Text/Dr. Martin Teng

Produced by Che Tuteng, please indicate the source when reprinting

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Chongqing, a building A city running on wheels. Here, China's first jeep was produced. It was once my country's heavy-duty military vehicle production base, and its automobile output ranked first in the country for three consecutive years... Chongqing's automobile industry, with its unique history and countless glory, is growing in the new era. Moving forward silently in the trend.

What kind of trend curve has this automobile city, which competes with Changchun to be called "China's Detroit", drawn in the turbulent changes in China's automobile market?

-01-

Before the “Auto City”, Chongqing’s most prominent brand was its weapons industry. In fact, the military industry is the cornerstone of Chongqing’s industrial development.

Let’s first look at the unique geographical conditions: Chongqing is located in the hinterland of the Yangtze River, surrounded by mountains and two rivers. Since modern times, it has been the largest water and land transportation hub and inland river foreign trade port in Southwest China. It is precisely because of this superior geographical location that determines the important position of Chongqing's strategic rear base.

Chongqing’s weapons industry foundation can be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty.

To give two examples: Chongqing Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. was formerly the Hanyang Arsenal established by Zhang Zhidong, and later moved to Chongqing to become the 29th Ordnance Factory of the Kuomintang; the predecessor of Special Steel was the arsenal built by Liu Xiang in 1936, which mainly produced steel for pursuit. Cannons and shells, etc. The most famous Changan Automobile was formerly the Shanghai Marine Artillery Bureau founded by Li Hongzhang in 1862.

Later, during the Anti-Japanese War, the Nationalist Government moved its capital to Chongqing, and a number of new arsenals were built in Chongqing from all over the country. Later, the Nationalist Government made several relocations and continued wars. By the time of liberation in 1949, only seven arsenals remained, but they were all severely damaged.

Of these 7 companies, 6 later became the leaders of Chongqing’s automobile industry (including motorcycles) and became the famous 6 gold-lettered brands:

Chang’an (21st) Arsenal, producing 127 and 145 machine guns of the 2nd Company), Jiangling (10th Arsenal, producing large artillery shells mainly 37 shells), Jialing (25th Arsenal, producing 145 and 127 artillery shells), Changjiang (20th Arsenal, Production of bullets), Construction (21st Arsenal Branch, main production of rifles), Wangjiang? (50th Arsenal, production of 37 guns).

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chongqing’s military-industrial enterprises began to “convert military to civilian” operations and went through three major stages: the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Great Leap Forward period, and reform and opening up. During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, there was a situation where the people's products were promoted, but later they were eliminated "one size fits all". What really started the trend of "converting military to civilian" was the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which proposed that "the national defense industry should support the military with the people and integrate the military and civilians."

(Arsenal factory in operation)

Ordnance industry and automobiles have similar processes and technologies. Chongqing's ordnance industry enterprises are close to each other and are undergoing rapid transformation. In 1980, the national automobile production was only 220,000, mini-car production was only 210, and motorcycle production was only 50,000. By 1990, in Chongqing alone, the automobile industry output value of military industry enterprises had reached 1.9 billion yuan, accounting for 10% of Chongqing's total. 73.8 of the total output value.

(Weapons produced in arsenals)

In other words, at the beginning of the 1990s, Chongqing's automobile industry was already the mainstay of the economy.

The following data is very important and directly reflects the "direct relationship" between Chongqing's military industry and automobiles: In 1992, the automobile output produced by Chongqing's military industry system enterprises accounted for 60% of Chongqing's total output. Motorcycle production accounts for 100.

-02-

In the development process of Chongqing's automobile industry, like other automobile cities, one of the most important nodes is joint ventures. Introduction-digestion-absorption is a common practice among national strategic vehicle companies.

The rise of Chongqing's automobile industry also has two major events:

In 1985, Chongqing Automobile Manufacturing Plant and Japan's Isuzu jointly established Chongqing's first Sino-foreign joint venture, Qingling. It is also the first Sino-Japanese joint venture automobile manufacturer in the country; the other one was in 1993, Changan Suzuki was jointly established by Ordnance Industry Company and Japan's Suzuki.

Here, we can see a fact that is easily overlooked. We generally believe that the germination of China's auto market started with Santana, but in fact, the growth of Chongqing's auto industry happened almost at the same time.

A well-known example: Changan Suzuki Alto.

