Beijing Benz, the leading luxury car company in China, became the first car company to strongly demand to return to work. On February 6th, Beijing Benz sent a letter of resumption of work to Tianjin Municipal Government and Tianjin wuqing district, requesting that its Tianjin Wuqing 19 spare parts supplier be allowed to resume work in advance. The letter said that Beijing Benz has entered? At the critical moment of the countdown to shutdown, if February 10 fails to resume work, the daily loss will be as high as 400 million yuan.

On February 9th, Economic Observer Network called Tianjin wuqing district Automobile Industrial Park, and the person in charge on duty affirmed the statement that Beijing Benz sent a letter requesting to resume work. "Two days ago, Beijing Benz sent a document to the Tianjin Municipal Government requesting to resume work, and sent a letter to the wuqing district Municipal Government. Perhaps the wuqing district Municipal Government has just received it. It was also when we were in the park this morning that someone from the Beijing Mercedes-Benz supplier told us that we didn't know about it. I heard that Beiben is negotiating with the Tianjin Municipal Government, and corporate personnel (part of the park) are also studying this matter. " However, the time for returning to work has not been notified yet.

On February 10, Beijing Benz officially resumed production, but only for one shift. As for whether the supplier of 19 has fully resumed work, Mercedes-Benz said that it is collecting information? .

"Can't sit still" Beijing Benz

In order to ensure production efficiency, most vehicle companies follow JIT? Lean production and operation, timely supply of spare parts, vehicle companies generally do not prepare too much raw material inventory, so does Beijing Benz. "There is only one day's safety stock. Once the production is limited for more than one day, Beijing Benz will stop production. If Beijing Benz can't resume work in February 10, the daily economic loss will exceed 400 million yuan, which will also bring huge losses to the economic development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. "

To this end, Beijing Benz "implores the Tianjin wuqing district Municipal People's Government to give the following permission to this 19 supplier: 1, allowing the Beijing Benz supplier to transport the finished goods inventory to Beijing Benz on February 8; 2. Approve the supplier to resume work normally on February 10. "

According to public information, Tianjin Wuqing Auto Parts Industrial Park is located in the east of wuqing district, only 70 kilometers away from Beijing, and occupies an important position in the supply chain of Beijing Benz. * * * has 52 parts enterprises, the main products are automobile engine block, automobile turbocharger, exhaust pipe assembly and other parts. It is the main supply base for major automobile manufacturers and turbocharger manufacturers at home and abroad. Beijing Benz has 19 suppliers gathered in this industrial zone. If Wuqing suppliers don't return to work, it's really hard for Beijing Benz to operate.

In addition, due to the decline of the domestic automobile market and the cold demand for 20 19, automobile manufacturers have reduced the risk and financial pressure by reducing inventory. Luxury car brands are more cautious in inventory control because of their large commodity value and larger funds in circulation. This has also caused the epidemic to suddenly break out during the Spring Festival holiday, and it is difficult for enterprises to support it for too long when the supply chain stops supplying.

As for why Beijing Benz couldn't sit still for the first time, insiders pointed out that this is a major event related to the annual operation of Beijing Benz, BAIC Group and Daimler of Germany.

According to public data, Beijing Benz is almost the only profitable enterprise under BAIC Group. In 20 18, the operating income of Beijing Benz was 3541500 million yuan, accounting for about 90% of the total income of Beijing automobile, and the average daily income was about 400 million yuan. This is especially true for 20 19. In the first half of the year, the operating income of Beijing Automotive Group was 87.764 billion yuan, and that of Beijing Benz was 77.807 billion yuan, accounting for 88.7%. It can be said that both BAIC's own brands and Korean joint ventures have suffered losses, relying on Beijing Benz to support their families.

So is Daimler. In 20 18, there were 485,000 Mercedes-Benz cars in Beijing, accounting for more than 70% of Mercedes-Benz's annual sales in China. In 20 19, 550,000 Beijing Mercedes-Benz vehicles accounted for more than 78%, and it was precisely because of the best-selling domestic cars that Beijing Mercedes-Benz filled the vacancy of the decline in sales of Mercedes-Benz imported cars and even jumped to the top of passenger car sales 15.

Therefore, in 2020, Beijing Benz set an annual sales target of 600,000 vehicles. Unexpectedly, this plan was completely disrupted by two black swans, COVID-19's disease and pneumonia.

However, it has also been pointed out that even if Tianjin wuqing district agrees to resume work, Beijing Benz will have to go through several customs, such as logistics. At present, roads in many areas are closed, and drivers will be isolated after returning from the city 14 days. In addition, what about the retail parts suppliers of Beijing Benz in other regions? If you don't return to work, you can't guarantee the smooth production of Beijing Benz.

The dilemma of car companies' choice of returning to work

The epidemic situation is still in a high-incidence state, and the fight against the epidemic situation is at a critical moment, and car companies are facing a dilemma. This resolution to resume work is also related to the anti-epidemic layout of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and even the whole country.

The present situation in Tianjin is not optimistic.

To this end, the Tianjin Command for the Prevention and Control of novel coronavirus's Pneumonia issued the Notice on Delaying the Resumption of Enterprises and the Opening of Schools in this Municipality, requiring that "urban and rural operation (water supply, power supply, oil and gas, communications, public transportation, environmental protection, municipal sanitation and other industries), epidemic prevention and control (medical equipment, medicines, protective equipment production, transportation and sales, and other industries) and people's daily necessities (supermarkets and other industries) should be ensured. All kinds of schools in this city are postponed. The specific start-up time will be notified in advance, leaving preparation time for enterprises and schools. "

Look carefully, Beijing Benz is not among them.

As for Wuqing supplier in Beijing Benz letter, the latest news shows that on February 5th, wuqing district People's Hospital confirmed 1 imported novel coronavirus case, which is also the 88th case in Tianjin. Because the patient was diagnosed as an ordinary patient in the early stage and was admitted to hospital for five days, the hospital has been completely closed and 973 people have been isolated.

There are a large number of workers in the industrial park, coming from all over the country. Even if Beijing Benz said in the letter, it and its related suppliers will do a good job in safety and epidemic prevention in strict accordance with government requirements, establish an epidemic prevention and control mechanism, and do a good job in epidemic prevention and control measures. However, there are too many uncertainties. Once wuqing district gives this cut to Beijing Benz, will more car companies make corresponding demands in the future? Will more cities enter the stage of returning to work?

In this regard, it is reported that Beijing Benz Factory is sorting out information and will issue a statement soon.

(Source: Economic Observer Network, Auto Industry Concern)

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.