In 2009, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology commissioned the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers to organize a 200-page report on the status quo, problems and policy recommendations of the Chinese automobile industry, which lasted for 8 months. It was delivered to corporate executives in early 2010. The report recommends that in the current financial crisis, the state should give policy encouragement and support to the auto parts industry, especially the key parts and components and the automotive electronics industry.
Occupy more than 80% of domestic parts and components, while sales only have 20%, and 90% are concentrated at the low end;
Local parts that have always been backed by price are under the pressure of “sandwich effectâ€, that is, high-end product development is under technical pressure from developed countries, and product cost advantage is under low pressure from emerging countries;
A supply of parts and components, the supply chain is not strong, the parts factory is in a subordinate disadvantage, and the automakers and parts factories lack the sense of responsibility for mutual benefit;
Against the background of the global auto parts industry in 2009, foreign-funded parts and components companies have accelerated their strong expansion in China and are inclined to develop independently. Their strategy in China is gradually changing from a relatively “cooperative†type of Chinese and foreign equality to “cooperationâ€. Control type."
-- This is the dilemma of nearly 20,000 local parts companies in China as described in the latest report.
The rise of foreign-owned sole proprietorship According to the forecast released by Roland Berger International Management Consulting Co., Ltd. in March this year, the profit margin of global auto parts suppliers will drop sharply in 2009, and the profit before interest and tax rate may be zero.
This cruel reality has accelerated the strong expansion of foreign parts and components companies in China. With China's accession to the WTO, the restrictions on the proportion of foreign auto parts in China's auto parts have been fully liberalized. From the fourth quarter of last year to the present, including GKN and BorgWarner, Globally renowned parts companies such as Johnson Controls have established wholly foreign-owned or joint venture factories in China.
Only the Bosch family has invested in 18 companies in China in a wholly-owned or controlled manner. Among the 19 newly-established foreign-invested parts and components companies in 2007, 74% were selected for sole proprietorship. Timken, the world's third largest and the largest bearing company in the United States, has successively acquired the Chinese shares of the original Yantai joint venture and the Chinese shares of the Wuxi joint venture since 2001, and successively took over the shares of the joint venture company. The reporter learned that SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng, Changan and other large auto companies are also facing the problem of foreign capital requirements to expand the shares of joint venture parts and components.
According to the survey of relevant research institutions in China in 2005, 46% of the R&D investment of multinational auto companies in China tend to establish independent R&D centers, 33% of enterprises tend to introduce more advanced technologies, and 25% of enterprises It plans to expand the number of R&D personnel in China, and 24% of enterprises choose to cooperate in R&D.
According to the "Report", since the "Automotive Industry Development Policy" canceled the stock ratio restriction on investment in auto parts enterprises, the tendency of foreign capital holding or sole proprietorship has not received enough attention since then, and transnational capital has a "profit-seeking" nature. Foreign capital holdings and sole proprietorship will bring stability problems in the in-depth and long-term development of China, and will become an important issue affecting the sustainable and healthy development of the automobile industry.
"Sandwich effect" at the low end
According to the data, in China, auto parts companies with foreign investment background account for 72% of the entire industry. Among these foreign-funded suppliers, 55% are wholly-owned enterprises and 45% are Sino-foreign joint ventures. At the same time, foreign capital controls Most of the market share, domestic sales of parts and components only account for 20% to 25% of the industry.
In addition, the key technology market is almost monopolized by foreign companies. The data shows that in the production of China's automotive EFI system, engine management system, ABS and airbags, the proportion of foreign-funded enterprises is 100%, 100%, 91% and 69% respectively. Imported automatic transmissions are in The share in the domestic market is also as high as 78%. At present, the key technology market for auto parts is almost monopolized by foreign companies. "In the part of the vehicle control system, ABS is still not developed by Chinese suppliers. At the same time, common rail system, EPS (automotive power steering system) are technical thresholds." China Automotive Industry Advisory Committee, well-known in the automotive industry In an interview with the media, expert Chen Guangzu said that in the past two years, the market share of domestic suppliers in this part has dropped from 30% to 20%.
Although the national industrial policy sets standards for the localization rate of domestic brands of foreign brands, foreign capital has a monopoly position in the core components such as assembly parts and high-end products in China, and foreign capital is also seeking support for domestic OEMs. Obviously prevailed. On the contrary, domestic component companies face low-end technology and relatively low profitability. “At present, there are more than 1,000 automotive filter manufacturers in China, but basically they are working for foreign brands.†Chen Guangzu said that 100% of the filter paper used in automotive filters needs to be imported. The density and permeability requirements of the higher European three, European four paper, domestic manufacturers can not do more, can only do after-sales service.
In the implementation of the national III technology route, foreign-owned electronically controlled high-pressure common rail technology has occupied an absolute “hegemonic†status. Almost all heavy truck manufacturers in China use this technology in the process of realizing the country III, and almost Choose to cooperate with foreign joint ventures, or directly introduce them for my use.
