The news that Volkswagen will bring Audi A3 and Passat B6 to China for production is not news. However, a recent rumor surprised the industry: a Shanghai Volkswagen dealer recently revealed that Passat B6 will be produced in FAW-Volkswagen and Audi A3 will be put into production in Shanghai Volkswagen. As a result, Volkswagen's product line in China will be completely disrupted. The reporter interviewed the rumor. Although all parties almost unanimously denied the rumor, Volkswagen used new products as a bargaining chip to integrate the North and South Volkswagen.
The media in the shelter are recruiting beautiful cheerleaders.
Pull back photo contest, win the grand prize! Jiangnan scenery invites the first batch of agents.
It has become an indisputable fact.
Is Audi A3 coming?
The reaction of FAW-Volkswagen is in sharp contrast with that of Shanghai Volkswagen. For the news that Shanghai Volkswagen has been circulating for a long time, Changchun, where FAW-Volkswagen is located, did not make trouble. Almost all the interviewees of FAW-Volkswagen said that they had never heard of it.
Xiao Min, head of Audi brand marketing department of FAW-Volkswagen, said that apart from FAW-Volkswagen, Audi A3 has never been heard of being produced anywhere else, and the Audi department of FAW-Volkswagen has not received any notice, so they know nothing about it. He also said that it is certain that the new Audi A6 will continue to be produced in FAW-Volkswagen, and production preparations are currently underway.
Qiu, regional manager of FAW-Volkswagen Beijing, also said that he had never heard of such news. Manager Qiu is even confused. Hearing the news, he first paused, and then said "no" in a questioning tone. It seems that it is the first time for him to hear about it.
The news that Audi A3 will be produced in Shanghai Volkswagen first came from Shanghai. When the reporter verified this news, the Shanghai mass media spokesperson looked surprised and asked the reporter: "Does FAW-Volkswagen have an Audi brand department? How did Audi's car get to Shanghai Volkswagen? Impossible! "
Ye Wen, public relations manager of Volkswagen (China), said in an interview with this reporter that Ye Wen said that he can solemnly declare on behalf of the public that Passat B6 will be produced in FAW-Volkswagen and Audi A3 will be produced in Shanghai Volkswagen. There is absolutely no such thing. Ye Wen said that you can't believe any news that has not been officially announced by any enterprise. He said that the production plan of Audi A3 is still under discussion, and whether it will come to China for production is still inconclusive.
Regarding the rumor about Audi A3, Shade explained that whether Audi A3 will come to China for production is still under market investigation, and Volkswagen should make a full investigation on the Audi A3 market in China to see if this expensive car is suitable for China. He affirmed that if Audi A3 is put into production in China, the manufacturer will be FAW-Volkswagen.
Product restriction joint venture partner
Shanghai Volkswagen is the first partner of Volkswagen in China. Passat B5 has quickly become the mainstream brand in the mid-to-high-end automobile market and one of the iconic products of Shanghai Volkswagen after it was put into production in China. Audi is a brand that once monopolized the high-end car market in China. Although BMW and Mercedes-Benz have joined in, Audi is still the leader in the official car and commercial vehicle market, and it is also more interpreted as the fist product of FAW-Volkswagen in China.
Insiders said that it is not impossible to disrupt the production of the North-South Volkswagen product line. If the news is accurate, how will the products of Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen be sold in the future? In other words, both Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen can sell Audi brand and Volkswagen brand as long as they are the sales stores of Volkswagen.
Some time ago, Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen just jointly cut prices under the full mediation of Volkswagen. In order to compete with GM, Ford and other auto giants in the increasingly fierce auto market in China, Volkswagen has publicly stated that it wants to unify its market strategy in China.
According to the analysis of the insiders, regardless of the factor of throwing out the Audi A3, it is obvious that Volkswagen is still coordinating between the North and South Volkswagen. Volkswagen's wandering between Passat B6 and North Volkswagen shows that Volkswagen is restricting its two partners in China with products, thus accelerating the merger of sales channels between North and South Volkswagen and finally realizing the unification of Volkswagen in China.
Zhong Shi, a famous car critic, said in an interview that every manufacturer must update its products regularly. Passat B5 is aging, and Audi A6 has been on the market for five or six years, so it's time to update. Passat B6 can naturally be placed in Shanghai Volkswagen, but Audi A3 is a personalized car, which does not meet the requirements of Chinese people for high-end cars and is not attractive to small cars.
As for whether Volkswagen will disrupt the existing product line and make a big shift from north to south, Zhong Shi thinks it is unlikely. But Volkswagen will definitely use products to limit the two joint venture partners. A few years ago, Volkswagen took Passat as a bargaining chip and asked for the establishment of Shanghai Volkswagen Sales Company, which was a small test. When Santana and Jetta of the joint venture company can dominate the world, China still has a say. But after fierce competition, new products became chips. Volkswagen China can also help at the critical moment of competition.
Our reporter Yan Xuecong Gang
Journalist's point of view
What does China do with the right to speak?
North-South integration is developing in the direction that the German public hopes. Just after operating the joint price reduction of North and South Volkswagen, Volkswagen began to integrate North and South Volkswagen from the root-disrupting the original product structure of North and South Volkswagen. This is the last thing China among the people of the North and South wants to see. In every step of large-scale integration, the right to speak of FAW and SAIC is actually weakening.
But the pace of large-scale integration will not stop. Shanghai GM's performance has begun to surpass Shanghai Volkswagen, carrying the banner of domestic car boss. Under this pressure, the public urgently needs to integrate the "internal friction" between the north and the south. Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd. is changing from the former coordination organization to the management organization.
These actions of Volkswagen have scared the two domestic auto giants FAW and SAIC. It is hoped that the North and South Volkswagen will be integrated through capital, and the Volkswagen will turn to product integration to realize the integration of sales network through product integration. The ultimate goal is very clear: to transform FAW-Volkswagen and Shanghai Volkswagen, two powerful enterprises in the current market, into two production plants under Volkswagen (China) Company.
Neither FAW nor SAIC can stop this integration. From the capital level, China owns 50% of the shares and half of the right to speak, but Volkswagen bypassed the integration at the capital level.
Besides, what right does China have to speak? It used to be a sales network, but it can be seen from the fact that Volkswagen (China) successfully urged the North and South Volkswagen to jointly reduce prices that China always thought that the strong right to speak was actually Volkswagen. Now, the only thing that can speak for China is the "care" of national policies.
In fact, the most important reason why Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen have become the first and second domestic car companies in the past decade is the "care" of national policies. However, after more than ten years of "care", China has not made substantial progress in product research and development, and policies have become the reliance of China enterprises to make money.
Now the market is more and more open, policy care is less and less, and China's right to speak is getting weaker and weaker. Even lost the right to speak at critical moments-large-scale integration is an obvious example.
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July 8, 2004 08: 1 1 Jinghua Times