The most important policy in the area of automobile circulation is about to be published after many rounds of discussions and revisions。
In recent days, sources have revealed to daily economics reporters that the new version of the automobile brand management scheme will dilute the concept of “brand” or change its name to “car sales management scheme” (hereinafter referred to as the scheme)。
It was also understood that, in the second revision, the assumption that the core thrust of maintaining branding authorization remained unchanged was confirmed, but that the scheme would improve the symmetrical position of automobile manufacturers and distributors by relaxing the rigidity of vendor construction and adjusting business policies。
The view was expressed that the scheme offered in theory more possibilities for the model of car sales and that both whole-car sales and after-sale services would change. However, as the core rule of “authorization” of the manufacturer has not been broken, it is difficult to adjust the domestic channel model significantly in the short term。
The new scheme balances distributor interests/
Those involved in the discussions on the revision of the scheme had previously briefed journalists in the daily economy news that the main direction of the revision was to create a more level playing field in the market and, to some extent, to ease the serious asymmetries between past distributors and car manufacturers. The act on the administration of automobile brand sales, which was officially implemented on 1 april 2005, lays down the basic model of automobile sales in the country, strengthening to some extent the strong dominance of the mainframe plant in the chain of industry and controlling “dominant power” from the determination of sales prices, the margin of profit for distributors, network building for distributors and brand promotion。
With the gradual shift of the car consumer market from the seller market to the buyer's market, the sale of new cars slowed and, under high-target pressure from the producers, the situation of oversupply in the market led to a rapid deterioration in the survival of distributors, which led to growing tensions between the parties, and the distributors began to look to the revision of the scheme for their own benefit。
According to the sources mentioned above, the new scheme will be “disturbed” for distributors in the future or in many ways. For example, in the area of network planning, future car manufacturers may not impose requirements on distributors in terms of operating forecasts, site layout programmes, network construction progress and building of shops, software and hardware, post-sale service standards; in the area of business policy, automobile manufacturers may not force the sale of car or accessories, or impose requirements on distributors ' advertising methods, expenses, etc.; and the contract cycle between the mainframe and authorized distributors will also be extended from the current year to five years。
In addition, in the context of the widely noted business model, the revised version also proposes a model for encouraging the development of diversified channels such as automobile supermarkets and automobile electricians, encouraging the liberalization of post-sales markets and promoting the upgrading of distributors ' maintenance。
It is a matter of concern, however, that the previously controversial principle of “authorization of business” remains unswerving and that many of the dealer's business will continue to be carried out under the authority of the mainframe or general distributor. In the view of luo lin, deputy secretary-general of the chinese association for automobile circulation, “this model, which exists not only in china, but also in developed countries such as europe, the united states, japan and others, must be subject to relevant regulations in the course of cooperation between distributors and manufacturers, and therefore cannot be easily broken”
Dealers expect accompanying rules to be issued/
“despite the fact that the amendments have liberalized the many rights of dealers, in practice, as long as the model of authorized business remains unchanged, the car manufacturer has always controlled the rules of the game, and most dealers are still indifferent.” an example from a dealer in the south-west region to a journalist for the daily economic news analyses that “in the first and second-line cities, there are as many as a dozen joint brand sites, such as the shanghai public, one steam-people, and there are too many distributors that the distributor can choose, and if the distributor voluntarily lowers the standard or represents multiple brands, it may be “food cut” and excluded from the authorized operating system.”
In third- and fourth-line cities, there are currently grey secondary sites that may be legally identified as a result of the arrival of the new scheme, but because they are not integrated into the formal management system of the manufacturer, consumers may be at risk from car purchase to sale. As a result, a number of car manufacturers, such as the public and the east wind, had been forced to clean up the sites. In response, the view was expressed that the legalization of secondary sites should be regulated by more policy by-laws in order to provide consumer protection。
Moreover, “post-sales reforms” that are widely regarded by the industry have not been a pleasure for distributors. “in the light of the present situation, liberalization can easily make the division of responsibilities between sellers difficult to define.” an east china distributor indicated to journalists。
According to article 11 of the guidance on requesting the transformation and upgrading of services in the automotive maintenance industry, issued jointly by the ministry of transport and 10 other ministries on 18 september this year, “a car production and its authorized marketing, maintenance enterprises (including importing automobile operators) may not restrict, interfere with, or refuse to provide maintenance services on the grounds that the car has chosen to provide non-authorized maintenance services within the `three packages' period”
“this means that it is not fair for us to be responsible for future repairs without a three-pack of vehicles going elsewhere.” in the view of the above-mentioned east china distributors, since user maintenance information is not currently shared among different brand distributors and it is difficult for distributors to determine where the problem lies, it would be inappropriate to attribute responsibility “one size fits all” and could lead to disputes。
It was pointed out that the current scheme had been in operation for 10 years and that the policy environment had evolved on that basis and that, as the new approach had been introduced, it was therefore necessary to update and optimize the relevant policy packages to provide an operational industrial environment for the new approach。
Responsible editor: zhang dei
