It is said that this is the last hurdle for Li Shufu before signing the 20 10 acquisition. The Volvo trade union asked: "Why buy Volvo?" When, say a word. It's like when a poor boy proposed to the princess, these three words became the most core and true expression in his heart. Perhaps because of persistence, perhaps because of emotion, with the consent of the trade union, Li Shufu got his wish and "got the beauty back".
As a creation-like acquisition of private automobile enterprises in China, the marriage between Geely Automobile and Volvo Automobile has always attracted much attention, and every dance step of them has been interpreted as the most elegant body language for China automobile to contact with the world. Yes, Li Shufu used his own wisdom to make the acquisition that was considered impossible by the outside world a commercial success, and also set a precedent for China Auto and even China enterprises in brand acquisition.
Today, this relationship has gone through 10 years, with fruitful results. Geely and Volvo marry the technology research and development center, * * * to build a love nest of CMA module architecture and have children. Feelings from the initial questioning into constant running-in, and then hand in hand into a happy and sweet era. At the same time, this alliance has also made Geely and Volvo stronger with the help of both parties. Volvo is about to achieve the annual sales target of 800,000 vehicles, and Geely has also become the sales champion of its own brand in China, standing at the peak of sales of 6.5438+0.5 million vehicles last year.
While affirming the achievements of the past decade, we have to think about what Geely-Volvo will look like in the next decade. Although we hope that Geely-Volvo will make continuous progress, what risks and problems will Geely-Volvo encounter in the era of great changes in the future?
After all, this is a business world. Even if Li Shufu is a nostalgic person, he can't resist the influence and variables brought by commercial interests and values. From the merger and disintegration of Daimler-Chrysler, from the start of Ford and Volvo to the abandonment, from the success of Renault-Nissan alliance to the existence in name only, any well-known cooperation or merger in the past eventually parted ways due to various factors.
The reason for the merger is almost simple. Decent call "* * * win", what can both sides bring to each other. The ugly one is called "use", and each takes what he needs. Basically, it is developed around four core points: technology, market, capital and coordination. For example, the upcoming integration of Geely and Volvo, the packaging listing of both parties and the merger of powertrain departments will continue.
Ten years later, it is precisely in these four aspects that variables began to exist. After the technology is absorbed in place, when the market expansion changes, when there is pressure on funds, and when there is synergy or mutual influence, internal cracks begin. Needless to say, in the longer term, the deep cultural precipitation and integration of companies and brands will eventually become the root cause of cracks, just as Daimler, which originated in Germany, can't dance with Chrysler in the United States, just as Ford brand from the United States can't control car brands with different cultures such as Sweden, Japan and Britain.
This seems to be the sentence, the general trend of the world, long-term separation will be combined, long-term separation will be divided.
Memories flow like water.
"The purpose of its acquisition of Volvo has been achieved. In the future, Volvo will be reluctantly given up by Ford, and Ford will inevitably sell Volvo. " More than a decade ago, when a reporter interviewed Li Shufu why he thought the acquisition of Volvo could be realized, Li Shufu said so. Yes, behind any business activity, there are interests behind it. Whether to accept or throw, in addition to emotional elements, is more about business interests and values.
Especially in the current industry turmoil, splitting and merging happen all the time. For example, Volkswagen and Ford formed an alliance, Mercedes-Benz and BMW also cooperated for a long time in the research and development of autonomous driving technology, and FCA and PSA also achieved flash marriage. At the same time, however, division has been going on. For example, the Renault-Nissan alliance was cracked due to Ghosn's arrest, and Tata Group plans to find a partner for Jaguar Land Rover under competitive pressure.
For Li Shufu, who has tasted the sweetness of integration, he has always been an advocate of merger. I still remember that when Geely bought Daimler shares on 20 18, Li Shufu published a signed article in foreign media, saying: Automobile manufacturers must cooperate, otherwise there is a risk of being annexed: "The automobile industry must think about a new path of cooperation and innovation, and almost no company can go it alone."
So in February this year, Geely and Volvo announced that they would form a new automobile group, continue to cooperate in finance, procurement, research and development, and realize the docking with global capital through listed companies. Meanwhile, Geely needs to continue to learn from Volvo. At the end of last year, Geely planned to restructure the powertrain business with Volvo. In April this year, foreign media reported that Volvo or Daimler were seeking to jointly develop fuel engines to reduce costs. Geely is the driving force behind this, and Geely will also be the biggest beneficiary of this series of technical cooperation and collaboration in the future.