Alto is China’s first generation mini sedan, and it is its appearance that has fulfilled many people’s car dreams. You know, the Alto back then was completely different from the joke that later ridiculed it: "Young people have never worked hard, and now they can only drive Alto." Although the Alto at that time was a mini car, only few people could afford it. It was a matter of status and status. symbol.

An interesting comparison: in the 1990s, the price of Alto was around 68,000, while the price of Santana was around 180,000. From the perspective of target users, Alto was a special car for self-employed people, while Santana owners may have to own a big villa or a big business.

From the first domestic Alto 0.8L model rolled off the assembly line in 1995 to July 2008, Changan Suzuki announced the official discontinuation of Alto production. In the intervening 13 years, Alto became a legend in the mini-car market. The total sales volume of the models in the Chinese market has exceeded 500,000, and they have been sold in streets and alleys across the country.

Of course, in addition to Changan, there were three other domestic military industrial companies producing Suzuki Alto at that time - Xi'an Qinchuan, Jilin Jiangbei, and Hunan Jiangnan.

It should also be noted here that although the first domestically produced Alto rolled off the production line in 1995, before the "Changan Suzuki Alto", Changan Automobile had introduced the technology of the Japanese Suzuki Alto model in 1984. It imitates and develops and produces "Changan Alto" by itself, but it has not yet established a joint venture, so it is at the same point in time as Santana.

If you want to evaluate the significance of Alto in depth, then you have to step back in time.

First of all, let’s look at the achievements of Chongqing’s automobile industry in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

In early 1957, Chang'an Machinery Manufacturing Plant (the 21st Arsenal, one of the predecessors of today's Changan Automobile), in accordance with the instructions of the central government and the arrangements of the superior department, conducted reverse research and development of the American Willys M38A1 model. In 1958 The first prototype was trial-produced in May, named Changjiang Type 46 Jeep - this was China's first Jeep and the predecessor of the later famous BAIC 212 (to this day, many people still mistakenly believe that the latter is China’s first jeep).

Another major event was the establishment of Sichuan Automobile Manufacturing Plant in Shuangqiao, Chongqing in 1965. China's first heavy-duty truck brand, "Hongyan", was born in Sichuan Automobile. Hongyan heavy truck is not "homegrown", but the result of technology transfer from the French Bellier Automobile Company. The reason why this foreign model was chosen to be located in Chongqing was precisely because of its strong industrial strength and superior geographical location at the time. .

At the National Day military parade in 1984, the Hongyan CQ261 off-road vehicle carrying the "Julang" submarine-launched missile drove through Tiananmen Square for review, followed by the Hongyan carrying the multi-purpose anti-ship missile. CQ261. Like the Jiefang CA30, Hongyan Automobile has also been deeply engraved in the glorious history of "military industry".

At this point, we can truly see the significance of Alto's appearance.

From the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China to the 1980s, Chongqing's automobile industry had a strong foundation, but the structure at that time had obvious flaws: "lack of light vehicles, few micros, and no cars", the product structure was very unreasonable, and the technical capabilities were also lacking. Far behind the world's advanced level.

If Chongqing's automobile industry wants to further develop, it can only start by introducing technology from developed countries before gradually forming production capabilities. The success of Changan Suzuki Alto has filled the gap in civilian mini-cars in Chongqing's automobile industry. During the introduction process, it has formed a strong parts supply system by continuously improving the localization rate.

-03-

The introduction and rise of Alto is not an isolated case.

In 1997, Chongqing was classified as a municipality directly under the Central Government. At that time, the automobile industry, which was classified as a pillar industry in Chongqing, coincided with a general background: after the reform and opening up, the country focused on economic development, and the direction of automobile products was inevitably towards private consumption. Car tuning and "family sedan" were the key words of that era.

Since 1999, Changan has been in contact with internationally renowned car companies such as General Motors and Ford to seek opportunities for joint ventures and cooperation. In April 2001, Changan and Ford "married" and established Changan Ford. In 2006, Mazda Motor Company invested in Changan Ford and established Changan Ford Mazda. Later, Changan and Mazda joined hands separately in 2007. During that period, Changan Ford Mazda also had a period of cooperation with Volvo to produce and sell the Volvo S40.

(In 2003, Changan Ford's first model, the Ford Fiesta, officially rolled off the production line. Chairman Li Peng personally unveiled the new car that rolled off the production line that day and signed his autograph as a souvenir)

At this point, Changan Automobile This big brother in the Chongqing automobile industry has almost stabilized the joint venture territory.

At the same time, under the wave of "family sedan", independent brands have also launched one after another.

