This is really an interesting phenomenon. When people continue to take the home appliance industry in comparison with the automotive industry, home appliance companies have entered the automotive field.
The Chunlan Group entered the earliest stage. From the start of motorcycle construction to the creation of heavy trucks, the industry has regarded Chunlan as its counterpart. At present, home appliance companies such as Midea, Haier, Xinfei, and Kelon have entered the automotive field to form a home appliance manufacturing industry. This is the second round of private capital investment in cars following the entry of Geely and Brilliance several years ago.
Can the home appliance's own brand be transplanted directly?
It is said that China’s home appliance industry is doing better than the automotive industry. The main reason is that home appliances have a number of brands with independent intellectual property rights. These brands not only occupy the domestic market, but also some of them are sold in the world. Unfortunately, after all, it is the brand of home appliances. I am afraid that it will not be transferred directly to the car.
Just as Chunlan did not cause much shock in the industry, the new home appliance repair phenomenon is still nothing. Although Chunlan Zhongka’s production and sales are now ranked third in the country, Chunlan’s ultimate solution is to seek a joint venture with Japan’s Hino Motors. In accordance with the current Sino-foreign joint venture model, it will inevitably produce multinational brand cars, even if Chunlan’s brand continues to produce. It is no match for Hino. It seems that the Chunlan brand was used in trucks for more than two years, but it only added more weight to the Chinese negotiations.
In addition to Chunlan, there are two home appliance brands in the car, Xinfei and Haier. Xinfei and Haier picked a cold car for the car --- refrigerated trucks, trademarks can only be placed in the body, they use the chassis for Iveco, Isuzu, etc., from the number of points, the new fly car and Haier cars are There will be no brand appeal like new flying refrigerators and Haier refrigerators.
The journalist contacted Midea's car-related collaborators and heard that the direction of cooperation should be open and introduced. No matter how good the US brand is, it is also referred to as air conditioners, fans, etc. Even if it is transplanted to a passenger car, I am afraid there are still no partners of its “Sanxiang†and “welcome guests†who are loud. Moreover, whether the US brand is used in the car is still talking about it.
Where does the product come from?
The main reason why the industry disapproves of home appliance repair is to solve the product problem.
The Yunnan Coach Factory, the Yunnan Coach Modification Factory, and the Hunan Xiangxiang Coach Company, which are currently cooperating with the United States, are all old state-owned enterprises with very difficult operating conditions. Their biggest advantage is that they have product “announcementsâ€, factories, and equipment, but rely on them. The old product could not open the market. Even if the United States is good at marketing, it is good at home appliances marketing, with the car two things.
When foreign capital enters China, it brings about products and brings more money. Like Beijing Hyundai, it took less than a year to become a mainstream car company, relying on modern South Korea's ready-made products, and can achieve a new product each year. Even if it is as powerful as a multinational company, when its mainstream products are all run out, it will also face the question of what products to come to China. The most difficult problem for the Chinese auto industry is that it does not have a good R&D capability, including the inability to develop good trucks and buses.
Home appliance companies do not have automotive products themselves, and the products of the merged auto companies are tantamount to a dead end; research and development of new products, such as Chunlan trucks, have done well, but they fear that once FAW and Dongfeng make energy out of the cars, they will find themselves in trucks. What kind of situation is it? Even if it succeeds in a joint venture with Hino, whether or not the brand of Hino can compete in the future will not necessarily be Mercedes-Benz, which will be a joint venture with BAIC.
The third way is to talk about foreign cooperation and the introduction of foreign products. However, large multinational corporations are almost everywhere, and automobile industry policies have restrictions on the number of joint venture vehicles. It takes a certain period of time for home appliances to enter, and it is difficult to go to foreign cooperation.
How to do technology?
The home appliance industry cannot solve the technical problems of the car.
Geely and Jiangsu Yueda, which entered the appliance market first, have a personal understanding of the R&D problem of the car. A media quoted Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Group, as saying: “In other industries without auto manufacturing and marketing experience, before entering the automotive industry, they thought that the profits of the auto industry were high. Only after they really entered did they realize that doing cars is not easy. China’s sedan has a high threshold for independent research and development, which requires the support of necessary conditions such as market, capital, technology, and parts and components supporting systems, etc. The development of a new model will inevitably require hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. Enterprises are simply unable to share the huge R&D expenses. Air-conditioning, audio, etc. are just a few of the auto parts, and the investment of amateur capital in the auto manufacturing industry needs to bear the investment risk.†It cannot be proved whether this is Li Shufu’s original words, but these experiences are enough to send people. Think deeply. Although it is a car, but a new generation of trucks, buses in all aspects of investment as much as cars.
The home appliance industry has indeed accumulated capital. However, the 2 billion yuan and 3 billion yuan cannot match the 1 billion euros (about 9 billion yuan) invested by BAIC and Mercedes-Benz. The United States has never admitted that it will invest 3.7 billion yuan in cars. That is what the media said. The United States believes that there is no practical significance. This is actually a signal that the home appliance industry's money is not too much to use.
The home appliance industry is doing a good job. It is because they have withstood the baptism of the market and prove their strength. They have defeated multinational home appliance companies. However, there is also an argument that the multinational home appliance company abandoned the Chinese market later, making the domestic appliance company and the multinational company's head-on conflict not too fierce.
The home appliance industry has entered the auto industry, but it competes with the auto giants on the same level as multinational home appliance companies. Multinational auto companies have entered the Chinese auto industry earlier than home appliances, and now have the upper hand in all aspects.
The best we can get is mature market operation experience
It may not take brand, product and technology, but the home appliance industry can bring valuable operating experience in the market and an efficient and flexible management mechanism for private enterprises.
When the American media group director, vice president and president of Weishang Company and the general manager of the US automotive investment project Zhao Yong answered a reporter’s question in the media, he said: “The United States has a good corporate management mechanism, manufacturing management experience and marketing capabilities. We are not very optimistic about the current operating status of the acquired company, but through the integration of a certain period of time and through the export of the management mechanism and culture of the United States, we believe that there will soon be returns."
Not only do home appliance companies think they are already qualified market players, but Feng Fei, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Economics of the Development Research Center of the State Council, even believes that technological innovation in automobiles is a problem in systems and mechanisms, not in capabilities and financial resources. With innovative main body and innovation mechanism, there is innovation impulse. These new enterprises entering the automobile precisely have a good corporate governance structure, a good incentive mechanism, etc., and are urgently needed by many old automotive state-owned enterprises.
The high degree of marketization has indeed become a magic weapon for the home appliance industry. Current home appliance companies that have survived have withstood cruel market competition and are not dependent on government protection and intervention. The government once imposed a strict examination and approval system for the home appliance industry. It was precisely because the market operation of home appliances was relatively perfect. Therefore, the approval of home appliances was abolished. It is possible to combine the market experience of home appliances with the professional methods of the automobile, and a new development path will emerge.