For Geely, continuous cooperation is a springboard and shortcut to enter the mainstream position of the global automobile industry. There are countless such cases, from the automobile circle to the outside of the industry, just like the merger of Daimler and Chrysler. Chrysler wants to enter Europe, while Daimler wants to expand its share of the American market. The two companies have huge sales networks in Europe and North America, which do not overlap with each other. There is great commercial potential behind this network integration. At that time, Daimler focused on cars, while Chrysler was in the fields of multi-functional off-road vehicles, vans and light trucks. Both sides also had great potential in enjoying the technology platform.
Yes, Givo and Dyke have similarities and differences. Volvo has technology and R&D strength, but it needs capital and China market. Geely can use the capital market model and China's huge market opportunities as an endorsement, build a strong brand power with the help of Volvo's technology, and at the same time quickly realize globalization with the help of Volvo's global operation experience, so as to get what they want.
The idea is beautiful, but the development trend between Dyke has not developed in the expected direction. Affected by cost and other reasons, Chrysler suffered losses year after year, which made Daimler overwhelmed. Later, it had to be split, and Daimler finally got rid of Chrysler. This case also applies to Ford. In the late 1990s, Ford successively acquired Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover, and finally had to reluctantly give up what one favours and slim down to save himself from the crisis.
We don't deny Volvo's technical strength and pioneering in some fields, but it is not as powerful and ambitious as Volkswagen, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz, and it has its own limitations. A century-old brand has changed hands several times and is no longer strong, just like Nokia and Ericsson in northern Europe, but their endings are the same.
So to put it more bluntly, Geely and Volvo jointly developed CMA and PMA architecture and merged the powertrain department, just like Ford obtained platform technology and engine technology from Volvo at the beginning, except that Li Shufu understood human nature and "demanded" Volvo. Volvo was reassured by the equity exchange.
At the same time, Geely is constantly looking for car companies and brands with higher technical standards to empower future development. It bought Volvo Group shares to covet commercial vehicles, Daimler shares to covet the cooperation of automobile inventors, and Lotus to seek progress in lightweight technology and other fields, because Li Shufu knew that the competition in the automobile industry ultimately came down to the competition of core technologies.
Perhaps, no one is better at improving Geely's car-making level through cooperation than Li Shufu.
Ten years miracle
It must be admitted that Geely's acquisition of Volvo is the most successful case of automobile commercial acquisition in recent years. This seemingly impossible thing, however, enabled Li Shufu to realize the progress and leap-forward of both sides through the revitalization of funds and the enjoyment of technology and the rapid growth of China Automobile in the past 10 years.
In the past ten years, the annual sales volume of Geely Automobile has reached the peak of 6.5438+0.5 million vehicles from 320,000 vehicles, and its market share has increased from less than 3% to 6%, and it has maintained the first market position of its own brand for three consecutive years. Volvo has jumped from 330,000 vehicles ten years ago to 700,000 vehicles now, and its sales in China, its second hometown, have soared from 30,000 vehicles to 6,543,806 vehicles.
Not only that, both Geely and Volvo have gained strong endogenous motivation. Through capital injection and free development, Volvo has successfully realized its revival and built a global R&D and manufacturing system. Yes, a car brand with 80 years of mature experience in building cars can generate huge energy with a gentle push.
Of course, the biggest change is Geely. From the moment Li Shufu took a fancy to Volvo, he knew that the car brand in the world for nearly a hundred years had accumulated many core technologies in the long history of development. Geely can learn a lot from it in terms of technology, manufacturing concept and management experience, which will greatly help Geely improve its technology and manufacturing level, and improve its car-making level and brand value.
Volvo's ability not only promotes Geely's development, but also provides experience and reference for Geely's acquisition of Proton Lotus, Volvo Group and Daimler in terms of international management and acquisition experience. Undoubtedly, the convergence of these forces has driven Geely, an enterprise and brand, to become a typical and proud private enterprise in the world automobile field and even in the commercial field.
Looking back on the past ten years, why did Geely's acquisition of Volvo be so successful in business, especially compared with SAIC's acquisition of Ssangyong and BAIC's acquisition of Saab, which became the most successful model of domestic automobile acquisition? The core point is the difference between technology incubation and takenism, the difference between cultural identity, development synergy and simple acquisition.
One of the core keys is learning. Geely did not make the same mistake as SAIC's acquisition of Ssangyong. Instead, through talent exchange and technical cooperation, I learned Volvo's 90-year experience in building cars. Geely also said on many occasions that Volvo and Geely are brothers on the surface, but more are teachers.
China-Europe R&D Center, CMA architecture and Geely's own BMA architecture all draw lessons from Volvo's car-making experience, and then Geely's own technical system and R&D system have improved its manufacturing capacity. Earlier, some Geely engineers said that Geely will surpass Volvo in technology research and development strength around 2022.
