Steyr, Liberation and Dongfeng--the "Sawboard" in the Game of the Strong

The sales of heavy trucks in the two major groups declined in the first half

Steyr gap fills market vacuum

When the total amount of the market is fixed, the income of one party must be lost by one party. This criterion is particularly prominent in this year's heavy truck market. From January to May this year, the market share of commercial vehicles with a total mass of more than 14 tons of liberation by FAW was 22.30%, a decrease of 4.0% compared with the same period of last year; Dongfeng's share was 21.98%, a year-on-year decrease of 11.23 percentage points; four Steyr platform companies (China Sales volume and share of CNHTC, Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck, Chongqing Hongyan, and Beiqi Foton have all increased at different rates, with Shaanxi Auto's growth rate being the most obvious, and China National Heavy Duty Truck with a market share of 20.83% surpassing liberation ( 22.30%) and Dongfeng (21.98%). Why does this happen? Is Steyr's business prowess? Or is the liberation and the east wind on the decline?

To explore why Steyr's business has risen so rapidly, we must first understand why the liberation and the east wind have fallen so badly, because Steyr's rise is precisely the share that Liberation and Dongfeng lost. It can be said that in the event of a sluggish market and the total volume continues to fall, the sales relationship between Steyr, Liberation and Dongfeng is like a “sawboard,” and “you” rises, and “I” falls.

As described in the cover article, the reason for the decline of the quasi-heavy-card market is the major force that caused the liberation and drastic decline in sales of Dongfeng. But in addition to this, due to the problems existing in Liberation and Dongfeng itself, the sales volume and market share of both products are falling too fast. On this point, this article will analyze for you.

Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle: Failure to Introduce Heavy Truck New Products in Time

Maybe there are still many people who have been “intoxicated” in the bustling scene of Dongfeng “Tianlong” heavy trucks listed on May 18th. Unfortunately, if this bustling scene can emerge three years ago, today’s Dongfeng commercial vehicle will Will not face such difficulties.

This company is currently facing a crisis of unreasonable product structure (In fact, some of the senior executives of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Company have also realized this). Since 2000, China’s heavy truck market is slowly moving toward large tonnage and high power, and the nation’s overriding work that began in 2004 has further accelerated this process (of course, this is a good thing). Businesses are unprepared.

Since Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Company entered the market of more than 8 tons of load in 1990, its product structure has been mainly quasi heavy trucks with 8 to 15 tons. One of the dump trucks has become the “star” supporting Dongfeng in recent years. It is the EQ3208 dump truck. Series, mainly 194kW (260hp). This 6×4 car is a double 10 ton rear axle, selling very well in the North China market, and sales accounted for more than 50% of the company’s more than 8 tons of load-carrying products.

Over-reliance on an older product is dangerous. Although the EQ3208 is very durable, but the introduction of time is too long, the product model is a little aging, and, this model is essentially a semi-heavy vehicle, its obvious mark is the double ten tons rear axle design (although many users are using, and Do not load according to axle load). With the domestic heavy-duty truck market speeding up to more than 15 tons, and Steyr platform companies are increasingly paying attention to special-purpose vehicles such as dump trucks, the EQ3208 has experienced a significant decline in the past year and the first half of this year, and this has contributed to the sales of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Company. There was a severe downturn, and it also revealed the lack of 15-ton real heavy trucks and unreasonable product structure.

Fortunately, the company sent a positive signal some time ago with its own actions, that is, the listing of the "Tianlong" 15-ton heavy truck (Dongfeng called the project a D310 project). At present, this product is still in the lead-in period, and its market prospects will determine the success or failure of Dongfeng's product structure adjustment “storm”.

FAW Liberation: Bottlenecks in Engine Power

Before the year 2000, FAW Liberation accounted for more than half of the heavy-duty vehicle market of more than 8 tons, but continued to decline after 2000, fell to 25% in 2005, and shrank to 22.30% from January to May this year. Why is this?

Objectively speaking, FAW liberation is still very visionary. It saw the development trend of the heavy truck market very early, and in 2004 introduced a 15-ton real heavy truck "Aowei" series; unfortunately, "Aowei" The expectations of emancipation have not been met, and there has been no liberation of half the sky for the liberation company's heavy truck sales.

