Channel integration ice-breaking Mercedes-Benz restarted in China

The reform is for better development. Mercedes-Benz will start again in China through channel integration. Beijing Benz will continue to retain its production and management, and the sales, marketing, and after-sales service of all imported and domestic vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand in China will be attributed to the new sales company for unified management, which also means the boss of Mercedes-Benz. Hard problems have finally improved.

Channel reform <br> <br> Mercedes-Benz China will usher seems way out of date.

Recently, Mercedes-Benz (China) announced that its current CEO Miles will officially resign in December this year, after which China's business will be taken over by Mercedes-Benz (Japan) current CEO Nicholas Speeks. At the same time, the reporter learned from Beijing Benz that the new sales company established by BAIC and Mercedes-Benz around the integration of Mercedes-Benz sales in China has signed a contract, and will officially start operations after Spikes took office. Currently, 6 senior executives have been identified. A list of members and their corresponding supervisors.

The adjustment of the internal sales structure means that Mercedes-Benz's largest barrier to business in China has been eliminated, but there are also industry insiders believe that even so, in the face of increasing distance with competitors, new product replacement period and brand image affected by the terminal price, etc. As a result, Mercedes-Benz’s business in China at this stage still faces many difficulties.

"Mercury of domestic and imported channels" The Mercedes-Benz marketing in China for more than seven years is gradually being rewritten.

According to a report from Beijing Benz, Beijing Automotive Group and Mercedes-Benz (China) each had a 50% stake in the newly established Beiqi Mercedes-Benz sales company after integrating the sales functions of Beijing Benz and Mercedes-Benz (China). In addition, both Chinese and foreign parties have basically reached an agreement on the senior staff structure of the new company. Among the six new sales company executives, Chinese and German personnel are each half of the company. Among them, Mercedes-Benz (China) Sales and Marketing Executive Vice President President Hao Bo will be the head of the new sales company in Germany, responsible for sales and marketing operations; current executive vice president of Beijing Benz Li Hongpeng will serve as the Chinese head of the new sales company, responsible for network development business; In addition, the new sales company's financial and after sales The service section will be headed by the other two German heads; the second-hand car major account department and the union section will be responsible for the other two Chinese representatives.

Prior to this, Mercedes-Benz has been pursuing a strategy of parallel development of two channels in China, namely the two sales channels of Mercedes-Benz (China) and Beijing Benz. It is worth mentioning that, as the largest dealer group in China, Li Xingxing has held 49% of Mercedes-Benz (China) shares since 2006 and the remaining 51% of the shares belong to Mercedes-Benz. Now, according to reporters from relevant sources, Li Xingxing no longer exists as an equity shareholder in the newly formed sales company, but returns to the dealership status. In Mercedes-Benz (China), because Mercedes-Benz had previously made a capital increase, Li Xingxing’s shares have been diluted to 25%.

For the above information, the official positions of both Beijing Automotive and Mercedes-Benz are very cautious. The Beiqi Group's public relations department told reporters that at present the group has not received the letter of appointment of the responsible person. A person in charge of the Mercedes-Benz Public Relations Department also said: “Benz (China) and Beijing Automotive Group are actively promoting the establishment of a new sales company, but now there is no more news to be announced.”

According to the reporter’s understanding, in the future, Beijing Benz will continue to retain its production and management work, and the sales, marketing, and after-sales service of all imported and domestic vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand in China will be attributed to the new sales company for unified management. This means that the long-standing problem of Mercedes-Benz channels has finally been solved.

The Road Ahead <br> <br> Mercedes-Benz wants to usher in the Chinese market way out, the key is not who is at the helm of Mercedes-Benz China, but rather to change the Daimler Group's product strategy in China, improve China-made speed, speed and other aspects of the network rollout, Put the idea of ​​emphasizing the Chinese market into practice.

With the release of Li Xingxing, relevant parties have reached an agreement on Li Xingxing’s “compensation” - Mercedes-Benz will guarantee the interests of Li Xingxing in East China and South China, and will prevent other investors from investing in the above two regions. Increase dealerships.

Entangled for a long time <br> <br> In fact, the channel has been the Beijing Auto Chairman Xu Heyi a "heart disease." During his four-year tenure as chairman of Beiqi and chairman of Beijing Benz, Xu said that he has been promoting three major issues: first, clarifying the relationship between Beiqi, Chrysler, and Daimler; and second, promoting Daimler. Leh has increased investment in China; the third is to solve the historical issues left by Beijing Benz and Mercedes-Benz (China) in the sales channel.

Until June of last year, the first two major events have been solved, but the channel problem alone is rather tricky. Although Mercedes-Benz dealers in China have been operating import cars and domestic cars almost all of the time, some distributors are authorized by Mercedes-Benz (China), and some are authorized by Beijing Benz and managed separately. Therefore, these two networks They have been fighting against each other internally.