The second core is respect and tolerance. Geely hardly interfered with Volvo's operation, which is also the embodiment of Li Shufu's great wisdom. From "Geely is Geely and Volvo is Volvo" to investing 1 1 billion dollars to independently develop Volvo's technology platform, Volvo has come to this day step by step according to its own rhythm and tonality. Although it seems slow to the outside world, it is this tolerance and Buddhism that makes this tin wedding continue to this day and prevents too many cultural conflicts between China and Sweden.
Of course, in respect and tolerance, there is also active dedication and pay, whether in interpersonal communication or business reciprocity, this is a truth. In other words, Li Shufu's success in business cooperation comes more from paying and paying more conditions before he can reap the benefits of courtesy, which is most obvious in the acquisition of 49.9% shares in Proton.
The third core is creation. On the one hand, Volvo is not the most powerful in the global automobile industry, and its 90-year history has not yet set foot on the threshold of 654.38+00,000 vehicles; On the other hand, Volvo is not ahead in the transformation of the new four modernizations of automobiles. We must stand on Volvo's shoulders and constantly create and explore to see the layout of Cao Cao's trip, flying cars and satellites, all of which are preparing for the new four modernizations in the future.
China Automobile has been a joint venture with foreign brands for more than 30 years, but the market has not got the so-called core technology. On the contrary, foreign brands have occupied 60% of China. Since Geely acquired Volvo, Geely, representing the brand creativity of China, has made new breakthroughs in enterprise acquisition, brand operation and model innovation in its unique way. Its miracle, extraordinary significance and value, and the image and reputation of China automobile industry are all exciting.
The ceiling of Ke Ling's growth
10 In April, Geely gave birth to a brand-new automobile brand-Maple Leaf Automobile. Although this brand is a brand-new automobile brand under Geely Science and Technology Group, it was born for the future big travel mode, but the entanglement between Huapu and Kangdi, even in the eyes of most consumers, is still inextricably linked with Geely. It is even understandable that Geely has embarked on a road of multi-brand development since it returned to a Geely from 20 14.
Needless to say, the emergence of Lake, a new high-end brand that cooperates with Volvo, is an inevitable breakthrough in the high-end brand of China. At present, it has been recognized by 260 thousand users. However, new brands such as Geometry, Polaris and Maple Leaf, as pure electric vehicle brands, are embedded in several brands of Geely, Lake and Volvo, and they are struggling on the road of independence.
Understandably, on the one hand, these new brands have the opportunity to establish new brands to cope with the new era of transformation, from fuel to new energy and usage patterns. The question is, with the emergence of a new era, is it necessary to launch a brand new brand?
In 2008, some media reported that Toyota was planning to build the Prius into a relatively independent brand with a full range of products, and to produce Coupe Prius and other models based on the good sales situation of the Prius in the world. Unfortunately, until today, we haven't seen our own Prius brand. On the contrary, this car with the Toyota Bull's Head logo led the cumulative global sales of Toyota hybrid products to exceed 654.38+03 million.
Another example is General Motors, which cut into the field of electrification a long time ago, but in terms of new energy, whether Chevrolet Volt or Bolt, buick VELITE relies on the original brand. Look at Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, and I have never seen them launch brand-new brands. Needless to say, when Toyota introduced Mirai, it was also a change in the era of automobile energy, and the familiar bull's head was still printed on the road of this era.
Yes, including Smart operated by Geely in the future, Geely Holding Group has as many car brands as 1 1, and including motorcycle brands, it has built as many brand matrices as Volkswagen Group. But unlike Volkswagen Group, the bandwidth of automobile brands and prices under Geely Holding is not as wide as that of Volkswagen Group. For example, Volkswagen's ultra-luxury brands such as Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini have a very small market. The mainstream car brands are only Volkswagen, Audi, and SEAT and Skoda, which are more focused on the European regional market. Therefore, for Geely, the vast majority of products are crowded in the market with a price of 500,000-500,000 yuan. Do you really need so many brands to carve up?
What's more, it takes too much time and energy to build a new brand. Before, a marketer told the Automobile Commune that only 65,438+00% people could know about spending 2 billion RMB to build a new product. Earlier, Vahland, the former chairman of Skoda, said that it might cost US$ 5 billion to let Americans know about Skoda brand when considering Skoda's entry into the US market. In the increasingly mature global market, the window for the growth of new brands is getting narrower and narrower.
Perhaps for Geely, multi-brand strategy will help to form a situation of "having more children and fighting" in the short term. For Geely Holding Group, this is the basic guarantee for it to enter the top ten automobile groups in the world. For Geely Holding Group, it will also help to occupy various market segments and increase market share. However, in the long run, the decentralized development of brands is not conducive to the long-term healthy and sustainable development of the group in the future.
