"BMW China will acquire China Motor for 1.633 billion yuan."

　　"No, what BMW acquired was only the production assets of Brilliance China, not the brand."

　　……

　　Rashomon is still entangled in the stage, the details of the truth will not change the overall situation: Brilliance, the leader of China’s autonomous cars, the end of its autonomous passenger car segment Brilliance China has been predicted by the industry very early. , Now it's just boots landing.

　　"China has fallen again."

　　Some people lamented that although the name coincides with the traditional name of this country, after all, any influential independent brand will fall down, and it will inevitably give most viewers a trace of coldness. There have been too many replays about Brilliance, but the picture is like a puzzle, there will always be one or two missing pieces. Regardless of whether Qi Yumin, Yang Rong or Brilliance Brand itself, it is very simple to put on a facial definition, and it is easy to scold it in two or two sentences. So where is the source of "sinner" and "banality"?

　　The story is to pull the camera back as hard as possible. And the lessons that the entire Chinese auto industry can learn from it will also become clear in such a retrospective.

　　From 200 billion in revenue to 1.6 billion acquired

　　"I was in the rain and snow, and with an indescribable complex mood, I rushed to a strange city and a strange unit to engage in a strange job."

　　In the winter of 2005, 45-year-old Qi Yu was very popular. On his way from the deputy mayor of Dalian to the chairman of Brilliance Automotive, he sat in a shaky green train and sent the above message to his sister. If he could have predicted that he would be jailed, would he still choose to set foot on the big ship of Brilliance?

　　Another winter fifteen years later, in December 2020, just 14 days after Brilliance Automobile went bankrupt, Qi Yumin was investigated by the Liaoning Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection. Six months after the case was filed for review, Qi Yumin was expelled from the party.

　　This job that once made Qi Yumin feel very "unfamiliar" once brought him to the pinnacle of his career, accompanied by flowers and applause, even if the industry tends to set him as a bureaucratic image. After Yang Rong was "leaved" Brilliance, he left the company with 8 billion debts and a heavy burden. At his peak, Qi Yumin not only solved these obstacles, but also leveraged BMW Brilliance, Xinchen Power and other sectors to boost the annual revenue of the entire Brilliance Group to 200 billion yuan.

　　It’s just that time will not freeze at that moment. The auto industry’s test of entrepreneurs will take at least five years or even ten or twenty years to give scores. Qi Yumin’s highlight moment is too short and is completely “unfamiliar” in the automotive industry. His business has gradually deviated. He paid close attention to the share price and market value of Brilliance China’s listed companies, but neglected to develop Brilliance’s independent sector and deviated from the market and industry rules. This has become the fundamental reason for Brilliance’s decline today. Failure and corruption also brought him directly to prison.

　　After nine months of bankruptcy, the reorganization work finally made some progress, but this time, it was not the good news that was good for the independent sector that rushed into the hot search, but BMW China will acquire China Motor for 1.633 billion yuan. Related news.

　　On the morning of August 31, the second meeting of creditors was held on the substantive merger and reorganization of 12 companies including Brilliance Group. After that, news came out, claiming that three bills were passed by creditors at the meeting, including two bills on property management and price changes, the establishment of a creditor committee, and the core bill that BMW China acquires the "Zhonghua" automobile brand.

　　Multi-party information shows that the acquisition will cost 1.633 billion yuan. However, the passing rate of BMW China's proposal to acquire the "Zhonghua" car brand is not high. The agreed amount only accounts for 57% of the amount of debts attended the meeting, slightly exceeding the minimum limit of 50%, which is the proposal with the lowest passing rate.

　　If this transaction is approved, Brilliance will make some money back and be able to repay part of the loan owed before.

　　However, the self-owned car brand with the word "China" will be acquired by foreign capital. Whether it is the auto industry or the consumers who are paying attention to this incident, the mood will be more complicated. Some netizens even directly posted a message. The acquisition process of Zhonghua Toothpaste by Unilever is still vivid. Is China Motor really going to follow in the footsteps and become a foreign-owned "foreign brand"?

　　The truth is not entirely true.

　　The reporter of "Auto Commune" contacted BMW insiders for the first time and learned from many parties that what BMW China is about to acquire is not the China Automotive brand under Brilliance, but a manufacturing company that produces its own brand products, that is, " Brilliance Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd.". Relevant people also revealed to us that the official announcement will be released in the near future.

　　The most important message is that it is not the brand that is sold, but the asset. Specifically, the acquisition of BMW China this time includes related assets such as land use rights, buildings, production equipment, and the 100% equity of Brilliance Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. currently held by Brilliance, totaling 1.633 billion yuan.

　　Judging from the transaction amount, it is not a small number.

