China's economy has entered the "new normal" of slowing growth, the development growth rate of the automotive industry is also declining, and the development of auto parts enterprises has been affected by unprecedented impacts, presenting many problems. Of course, in the midst of crisis, some powerful parts companies have proved with their achievements that as long as they plan early, focus on research and development, and truly transform, they can still find new opportunities for development.
The auto parts industry is "organic in crisis"
1. Overall profitability declines, but companies with higher technical content are still growing.
The profitability of our country's auto parts industry has been declining as a whole in the past two years, which is a reality that we have to admit. But we also see that the profitability of parts companies with relatively high technical content is increasing.
According to the statistics of the annual reports of 71 listed parts companies in 2013, the cumulative operating income was 334.9 billion yuan, an increase of 14.17% year-on-year; net profit was 19.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.32%, and the average net profit margin was only 6.05%, a year-on-year decrease of 11.55%. The average net profit margin in 2012 was 6.84%, and the average net profit margin in 2011 was 7.53%. It can be seen from the data of the past three years that the profitability of parts companies is continuing to decline.
One of the factors of the continuous decline is that independent parts companies mainly support the commercial vehicle industry, and the commercial vehicle industry has only grown positively in the past three years, and the remaining two years have declined sharply. Judging from the development and changes of China's truck industry in the past ten years, five years have been high growth and five years have negative growth. The decline in the commercial vehicle industry has seriously affected the parts industry.
2. Imports of key components increased, and exports of low-level products were frustrated.
According to national customs data, in January ~ June 2014, the import value of automobile commodities reached 48.010 billion US dollars and the export value was 40.023 billion US dollars, an increase of 28.28% and 7.33% year-on-year respectively. The national auto parts import was 17.726 billion US dollars, and the export was 30.913 billion US dollars, an increase over the same period last year.
Although the export volume of auto parts has increased, the import volume of key components such as automatic transmissions, controllers, and EFI systems has increased even more. In recent years, many countries have launched "double anti" (anti-dumping, subsidy) investigations on Chinese auto parts, and the European Union has adopted tire labeling laws, etc., which have had a great impact on China's exports of related parts.
3. The rapid growth of foreign capital poses a serious challenge to independent parts enterprises.
At present, foreign auto parts companies are still growing rapidly in the Chinese market, full of confidence in the future of our country market, and continue to maintain a leading position in technology, while independent products are still at a disadvantage. Bosch, Delphi, Faurecia and many other foreign-funded companies have formulated plans to double their growth in China.
After years of hard work, foreign-funded auto parts companies have firmly occupied the high-end market of China's automobile supporting industries with their technical advantages. In addition, in recent years, many foreign brand parts have begun to reduce prices sharply, crowding out the low-end market that originally belonged to independent parts. This makes it more and more difficult for independent parts companies to survive. Some new products with huge investment, such as ABS, EFI systems, etc., are suppressed by the price advantage in the case of sharp price reductions of foreign products, and it is very difficult to promote.
4. The trust of vehicle companies in independent parts companies has decreased, and even discriminatory behavior.
The contradiction between our country's vehicle companies and parts companies has been contradictory for a long time, especially Chinese and foreign-funded parts companies are treated differently, which makes independent parts companies worse. For example, the difference between the inside and outside of the settlement standard, the opportunity to participate in fair bidding, and the payment of product development fees to local enterprises, etc., these discriminatory practices of vehicle companies, especially independent vehicle companies, in the supporting process have made many local parts companies chilled and helpless.
An important measure for the transformation and upgrading of independent brand vehicle enterprises is to upgrade the supply chain, select a large number of foreign brand parts, and more and more independent vehicle companies are closing the supporting door to local parts companies.
Cultivating a strong parts industry requires the awareness of vehicle enterprises. If our country's vehicle companies and parts companies are still in such a zero-level relationship, there will be a serious crisis in China's automobile industry in the future.
5. Parts enterprises lack policy support.
It is an indisputable fact that China's auto parts industry lacks policy support. At present, our country's parts and components enterprises are unorganized and disorderly, in a state of single-mindedness, which is completely free competition, and the positive role that the government should play is basically invisible.
The policies introduced in recent years are basically aimed at vehicles, the most typical is new energy vehicles as a national strategic emerging industry, and large subsidies are all allocated to vehicle companies, but it is difficult to get support for batteries, motors and other enterprises as core components.