Please note that this is a critical node.

If we say that Chongqing’s automobile industry can be roughly divided into two stages, the task throughout the 1990s was to successfully complete the “military-to-civilian” transition and lay the “foundation” for the first step: In 1995, Chongqing Municipal The automobile output reached 114,500 units, making it the fifth largest automobile production base in the country, ranking behind Jilin where FAW is located, Hubei where Second Automobile Works (Dongfeng Motor) is located, Shanghai where SAIC is located, and Beijing where BAIC is located.

In the first decade of the new millennium, that is, the period 2000-2010, Chongqing’s automobile industry not only fully absorbed the nutrients of the past, but also followed the wave of economic development and quickly seized the opportunity of this new era in the southwest region. The huge consumer market began to expand rapidly.

However, success or failure are all in vain.

After 2018, Chongqing’s automobile industry took a sharp turn. Why?

The automobile industry cycle is as long as 10 years, so if we push forward 10 years, the failure in 2018-2019 is exactly the consequences of the expansion period from 2000-2010.

Here, we only need to briefly list two main models to get a glimpse of it.

In January 2006, Lifan’s first model, the 520, was launched. Interestingly, this car name neither represents the platform code nor does it represent the engine displacement, but the Internet slang for "I love you".

In November 2006, the first sedan produced by Changan Yubei Factory, Benben, was launched, competing with Chery QQ for a while.

Starting from Benben, Changan has officially embarked on the development path of "taking micro as the foundation and focusing on sedans".

And another one, Lifan 520, sounded the clarion call for "motorcycle gangs" to march from "two-wheeled" to "four-wheeled". However, the tragic fate of this horn also represents the same fate of the failed transformation of this round of "motorcycle gangs".

-04-

On October 13, 1995, China Jialing was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. For a time, the employees of Jialing Motorcycle became rich people in the mountain city.

It is said that almost all leather clothes in Chongqing were sold out by Jialing employees that day. Jialing motorcycles, leather clothes and Montagnard became the most "wealthy" labels for Jialing people.

The rise of the Chongqing Motorcycle Gang began in Jialing. It is none other than one of the six major arsenals mentioned above. The other few companies also joined the motorcycle gangs in the wave of "military-to-civilian conversion" and became motorcycle gangs.

In 1995, Jialing's nationwide sales exceeded 1 million vehicles, and it became a listed company with unparalleled success.

Moreover, with Jialing as the core, Chongqing quickly developed a number of supporting companies, including Zongshen and Loncin. Later, as capital gradually accumulated, Chongqing also began to transform into the automobile industry.

Compared with Jialing, Lifan is the "younger brother". According to Yin Mingshan's recollection, in 1989, when he was about to give up on the publishing industry, which did not have much prospects, and was looking for business opportunities everywhere, the motorcycle market in Chongqing at that time was already extremely hot, and motorcycle factories were springing up like mushrooms after a rain.

At that time, the industry leader was Jialing, and the second was Jianshe Construction (also one of the 6 ordnance factories). Neither company was willing to sell engines to small factories, resulting in a shortage of core components, engines. Yin Mingshan seized this business opportunity and bought the engine parts from the maintenance department of the Construction Group, assembled them into engines himself and sold them. The cost was only 1,400 yuan and the selling price was as high as 1,998 yuan. This was the beginning of Lifan's future glory.

In the early 1990s, Chongqing’s “Motorcycle Gang” won the “double crown” of national motorcycle and engine production and sales for many consecutive years, supporting half of Chongqing’s industry and import and export at that time.

However, the wind is always blown away by the rain and wind.

On August 7, 2020, Lifan filed for bankruptcy.

At the same time, Chongqing Jialing’s securities abbreviation has been changed from “*ST Jialing” to “*ST Electric Energy” and plans to divest all motorcycle businesses.

This means that the era of Chongqing’s “motorcycle gangs” has come to an end.

-05-

From a macro perspective, there is an era difference between the motorcycle industry and the automobile industry.

From the scope of global industrial change, when a country's per capita GDP is between US$400 and US$1,200, this is the golden age of motorcycles. After reaching $1,200, motorcycle sales began to decline and were replaced by family cars.

Today, China's per capita GDP has exceeded US$10,000, and per capita GDP of US$1,200 is already the level 17 years ago.

So, can we conclude that the decline of Chongqing motorcycle gangs is an inevitable trend in China's economic development?

What needs to be admitted is that the Chongqing Motorcycle Gang encountered some external reasons.

