Buy buy buys! During the epidemic, the international expansion of Great Wall Motor did not stop, but accelerated. Because of the successive acquisition of GM's Indian factory and Thai factory, it has been smashed into a circle of friends.
17 10/7 17, Great Wall Motor and General Motors signed an agreement to acquire the Tarigon plant in India. According to the letter of intent for investment, GM India, including the Tarigon plant, will be handed over to Great Wall Motor. The acquisition transaction will be completed in the second half of this year. After the acquisition, the Tarigon plant in India will mainly produce Haval and Great Wall EV products.
It is reported that the Taligang plant in India was officially put into operation in 20 10 and 10, and the planned annual production capacity is138,000 vehicles and157,000 engines (including gasoline/diesel). Today, the Tarigon factory in India has become the second overseas factory of Great Wall Motor and the 10 full-process vehicle factory in the world.
On February 17, Great Wall Motor and General Motors * * * both announced that Great Wall Motor would acquire GM's manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand. According to the terms of the agreement, all GM Thai companies, including Luo Yong Automobile Factory and Powertrain Factory, will be handed over to Great Wall Motor, and the transaction and final handover are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020.
It is reported that since it was put into production in 2000, the factory in Rayong, Thailand, as a regional manufacturing center, has produced nearly 6.5438+0.4 million vehicles. Products are mainly pickup trucks and SUVs, mainly for domestic and export markets in Thailand. Today, the factory in Luo Yong, Thailand has become the third overseas factory of Great Wall Motor and the first 1 1 full-process vehicle factory in the world.
On the one hand, I can't help feeling that Great Wall Motor's globalization strategy is advancing so fast; On the other hand, there are doubts about why GM's overseas factories are always acquired. Perhaps thinking from another angle, it is not that China brand cars are too strong, but that the former international automobile giants have fallen from the altar.
Retreat in many places
In the face of Great Wall Motor's successive acquisitions of overseas factories, Julian, Senior Vice President of General Motors International Operations? The official explanation given by Blissett is, "Our decision to stop production at the Indian Tarigon plant is based on GM's global strategy to optimize GM's footprint around the world."
Coincidentally, Julian, senior vice president of GM's international business, also gave a similar explanation. "After a detailed analysis of all possible options in Thailand, GM made a difficult decision to stop production and sales in Thailand. Stopping production at the Luo Yong plant in Thailand is based on GM's global strategy to optimize our manufacturing plants around the world. "
Recently, GM has also announced that it will gradually end its automobile sales, design and engineering research and development in Australia and New Zealand before 20021,and eliminate the local Horton brand. "We are restructuring GM's international business and focusing on implementing appropriate strategies in the market to promote strong returns." Mary, Chairman and CEO of General Motors? Barra said.
It is an indisputable fact that GM has been accused of a gradual decline in global market share because of its poor local business. Take the Horton brand as an example. When I first entered Australia, my market share reached 22%. However, this overwhelming market share was only 4% in 20 19.
Take the Russian market as an example. In 20 12, GM reached its peak in the Russian market, with a sales volume of 365,438+million vehicles, and then it declined slightly all the way until it completely collapsed. Affected by the economic downturn, in 20 15 years, GM's local sales have dropped to140,000 vehicles. In the following years, after a slight rebound, the sales volume in 20 19 decreased by 6.4% year-on-year.
"GM's series of slimming actions are not individual events, but part of its global business adjustment layout. This stems from the comprehensive strategy put forward by GM at the 20 15 investor conference. Generally speaking, it is to withdraw from the market with insufficient return on investment and increase investment in the future travel field. Some experts in the industry analyzed the "car table".
In fact, this is not the first case that GM's global strategic map has shrunk. In the past decade, it seems that the most "actions" that GM has done in the world are bankruptcy and withdrawal, and it has withdrawn from many markets that were once considered "very critical".