At the symposium on returnee talents in China's automobile industry held by China Automobile News, returnee experts unanimously called for the development of parts enterprises to become the key to the strength of China's automobile industry, and whether the government can tilt the balance to parts companies while continuously stimulating and encouraging the development of vehicle enterprises to help China's parts industry develop better.
6. The investment channel is single, and technological innovation lacks strong financial support.
our country's parts enterprises have a single investment and financing channel, and a single channel for obtaining production factors. In recent years, some local governments have given away a lot of land, capital and other production factors to vehicle enterprises free of charge, but there is little support for parts companies.
In the case of the slowdown in the growth rate of the automobile market and the difficulty of survival of parts companies, some companies reduce costs in order to maintain the market and first reduce R&D investment. The R&D investment of our country's auto parts enterprises is not enough, and the R&D investment accounts for 2%~3% of sales revenue is already good, while the R&D investment ratio of Bosch and other auto parts multinational companies is more than 5%, and some are even as high as 10%. If the investment in innovation is insufficient, the gap will only widen.
7. There are major problems in the system and mechanism, and there is still a lot of room for reform.
There is a lot of room for reform of the system and mechanism of our country's parts and components enterprises, and the reform dividends still exist. Some old parts companies are now very difficult to operate, due to the rigidity of the system and mechanism, conformity, and failure to transform in time, resulting in marginalization or even elimination.
A large number of private enterprises and mixed-ownership parts enterprises, due to the relatively flexible system and mechanism, many enterprises are sensitive to market response, strong adaptability, and the current development is in a good state. Some private and mixed-ownership parts enterprises with ideals and pursuits have clear strategic goals and clear plans, and have the determination and perseverance to become "century-old stores".
Regarding institutional obstacles, it is also reflected in the alliance between enterprises. There are many alliances in our country's automotive industry, and the combination of industry, education and research has been implemented for many years, but many scientific research achievements have not been transformed, and many alliances have ended in vain. Of course, there are also good examples, such as the Automotive Lightweight Innovation Alliance organized by the China Society of Automotive Engineers, and the large-scale auto parts park in Hangzhou Bay New Area, Zhejiang Province, which have achieved good results.
8. Talents are scarce, but a group of leading talents in technological innovation have emerged.
During this year's Beijing Auto Show, we conducted a questionnaire survey on auto parts companies. The survey shows that the lack of talents leads to the lack of technology of self-owned brand auto parts enterprises, which is the main reason for the backwardness of independent brand automobile enterprises. Specific to the most scarce type of talent, engineers and management talents received the highest votes, followed by sales talents and skilled workers, and no company believed that "there is no worry about talent shortage".
However, we are pleased to see that in the parts industry, a group of leading talents in technological innovation are emerging, especially university professors and some researchers in colleges and universities, who take the lead in innovation, research key components and key technologies, and bring hope to the parts industry. For example, Professor Song Jian of Tsinghua University, who led the research and development of AMT by Suzhou Green Control, and Professor Xu Xiangyang of Beihang University, who played a major role in the Shengrui 8AT innovation project.
Gratifying changes from 100 parts suppliers
It is undeniable that although there are still many problems in our country's auto parts industry, we should not belittle ourselves because of this, and we should also see the growth and progress of independent parts enterprises. For example, China's "100 excellent parts suppliers" are leaders in their respective industries, leading the development of their respective industries. Some of them have successfully achieved transformation and upgrading, some have achieved the ultimate in specialization, some have achieved leapfrog development after the implementation of overseas mergers and acquisitions, some have entered the supply chain system of multinational automobile companies, some have been able to wrestle arms with multinational parts companies in key core components, and some have made great progress on the road of energy conservation and emission reduction.
1. Significant progress has been made in the development of precision and specialization. Practice has proved that taking the road of refinement, specialization, innovation and special is the only way out for parts. Parts companies want to be singles champions, as long as they have professional technology and a dedicated team, they can make a product to the extreme. For example, Longcheng Precision Forging is a private enterprise located in Wujin, Jiangsu Province, which only produces a small part of the claw pole in the motor, but accounts for 33% of the global OEM market, the global OEM market is 180 million, and Longcheng Precision Forging has achieved 60 million, becoming the preferred supplier of Bosch, Valeo, Remy and other motor companies.