Firstly, in 1999, my country's "motorcycle ban" spread to more than 70 cities, and the domestic market shrunk significantly;

Secondly, the main export country for Chongqing motorcycle gangs is Vietnam , and on January 1, 2002, the Vietnamese government increased the import tariff on motorcycles from the previous 60 to 100, and Jialing, Zongshen and Chongqing motorcycle gangs all withdrew.

However, to finally evaluate the Chongqing Motorcycle Gang, we must look at the global scope.

An objective fact is that Japan, Germany, and the United States are all developed countries. They got rich earlier than China, and their industrial upgrading is an era ahead of us. However, the above countries are the top representatives of global motorcycle powers.

Just like four-wheeled vehicles, to evaluate whether a country is a motorcycle powerhouse, what matters is not the size of its domestic market, but whether it has developed a strong global brand. Japan has four major motorcycle families: Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, and Kawasaki, Germany has BMW, and the United States has Harley.

So, it is not unfair to use the words "big but not strong" to describe the Chongqing Motorcycle Gang.

In the golden age of the 1990s when cars could be sold, whether it was Lifan or Jialing, they had long been accustomed to reverse research and development, low-end manufacturing, patchwork, lying down and making money, and finally the market If things change, you can only lower prices as hard as you can, leading to huge losses.

Motorcycle gangs are not real "gangs". These big guys are torn apart by price wars.

So, don’t blame Lifan for its failure in transforming from “two-wheeled” to “four-wheeled”.

Because, the Chongqing Motorcycle Gang has already failed in two rounds.

-06-

Once again, there is an era difference between the motorcycle industry and the automobile industry.

In other words, when the Chongqing motorcycle gangs flourished in the 1990s, the seeds of their future demise were already sown.

So, Chongqing’s four-wheel vehicle industry is 10 years behind the motorcycle industry. The critical period of prosperity and decline is exactly the first decade of this century as mentioned above.

The Chongqing Motorcycle Gang's "big but not strong" mentality is exactly the same as the Chongqing automobile industry's "big but not strong" mentality.

Benben at the beginning of this century was a mini car, built based on Chongqing Changan Automobile’s mini car-centered strategy. The success of Benben has also spawned models such as Benben mini.

In addition to Changan Automobile, at that time, Chongqing’s private automobile companies were flourishing, cultivating Yu’an (now Xiaokang Group), Yinxiang, Xinyuan, etc., and their main products were Weike, Low-end models such as micro trucks.

There is a two-way phenomenon here:

On the one hand, compared with the eastern region, the individual consumption power in the central and western regions is relatively low, so mid- to low-end models are the biggest demand in this region ;

But on the other hand, when the consumption upgrade in the automobile market comes, Chongqing's automobile industry seems to be "unable to react" and is still like the motorcycle gangs, addicted to shoddy manufacturing.

This is why, Chongqing's car companies generally have one thing in common, that is, they started in the mid- to low-end market, and to this day, most of them still stay in the mid-to-low-end market, with few high-quality products. The reason for changing the car model.

This is why Made in Chongqing always gives people a strong local flavor.

-07-

Path dependence means that technological evolution or institutional changes in human society have inertia similar to that in physics. That is, once entering a certain path (whether "Good" or "bad"), may depend on this path.

That is to say, once people make a certain choice, it is like embarking on a road of no return. The power of inertia will make this choice continue to strengthen itself and prevent you from easily getting out.

Just like Changchun, which is accustomed to the planned economy, has been unable to get rid of the mentality of being "planned" after the reform and opening up. Under the tide of the free market, it has fallen far behind. To this day, it is still a "glorious" thing for local fresh graduates to be "arranged" to work by their families.

In the same way, if you take the low-end path, once you find a path, it will be difficult to get out. If self-revolution takes the road of independent research and development and high-end products, then we must have the courage to scrape the bones and cure the poison.

What's more, the path an enterprise relies on is backed by the interest groups cultivated by this path. Often, they are the real leaders in whether to reform or not.

In 2016, Chongqing’s automobile industry reached its peak, with a production volume of 3.16 million vehicles and an output value of 540 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 1/3 of Chongqing’s GDP of 1,755.876 billion yuan in 2016.

In 2018, Chongqing’s GDP growth was only 6%, ending the surge of nearly 20 years. Among them, the automobile manufacturing industry dropped by 17.3%, making it the only sector to decline among Chongqing’s seven pillar industries.