　　Specifically, the value related to land use rights is 240 million yuan; houses, buildings and structures are valued at 700 million yuan; machinery and other hardware equipment are valued at 293 million yuan; the equity of Brilliance Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is finally offset by assets and liabilities. , Valued at 4,500 yuan, for a total of 1.233 billion yuan.

　　Compared with the last 1.633 billion yuan, a premium of 400 million yuan is left at the end, which is the price required to pay for the qualification of the vehicle production.

　　An insider close to Brilliance Auto told Auto Commune that some of China Auto and Brilliance’s independent production lines have actually been suspended for some time. “Although the group is still working normally, almost all of China’s related projects have been suspended. At present, employees are dealing with some of the most basic tasks, and the core business has not made any progress."

　　BMW's abacus

　　According to Tianyan Check information, Brilliance Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was established on December 14, 2019, with a registered capital of 2 billion yuan, and the legal representative is Zhang Guosheng.

　　It is worth noting that the company has undergone a large-scale executive change in May this year. The party secretary and chairman Gao Weimin withdrew, Zhang Guosheng was added as chairman, and director and general manager Wang Dongming also withdrew. The changed general manager For Luo Yi.

　　According to public information, in August 2019, Brilliance Group officially appointed Gao Weimin, a technical genre, as the chief engineer, responsible for Brilliance’s vehicle product development and quality improvement. At the same time, Gao Weimin also served as the position data assistant of Brilliance Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The post of chairman. The last time it was interviewed by the media on behalf of Brilliance was in July 2020.

　　Actually, it should have been about a year since the production and sales of China Motor’s models have been discontinued, and the brand has not made a deep transformation in the new four modernizations so far. Since China Motor's models have been discontinued for a long time, this also means that the assets of the production dimension (that is, the land, buildings, equipment, personnel team, patents, etc. that will be acquired by BMW) have also been left unused for a long time.

　　So, are these assets still worth buying?

　　In the field of electrification, Brilliance Group and Wuxi Xinri established a joint venture company to jointly build the research and development and production of new energy vehicles, with the goal of producing small pure electric vehicles. However, according to public information, the company's Wuxi plant has only started construction since the end of 2018. After the completion of the construction, it is planned to start trial production in October 2020, but Brilliance at that time was already hard to return.

　　This also means that many of the assets that have been suspended for a long time are actually on the verge of being eliminated. For the savvy BMW, it is the production qualification purchased for the last 400 million yuan.

　　According to BMW China’s official caliber, they hope to support the restructuring of Brilliance Group with practical actions, and are committed to further expanding their business in Liaoning Province, and hope to use the existing production capacity of Brilliance Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

　　How will the production qualification be used?

　　Compared with the emerging new carmakers, the production qualification is not a very urgent rigid need for BMW. Especially in the Chinese market, Brilliance's qualification does not seem to solve BMW's urgent need. One possibility is that BMW has a huge appetite in the Chinese market and may want to develop a new brand alone to respond to the wave of electrification transformation in China.

　　It's really not impossible.

　　It is well known in the industry that BMW directly bypassed its old partner Brilliance in the field of electric vehicles in the past few years, and established a joint venture with Great Wall Motors to establish the beam car. According to the plan, BMW will jointly develop a new electric vehicle platform with Great Wall to produce BMW Mini and Great Wall’s electrified models. The BMW Mini produced by Light Beam will also be sold in overseas markets.

　　Although foreign media broke the news that the beam car might be shut down a year ago, it was later denied by the Great Wall, saying that the relevant projects are progressing smoothly. However, in the view of "Auto Commune", even if the operation of the beam can be steadily advanced as planned, both Great Wall and BMW have a half-to-half share ratio, which also means that it is not BMW that dominates——

　　is as strong as BMW, and may not be willing to "complete everything."

　　Since the 50% equity ratio does not feed BMW’s ambitions, it is precisely because of this that it does not rule out the possibility that BMW will open up a new electric sub-brand in the future, and the 1.6 billion acquisition of relevant qualifications and assets of Brilliance is just for the next Just one step plan to prepare.

　　Re-discussion on the fall of the "Brilliance Empire"

　　Brilliance's predecessor, the State-owned Northeast Highway General Administration Automobile Repair Factory, was born in the same year as the Republic, and a series of subsequent transformations are worthy of special mention in the history of state-owned enterprise reform.

　　In 1984, "Brilliance Founder" Zhao Xiyou restructured the Agricultural Machinery and Automobile Industry Bureau into Shenyang Automobile Industry Company; in 1988, Zhao Xiyou took the lead in implementing demutualization and then restructured into Jinbei Automobile Co., Ltd., becoming the only large state-owned enterprise in the country that issued stocks to the society at that time . The three major reform experiments of leasing system, shareholding system and bankruptcy are boldly tried and are the first in the world.

