In the new round of plate sports in China's auto industry, the low-lying Yangtze River Delta and Tianjin regions are steadily rising to the heights of the auto parts industry.
Our correspondent Yan Xiurong Pan Jinhua
At the beginning of the 20th century, Detroit developed into a "world car capital." Of course, this should shelter the shadowy trees of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, which are settled here. The bushes formed by the numerous parts and components companies that inhabit and spread around these big trees are the same for the stability and prosperity of the entire industrial community. Significant.
In the layout of the Chinese auto industry, there are also several similar corporate communities.
Yangtze River Delta: Exclusive
Even in July when the heat waves in China are everywhere, Xia Yuemin, deputy general manager of Zhejiang Wanfeng Auto Company, is still on the move between Beijing, Shanghai, Shaoxing and other places, and negotiates cooperation projects with China National Automobile Association and its peers. After 15 days of bustling, Xia Yueyi immediately returned to the headquarters of the company in Xinchang, Zhejiang, where a foreign parts inspection group was waiting for him.
The reception of international visitors who have made waves once and again has become part of Wanfeng Auto's daily work. Wanfeng Auto, which started as a hub for cars and motorcycles, has been called by the industry "the king of Asian aluminum wheels." Today, Wanfeng Auto's auto parts not only have a firm foothold in the country, but also crowded into overseas markets such as North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania with an annual export value of 60 million US dollars.
In Zhejiang, auto parts companies such as Wanfeng Auto can be found everywhere. A search on Alibaba.com's website shows that there are 185 companies in Zhejiang Province. At the 53rd National Auto Parts Fair held in Chengdu, Zhejiang auto parts companies were the leaders, with Zhejiang manufacturers accounting for one-third of the 1,200 exhibitors.
According to Xia Yuekai, Zhejiang's auto parts companies are mainly located in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Xinchang, Xiaoshan and other places. Products range from engines, wheels, lights, automotive interiors to small steel parts. Although the area in the above areas is less than one-fifth that of Zhejiang, the products account for 70% of China's auto parts market. In 2002, the province’s total GDP of 670 billion yuan was attributed to the contribution of the auto parts industry.
The top leader of the Auto Parts Zhejiang Gang is certainly not universal. In addition, Zhejiang Zhongyu and Yongkang Tien Niu are already well-known auto parts companies. The automotive interior parts produced by Ningbo Huaxiang Group accounted for 80% of the domestic market and entered the list of GM auto parts suppliers.
The hot money boom of Zhejiang Auto Parts also began to ignite the market conditions of the northern neighbor Jiangsu auto parts industry. Jiangsu is one of the important production bases of the domestic automobile industry. The production of auto parts accounts for about 15% of the national total. There are a number of products for the "National Singles Champion" and some of the accessories cover more than 60% of the country's market. The well-known multinational companies such as Bosch, Zief, Tianhe and Valeo have invested in Jiangsu.
The grassroots characteristics of Zhejiang Auto Parts are quite different. They are the official hormones injected into Jiangsu Auto Parts Industry.
In the planning of the Jiangsu Provincial Government, the parts and components industry has been given an important mission. The local officials plan to establish 20 or so domestically-owned parts companies with high market share, and that one or two of them will be internationally competitive and achieve serialization, integration, and modular supply. Large-scale enterprise (group) with sales revenue of 10 billion yuan. In the automotive parts manufacturing cluster, we must adapt to the global procurement and modular supply requirements based on some of the advantageous companies and products that have been formed, and provide support for the international and domestic supporting and aftermarket maintenance markets, and strengthen the R&D platform and modularization and systematization. Supply capacity building.
Shanghai, surrounded by Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, has formed an intensive component industry cluster around Shanghai Automotive. Delphi, Visteon, Bosch, and Denso, several of the world’s leading component manufacturers, have all opened the door to Shanghai. Some people joked that as long as you look at the new cars that Pudong has added daily, you know how hot the parts market is. This fire is forging the Yangtze River Delta to become China's largest and best supplier of spare parts.
Xia Yuerong listed four reasons for the maturity of the Yangtze River Delta parts market: The Yangtze River Delta’s reform and opening up is at the forefront of the country, and it has gone through a primitive accumulation process, forming a strong economic strength; numerous coastal ports and convenient transportation in the region. It is easy to trade and business; after years of cultivation, the quality of the workforce is generally higher; the government has actively shifted to a service-type, paving the way for business development and forming a complete industrial circle.
