January 9th, Kenton Holdings (the parent company of QUANTUM), the parent company of Qoros Auto, announced that Baoneng Group officially became the controlling shareholder of Qoros. According to the announcement, Baoneng Group acquired 51% of Guanzhi's shares for 6.63 billion yuan. After the acquisition by Baoneng Group, the shareholder structure of Qoros Auto became 51% of Baoneng's shares, Chery held 25%, and Kenon Holdings held 24%.

In recent years, the development of Guanzhi has been rampant. According to relevant statistics, from the fact that in 2011, Chery Quantum officially changed its name to Qoros Auto, Qiaozhi Automobile has accumulated a total loss of RMB 1.002881 billion, with an average annual loss of RMB 1.4 billion. The 2017 third quarter report issued by Kenton Holdings, the parent company of Guanzhi Foreign, showed that Guanzhi had a total loss of 285 million yuan in the quarter. Compared with the loss of 42 million in the second quarter, the loss increased nearly 6 times.

However, with the arrival of the "Golden Master" Baoneng Group, Guanzhi ushered in a turning point. In the first half of this year, Qoros car sales climbed rapidly. According to relevant data, after a good start in the first quarter of this year, the company achieved rapid growth in the second quarter. In April, it achieved a rapid growth of 400% to 5,355 units. In May, it reached a record high and sales reached 7,028. Car. At this point, Qoros has sold 23,754 vehicles in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 366%.

With the support of Baoneng, Guanzhi is full of blood and resurrection. According to the plan of Guanzhi, in the second half of this year, the series of models that will be launched will realize 20 configuration upgrades and launch pure electric models. The maximum cruising range is 700 kilometers, and the application of intelligent network connection is realized at the same time. In 2019, the powertrain of the products being sold was comprehensively upgraded, new models were launched, new models were upgraded, explosions were created, and a second pure electric vehicle was introduced. In addition, Qoros Auto is gradually improving the C and D-class platforms and pure electric exclusive platforms, covering 7 SUVs, 7 MPVs and medium and large sedan markets. As new products continue to emerge, the car will be more likely to glow.