　　When Yang Rong succeeded Zhao Xiyou on stage, this pioneering style was further carried forward. Under Yang Rong's plan, Brilliance has developed three roads simultaneously:

　　In 1989, Jinbei started to introduce technology from Toyota and other companies; Jinbei GM in 1992 and BMW Brilliance in 2003 went out of joint ventures; in 2000, China Motors rolled off the assembly line and opened the prelude to independent research and development. In addition, Brilliance International negotiated with Rover of the United Kingdom and Renault of France to conspire to acquire Shaanxi Qinchuan. However, the outside world may be more interested in the listing of Brilliance China Automobile Holdings Co., Ltd. (Brilliance Auto) on the New York Stock Exchange in 1992, and the delisting in 2007 is of course inevitable.

　　Automobile manufacturing, finance and legal fields, Brilliance has played the role of explorer and pioneer in China. However, Yang Rong's wanton expansion and rough model, as well as the lack of a suitable successor after being suddenly "kicked away", also brought heavy pressure and hidden dangers to Brilliance. For example, the supplier system is chaotic. There are more than 30 service providers that only carry commercial logistics, far exceeding the two or three common levels of other car companies. The expansion did not consider market demand, and Brilliance's sales fell significantly after Yangrong left. In 2005, the car products The sales volume of Brilliance was only 10,000, and the national passenger car market soared by 26.5%, and Brilliance's sales fell 9%.

　　That’s right, Qi Yumin entered Brilliance as a “deconstructor”. At that time, Brilliance had a cumulative loss of 8 billion yuan, and the supplier alone owed 1 billion yuan. As a result, this new head of "completely unfamiliar with cars" began to use his own thinking and philosophy to make the entire company's culture and path radically changed.

　　It should be said that Qi Yumin's achievements as a "fire-fighting captain" and the hidden dangers that led to Brilliance's bankruptcy are actually based on the same thinking system. Good luck and bad luck are always one.

　　Let me talk about people first.

　　During the three years from 2006, Qi Yumin adjusted the management system and served as the chairman of three listed companies, Jinbei, Brilliance, and Shenhua. Not only was it centralizing power, but also neglected the cultivation of the talent system, including Zhao Fuquan, who later joined Geely, and others all left Brilliance. If it is said that the centralization of power at that time was also conducive to Qi Yumin's urgent need, then in the subsequent development process, there will be no one else who can effectively "admonish" and correct Qi Yumin's wrong line.

　　Then there is technology research and development.

　　Looking back at the development of China's auto industry, the early implementation of "usage doctrine", borrowing from foreign technologies and even copycats is a fast "on the road" strategy in the short term. Qi Yumin, who admires overseas technology in his heart, naturally regards overseas technology sources as a standard, so his Dream car is described as follows: "Its chassis is tuned by Porsche; its shape, interior and exterior decorations are made in Italy; its engine is and BMW cooperated. Once the three major resources are integrated, will a good car come out?"

　　What Qi Yumin did not expect was that, as time went by, enterprising autonomous car companies began to explore the development of forward platforms and forward powertrains, or strive to reverse the development of vehicle platforms and powertrains. It can realize the handy "Magic Reform" and absorb overseas talents and advanced experience as much as possible. However, Brilliance's technology and design are almost in place, and they lack the ability to control the pulse of market demand.

　　Why must technology research and development achieve directivity?

　　The reverse R&D of "knowing what is happening and not knowing why" will make it extremely difficult to update and upgrade a generation of products. You can only quickly replace and select a reverse imitation object; at the same time, the underlying logic of the design is not understood, and the performance of each assembly of the vehicle is consistent. Sexuality and matching are prone to problems. Therefore, although there are opinions that "the owner is not a platform," the platform determines the upper limit of the product's performance.

　　In the course of such competition, Brilliance's backwardness immediately brought bad results. Under the SUV boom, Brilliance V3 achieved a monthly sales record of 20,000 units in December 2016, but it soon lost in a new round of fierce battles of consumption upgrades. Powerhouses such as Geely and Great Wall soon came up with further upgraded models, but Brilliance V6 and V7 were not released until 2018, even though the front face design of V6 was criticized, and the product strength could not match the level of strong models.

　　Therefore, Brilliance was able to quickly come up with a considerable level of Zun Chi at the beginning of the game, but it became more and more embarrassed as the game started. Qi Yumin's technical thinking of "usage doctrine" brought a small profit first, and then a major harm.

　　No less than the shortcomings of technology research and development, it is the short-sightedness of the price sales strategy.