In fact, the liberation of the market share reduction is inevitable, because several Steyr platform companies and the northern Mercedes-Benz continue to rise, heavy-duty card market more than 15 tons began to exert power; but the decline is so fast, it is not everyone can expect.

Liberation companies have faced many problems recently. On the one hand, large companies are seriously ill and their research and development capabilities are strong, but they are not well connected with market demand. This newspaper once discussed these issues in the article “Can the new” handsome Xu Xianping reproduce the glory of “old” in February 20th? On the other hand, the plight of liberating “Aowei” (the decline in liberated sales was mainly influenced by Aowei). Since the liberation of “Aowei” was launched in July 2004, its market performance has been inconsistent with, and it is unsatisfactory.

Why is it that Aowei, which invests billions of yuan in research and development and purchases of special equipment, is so “dire”? Judging from the situation of the reporters in the market investigation, Dawei sold well, which was mainly because the heavy-duty diesel engines produced by the Dalian diesel engine plant under the liberation of FAW had relatively large power and could better meet the needs of users; The Aowei vehicles using the FAW Xichai diesel engine appear to be underpowered and the engine stability is deviated. In this way, we have been able to “touch the cane” and touch one of the reasons for the failure of Aowei’s market. The reason is that the power of the Xichai engine is not enough, and the stability is still weak.

Where is the solution? The reform of internal management and the continuous improvement of vehicle design are necessary. In addition, it is imperative to improve the engine displacement and power of Aowei vehicles. There are rumors that the Liberation Company is negotiating with Steyr engine manufacturers (such as Weichai, etc.), hoping to use heavy-duty Steyr diesel engines on some large-tonnage Aowei trucks. This is a good sign and signal. Only Aowei's power "bottleneck" problem is solved, this car can only hope to play in the second half of the young.

Steyr: Get The Market Share You Should Get

Figure 3 shows that the share of Liberation and Dongfeng in the heavy-duty market of over 8 tons was reduced from 83% in 2000 to 71% in 2003 and 55% in 2005, while the three Steyrs increased from 14.9% in 2000. It was 19.9% ​​in 2003 and 30.8% in 2005. In the first five months of this year, the record reached a record high of 37.99% (not counting Beiqi Futian).

Steyr’s rise in market share is inevitable, but no one expected it to grow so fast. To know that from the introduction in 1983 until 2000, Steyr heavy trucks can not sell a lot of cars a year, because most of China's more than 8 tons of heavy vehicles market is a quasi-heavy card products from the conversion of China Card. In fact, the heavy-duty truck market with a capacity of over 15 tons will not start until after 2000. This year is exactly when the Sinotruk Group was divided into three.

After the separation of Sinotruk, Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck and Chongqing Hongyan, Beiqi Foton also joined the rank of Steyr platform companies. The market share of these four manufacturers increased rapidly during the period from 2000 to the first half of 2006. This phenomenon can be seen as a "natural return." Because before the year 2000, 80% of China's more than 8 tons of trucks market was monopolized by the quasi-heavy truck products of Liberation and Dongfeng. However, with the development of large tonnage and high power, the Steyr trucks were only recently Gradually gained the favor of users during the year. Therefore, Steyr actually obtained the market share he deserved, and the decline in liberation and the share of the east wind is inevitable and normal (only due to some problems in his own, which led to a rapid decline), but it is foreseeable. With the introduction and maturity of new heavy trucks from various manufacturers, the absolute value of Steyr's product sales will increase, but the market share may start to decline after rising to a high level.

friendly reminder

In the domestic heavy truck market, since the recession this year will continue, total sales in the first half of the year will still show signs of slight decline. Therefore, for mainstream companies, the most important thing at present is not profit, but market share. When the total volume of the market is greatly expanded, all companies can benefit from it, and you can't live with them. For example, in 2004, the heavy-duty trucks will allow even smaller non-mainstream companies to “count the money”; but When the market declines, the competition becomes very cruel. "You" sell less one hundred cars. "I" have the opportunity to sell one hundred more vehicles. Whoever gets more market share in the downturn, who There will be more opportunities to get more profits in the next round of market blowouts in the future. Therefore, at this time, sales and share are more important than profits, and it is worthwhile to sacrifice certain profits for market share when necessary. Of course, it is not necessary to fight a price war, and spending more money on product innovation and marketing service innovation is the best strategy.

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