Recently, sergio marjone, chief executive officer of the fiat klesler group (fca), spoke to the industry in europe. In line with the new business plan for the next five years, the fca has deliberately targeted the fiat brand for downsizing, focusing its operations on the jeep brand suv and the masalati limo. This means that fiat will probably leave the chinese market。
In response to the aforementioned statement by marjone, the fca chinese joint venture, guangfik (abbreviated by guangfeiat klesler motors ltd.), has not yet made a statement. In fact, fiat brand sales under guangfik have shown the problem. In january-april of this year, the cumulative sale of fiat-type cars was 90, 70 of which represented a 92. 7 per cent decrease over the same period, and 20 of which represented a 95. 9 per cent decrease over the same period. As marjone said, fiat was a strategic error in china。
According to the information received, on 9 march 2010, the free fik was established with a 50:50 equity investment of about 17 billion yuan by the hirondelle group, the fca. The company's headquarters is located at the hunan changsha national economic technology development zone and currently has two whole-car factories, the long sand factory and the guangzhou plant, as well as an engine factory, with an overall design capacity of 328,000 and 320,000. Among them, the long sand factory produces a brand-new jeep free light, a large commander, and fiat fifi, a pleasure. Guangzhou factory produces the new jeep freeman, the new jeep guide。
Indeed, far before guangfik, fiat held nanjing in 1999 and founded nanjing fiat, introducing the then-fast-market-style pie-cars, and the subsequent compact domestic cars such as siena, fiat weekend wind, with a good reputation in the minibus and compact car market. However, the time was running out, and fiat, who hit the market with small cars, quickly encountered development bottlenecks in the chinese market. According to industry professionals, the primary cause of this problem is the contraction of demand in china's mini-car market; followed by fiat's weak growth in europe. Under double internal and external pressure, the nanjing fiat project was officially declared closed in 2007。
But fiat, with his confidence in the chinese market, has been actively looking for partners and has been in close contact with a number of domestic automobile companies, planning to establish new joint ventures. At the same time, in 2009, fiat motors obtained approval from the european commission for its plan to acquire the united states company chrysler. Until january 2014, fiat completed a full acquisition of the chrysler group as the seventh largest car manufacturer worldwide. At this time, the creation of the guangfik project, with two brands, fiat and chrysler, has raised the confidence of the fca and provided fiat with the best opportunity to enter the chinese market for the second time。
The jeep brand within the framework of the fca, driven by capital master marjone, has grown rapidly worldwide, increasing its annual sales from 500,000 to 1. 4 million storms from 2008 to 2016. Marjone has stated more than once: “the value of group shareholders has almost doubled since the beginning of 2015. According to estimates by overseas media, the market value of the jeep brand has reached $22 billion, well above the market value of the fca for the same period, while last year's jeep brand accumulated millions of users in china, reaching a new stage. In the chinese market, jeep brands, with a sales volume of 50,000 from scratch to more than 200,000 each year, are one of the fastest growing international brands in the chinese market, with an annual compound growth rate of nearly 40 per cent。
But fiat doesn't seem so lucky! Following the establishment of guangfik, fiat's sales to the chinese market have been poor. Of these, only 32,000 were sold cumulatively in 2015, 7618 in 2016, 2273 in 2017 and only 90 in january-april of this year. The price of fico is even falling. Between january and april of this year, the figures for the same year were 10. 64 per cent, 41. 45 per cent, 26. 58 per cent and 44. 97 per cent. During the first four months of the year, the cumulative sales of 48,522 vehicles were made by panfik, a decrease of 31. 45 per cent over the same period. Clearly, it is time for both guangfik and the fca to make a choice。
In accordance with the fca business plan for the next five years, the future fca will be around jeep, masalati and alpha romeo in the chinese market. In 2021, the jeep brand will provide an electric version of all models; by 2022, the fca will provide 10 plug-in hybrid models and 4 pure electric models. By 2022, alpha romeo and maserati will have all their products electrified; maserati will sell 100,000 each year. With respect to guangfik, jeep brand will introduce eight brand-new or modified vehicles to the chinese market by 2022. With the exception of jeep, however, the fca has no intention of advancing the latter two luxury brands, alpha romeo and marathati, in china。
It is understood that the production of fiats has been suspended in guangfik and that pre-sales work has been discontinued in individual fiat brand stores on the market。
