TU-TESL

• 22

As one of the first multinational car companies to enter the Chinese market, PSA group's current development situation in China is not optimistic. According to the sales data released by China Federation of passenger cars, from January to October 2019, the cumulative sales volume of DPCA was 102576, a year-on-year decrease of 54%; the cumulative sales volume of Peugeot Citroen was 2035, a year-on-year decrease of 43.7%. On media day 2019, Gao Kailin, member of PSA Group Executive Committee, executive vice president of PSA group and President of China and Asia, explained the current situation and reflection of PSA group's development in China, as well as its future counter attack plan. When talking about the impression of the Chinese market, Gao Kailin gave three key words: "large scale", "complex" and "difficult". First of all, although China is the largest auto market in the world, it is also one of the most competitive auto markets in the world. In this large-scale market, there are numerous automobile brands. Once automobile enterprises fall behind in the competition, other brands will lose their original market share. At this time, it becomes a very difficult thing to return to the mainstream. Talking about PSA's sales performance in China at present, Gao Kailin said: "in my opinion, PSA's product strength is very excellent. Its sales performance in Europe and other regional markets is comparable to that of its competitors, but it is in a dilemma in China." PSA group has carried out a drastic reform in the Chinese market. According to Gao Kailin, PSA group's current demand is not for the company to return to its peak sales performance, but for profit. Peugeot 508 actually looks at PSA group's financial statements, and it's not hard to understand why this enterprise has the above demands. In the third quarter of 2019, PSA group's operating revenue was 15.579 billion euros (about 121.93 billion yuan), up 1% year on year. Among them, the revenue of the automobile sector was 11.824 billion euros (92.54 billion yuan), up 0.1% year on year. It is worth noting that the above results are achieved on the premise that the group's sales volume in the Chinese market fell by more than 50% year on year and the loss of DPCA in the first half of the year reached 2.5 billion yuan. If DPCA can make its own contribution, PSA group can immediately submit a more eye-catching financial statement. Based on the above demands, DPCA announced the "Yuan" plan in September, and is ready to restore the overall value chain of the enterprise to a healthy development track through the efforts of "Peiyuan", "Guyuan" and "Tuoyuan". In terms of sales volume, the company gave up the seemingly "unrealistic" goal of "crossing a million vehicles" and set the long-term sales target as "returning to 400000 vehicles". After the sales target of Peugeot 2008 was greatly reduced, the redundant production capacity and management mechanism of DPCA were adjusted accordingly. First, in terms of production capacity, according to the public information, DPCA has three factories in Wuhan and one in Chengdu, with a total annual production capacity of 990000 vehicles. After the implementation of the "Yuan" plan, the company's annual production capacity will be reduced to 200000-300000 vehicles. In terms of management mechanism, the number of members of the Executive Committee of the highest decision-making body of DPCA has been reduced from 12 to 10; its controversial system of "two ministers and two signatures" has also been abolished, and the leaders of China and France in the enterprise will no longer argue for the right of speech, and the efficiency of decision-making has been greatly improved. In addition, PSA group also expressed great importance to the Chinese market in this Guangzhou auto show. Peugeot 2008 was launched globally in the media day of this show, which is the first global launch of Peugeot brand models in China. In this Guangzhou auto show, PSA group brought Peugeot e-2008, the first model of Peugeot brand, to Chinese consumers. Peugeot 4008 new energy and Peugeot 508 new energy also appeared on the exhibition stand. "Peugeot e-2008" in the view of some industry insiders, PSA group's electrification is a bit "untimely". Although China is the largest new energy vehicle market in the world, the sales volume of China's new energy vehicle market has been declining since July. The China Automobile Industry Association also said that in 2019, China's new energy vehicle market is likely to have a negative growth in the whole year. To solve this problem, Gao Kailin is optimistic. In his opinion, the decline of China's new energy market is caused by some products. These products are low in technology and cannot attract consumers by normal means. They can only survive in the market. Since the end of June, the new energy subsidies have declined, and these products have lost their living space in an instant. Facing the future, China's new energy vehicle market segment still has a vast growth space in the huge volume of China's passenger vehicle market, and only at this time when the layout is in advance, the group can be in the leading position in the future market competition. In addition to Peugeot 508 new energy, PSA group's electrification in huafanli is not only to seek such simple sales data, but also to release the signal of enterprise transformation, so that Chinese consumers once again feel the existence of PSA group. "What we have done in China before is not good enough. Now electrification is the second opportunity for PSA group in China. We need to seize this opportunity and correct the previous mistakes, so that PSA group's products can become the mainstream choice of Chinese consumers again." It is understood that in addition to several new energy models on display in Guangzhou auto show, every new model of PSA group will have pure electric or hybrid version in the future. It is expected that PSA group will launch 15 new energy models in the early 2021, and the whole vehicle series will have pure electric or plug-in hybrid models by 2025. "Peugeot 4008 new energy" refers to DS, Opel, Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall under PSA. DS brand, which has fallen into the whirlpool of public opinion due to "50% equity of Changan Peugeot Citroen listed in Changan Auto", will launch a new offensive in the Chinese market with the help of electrification. It is understood that from 2019, all new models of DS brand will provide electric versions for consumers to choose; it is expected that from 2025, all models of DS will be new energy models, and the production and sales of fuel vehicles will be stopped in an all-round way. The DS 3 Crossback e-tense, the first model of the brand, will be introduced to China in September 2020; its plug-in hybrid DS 7 Crossback e-tense four-wheel drive version will soon enter the Chinese market.