For the past, the industry generally believes that new energy vehicles will likely become a breakthrough for China's auto industry to achieve leap-forward development, but since 2008, China has begun to use imported key components more and more on new energy vehicles.
It is precisely because of the above-mentioned major factors that according to the survey conducted by the National Information Center, it is difficult for a complete Chinese-funded enterprise to enter the first-tier suppliers of joint-venture products. Among them, 100% of the parts suppliers selected by American models in China have a foreign-funded background. The proportion of enterprises, German models, Japanese models and domestic independent brands is also 88.9%, 89.5% and 52.8% respectively.
"The long-established development model of 'price' eating has also determined that the profit share of Chinese-funded parts companies is difficult to change," said Chen Wenkai, CEO of Gasgoo.com. It is understood that the size of China's parts and components industry in 2008 was 950 billion yuan, of which 39.4% was concentrated in foreign-funded parts and components enterprises. The average value of individual enterprises was 310 million yuan, while the majority of privately-owned enterprises in the parts industry accounted for only the average output value. 30 million yuan.
And this status quo is very worrying. On the one hand, after the joint venture or sole proprietorship enterprise has achieved the advanced scale advantage, it is also going to the low end. For example, Bosch has specially developed parts for low-end vehicles to cater to the supporting requirements of independent brand automakers that are increasingly moving to high-end. In addition, China's own brands are moving forward collectively, which is likely to cause a new round of market crisis for Chinese local parts and components enterprises that have previously taken cost as their main advantage.
Unstable supply chain At present, Chinese-funded parts seem to have not yet come out of industrialization. “Wanxiang, Fuyao Glass and other enterprises have indeed grown in size and profits. However, in this round of component information technology revolution, they have not transformed into new grades and are still doing it. Traditional low-end accessories projects," Chen Wenkai said.
According to the report, there are about 20,000 to 30,000 auto parts companies in the country. Due to the lack of a well-defined and rationally divided industrial structure, market segmentation, capital dispersal, lack of talents, product levels, and lack of competitiveness of enterprises are caused. The state has taken the key support and concentrated investment measures, which played a positive role. However, under the wave of large foreign investment and diversified investment, the regulation and control weakened, forming an irrational situation in which dozens of parts and components are produced. .
The vehicle development of China's own-brand enterprises is still in its infancy, the product research and development strength is relatively weak, and the training of parts and components and the improvement of technology are not obvious. The parts factory and the OEM have not established long-term cooperation, common development, mutual benefit and win-win strategic cooperation. At present, most of them are unstable supply and demand relationships. One component is supplied in multiple quantities, and the supply chain is not strong. The parts factory is in a subordinate disadvantage, with high market risks, poor economic returns, product upgrades, and slow development of enterprises. The automaker lacks management guidance and technical support for the parts factory; lacks the system requirements for simultaneous development and joint design; lacks a sense of responsibility for mutual benefit.
The development of parts and components is affected by capital entities, supporting systems and administrative regions, and the industry is severely segmented. Corresponding to foreign-funded holdings and sole proprietorship, with the introduction of major automakers from Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea into China, under the constraints of different standards and different interest targets, each has formed a new closed supporting system. The fundamental differences between the interests of different capital entities and different supporting systems have made China's auto parts industry decentralized and fragmented, which has greatly restricted the formation and release of parts industry clustering and scale effects. At the same time, the combination of foreign closed-end supporting system and foreign-funded and wholly-owned parts and components enterprises also provides convenient conditions for foreign-controlled joint ventures to transfer profits abroad.
Recommendations for the report on the status, issues and policy recommendations of the Chinese automotive industry:
Including the development of a special development plan for the automotive electronics industry. Automotive electronics technology is the core technology of automobiles, and 70% of technological progress and innovation in the automotive industry comes from the development of automotive electronics technology;
Formulate and support policies for cultivating key domestic component companies to improve their technological R&D level and core competitiveness. At present, the average R&D investment of Chinese component companies only accounts for 1.4% of sales revenue, far below the international average of 6.6%. Therefore, it is recommended that the relevant state departments propose a catalogue of key parts and components that focus on supporting research and development, and provide policy support for the R&D investment of domestic-funded enterprises in terms of finance, taxation and finance;
Establish a frontier and basic research and development platform for national-level component core technology competition. The state provides support for R&D investment, contracts with vehicle manufacturers, scientific research institutions, and component companies to obtain the benefits of the three parties;
Further strengthen the construction of auto parts export bases. It is of great significance not only to promote the sustainable development of the automobile industry, but also to alleviate the contradiction of overcapacity in the country and accelerate the structural adjustment of the automobile industry; it is conducive to promoting enterprises to improve their independent innovation capability and develop their own brands; it is conducive to standardizing export order and protecting knowledge. property;
We will encourage domestic enterprises to acquire overseas core component companies and overseas R&D institutions with advanced technologies, and provide support and assistance in terms of policies and funds.
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