Cheetah is assigned to Guangqi passenger car Changfeng will beat the whole car industry

After the GAC Group officially announced on March 23 that it had absorbed the conversion plan of GAC Changfeng, the ownership of GAC Changfeng “Cheetah” brand became the focus of industry attention.

Regarding the ownership of the "Cheetah", it was reported that after Changfeng Automobile Group and Mitsubishi Motors signed a joint venture framework, Changfeng Group would re-take over the operation of the brand. At the same time, there is news that the "Cheetah" brand will be under the control of Guangzhou Automobile Passenger Vehicle. And, as with the "Xiangqi" brand, they are jointly used as GAC's own brands.

"First Financial Daily" reporter learned that these two completely different arguments, in fact, are not much different. The “Cheetah” brand will be jointly operated by Guangzhou Automobile Group and Changfeng Group after the Guangzhou Automobile Changfeng is withdrawn from the market. The brand will be placed under the banner of Guangzhou Automobile Passenger Vehicle in order to obtain the qualification for vehicle production.

After re-operating the "Cheetah" brand, Changfeng Group will once again enter the vehicle manufacturing industry after retiring from the vehicle manufacturing business.

Jointly operating "Cheetah"

On November 5 last year, Guangzhou Automobile Group and Mitsubishi Motors signed a joint venture framework agreement. According to the news released by Mitsubishi Motors, the two companies plan to establish a 50% joint venture between Mitsubishi Motors and GAC Group on the basis of their respective capital contribution of 14.59% and 29% of GAC Changfeng. The "Cheetah" brand of GAC Changfeng is not within the scope of the joint venture between GAC Group and Mitsubishi Motors. As for the future positioning of Guangzhou Automobile Changfeng, General Manager Fu Shoujie of GAC Changfeng Co., Ltd. told the reporter on March 23 that it will follow the principle of “strengthening the strengths of others, making up shortcomings, and building comparative advantages” and operating separately. Some of them will cooperate with Mitsubishi on the basis of GAC Changfeng, and some will continue to operate Cheetah brands, insisting on joint ventures and cooperation and accelerating the development of independent brands.

He said that "Cheetah" belongs to Guangzhou Automobile's own brand, that is, now the company has two independent brands, one is Chuanxiong, and the other is Cheetah. The cheetah must be operated as a self-owned brand of GAC. Changfeng is also a part of GAC, which also belongs to GAC.

However, according to a reporter from this source, it was learned that after the establishment of the Guangzhou Automobile Mitsubishi Joint Venture Co., GAC and Changfeng Group will form a joint venture company to operate the “Cheetah” brand. Among them, the specific operations may be responsible for the Changfeng Group, and in order to obtain the qualifications for the production of cars, the nominal “Cheetah” will be attributed to the GAC Passenger Vehicle as an independent brand of GAC Group.

Prior to the announcement of the conversion plan of GAC Group, Mitsubishi has promised to GAC that it will use its 14.59% shares to exercise cash options and not participate in the conversion. This part of Mitsubishi’s shares will be purchased by GAC. After Mitsubishi abandoned the conversion, Changfeng Group, the second largest shareholder of GAC Changfeng, has not yet decided whether to participate in the conversion. This may also involve the negotiation of the ownership of the "Cheetah".

A senior executive of Changfeng Group stated that in the joint venture between Guangzhou Automobile Group and Changfeng Group, the shareholding ratio of the two parties should be 50:50. There should be no dominant issue, and everything should be discussed by both parties.

The source stated that many specific issues of the "Cheetah" brand have not yet been finalized, but the big principle issue will not be different again.

Changfeng Group has never had the qualification for car production, and the future Guangzhou Automobile Mitsubishi will use the qualification of GAC Changfeng. If they do not cooperate with GAC Group and operate independently, it is a problem to solve the problem of vehicle production qualification, especially the qualification of car production.

"Cheetah" is nominally owned by Guangzhou Automobile Passenger Vehicle. This is similar to Chery Automobile which entered the automotive industry at the beginning. At the time of its entry into the automobile industry, Chery was initially committed to the SAIC Group for the production of complete vehicles in the name of “Shangqi Chery” because it did not have production qualifications.

Return to the vehicle business

The entire vehicle business of Changfeng Group is basically concentrated in Changfeng Automobile. With the reorganization of Changfeng Automobile by GAC Group in 2009, Changfeng Group also quitted the entire vehicle business. This time, after the deregulation of Guangzhou Automobile Changfeng, Changfeng Group will once again enter the vehicle business and rekindle the car dream.

According to relevant sources, the newspaper reporter stated that after GAC Changfeng delisted, the joint venture between GAC Group and Mitsubishi Motors will use Mitsubishi branded products based on the current Xingsha base of GAC Changfeng. The "Cheetah" brand was transferred to the base of Yongzhou, which is the old base of Changfeng Group. CS6 and CS7 are currently produced at this production base. In the future, the Feiteng brand produced at Xingsha will also be transferred to Yongzhou base.

After the reorganization in 2009, Changfeng Group gave up a controlling stake in Changfeng Motor, which symbolically withdrew from the vehicle manufacturing business. It only retained the manufacturing business of Yangtze Pickup, and its sales business was also made by Guangqi Changfeng “Cheetah”. Brand channel agency.

After the reorganization, the Changfeng Group has changed its focus from the past vehicle business to supporting the development of the entire vehicle business while focusing on the development of auto parts and auto service industries, focusing on investment in the development of automotive electronic technology products and new energy sources. New industries such as automobiles and power modules.

However, the joint venture between GAC Group and Mitsubishi Motors and the divestment of the “Cheetah” brand gave Changfeng Group a new opportunity to enter the entire vehicle business.

The above-mentioned executives of Changfeng Group stated that the company has deep feelings for the “Cheetah” brand. Since there is such an opportunity, it still wants to take it back and do it themselves.

For the Yangzi pickup that was previously commissioned by GAC Changfeng, since this year, Changfeng Group has ceased the sales agency cooperation with GAC Changfeng, and has already sold its own channels.

At present, GAC Changfeng has also established the “Cheetah” Business Unit after the Spring Festival and is tied with the “Mitsubishi” Business Unit. The “Cheetah” Business Unit is under the responsibility of Yao Zhihui, the deputy general manager of Changfeng Group.

Fu Shoujie stated on the 23rd that GAC Changfeng must continue to strengthen its SUVs and fully exert its strengths on its own advantageous projects; at the same time, it will accelerate the development of cars and other varieties that did not involve them, enabling companies to develop in a balanced and stable manner. .

Changfeng Group has always sought to launch a sedan car project will undoubtedly become a follow-up focus. The CP2 sedan that appeared in the new car catalog last year was previously expected to be available this year, but the joint venture project with Mitsubishi Motors delayed it and may become the first new product of the Cheetah after it was stripped from GAC Changfeng.