The most typical example is the previous sales of the new E-Class. Beijing Benz launched the new E-Class model officially listed in June 2010, but before the listing, Mercedes-Benz (China) imported more than 10,000 new E-Class vehicles to China for sale. This move partially diverted some of the domestic production. New E-Class sales. When the new E-class domestic Mercedes-Benz went on the market, the imported new E-class car also adopted a strategy of significantly reducing sales, which again affected the sales of new E-class domestic cars.

As Mercedes-Benz’s sales in China have been damaged due to channel disputes, Mercedes-Benz has gradually begun to integrate channel integration into its agenda. So in the middle of last year, BAIC began formal negotiations with Mercedes-Benz on the integration of sales channels.

On July 27 last year, Beiqi and Daimler (Benz's parent company) issued a formal statement in Northeast Asia, stating that “both parties agreed that Beijing Benz and Mercedes-Benz (China) will conduct deeper cooperation and resource integration in the marketing field in China.” In the month, the sales and marketing departments of Mercedes-Benz (China) and Beijing Benz began to gradually merge. "In the new sales company, there are only two shareholders, that is, Mercedes-Benz and BAIC, and Li Xingxing no longer holds shares in the sales company." At that time, Xu Heyi confirmed to reporters.

However, Li Xingxing is not willing to lose its shareholder status as a sales company. At present, about 50 of Mercedes-Benz’s 120 dealerships in China belong to Lixingxing, which takes up 40% of Mercedes’s annual sales in China. It is not difficult to find that once Li Xingxing ceases to hold the shares of the sales company, its position in the Mercedes-Benz sales channel system will be greatly reduced. Apart from the loss of profit sharing due to the loss of equity, it has previously enjoyed a smooth sailing. The channel construction model will also be challenged. Therefore, at the same time that Beiqi and Mercedes-Benz both gradually decided on the integration of ideas, according to the reporter's understanding, Li Xingxing also began to obstruct personnel appointment, product sales, etc., which also led to the original plan of the channel of integration completed early this year. , dragged until now has finally got an idea.

According to the reporter's understanding, with the release of Li Xingxing, relevant parties have reached an agreement on Li Xingxing’s “compensation” - Mercedes-Benz will guarantee the interests of Li Xingxing in East China and South China, and will prevent other investors from New distribution outlets in two regions. “Our current task is to make the Mercedes-Benz brand well and sell the car well.” Li Xingxing public relations staff began to repeatedly emphasize their dealership status in an interview with reporters. Compared to last year, Li Xianxing’s current performance is low-key. a lot of.

Gradually emerging new sales companies, let Mercedes-Benz business prospects in China to re-see hope. However, some people in the industry believe that the completion of channel integration has not completely changed Mercedes-Benz's business in China. After all, in the event that a large number of market opportunities are lost, the gap between Mercedes-Benz and BMW and Audi has been eliminated. Gradually increase.

Relevant statistics show that in the first nine months of this year, sales of Audi and BMW in China (including imports and domestic business) reached 297,100 units and 237,100 units, respectively, which increased by 31.7% and 34% year-on-year, but ranked third. In the first 9 months, Mercedes-Benz sold only 144,500 vehicles in China, an increase of only 6.7% year-on-year. In 2010, the gap between Mercedes-Benz and BMW's sales in China was only 20,000. Mercedes-Benz also said that it must catch up with BMW in 2012. Now, these facts make Mercedes-Benz's situation quite unfavorable.

Beyond the results, Mercedes-Benz’s first price reduction action, initiated earlier this year, and the resulting collective decline in luxury car prices have also caused Mercedes-Benz’s continued negative impact in China. Just as at the end of last month, the Daimler Group lowered the profitability expectations of Mercedes-Benz in 2012 globally on the grounds of declining Chinese and European markets. In addition, it is now widely believed that the real reason for the departure of Miles is to “pay the bill” for Mercedes-Benz’s poor performance in China in the past two years.

In response, Zhang Zhiyong, a well-known commentator in the automotive industry, said: "In fact, Mercedes-Benz has more decision-making power in China in the hands of Daimler Northeast Asia and Daimler headquarters. Miles has executive power only and Mercedes-Benz is currently in China. The frustration is more affected by the decisions of Daimler's headquarters.” In his opinion, the establishment of a new sales company after the completion of channel integration is indeed beneficial to the promotion of Mercedes-Benz sales in China, but Mercedes-Benz wants to usher in the Chinese market. The key lies not in who is at the helm of Mercedes-Benz China, but rather in how Daimler Group intends to change its product strategy in China, increase domestic production speeds, and accelerate network deployment.

In addition, Zhong Shi, a well-known commentator in the automotive industry, also stated that the new sales company will face many complicated follow-up interest difficulties in the future. “For example, the sales network will be involved in the division of Beiqi and Mercedes-Benz forces, and in addition, the Mercedes-Benz With regard to the implementation of brand promotion, cost sharing and other issues, new sales companies need to be further resolved."