nanjing factory may be adjusted, saic volkswagen faces dual challenges of declining sales and intensifying competition
2024-09-28
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is saic volkswagen's nanjing factory going to close? will passat be discontinued?
a piece of news that saic volkswagen's nanjing plant may be closed is circulating in the industry. on september 27, saic volkswagen responded to the beijing news shell finance reporter that the production work of the nanjing factory is currently running normally, and the possibility of adjustments to the nanjing factory in the future cannot be ruled out. this adjustment is based on the company's strategic planning and in response to market trends. the company's adjustments to the production base are normal and necessary business behaviors.
the main model produced by the nanjing plant is passat. saic volkswagen said that the production capacity of all passat models is sufficient, and production and sales are all normal. beijing news shell finance reporter learned from many 4s stores in beijing and shanghai that 24 passat models are currently discontinued, and the pick-up time for 25 passat pro models is as short as 3 days and as long as 30 days.
behind the adjustment of the nanjing factory, saic volkswagen is facing considerable sales pressure. saic-volkswagen's sales fell by 22.75% year-on-year in august this year, and cumulative sales in the first eight months fell by 4.81% year-on-year. in addition, the current designed production capacity of the meb plant of saic volkswagen's pure electric platform is 240,000 vehicles. in fact, the platform's production capacity will be 106,500 vehicles in 2023, with a capacity utilization rate of only 44%.
automobile industry analysts believe that facing the dual challenges of declining sales and intensifying market competition, the necessity and urgency of adjustment and transformation of saic-volkswagen's factories have become highlighted.
saic volkswagen 4s store is conducting promotions. photo by beijing news shell finance reporter lin zi
nanjing factory adjustment “is normal business behavior”
on september 24, the beijing news shell finance reporter visited the shanghai xietong zhongsheng automobile 4s store. the salesperson said that saic volkswagen has not closed the nanjing factory at present, but has adjusted the production line of the 24-model passat to the 25-model passat due to the launch of new models.
on september 27, a salesperson from shanghai guanzhong automobile sales and service co., ltd. said on the phone that it only takes 3 days to pick up the 25 passat pro models. the sales staff in the above-mentioned 4s stores all said that currently 24 passat models have been discontinued, and some stores have discounts on existing cars.
the time to pick up a car in beijing is longer than that in shanghai. a salesperson at the beijing vantone hongli 4s store said that the 25 passat pro models are sold at a unified price across the country. it takes about a month to pick up the car in beijing. “i don’t know the situation at the nanjing factory and have not felt the impact. the time to pick up the car is normal".
the time to pick up a car in guangdong is shorter. the beijing news shell finance reporter called the guangzhou yuanze 4s store and guangzhou yuanmai 4s store and learned that there are 25 passat pro models in the store. regarding the rumors that the nanjing factory has stopped production, the sales staff repeatedly said "impossible."
"as far as i know, these cars are shipped from factories in jiangsu, zhejiang and shanghai, but each batch may be from a different factory and may not only come from the nanjing factory." a salesperson at the guilin dongming automobile 4s store said that he has not yet felt the car pick-up and delivery are affected. "other factories can also produce passat." passat sales exceeded 20,000 units in august this year, making it the sales champion of mid- to high-end sedans.
regarding the possibility of adjustments to the nanjing factory, saic volkswagen explained it as "based on market needs and product planning, saic volkswagen will launch many new products in the future, and the production base must also plan accordingly."
at the same time, saic volkswagen stated that it has two vehicle plants in nanjing and yizheng, jiangsu, and the two places are less than 80 kilometers apart. in the face of new market trends and corporate strategic planning, it is necessary to integrate resources from an economic perspective and conduct an overall consideration of the production capacity layout of jiangsu bases.
saic-volkswagen's sales fell by more than 20% in august
behind the adjustment of the nanjing factory, saic volkswagen's sales continued to decline.
saic group's production and sales report shows that in august this year, saic volkswagen sold 85,000 vehicles, down 22.75% year-on-year. the cumulative sales in the first eight months of this year fell 4.81% year-on-year. in august last year, saic volkswagen sold 110,000 vehicles, down 13.84% year-on-year. the cumulative sales in the first eight months of last year fell 14.38% year-on-year.
the sales of the saic audi brand under saic volkswagen increased by 92.8% year-on-year in the first eight months of this year, but the cumulative sales volume is 25,000 vehicles. in absolute terms, an average of 3,100 vehicles are sold per month, which is not very optimistic.
the volkswagen group behind saic volkswagen has also recently reported news of layoffs. the volkswagen group responded that the group will launch performance plans in all its brands in 2023 to maintain success in a challenging industry situation and increase efficiency by 20% by 2026. volkswagen group (china), like all other departments, participates in and supports global performance plans.
bai wenxi, vice chairman of the china enterprise capital alliance, told the beijing news shell finance reporter that the current competition in the new energy vehicle market is extremely fierce, and many domestic and foreign brands have launched various new energy models. for example, the new energy models currently on sale by saic volkswagen include id.3, id.4, and id.6x. among them, id.6x is a 7-seat pure electric medium and large suv. the pure version has a recommended retail price of 259,800 yuan and a four-wheel drive. the price is 329,300 yuan. the tang ev launched by byd is a 7-seat pure electric medium-sized suv with a guide price starting from 219,800 yuan.
"as a new energy model of saic volkswagen, the id series needs to face challenges from many competitors such as tesla and byd. these competitors have their own advantages in terms of brand influence, technological innovation, product performance and sales channels. ", bai wenxi said.
meb capacity utilization rate of pure electric plants is low
on july 18 this year, saic-volkswagen changed its leadership, and tao hailong, the former general manager of huayu automotive systems co., ltd., took over as the general manager of saic-volkswagen.
tao hailong mentioned in his debut in early september this year, "given the current market situation, saic volkswagen is still under great pressure, requiring our entire team to walk on thin ice and race against time to win the market."
regarding the possible decline in the market share of oil trucks in the future, tao hailong said, "i think the 'roll' in the chinese market is far from over." we must be prepared to focus on hybrid power and new energy. "the market share of these two will definitely increase."
in february 2023, the then general manager jia jianxu proposed the "nine-character policy": promote gas-powered vehicles, stabilize electric vehicles, and install audi. this also means that fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles, and saic audi are the focus of saic volkswagen's work.
today, saic volkswagen is increasing its cooperation with audi to promote the development of intelligent digital platforms in order to occupy a place in the luxury intelligent electric market. in terms of new energy vehicles, the 4s store salesperson said that among the joint venture brands of toyota, honda, nissan, ford and other multinational car companies, saic volkswagen’s pure electric vehicle sales are already pretty good, but they cannot compare with domestically produced vehicles. .
"joint car companies previously developed more petrol vehicles and did not have a platform specifically for producing electric vehicles. however, saic volkswagen has developed an exclusive pure electric platform, the meb platform," the salesperson said.
however, in the 2023 financial report released by saic group, saic volkswagen's design production capacity was 2.088 million vehicles, and the production capacity during the reporting period was only 1.202 million vehicles, with a capacity utilization rate of 58%. specific to new energy vehicles, saic volkswagen's meb plant has a designed production capacity of 240,000 vehicles. during the reporting period, the production capacity was 106,500 vehicles, with a capacity utilization rate of only 44%.
compared with the new car-making factories that are often rumored to be operating at full capacity and working in three shifts, saic volkswagen's pure electric platform is slightly idle.
beijing news shell finance reporter lin zi
editor bai haotian
proofread by mu xiangtong
