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The once-popular Qoros Automobile,GACFCA has been gradually forgotten after it stopped production, went bankrupt, and withdrew from the market. However, many recent news stories have made netizens exclaim that "the dead memory is back."

On August 6, JD.com's judicial auction platform showed that the asset auction of the bankruptcy liquidation case of GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as GAC FCA) failed again due to no bids. The auction was officially launched on August 5, involving GAC FCA Changsha factory, buildings (structures), machinery and equipment and other core assets, with a starting price of 1.532 billion yuan, which was about 383 million yuan lower than the starting price of the first auction.

On July 21 this year, the asset was auctioned for the first time with a starting price of 1.915 billion yuan, but it failed to sell because no one bid. Two auctions within half a month ended in failure. This domestically made vehicle that can climb over various hillsJeepThe joint venture company behind it ultimately failed to overcome the bankruptcy.

Compared with GAC Fiat Chrysler, Qoros Auto's follow-up problems are more difficult. According to Tianyancha's legal litigation information, on August 8, 2024, Qoros Auto Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qoros Auto") added a new information on the person subject to execution, with an execution target of more than 32.57 million yuan, involving a sales contract dispute case, and the execution court is the Weicheng District People's Court of Xianyang City.

Just a week ago, Qoros Auto was forced to pay more than 107 million yuan by the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court due to a housing rental contract dispute.

In recent years, the closure, suspension, merger and reorganization of the automobile industry has never stopped, but has been accelerating. The situation of "75 brands disappearing in three years" is still happening. Although many "endangered" and eliminated brands have been taken over and ushered in new vitality this year, not all weak brands have such a situation.

GAC Fiat Chrysler Changsha plant failed to be sold for the second time

GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is a joint venture established by Fiat Group (now Stellantis Group) and GAC Group in March 2010. It was once one of the fastest-growing joint venture automobile companies in China.

Public data shows that GAC Fiat Chrysler has two major factories in Changsha and Guangzhou, with a total annual production capacity of 328,000 vehicles. As one of its core assets, the Changsha factory has a planned production capacity of 164,000 vehicles in the first phase. In 2017, when GAC Fiat Chrysler was at its peak, its cumulative sales exceeded 220,000 vehicles. It was also in this year that GAC Fiat Chrysler's net assets reached a peak of 4.422 billion yuan. For a joint venture automaker focusing on SUVs, such an achievement is quite rare.

The turning point of fate began in 2018. In that year, GAC Fiat Chrysler experienced multiple blows such as complaints from car owners, 315 exposure, and dealer withdrawal, which led to a decline in sales. In this regard, GAC Fiat Chrysler President Mu Anze once reflected: "Jeep sales reached a peak in 2017, and then there was a quality problem of burning oil, but we did not respond well to solve the problem. This matter was delayed for too long and affected the image of our brand."

The collapse of word-of-mouth and the lack of new products have made GAC Fiat Chrysler's situation worse and worse. In 2020, GAC Fiat Chrysler's annual sales fell to 38,600 vehicles, and its capacity utilization rate was only 11.77%. In 2021, GAC Fiat Chrysler's annual sales were only 20,100 vehicles. In 2022, GAC Fiat Chrysler's production line was basically in a "shutdown" state. The production in March was only 1 vehicle, and then it was 0.

Image source: GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

The continuous decline in sales has led to high debts. As of September 30, 2022, GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (unaudited) had total assets of 7.322 billion yuan, total liabilities of 8.113 billion yuan, and an asset-liability ratio of 110.80%. Because the actual assets could not pay off all debts and the company had basically stopped operating, GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles filed for bankruptcy with the court in October of the same year and officially entered bankruptcy proceedings.

Its Guangzhou factory was subsequentlyGAC AionAfter being idle for two years, the Changsha factory still had no one to take it over, and two auctions failed.

The asset disposal of GAC Fiat Chrysler will continue, but what is left to the market, apart from sighs, are dealers who have difficulty in supplying after-sales parts and nearly one million Jeep owners (including imported Jeeps).

According to the "Three Guarantees Policy for Automobiles" issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the "Auto Sales Management Measures" issued by the Ministry of Commerce, if a company goes bankrupt, its after-sales service must meet the needs of users for 10 years after the production of the whole vehicle is stopped. However, according to market feedback, both imported and domestic Jeeps have different degrees of parts shortages. This situation exists in almost every brand that has gone bankrupt or withdrawn from the Chinese market. GAC Fiat Chrysler is not the first, and it will definitely not be the last.

Qoros Auto has been repeatedly executed‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Compared with GAC Fiat Chrysler, the Qoros Auto factory handled the situation much more smoothly.