-08-

Changan Automobile is like a golden phoenix flying out of a chicken coop.

Although Changan Automobile has experienced considerable fluctuations in recent years, Suzuki in the joint venture segment has left, Ford has been cut in half, and the products in the independent segment are in a period of replacement. For a while, Changan Automobile seemed to be in a "hard landing."

However, the biggest difference between Changan Automobile and other car companies in Chongqing is that it has got rid of "path dependence" and has set its sights on the "five countries and nine places" from a remote mountain city. It insists on independent research and development to create high-quality products. modernized models and spare no efforts to develop towards high-end.

Around 2017, there were two waves in the auto market: one was consumption upgrades and the purchasing power of low-end models was hindered, and the other was the end of the first round of popularization of private cars in low-tier cities and their entry into the stock market. The superposition of the two forces has caused many brands and brands in Chongqing that take the low-end product route to suffer heavy losses.

The only one who has escaped the impact is Changan Automobile.

After the epidemic this year, Changan Automobile’s sales in April and May increased by 32 and 54.3 respectively year-on-year. It has been the Chinese brand sales champion for two consecutive months and continued to maintain an upward trend in June; Changan Ford’s sales in May were 21,872 vehicles, doubled year-on-year, and sales in the first half of the year increased by 8.7% year-on-year. The two car companies seem to have regained their form.

What Chongqing people talk about most are two models born this year.

In March this year, the first domestically produced Lincoln model, the Adventurer, rolled off the assembly line in Chongqing Liangjiang New District. This was the first time that Lincoln was produced outside of North America, and it was also the first time that the Chongqing Automobile Industry went into production as an international luxury brand. The suggested retail price of the Adventurer starts from 246,800 yuan, making it the most valuable model among Chongqing-made cars.

At the same time, since the end of last year, many models such as CS75, CS55 and Eado have been "PLUS", and high-end products such as Changan UNI-T have been released. In addition, after the independence of the Auchan brand, Auchan has successively released Auchan since the beginning of this year. A series of high-quality products such as X5 and Auchan Corsa 5 have made Changan Automobile's sales soar.

From January to June this year, Changan Automobile Group sold 830,992 vehicles, achieving positive year-on-year growth. Sales in June reached 194,406 units, a year-on-year increase of 38.1%. Among them, the self-developed car series accounted for half of Changan's monthly sales of Chinese brand cars.

In terms of core technology, Changan Automobile independently developed China's first modular engine research and development platform - Blue Whale Power, putting Chongqing's automobile industry on the fast track of technology research and development.

Concerning the "New Four Modernizations", Changan Automobile's new model "UNI-T" equipped with an L3 autonomous driving system was officially mass-produced in Chongqing. The halo reflected by this model is that Changan Automobile has mastered more than 200 intelligent core technologies, and more than 70 intelligent functions have been implemented under this mass production model, of which more than 20 are domestic firsts.

In terms of new energy, Geely Automobile has registered in Liangjiang New Area to build a high-end new energy vehicle production base. Tesla also visited later and actively sought cooperation.

Low-end manufacturing, this old label is fading day by day.

We need to realize that it is true that enterprises and entrepreneurs are the main bodies of innovation and change, but the automobile industry is a major undertaking of industry-city integration. Chongqing's automobile industry will also benefit from the Chongqing Municipal Government to get back on track. strong support.

In December 2018, the Chongqing Municipal Government issued the "Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the Chongqing Municipal People's Government on Accelerating the Transformation and Upgrading of the Automobile Industry", which mentioned the need to vigorously enhance the electrification, intelligence, and The level of network connection, sharing and lightweight realizes the transformation of industrial development momentum.

In June 2019, the automotive wind tunnel (automotive environmental wind tunnel, automotive aerodynamics-acoustic wind tunnel) invested 550 million yuan was officially unveiled and started trial operation in Chongqing Liangjiang New District. This is The first automotive wind tunnel in central and western my country; in December 2019, the China Automotive Research Institute's intelligent networked vehicle test base was officially completed. It is the first comprehensive test and evaluation base for intelligent networked vehicles in the western region, which can meet the requirements for autonomous driving of smart vehicles in the future. Test specifications and site requirements.

Currently, in 2020, Chongqing’s automobile industry is showing a trend of opening low and moving high. The annual output is expected to be 1.38 million vehicles, the same year-on-year, and the output value is expected to be 339 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.

Times have changed.

Can Chongqing, the former No. 1 automobile city, regain its former glory?

Worth looking forward to it.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.