The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has launched a cleanup of "zombie enterprises" and the Chinese auto industry has entered a strong regulatory cycle

As we all know, the automobile industry, as a technology-intensive and capital-intensive industry, requires high qualifications for production companies. It requires not only strong financial support but also technical support.

However, on the other hand, China’s auto companies have mostly started in the era of grasshoppers, and some companies are still in the initial stage, and their products are positioned at the low end. Therefore, there are quite a few time-consuming or semi-discontinued production operations, with little or no output, and difficult to survive. The backward companies that cannot maintain normal production and operation.

Although the auto industry's exit mechanism has also shouted for many years, it has always been "small thunder and rain." However, recently, the China Aircraft Technology Service Center issued an announcement that the 34-plus vehicles are about to be suspended.

At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China (MOIT) also issued regulations on strengthening the "Catalogue of New Energy Vehicle Models Exempted from Purchase Taxes for Vehicles". The announcement clearly states: "This list is ending after January 1, 2017 and listed in this Catalogue. No models with production or import volume on the date of issue, and models with no production or import volume within 12 months after the “Catalogue” on or after January 1, 2017 will be notified after 5 working days without any objections. "removed."

Then why has the government repeatedly strengthened the efforts to rectify the "zombie car enterprises"? What are the deeper intentions? Can these car companies "have a small mess" resolved? And how many car companies in our country are suitable?

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology opens a strong regulatory model

In fact, as early as July 2012, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice to establish an exit mechanism for the auto industry, and implemented a two-year special publicity management for auto companies and motorcycle manufacturers that could not maintain normal production and operations. The special public notice expired. In the future, companies that have failed to meet the eligibility requirements will be delisted. At that time, more than 100 car companies had already withdrawn from the list of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Afterwards, in 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the “Specially Publicized Vehicle Production Enterprises (Second Batch) Announcement”. Then why did the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have to step up efforts to strengthen the rectification of “zombie car enterprises”?

In response, the headline app also interviewed Mr. Zhong Shi, an analyst in the automobile industry. He said: “The “zombie companies” actually started to cancel before long ago, but at the time they may consider various local interests and the like. The issue has been dragged on without resolution. The fact that it has been implemented repeatedly since 2012 to strengthen supervision now indicates that the country has paid more attention to this matter."

Coincidentally, Miao Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology wrote an article on the front page of the “Learn Times” at the end of March: Accelerating the pace of building a strong country and a strong network. Among them, the emphasis is on firm promotion of structural reforms on the supply side, and one of the reasons for sorting out the disharmonies in the development of new energy in the automotive industry. This is the original meaning of the structural reform on the supply side.

This mechanism of periodically stimulating backward companies and urging them to concentrate on development and eventually eliminating ineffective assets has a very positive effect on improving the concentration of domestic auto industry, adjusting the industrial organization structure, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the auto industry.

So why did the country start to supervise zombies from 2012, and a few years later still continue to retreat zombies?

There is still "stuck" and no death

In recent years, with the rapid development of the new energy automobile market, some non-automotive manufacturing companies have also tried to take shortcuts into the vehicle manufacturing industry through the acquisition of car companies. At the same time, in the list of disqualifications from the Ministry of Industry and Information, there is another The company, he is not a zombie car company, but the production qualification of a certain type of car was canceled.

According to the announcement issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, if there is no production car or imported car within 12 months, it will be withdrawn directly from the list of the Ministry of Industry and Information, but many people are also skeptical, because as early as 2012, the country has already issued relevant The policy is to monitor this, but there are still some "rigid" auto companies that have not died in the past few years.

For zombie companies to "stuck" and not die, the auto industry analyst Zhong Shi also gave his own judgment: "On the one hand, some zombie companies rely on the reselling of their own production qualifications to allow some mergers and acquisitions to come and buy him because There are also some companies that do not have the qualification to enter the market. They just wait for the "recovering the dead." So the zombie companies are so dead and do not die; on the other hand, they may also be related to the protection of some local governments. The company did not write off and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not publish a clear catalog, so this kind of zombie company was naturally 'stuck'."

In addition, according to incomplete statistics, there are currently 184 automakers in China, and if there are more than 76 automakers according to the group's calibre, there are still 76. In addition, the number of modified car companies is as many as 1,056.

Ministry of Industry and Information Minister Miao Wei once said: “On the whole, the number of auto companies is still high. We established an exit mechanism for the auto industry mainly to break the tenure system of auto manufacturing companies’ qualifications and establish the dynamics of survival and elimination of the fittest. The management mechanism urges the lagging companies to increase their technological transformation and upgrade; if they do not, they can also continue to increase the production concentration of automobile manufacturers through mergers and acquisitions.”

With the strengthening of state supervision, after the elimination of fierce competition, how many car companies in our country will be suitable?

Winnership is an inevitable choice

It is understood that after the competition in recent years, the concentration of Chinese auto products has become increasingly high. At present, the concentration of the top 10 auto manufacturers in China has reached 90%, and the concentration of the top five companies has exceeded 50%. In fact, judging from the road of the auto industry in developed countries, competition and elimination have always been the mainstream approach. In the United States, for example, when the automobile industry began to rise in the United States, there were also many good and bad automobile companies. However, in the course of continuous development and improvement of the US market, many poorly-operated companies were continuously merged and reorganized or eliminated, and finally the US market. Only a few ace car prices remain.

The auto industry as a special industry, the sales of its products must reach a certain amount before it can be profitable, some small-scale sales, the overall strength of the weaker companies, in the fierce market competition is difficult to survive.

It is appropriate for the number of car companies in our country to survive, and Zhongshi, an analyst in the automobile industry, also stated: "Because of the diversification of the market, there is no fixed number of how many companies survive, and only the fittest survives. Because large companies cannot Satisfy the individual needs of each market segment, and small and medium-sized enterprises can do more personalized products, and each company has its own way of survival, different companies can provide different products to cover the entire market, and several Big companies cannot cover the entire market."

It is undeniable that withdrawing the production qualifications of some auto companies that have lost their production and operating capabilities and eliminating ineffective production capacity has become an inevitable choice for the entire industry in technological transformation and transformation and upgrading.