At the end of 2022, Qoros Auto's production line was listed on the judicial auction platform at a price of 122.9 million yuan, but was later withdrawn. At the end of April this year, the asset was auctioned again at a price of 7.3863 million yuan, and was finally bought by Shenzhen Fengyu Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. at a price of 6.6476 million yuan in the second auction in May.

However, asset auctions are not the main difficulty facing Qoros Auto. The more difficult issue is actually the debt dispute. On August 8 and July 31, Qoros Auto added new information on the person subject to execution, with the execution targets being more than 32.57 million yuan and more than 107 million yuan respectively.

At present, Qoros Auto Co., Ltd. has more than 30 persons subject to enforcement, with a total enforcement amount of more than 740 million yuan. At the same time, the company is also involved in multiple consumption restriction orders, dishonest persons subject to enforcement, and final cases.

Qoros was born in 2007 and once carriedChery AutomobileThe task of impacting the high-end market was to enter the Qoros Auto market, but the subsequent development of Qoros Auto was unfavorable and it gradually became a discarded child. At the end of 2017, Baoneng Group began to invest in Qoros Auto and later became the major shareholder of Qoros Auto by acquiring equity. Yao Zhenhua, the head of Baoneng Group, once said that he would spend 50 billion yuan on the research and development of new products of Qoros Auto and expected to launch 26 new models by 2022.

However, from the time Baoneng Group took over to 2022, Qoros launched only one new model, the Qoros 7.

Image source: Qoros Auto

In fact, since 2020, Qoros Auto has been mired in negative news such as employee resignation and unpaid wages, factory shutdowns, and inadequate after-sales service. In 2021, Qoros Auto's production almost came to a halt. This year, Baoneng Group was also exposed to be deeply mired in funding problems, and the automotive sector began to lay off employees on a large scale. In 2022, Qoros Auto's real estate and vehicles were seized dozens of times. In May of the same year, Qoros Auto was included in the consumer blacklist by the Shandong Automobile Circulation Association.

At that time, Baoneng Group stated that it was seeking to introduce new investors for Qoros Auto, a "discarded child". However, as multiple debt disputes emerged and the brand's presence continued to weaken, Qoros Auto eventually ended up with a bleak delisting.

Until this year, even though the situation has faded, Qoros’ debt disputes have not been resolved and are even increasing.

Who will take over?

Ideal AutoCEO Li Xiang once said that as the elimination round intensifies, many brands will encounter operational and financial problems. If the social loss caused by mergers and acquisitions due to poor management is 10, the social loss caused by poor management and bankruptcy will be 100.

Judging from the turmoil between Qoros and GAC Fiat Chrysler, this situation is being confirmed one by one.

In recent years, Changan Suzuki, DongfengRenault, Brilliance Renault, GAC Mitsubishi, WM Motor, Byton, Bojun, Saleen, HiPhi, Skyworth, Yundu,HengchiBrands such as LG Electronics and LG Chem have successively withdrawn from the market. In addition to the billions of investment funds turning into bubbles, factories, employees, suppliers, dealers and other upstream and downstream are also "deeply in debt."

After these car companies collapsed, being acquired as a whole was the perfect outcome. However, not all car companies can be "taken over" after their gradual decline, especially new companies without large car groups as their parent companies.

In fact, with the fierce escalation of market competition, some brands that have developed relatively steadily over the years have also begun to face survival crises.

July 25,HondaHonda announced that it will close a joint venture plant in Guangzhou in October and another plant in Wuhan, Hubei Province, will stop production in November, with an estimated production cut of nearly 500,000 vehicles. This is Honda's first production cut in China and the largest production cut by a Japanese automaker in China.

On the one hand, the upward rise of domestic brands and the downward siege of luxury brands have further squeezed the living space of mainstream joint venture brands; on the other hand, under the tide of electrification and intelligence, the "halo" advantages accumulated by joint venture brands in the field of fuel vehicles in the past have also been continuously weakened.

"In the next three years, the automotive industry will enter a decisive battle. Just like the mergers and reorganizations that the home appliance and photovoltaic industries have experienced before, there will be some mergers and reorganizations in the decisive battle that will take three years at the fastest and five years at the slowest. This is the most effective way to become bigger and stronger."BYDAt the 2023 performance meeting, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu stated that the industry will truly enter an era of elimination. In this battle of survival of the fittest, automakers face a competition in cost, technology and scale.

In 2023,Changan AutomobileChairman Zhu Huarong once said that in the past three years, 75 brands have been closed, shut down or transferred. In the next 2-3 years, it is conservatively estimated that 60%-70% of the brands will face closure, shut down or transfer.

Regarding the follow-up issues after the bankruptcy of car companies, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that for the bankrupt car companies, mergers and reorganizations by other capable car companies will become the main solution.