Take Volvo as an example, its current bottomless price in the global and even China markets has cut into the price range where Lectra is located. In the future, the goal of Geely's 2 million vehicles and Lexus's 6.5438+0 million vehicles, as well as the trend that Lexus and Geely continue to attack upwards, are bound to be suppressed by Volvo's chaotic price system for a long time. Volvo, which can't support the future price system, obviously can't undertake the powerful mission of leading the whole "Great Geely" to build the "Volvo-Lexus-Geely" brand sequence, and it has gradually become a potential obstacle for Geely and Lexus to attack upwards.
In the whole system of Great Geely, Geely and Link will always be the core brands in the second order, and other brands are only supplements and vassals. Therefore, in the next decade, once Geely has accumulated enough car-making technology and experience, it is bound to consider getting rid of Volvo, or simplifying the brand, learning from Toyota in a down-to-earth manner, and managing the two core brands of Geely and Lectra well. Volvo, which has made little progress in brand building in recent years, no longer has the benchmarking significance of the whole brand highland.
From decentralization to unification
What kind of luck will Li Shufu build his empire in the next ten years?
At present, Geely is independent at first, and its products are also decisive, playing a core role in many market segments. However, a monopoly company is dangerous, and the boss's inertia thinking is dangerous. The turning point and change of a behemoth are doomed to be quite difficult, just as the automobile inventor Mercedes-Benz is timid when facing the next 130. How does it stay ahead? A monthly surplus is a loss, which will never change.
Happiness lies in peril. When you encounter problems, you may have changed, not to mention many thorny problems hidden behind Geely's glory. Why did Geely fall off the road of 6.5438+0.5 million vehicles? From products to sales, Geely has built 2 million teams and men. Why is it difficult to get there? In the past two years, the product strength of new products launched by Geely is not bad, and its technical strength should reach the strongest level of its own brand. Why is it difficult for the ultimate goal to meet the expectations of management?
Yes, it can be said that this is largely due to the market. The market is cruel, and the market will not sympathize with who is more miserable. Moreover, for car companies, the market layout needs strong foresight and insight, and it also needs to evaluate future risks and many uncertain factors.
Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall. Whether it is Dyke, Jaguar Land Rover or Volvo, the biggest split and variable is the cultural integration outside the market. Volkswagen's 12 brand can be born * * * with their cultural accumulation in Europe and European ancestry.
However, Geely Holding Group is different. At present, its brands are of China, Sweden, Southeast Asia and Britain, so cultural integration is a big problem. Just as Ford's multi-brand strategy is gradually dying out, it is a truth that Mazda from Japan, Jaguar Land Rover from Britain, Volvo from Sweden and American brands are difficult to integrate, which is a problem that is difficult to solve with the model.
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance led by Ghosn is undoubtedly the most successful model in the field of global automobile industry cooperation, even surpassing the significance and value between Geely and Volvo. On the surface, the Renault-Nissan alliance has enjoyed unlimited operation in recent years, and the synergistic effect has been constantly maximized. But internally, Nissan may never fully agree with the leadership of the French, leading to Nissan's defection, and the world's largest automobile alliance is on the verge of collapse or even exists in name only.
There are too many uncertainties and variables in the future.
At present, both Geely and Volvo have entered the peak of this stage. Geely can only linger in front of the threshold of 6.5438+0.5 million vehicles through the continuous introduction of new products, while Volvo faces the next difficult growth period after the brand of new products is finished. Even in terms of financial income and profit, both sides have been affected by industry changes. From the perspective of business and capital, Volvo is at the highest point of brand value, with 800,000 vehicles in 2020 and 6,543.8+0,000 vehicles in the future, which is even more difficult.
With the intensification of market competition environment, the global automobile industry will inevitably bring a series of chain reactions after the outbreak. Achieving growth in the first decade is almost a small probability event, and it is not impossible to shrink and lose money. Once there is no money, all contradictions will break out. More refined enterprise operation, management and coordination will become the biggest challenge Geely will face in the next decade, and the difficulty is several times that of the last decade.
In the next decade, when Geely absorbs almost the technical strength of Volvo, it might as well try to get rid of Volvo. We are not advocating that Geely abandon Volvo. This may be the right choice from a commercial point of view, but from an emotional point of view, it also feels like killing a donkey. This process is a bit cruel for Volvo. However, for the emotional Li Shufu, it may be possible to start with the sale of part of Volvo's equity, simplify its scattered brand matrix, and make concessions for the more unified future of Geely and Link.
This article is taken from the cover story of the April issue of Automobile Commune magazine.
Text/Du Xinyu
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This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.