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our reporter chen maoli reports from beijing

"even if we fall out of the top ten, we must take the right path." "all enterprises should not serve capital, nor make money from capital, but create value for society."

recently, wei jianjun, chairman of great wall motors, said in a live broadcast of cctv's "china economic gravitational field" how he viewed the fact that great wall's sales volume was far behind its competitors. a reporter from china business news watched the live broadcast in its entirety, during which wei jianjun responded to a series of questions including great wall motors' sales ranking, market competition, and globalization.

according to the china passenger car association, from january to august 2024, great wall motors sold 627,200 passenger cars, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%. the market share was 3.9%. it ranked seventh in the manufacturer's wholesale sales ranking, and its sales ranking has declined compared with previous years.

wei jianjun said: "while foreign car companies are making a lot of money all over the world, chinese car companies are struggling in the domestic market. if chinese car companies can sell their products to overseas markets, do we still need to struggle ourselves?"

“i’m not afraid even if i fall out of the top ten”

wei jianjun said: "when great wall motors' sales volume was the best, it was ranked fourth in the industry. now it is ranked 8th or 9th. we are not afraid even if we fall out of the top ten, because we must grasp compliance and bottom line in order to develop healthily."

when asked about the possibility that great wall motors might fall out of the top ten list (auto industry ranking), wei jianjun said bluntly: "enterprise development must be viewed in the long term, not in the short term."

according to the manufacturer wholesale sales list released by the china passenger car association, from january to august 2024, great wall motors ranked seventh with 627,200 passenger car wholesales.

although the sales ranking has declined compared with previous years, great wall motors' operating quality in the first half of this year was very high. according to the 2024 semi-annual report released by great wall motors, in the first half of the year, great wall motors achieved revenue of 91.429 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.67%; net profit of 7.079 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 419.99%; gross profit of 18.962 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 60.82%.

compared with some automakers that only care about sales, great wall motors pays more attention to business quality. wei jianjun once said in response to investors' questions at this year's shareholders' meeting: "great wall motors must pursue quality market share."

relying on capital to build cars will disrupt the era of electric vehicles

in 2023, toyota's annual net profit will be 249.2 billion yuan, several times more than the total net profit of all chinese automakers. why are chinese automakers far less profitable than toyota?

wei jianjun explained: "it's not that the industry is bad, electric cars are bad, smart driving is bad, or plug-in hybrids are bad. the current involution (in the auto industry) should be malicious competition. my experience is that cars are sold below cost without a bottom line."

"from a legal perspective, selling cars below cost is not allowed. we don't believe that their (some car manufacturers') finances are real. relying on capital to build cars will disrupt such a good era for electric vehicles," wei jianjun further stated.

he believes that excessive price competition will only lead to a vicious cycle, depriving the entire industry of a healthy development environment. if a company does not make a profit, it will be difficult to maintain for a long time. "for the normal development of a company, it must have a reasonable profit to protect the subsequent rights and interests of consumers, including the residual value of used cars, after-sales service, spare parts, etc. into a normal cycle."

the natural attribute of automobiles is globalization

"automobile brands must be globalized, and chinese cars must go global." "will we die in china or abroad? great wall motors has chosen to die abroad. we must take on the challenge anyway." wei jianjun has mentioned many times in interviews the urgency of the globalization of china's independent brands.

in this live interview, wei jianjun once again emphasized the importance of "going global." "the natural attribute of automobiles is globalization, and every car company is willing to enter the high-end market, such as the united states and germany."

in his opinion, without a global layout, survival will become a problem. if you want to survive better, you must face the global market. this is the road that all chinese automotive people must take together.

public data shows that great wall motors began exporting pickup trucks in 1997. it now has three full-process vehicle production bases and multiple kd factories in eurasia, thailand and brazil, more than 1,300 overseas sales channels, and cumulative overseas sales of more than 1.6 million vehicles. its overseas performance is in the leading position among domestic brands.

in 2023, great wall motors' overseas annual sales exceeded 300,000 vehicles for the first time. from january to june 2024, great wall motors sold 199,800 vehicles overseas, a year-on-year increase of 62.09%, marking eight consecutive years of growth.

"i loved playing with cars and the automotive industry when i was young. this is my biggest motivation for building cars. i not only hope that more chinese people can drive the cars we build, but i also hope that our cars can run in every corner of the world," said wei jianjun.

(editor: zhang shuo, reviewer: tong haihua, proofreader: yan jingning)