On January 10th, a small SUV with a shape resembling Japan’s joint venture in China appeared in Zhejiang Yongkang. According to an interview with a senior reporter of the Zhongtai Group, which manufactures the car, this is the result of cooperation with a foreign car design company and has full independent intellectual property rights. However, the “deja vu†style still gives people anxieties about their future: These private enterprises can pick up the banner of the auto industry’s own brand rejuvenation. The answer may be in the next few years.
Another private company to enter the car circle
For Oaks’ exit from the auto industry, people still remember it because it has allowed the reputation of private companies to plummet. The unfettered withdrawal has caused consumers who have already bought their products to suffer. In this context, why did Zhongtai still desperately come in?
Wu Jianzhong, General Manager of Zotye Group, said in response to the question “Why you want to build a carâ€: “The first is that we have many years of experience in the production of auto parts, the second is that this can form the characteristics of our company, and third, this is our social responsibility.â€
No one doubts what he said, because this is indeed the realm that many private enterprises now hope to achieve.
In Zhejiang, the auto parts industry is very developed, and many small parts and accessories can be the first in the world. For example, the interior parts of the automobile front cover produced by Ningbo Huaxiang Group account for 80% of the world's market. International auto giants (including the three major domestic automobile companies) also purchase a large number of auto parts in Zhejiang. Zhongtai is located in Zhejiang, a major automobile parts manufacturing province. It is obviously very convenient for the supporting manufacturers to find and establish supply channels. It can quickly find a suitable supporting manufacturer in the surrounding area, which has obvious cost advantages.
Wu Jianzhong believes that "Zhongtai Motors is not a cross-industry enterprise." For Zotye, which has more than 10 years of experience in auto parts production, "entering the auto industry is a process that will come to fruition." However, there is one point: Wu Jianzhong is not willing to say too much or is not willing to say at all, that is, "The ultimate purpose of capital is to make profits." A reporter calculated that the Zhongtai 2008 launch of the "Zhongtai 2008" small recreational vehicle, although the market price is less than 60,000 yuan, but its profit is at least 30%. This is probably the fundamental reason why some private capitals are willing to enter the auto industry.
The model has been familiar with Tibetan hidden worry
Take a look at the "Zhongtai 2008" model. A person who knows a bit of a car will find that it is too much like a Japanese company's product. In the past, some of our products have also had intellectual property disputes with multinational companies. Will the "Zhongtai 2008" experience similar problems?
In this regard, the chairman of the ZTE Group, Ying Jianren, emphasized: “At present, the design of Zotye 2008 has obtained national patents and it has become the intellectual property of Zotye Automotive.†But he also said: “On the one hand, we emphasize independent development. And on our own brand; on the other hand, we will also draw on our strengths, open doors and build cars, sum up the advanced experience of advanced companies, and use our global development resources and technologies to develop our own automotive business.â€
The information provided by Zotye claims that in order to develop high-quality products, Zotye Group has been focusing on the integration of social resources and has introduced a wide range of domestic and foreign automotive talents to strengthen its technical and management advantages. For example, in the matching of engines, Zotye is cooperating with an Austrian international company. In terms of the exterior design of the vehicle, Zotye requested an Italian design company to develop the design.
It is understood that the Zotye auto project has also received strong support from the local government. Jin Deshui, vice governor of Zhejiang Province, in charge of industry, said in a visit to Zotye: “Zhongtai 2008 is beautiful in appearance. I think the development prospects of Zotye will be very good. The relevant provincial departments must support Zotye and help the company to step up the listing and make it Become a beautiful landscape of the hardware industry.†The headline of the local Yongkang Daily also published the speech of Wu Caixing, secretary of the Yongkang Municipal Committee: “Go all out to support the Zotye auto project.†“Supporting the Zotye auto project is to support Yongkang's local economy. â€
How far a private enterprise can build a car
Despite this, the prospect of Zotye's production of cars can really be reassuring?
The appearance of “Zhongtai 2008†should be clear because of the reasons everyone knows. Its shape is dynamic and highlights its personality; the interior of the car is spacious and equipped with humanized, easy to operate and open vision; equipped with Mitsubishi technology 1.6L The displacement of the DA4G18 engine and the optimized design of the transmission/suspension system ensure that the cross-country passability and ride comfort are no problem. In China, this model of the same kind is very few, and the price is about 10 million. Zotye's auto pricing is only 59,900 yuan, its market impact should be no problem, as long as consumers can accept its brand concept, but also able to accept its product quality.
In terms of market development, Zhongtai intends to use its advantages in the international market in addition to focusing on the domestic market to conduct international sales. Because Yongkang’s economy is an export-oriented economy and exports account for a very large proportion, Zotye Holdings Group now has a lot of products to export to the international market. Using these international channels, Zotye Automobile is likely to do something in the future development of the international market. It is understood that in 2006, Zotye will establish a marketing service network in North Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Russia and other places, and in 2008 make the market network basically cover the world, to achieve domestic and international market share of 50% of the corporate strategic objectives.
Recently, the China Automotive News Market Information Center issued a report on the “Study on the Survival Environment of National Automobile Brandsâ€. The report believes that with the completion of the layout of multinational car companies in the Chinese market, the competition in the domestic auto market will be increasingly intensified, and national brand auto companies will face increasing challenges while they are developing rapidly. In the coming years, the It is the last opportunity for national brands to grow and develop.
Whether or not the production of self-owned brand cars is not the focus of controversy. Whether private enterprises can make people reassuring is the key to the problem.
From the series of actions of Zhejiang Zhongyu and Taizhou UFO, the Chinese automobile industry has initiated such thinking: The private companies make impulse impulses and rational values, and it is the people of the country who are looking for stronger and bigger independent brands. At the same time, in the national automobile industry policy, independent innovation and its own brand have been strengthened, and many private enterprises have seen hope. The Zhejiang private enterprises represented by Zhongtai, Geely, Zhongyu, and Bird, etc., whether they can pick up the banner of the revitalization of national brands and whether they can stand out in the fierce market competition and spread their wings, the answer may be in the next few years. (Reporter Dong Xiaorong)