　　Now the industry will vigorously criticize the "price war" because it damages the brand premium and disrupts the channel order. When Qi Yumin took office on the fourth day, the "price reduction" became his "magic kit" to solve the low sales volume. When Qi Yumin decided to lower the price of Zunchi, which had a maximum price of more than 200,000 yuan, to more than 100,000 yuan, the monthly sales performance of the car soared from dozens to a thousand, and even the supply was in short supply. Qi Yumin, who tasted the sweetness, announced the price of more than 80,000 yuan when Junjie went public in 2006.Starting from Yuan, it was significantly lower than industry expectations.

　　Indeed, in 2006 Brilliance ushered in a turnaround. Zunchi and Junjie promoted a 545.8% year-on-year increase in sales of Chinese brands to 58,000 units. The entire annual target of 200,000 units of Brilliance Brilliance was completed 17 days ahead of schedule, and it won the domestic car with a year-on-year increase of 79.6%. The growth rate of enterprises is the first. But what about the channels and networks under the low-price strategy? Distributors have suffered because of the meager profits, coupled with the imbalance in the proportion of branch sales and the first- and second-tier networks (the Chinese brand has more than a thousand dealerships at the end of 2010, but only 261 first-tier stores), and a large number of branches have closed down in the following years.

　　So, Brilliance China only swallowed the bitter fruit that Qi Yumin caused. In 2014 and 2017, the sales of Brilliance China's brand dropped by more than 20% year-on-year. In 2017, the monthly sales volume of its best-selling model was that the V3 became the "general in the short man" at a level of less than two thousand vehicles. In addition to the glamorous Brilliance China report, there is also the Brilliance Group report that is difficult to query. The consolidated report includes joint ventures such as BMW Brilliance. In the parent company report, the annual loss in the past five years has been 800 to 1.1 billion yuan. between.

　　If it is said that “playing with finance” is a goal pursued by both Yang Rong and Qi Yumin, then this goal has become the mountain with the heaviest quantitative dimension on Brilliance's later back.

　　In October last year, Brilliance "exploded with thunder."

　　According to the 2019 annual report of Brilliance Auto obtained by the "Auto Commune", the revenue of this Shenyang key enterprise in 2019 was 181.130 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.4% from the 156.928 billion yuan in 2018. Net profit increased by 12.0% from 9.774 billion yuan to 10.95 billion yuan. It seems that the performance is good, the scale and profit margin are very impressive, and it has achieved a year-on-year increase in the context of the market downturn. But why is such a powerful company unable to redeem the bonds due?

　　This requires another batch of indicators besides revenue and profit to be assessed: as of the end of the period (December 31, 2019), the cash flow was 37.7 billion, which was an increase from the 29.3 billion at the end of 2018. However, current liabilities are 162.251 billion yuan, and after adding non-current liabilities (including bonds payable), the total liabilities are 144.781 billion yuan.

　　The figures provided by Oriental Jincheng are: As of the end of March 2020, Brilliance Auto’s total liabilities amounted to RMB 122.675 billion. The bond alone is enough to make Brilliance difficult. According to the GF Securities Development Research Center, as of October 23, 2020, Brilliance Automotive Group had 14 outstanding bonds, with a total bond balance of 17.2 billion yuan. Taking maturity distribution and resale pressure as the observation dimensions, it will be mainly concentrated in 2021 and 2022. The maturity and resale scale of bonds will be 6.5 billion yuan and 9.2 billion yuan respectively.

　　From the forerunner of the past to the weaker of today, the root cause is that Qi Yumin, as the head, cannot be blamed. After completely reversing Yang Rong’s radical line, Brilliance’s subsequent play was too ineffective. It focused on the listed stock price and political performance, and relied on the high profit "milk" of the joint venture company. Gradually abandoned under the strategy of dare not act.

　　Qi Yumin has completed his political mission. However, from the perspective of the development of the automobile industry, Brilliance is a joint venture company that it can rely on in an age when the automobile industry is evolving and speeding up. The "pacifier" was finally taken away by BMW, which was in desperate need of replenishment because of its weakness. Even its own assets were picked up by BMW for mergers and acquisitions.

　　Gibran said: I would rather be the smallest person among mankind who has dreams and the desire to fulfill their dreams, rather than being the greatest person without dreams and wishes. The root cause of Brilliance's failure is that the corporate culture and the enterprising spirit of the heads have long since cooled, and they have transformed from a tough and invincible fighter into a "slowly lazy person" who is willing to divide profit and politics first.

　　"We must not give up eternity for the sake of the times." Qi Yumin must have never read Husserl's words. Because of the short-term advantage and short-sightedness deviating from the laws of the industry, he will naturally spend eternity in the dark.

　　And the tragedy of "China's fall", please do not stage it again.