Mercedes-Benz's performance in China is weak, it will change the coach to save fire

It is understood that Mercedes-Benz, which is currently at a disadvantage in terms of sales volume and profitability, is being thrown farther and farther in the catch-up between Audi and BMW. Today, Mercedes-Benz’s performance in China is weak, and it strives to change the coach to save the fire.

Daimler’s chief consul Zechet plans to double its sales to 2.6 million units and overtake BMW in 2020. However, this desire will eventually become unsuccessful because Mercedes-Benz’s sales performance in China has not shown much improvement, not only allowing Mercedes’s high-level fists. Clenched, people outside the crowd also let the cold sweat.

First, weak performance in China In the coming 2012, Mercedes-Benz China could not escape being accused of "growing too slowly".

Although in the first half of 2012, Mercedes-Benz created a record of 105,200 units in the same period in the Chinese market, only 11% year-on-year growth was achieved. In the first half of the Audi sales growth of 37.8%, BMW's sales growth of 30.4% in the first half, the distance has long been gradually opened.

Mercedes-Benz recently released its global performance. In the first 10 months of this year, including 109,632 vehicles sold by Mercedes-Benz in October, total sales volume increased by 5.1% to approximately 1.07 million.

"We expect sales to reach new highs throughout the year," Joachim Schmidt, head of Mercedes-Benz sales, said in a statement.

Even so, Mercedes-Benz’s sales in China in October decreased by 3.9% to about 15,900 vehicles, which is particularly “abnormal” despite the 5.1% growth in the severely affected western European market, which indirectly drags down Mercedes-Benz’s global footprint. Performance.

In the first 10 months of this year, Mercedes-Benz delivered a total of 169,070 units of its Mercedes-Benz, smart, AMG and Maybach vehicles in mainland China, an increase of 8% year-on-year. However, this 8% can be said to be “insignificant” when the overall growth rate of the Chinese luxury car market is as high as 28% this year.

The sales of BMW in China in the first 10 months of this year have increased by 35% compared to the same period of last year. Audi's sales in the first 10 months have exceeded the total of 313,000 vehicles in the previous year. The sales speed of Mercedes-Benz in China is not only an accelerated pace. "So simple.

Earlier, according to foreign media, a recent report of the overall shareholder returns of Europe’s largest automakers showed that Daimler’s shareholder value also fell sharply. In the second quarter of 2012, it fell by 18.2% compared with the same period last year. 28.1%.

And before Zecht told the media in Stuttgart, he expected that Mercedes-Benz’s EBIT before this year would be lower than last year’s 5.2 billion euros (about 42.5 billion yuan) instead of the previous year’s expected year-on-year. It is flat, and EBIT will be lower than the 2.57 billion euros (about 21 billion yuan) in the second half of the year, which means that the annual profit will fall by at least 60 million euros (about 4.9 billion yuan) compared to 2011.

Second, looking to China's business to face weak sales in China, and has always been behind the Mercedes-Benz BMW and Audi, is intending to add a Chinese expert on the board of directors, in order to bring about improvement in its sales in China.

According to the German media reported on November 18th, Stuttgart's premium car manufacturer Daimler's board of directors will increase from the current 7 to 8, and this new top management will be responsible for the Chinese business in the future.

Although Daimler spokesperson Jorg Howe said in an interview with Dresdner, “These are only speculations. We do not comment in principle.” However, according to German media reports, this move to expand the board of directors will be adopted at the next meeting of the board of supervisors. .

Of course, Mercedes-Benz’s approach is not the first one. Earlier, Volkswagen Group raised its Chinese business and appointed Jochem Heizmann as the director of the Group’s board of directors responsible for the Chinese business.

For Mercedes-Benz’s current business in China, there is still no relevant person in charge, and German media reports that if Cai Che does not strengthen its business in China, it will not be able to achieve global automotive sales that exceed those of Audi and BMW by 2020.