2. Acquire international advanced technology through acquisition. For example, Joyson Electronics, through the acquisition of Germany's Purui, has become the exclusive supplier of BMW's electric vehicle battery management system, and has also become the supplier of driver operating systems for luxury brands such as Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, so that luxury brands have been imprinted with the Chinese mark, and Joyson Electronics has also achieved leapfrog development, with sales revenue of 7 billion yuan.
3. The right to speak in a certain sub-industry has increased, and the international competitiveness has been improved. In the field of automotive wheels, Zhejiang Wanfeng Aowei Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. has entered a stage of in-depth strategic cooperation with international car companies such as General Motors, BMW, and Ford, not only as a global strategic supplier of GM and BMW, but also as the exclusive supplier of Land Rover China, but also successfully entered the Japanese Toyota system last year. In the field of airbags, Jinzhou Jinheng Automotive Safety System Co., Ltd. has successfully broken through the suppression of multinational competitors such as Autoliv, Trina, and Takata in the past few years, and entered the supporting system of multinational car companies such as Volkswagen, Peugeot, and Citroen. In addition, there are many local companies that have become the world's sales leaders in the field of subdivisions, such as Jinzhou Wanyou in the field of shock absorber piston rods, Far East Transmission in the field of commercial vehicle drive shafts, Fast in the field of commercial vehicle transmissions, etc.
4. The transformation has been successful, and the product has been upgraded. For example, Bohai Piston, a leading enterprise in our country's commercial vehicle piston field, has also successfully expanded into the passenger car market in recent years. It has not only established in-depth cooperation with independent brands such as Geely, Chery, BYD, JAC, and Changan, but also successfully entered the supporting systems of European and American car companies. And with its excellent quality, it has won the favor of the senior management of the purchasing department of the German Volkswagen Group. In 2013, the company supplied in batches for German Volkswagen; In 2014, it passed the VDA6.3 audit of Daimler-Benz in Germany with a high score of 91.4 points, becoming an A-level supplier of Daimler-Benz, one of the world's four major automotive systems. In addition, a large number of small but huge growth potential have emerged. For example, Kunming Guiyan Catalyst Co., Ltd., through years of research and development of three-effect rare earth-based catalysts for automobile exhaust purification, has successfully entered the supporting system of German Volkswagen, and Longpan Petrochemical entered the development of automotive urea products a few years ago, and currently occupies 70% of the automotive urea market.
5. There have been breakthroughs in key components and great changes in the innovation model. In recent years, local parts companies have made important breakthroughs in key and core product fields such as automatic transmissions. Fast's automatic transmissions for commercial vehicles have already been installed in small batches in the field of buses and terminal tractors. After 7 years of research and development, Shandong Shengrui Transmission has entered a critical stage of industrialization. The mass production of 8AT will not only shake the voice of foreign capital in this field, but also have a profound impact on the development of our country's independent automatic transmission industry.
We are even more pleased to see that today's local parts companies no longer only focus on scale, but pay more attention to product quality; no longer only satisfied with the improvement of sales revenue, but pay more attention to the quality of operation; It is not only focused on the competitiveness of a single product, but also pays more attention to the competitiveness of the entire system. This means that the extensive business methods of the past have been gradually abandoned.
Auto parts are the main battlefield of automotive technology innovation
Today, the situation of our country's auto parts industry can be described as "organic in crisis". The industrial difficulties we face are very serious, but the huge and diverse market demand, the changing industrial landscape, and the opportunities for mergers and acquisitions in the global market have not lost the opportunity to break through.
At present, in the development trend of our country's automobile market, I think the main battlefield for the future innovation and development of China's automobiles is auto parts. Parts are the foundation of the automobile industry, vehicle technology comes from the technological innovation of parts, and parts enterprises are the core part of the core technology of vehicle enterprises.
At present, the integrated innovation ability of the whole vehicle has reached a high level, while the development level and innovation ability of parts have not kept up with the pace of the whole vehicle. This provides opportunities for innovation and development in the current and future auto parts market. This opportunity is created by the market, and it will inevitably be determined by the market to allocate resources. In a state where the market determines the allocation of resources, private enterprises and mixed-ownership enterprises will be the main force to seize this opportunity. These companies can not only seize opportunities, but also turn opportunities into capabilities. I have a hunch that their internationalization capabilities will be improved beyond imagination, and innovation in the fields of new energy and the Internet will exceed imagination.
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