The Yangtze River Delta’s consumer strength may be a more important factor supporting the development of the auto parts industry. The Yangtze River Delta consists of 15 cities including Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Suzhou, and the surrounding areas. According to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, the GDP of the Yangtze River Delta in 2002 was 1.91 trillion yuan, accounting for 18.7% of China's total GDP. It is 2.01 times that of Pearl River Delta, another important economic zone in China, with a per capita consumption expenditure of 7,693 yuan. Only the private automobile ownership in Jiangsu Province has reached 448,600. According to the new principles of automobile manufacturing, the Yangtze River Delta is, of course, the first choice for international automobile and component manufacturers.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler settled in Detroit, creating the prosperity of Detroit. To date, 40% of the world's auto parts still come from the world's largest auto city. According to GM forecasts, by 2025, China will become the world's largest auto market. By then, the Yangtze River Delta will likely become the world's largest component manufacturing zone.
Hubei: Begins to call Dongfengbuhui
Reflecting the freshness of the Yangtze River Delta, it was the sadness of the once glorious Hubei auto parts company.
Last year, one of the major events in Hubei and even the national car industry was the joint venture between Dongfeng Motor and Nissan Motors. With a registered capital of RMB 17 billion, the new Dongfeng company aims to “build the first brand of commercial vehicles in China†and ranks among the top three commercial vehicle manufacturers in the world. After the joint venture, the new Dongfeng Motor will have an annual sales income of 80 billion yuan. According to the current conservative ratio of 1:0.4 for the auto parts industry, the Dongfeng Company's direct auto parts market share will reach RMB 32 billion annually.
But the big cake that fell from the world made it difficult for a part of the Hubei spare parts company to swallow.
"(The joint venture between Dongfeng and Nissan) is the icing on the east wind, but it is a disaster for us." Wang Zhigang said with worry. Wang worked for a company in Hubei that provided parts for Dongfeng Motor. His concern was not groundless.
Shiyan, where Dongfeng Motor is located, is the largest automobile city in China. From Shiyan to Southeast, Xiangfan, Suizhou and Jingzhou to Wuhan are the famous automobile corridors in China. 86% of the auto parts companies above Hubei are concentrated here, mainly supplying Dongfeng with component products. After 40 years of development, the parts and components companies in Hubei have formed a heavy reliance on Dongfeng, a single and weak relationship.
However, Dongfeng, which had just changed its face, immediately changed its mind. In a joint venture, the new Dongfeng Company immediately announced to all former parts companies that it will implement global procurement of parts in the future. For the parts and components manufacturers in Hubei, this paper statement is not worth a short note.
Lang's heart-rending Dongfeng actually has no choice, because its suppliers are already old. Among the 274 large-scale auto parts companies in Hubei, more than 70% of the parts and components enterprises are still at the level of mid-tonnage truck production parts, and the proportion of car accessories is less than 30%; the average annual R&D expenditure of the company only accounts for 0.4% of the sales revenue for the same period. %, significantly lower than the level of 5%-6% of developed countries; several companies around the same vehicle series, producing the same type of parts and components; parts of the product is low in outward direction, the export delivery value is less than 1% of the output value.
The parts and components market in Hubei is no longer the domain of local companies. Most of the territory has been quietly occupied by East China auto parts companies. Of Wuhan's 295 suppliers, Wuhan Shenlong Motor Co., Ltd. only accounts for 1/6 of the total. The rest of the face is a large part of East China suppliers. After the Dongfeng and Nissan joint ventures created a 32 billion yuan auto parts market, hundreds of strong auto parts companies from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong took the threshold of Dongfeng headquarters out.
Waiting outside the door, there are foreign guns. As early as last March, Nissan and Dongfeng formally signed a contract with the delegation of Japanese auto parts companies to go to Shiyan in Hubei, Xiangfan, Wuhan and other places. In order to reduce costs and improve service quality, Nissan also forced the original auto parts company in Japan to “marry†to China, otherwise it would no longer purchase its accessories. At this year's Wubu meeting, nearly 50 original Nissan suppliers came to Wuhan to find partners.