However, Mercedes-Benz's current sales of domestically-made models are only 35% of the total. It is obviously not a long-term plan to rely on imported models to profit. To know that the proportion of localization of BMW and Audi has long been as high as 50% and 85%. The opposition between Mercedes-Benz's two sales systems in China is more than cooperation has been considered to be the cause of weak sales in China.

Recently, at the annual meeting of dealers held by the China Automobile Dealers Association, the Mercedes-Benz Distributors Association (hereinafter referred to as the “Business Association”) was formally announced. Participants included Li Xingxing, Renfu, Zhongsheng, Guanghui, and the And other heavyweight dealers. Li Xingxing’s participation has attracted much attention.

For the establishment of this association, the outside world generally interpreted this as a situation where Mercedes-Benz dealers faced pressure from the market and united to “force the palace” toward Mercedes-Benz China to gain more benefits from manufacturers. The Li Xingxing, which had previously reduced its shareholding in Mercedes-Benz China's shares to 25%, has joined the list of low-profile companies and has given speculation that Mercedes-Benz will increase its number of sales channels in the future.

According to Chen Yi, chairman of the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Association, the current Mercedes-Benz Dealers Association members have grown from 13 in 2007 to 120 now, and the goal next year is to develop 85% of dealers into the Merchants Association. member.

Mercedes-Benz China apparently does not want to see this happening, but most of the industry insiders still maintain a wait-and-see attitude towards the distributors’ behavior. The opinions among distributors are also not the same. Some believe that the cooperation between many distributors is "false cooperation, really killing," and in the long run, the overall situation is still the manufacturer's game rules. It is not easy for dealers to grasp how much the right to speak, because consumers buy. Still go for Mercedes-Benz's brand. At the same time, some analysts believe that Mercedes-Benz sales in China have become increasingly slow. In addition to the integration of the sales system, it is also one of the keys to confronting distributors rather than cooperation.

It is reported that Mercedes-Benz and BAIC's new sales company will officially run next year, Mercedes-Benz China said that next year the new management team will bring new management measures and business policies for dealers.

Third, Changshu Fire has realized that it is behind too many competitors Mercedes-Benz, is currently intending to introduce a new generation of B-class cars, a new generation of A-class cars and other four-cylinder engines of small displacement models to accelerate expansion in China Performance.

"The market demand for Mercedes-Benz B-Class has quadrupled its supply," Joachim Schmidt said. The B-Class will soon be at the Rastatt factory and in Kecskemet, Hungary. The new factory will be produced and will be exported to China.

According to Daimler's 2015 plan in China, sales volume will reach 300,000 in 2014, while Mercedes-Benz China's domestic and imported car sales ratio will reach 7:3, which is currently only 3:7.

In terms of capacity, Beijing Benz will gradually increase from 100,000 in 2011 to 350,000-42 million in 2015. With nearly four times the capacity growth achieved in four years, Mercedes-Benz's future sales pressure in China can be imagined. Some industry analysts even believe that "Mercedes-Benz wants to achieve a better 100% capacity utilization rate, sales should increase at least 337%." In addition, 40% of the distribution network layout Mercedes-Benz in the first-tier cities, in the face of long-term sink to The BMW of the third-tier cities, the future test will be enormous.

On December 1st, Nicholas Speeks, the former president of the Mercedes-Benz Japan Market, formally replaced the former Mercedes-Benz (China) President and CEO Klaus Maier, who is responsible for the sales of Mercedes-Benz China. At the same time, Eberhard Kern, president of Taiwan’s Mercedes-Benz, who will be appointed at the end of 2010 will also move to the Indian market in the near future and continue to work for Mercedes-Benz in emerging markets.

Both China and India have been hailed as the most promising car market in the world. The purpose of this coaching change is also very obvious. However, the outside world speculated that these two Mercedes-Benz sales from the original control of Japan and China’s Taiwanese market were not very large, and the transition to China’s mainland and India, two of the world’s largest automotive markets in the future, could still be successful for Mercedes-Benz. There is doubt.