20 10, GM closed the equipment factory in Antwerp, Belgium; 20 12 closes bochum equipment factory in Germany and sells the power transmission business in Strasbourg, France; In 20 13, it was announced that its Chevrolet brand would withdraw from the European market in 20 15, and the manufacturing project in Australia would be stopped in 20 17.
In 20 15, GM began to withdraw from the Russian market in large numbers and announced that it would stop producing GM products in Indonesia. In 20 17, the business in South Africa and East Africa was sold to Isuzu, ending the sales in the Indian market. At the same time, it also sold Baowo/vauxhall's European business and General Motors Finance to PSA Group.
At the end of 2065438+2008, GM stopped its production in Vietnam and sold its business to Vinfast, a Vietnamese automobile manufacturer. At the same time, Vinfast also assumed the distribution right of Chevrolet brand in Vietnam. By 20 19, GM announced that it would withdraw the Chevrolet brand from the Indonesian international market before the end of March 2020. In addition, GM also plans to withdraw the Chevrolet brand from Thailand by the end of 2020.
Especially in the past year, GM closed seven factories at the same time, including Oshawa assembly plant in North America, Lodztown assembly plant in Ohio, Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Michigan, powertrain plants in Maryland and Michigan, and two overseas factories.
Up to now, GM is still considering withdrawing from more markets, and its global austerity plan continues. No one expected that GM, with a history of nearly 1 12 years, once the world's largest automobile manufacturer and the spiritual leader of American cars, would come to this step. In fact, when the global auto market enters a depression, if closing the factory is the standard for enterprises to cut costs, then opening the sales model is naturally the basic operation for enterprises to "tighten their belts".
China and the United States are uncertain.
In recent years, after experiencing the "micro-growth" and "cold winter" of the automobile market, what changes have taken place in the global market structure of GM? In fact, as early as 2009, when GM filed for bankruptcy, it lost the throne of the world's largest automaker. During this period, GM released Hummer, Pontiac, Saab, Mercury and other brands.
20 1 1 Affected by the Japanese tsunami, General Motors took the opportunity to surpass Toyota and return to the industry leader. But a year later, GM was once again surpassed by Toyota. Since then, GM's global ranking has been sinking all the way, being surpassed by Volkswagen and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Until 20 16, GM entered its heyday, and its global sales reached a record 100 10000. But in just two years, this figure dropped to 8.38 million; In 20 19, GM's global sales volume was 7.74 million vehicles, down 10.7% year-on-year. Once the world's largest automobile manufacturer, it has now fallen to the fourth place in the world, behind Volkswagen, Toyota and Renault-Nissan Alliance.
It can be seen that sales scale, profitability and capacity utilization rate are the core elements for GM to evaluate the "operational sustainability" of major markets in the process of business adjustment. According to this standard, China market and North America market are the markets with high returns that GM values, and these two markets account for 4/5 of GM's global sales.
The data shows that in 20 17, GM's sales in China exceeded 4 million vehicles for the first time, reaching a historical peak; From 2065438 to 2008, the sales volume in China dropped to 3.64 million. Although it has declined, China remains the largest single market for GM in the world. Until 20 19, GM's sales in China decreased by 15% year-on-year to 3.09 million vehicles. Since then, China has lost its position as GM's largest single market in the world.
At one time, GM's entry into China market was regarded as a "textbook" in the field of automobile marketing, and many of its brands had a glorious period in China. For example, Buick brand has Wang Kaiyue, the champion of compact car sales, and Angkewei, the pillar of compact SUV sales; Chevrolet brands include Cruze and Mai Rui Bao. The former focuses on the compact sports market, while the latter is the evergreen tree of B-class car sales.
However, the good times did not last long. As the most important joint venture of GM in China, the sales volume of SAIC-GM in 2065+09 was only 654.38+0.46 million, down 25.72% year-on-year, which widened the gap with the North and South Volkswagen again and barely kept the third position, which was the second consecutive year of decline of SAIC-GM. Since the sales volume in China reached a record 2 million in 20 17, SAIC-GM began to decline, and the sales volume "evaporated" by 27% in these two years alone.