Many companies in the Yangtze River Delta are formulating plans to go to Hubei, which also provides a chance for re-departure for the Hubei parts and components enterprises after Dongfeng Divorce. Shiyan has opened up two economic and technological development zones in Dongcheng and Xicheng, and has specially accepted the spare parts enterprises that are determined to take root in Hubei. Zhejiang Wanxiang has taken the lead and Wanxiang Automotive Components Co., Ltd. was established in Hubei. In the registered capital of the new company, Wanxiang contributed cash, which accounted for 55% of the shares; Hubei Silian contributed 45% of its shares with physical assets. Hubei Silian is a well-known manufacturer of automotive wiper assemblies and automotive brake valve assembly products. It achieved sales of 110 million yuan in 2002.
Tianjin: boasting and attracting phoenix
On September 26, 2003 China (Tianjin) Import & Export Auto Parts Exhibition opened in the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone. More than 180 auto parts manufacturers from more than 60 countries and regions and 22 provinces and cities across the country participated in the exhibition. In more than 5,000 varieties of automotive parts and accessories, 60% of the latest products, representing the latest international and domestic production of auto parts and components.
Jia Yongfeng, director of the Information Industry Department of the China Federation of Industry and Commerce Automobile (Motorcycle) Parts Industry Chamber of Commerce, said that the main purpose of the exhibition was “to achieve global integration and build a platform for exchanges and cooperation between China and foreign countries†to find Chinese agents for foreign auto parts manufacturers. Finding domestic cooperation partners for foreign auto parts investors, introducing foreign buyers for domestic manufacturers, and providing OEM orders for domestic manufacturers.
The conference has attracted the attention of many foreign companies. Foreign exhibitors accounted for 40% of all exhibitors, and the number of exhibitors hit the highest in domestic auto parts exhibitions.
At the Tianjin FAW Toyota Supporting Conference, Tianjin Toyota made a detailed description of the supporting requirements for its new model to be launched next year, looking for supporting manufacturers; at the European auto parts market briefing, the European auto parts company hopes to seek local Chinese cooperation. And joint venture partners, and focused on purchasing a number of high-quality, low-cost, Chinese-made parts and components with low technological content to sell in Europe; and at the Sino-foreign auto parts trade fair, the CEOs of Chinese auto parts companies and those from Korea, Japan and other countries The peers discussed and China's auto parts industry has become a consensus of everyone.
It is the first time that this grand scale auto parts exhibition was held in Tianjin. This kind of event will be held once every two years in the future.
In a report from the Development Research Center of the State Council, Tianjin, which is backed by Beijing, the nation’s largest consumer car market, was defined as a manufacturing center and logistics center in Beijing. As one of the four major ports approved by the state to allow vehicle imports, Tianjin is also China's largest import car sales center. According to Tianjin Customs statistics, in the first half of this year, Tianjin Port imported 34,000 vehicles, an increase of 83% over the same period of last year; the value of imported automobiles was 694 million US dollars, an increase of 89.1%. Correspondingly, the automobile facilities have formed a certain scale in the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone.
As an important economic center and processing and manufacturing base in the north of China, the automobile manufacturing industry is a pillar industry in Tianjin. Through the birth of leading companies such as Xiali, it has formed a community of nearly 40 vehicles manufacturing and parts supporting companies. Last year, Tianqi was acquired by FAW. Earlier this year, Toyota joined the company with 1 billion U.S. dollars, which made Tianjin's advantages stand out. Just beside Toyota, there are nearly 30 supporting companies such as Aishin, Fujitsu Electronics, Tokai Chemicals, and Yasaki Auto Parts. At the same time, a number of Korean automotive accessory companies have also poured into Tianjin. On the one hand, they supply vehicle manufacturers in Beijing and Tianjin. On the other hand, they use the advantages of Tianjin's ports to sell back to South Korea and other international markets.
Unlike other communities' strong manufacturing capabilities, Tianjin's advantage lies in its import and export trade. Relying on these advantages, Tianjin is repositioning its auto parts industry, transforming the Tianjin Bonded Area into an auto parts import and export trade base and an international auto parts distribution center in China.
This heavenly country, Jin Liang, is beginning to consciously forge itself into a fastener that connects the domestic and foreign parts market.