Recently, in 20 19, the American automobile market finally decided that although the annual automobile sales decreased by 1.2%, it still broke through the170,000 mark, which is the fifth consecutive year that the American automobile market broke through170,000. As far as the market structure is concerned, only German cars and Korean cars have maintained little growth, and the sales of Detroit's "Big Three" have declined.
Among them, GM sold about 3.36 million vehicles in the US market in 20 19, down 2.3%. One of the main reasons for the decline in sales is the 40-day workers' strike. At the same time, GM's pickup truck is in the stage of replacement or mid-term adjustment, and the sales volume is difficult to climb, which also affects the production and sales of related models.
You know, in 20 19, 69% of American car sales were pickup trucks and SUVs. Fiat-Chrysler became the company with the smallest decline among Detroit's "Big Three", mainly due to its pickup Ram sales support. In 20 19, Ram sales increased by 18% year-on-year, surpassing Chevrolet Silverado owned by General Motors for the first time.
Renew one's life with heavy money
It is reported that in 20 18, after a series of measures such as factory adjustment in North America, reorganization of global product development departments, integration of production capacity structure and optimization of personnel structure, GM won 6 billion US dollars in two years; From 2020 to 20021year, after GM withdraws from Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, it is estimated that cash and non-cash expenses will increase by 1 1 billion dollars.
So, what is the money saved by GM's "slimming" business used for? "In order to improve the flexibility and profitability of the company's business, GM can only rely on self-transfusion to invest in the future, especially giving priority to global investment in electric vehicles and self-driving cars." The relevant person in charge of GM said that according to the plan, GM's investment funds for the future will double within two years.
According to public information, in 20 16, General Motors acquired Cruise, an autonomous driving company, which has now grown to 2,000 people. In June 5438 +2020 1 October, Cruise released the first model Origin, which is a self-driving pure electric vehicle with a mileage of over110,000 miles.
In terms of electrification, GM also established a joint venture with LG to build a battery factory. In 2020, GM announced that it would invest $2.2 billion in the Detroit-Hamtrank plant to produce pure electric trucks and SUV models of many brands, including Hummer. In the third quarter of 20021,GM's pure electric pickup truck will be put into production.
With the increasingly fierce competition in the automobile industry, electrification and autonomous driving have become the inevitable choice for many traditional automobile companies. Gm has clearly seen this future development direction and decided to gamble a heavy price. As industry experts asserted to Auto Watch, "If we only pursue globalization and neglect investment in the future, it is impossible for GM to return to the top."
In fact, GM's strategic shift has begun to take shape in the China market. In 20 19, its sales of new energy vehicles in China increased by 85% year-on-year, and the cumulative number of vehicles put into use has exceeded 10. It is planned to launch 10 new energy vehicles in China in 2002/-2023. There are indications that in order to occupy the next window, GM is making every effort to accelerate the transition to electrification.
More positively, in order to cope with the changes in China's automobile consumption market, GM finally understood the objective truth in product research and development, and will continue to optimize product structure adjustment, focusing on the fast-growing SUV and luxury car market. In the next five years, the entire SAIC-GM R&D and technology investment will reach 80 billion yuan; By 2023, more than 60 new or modified models will be launched, of which more than 9 are new plug-in hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles.
In addition, GM's global "slimming" can't help but remind people of the idea that "manufacturing returns to the United States" proposed by US President Trump. Trump's support for "Made in America" is getting louder and louder. In addition to introducing a series of related measures to repatriate some overseas funds to the United States, according to anecdotal information, the US government also strongly persuaded GM to keep its American factories, ensure the employment of American workers, and close its factories in China.
But in fact, it is not up to one person to decide whether the manufacturing industry can return to the United States, because the development of the manufacturing industry needs a complete industrial chain, and any enterprise will consider putting its industrial chain in a place with relatively low cost, which is the result of economic laws. If, after comparison, the cost advantage of the United States in the manufacturing process is not better than that of other countries, then it is unrealistic to let the manufacturing industry return.
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This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.