Meituan shared car settled in Chengdu: the new gameplay after the giant invasion has been launched

Authors: Wang Xunkui and Zhou Xiaodan

Before the trial and error of the blue strands, after the drop of strict prevention, Meituan’s shared car business is destined to wade through a muddy road.

Geek Park has learned that Meituan’s time-sharing car business has been launched in Chengdu’s Pidu urban area, called "Meituan Car Rental", and this app can already be downloaded on the app store. At present, there are only two fuel models, Volkswagen Langyi and Volkswagen Santana. According to the available vehicles on the user map, it is estimated that there are about 50 to 100 vehicles in operation. Orders are still calculated according to "frequent + mileage".

Meituan has established a mobility division internally, and new businesses in the mobility field, including shared cars, Meituan maps, and driverless and taxi-hailing, are slowly being integrated into this division. According to media reports in early November, Meituan is recruiting relevant teams.

After testing the water taxi business in Nanjing at the beginning of this year and launching the Mobike bicycle entrance in September, Meituan’s hunger for big travel has stopped concealing.A former Meituan executive told Geek Park that within Meituan, travel has been listed as one of the company’s key business directions in 2018.

Like the ride-hailing business that went live before, Meituan’s shared car timeshare rental business will be piloted in a single city first.

A person close to Meituan told Geek Park that in the planning stage of this business, domestic second-tier cities including Chengdu, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Chongqing were all considered by decision-makers, but because "Xiamen market is too small, Hangzhou is heavily guarded by Ali, and it is afraid of diverting Nanjing’s taxi business. Chongqing also has a relatively mature start-up company (Panda car) to take root and try," and finally chose Chengdu.

Meituan’s almost borderless business expansion model has made it an "outlier" in Internet companies. Previously, Meituan’s layout in the travel field was explained by Wang Xing as "starting from the needs of customers", "anything related to food and life, we should consider participating."

The shared car timeshare rental market in Chengdu is not a blank. At present, there are already many timeshare rental companies such as Panda Car, Go Fun, EVCARD, and Tuge in the streets of Chengdu.

Although it is far from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Chengdu has long been the best training ground for time-sharing rentals.

The greatest dividends come from the policy levelIn September 2017, the General Office of the Chengdu Municipal People’s Government issued the "Notice on Encouraging and Regulating the Development of New Energy Vehicle Timeshare Leasing Industry", which directly stated that Chengdu will increase policy support for new energy vehicle timeshare leasing enterprises, and gave specific goals: "By the end of 2018, the city will basically form a new energy vehicle timeshare leasing service network, with 2,500 service outlets and 10,000 charging piles; by the end of 2020, the city will form a comprehensive new energy vehicle timeshare leasing service network, with 5,000 service outlets and 20,000 charging piles."

The release of this policy has brought a huge incremental market to Chengdu. At the same time, compared with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which strictly control the number of car license plates issued, Chengdu has not yet issued a license restriction order, which also lowers the threshold for "intruder" Meituan.

"Chengdu government support is relatively strong, the crowd is relatively open, and the traffic conditions are relatively good." Zeng Hao, the head of Panda’s Chengdu operation, said that he has not yet received news that Meituan’s time-sharing rental business is going to land in Chengdu, but he speculates that the good market and policy environment in Chengdu may be an important reason for Meituan’s choice.

The data shows that Chengdu is the second largest car ownership market in the country except Beijing, with car ownership exceeding 4 million and driving license ownership reaching 7 million. After a period of operation, Zeng Hao is very optimistic about the capacity of the Chengdu market:"That is to say, about 3 million people have a driver’s license without a car, and even if only 2% of them use shared cars, there is still 60,000 market space to explore."

In terms of vehicle sources, Chengdu-based shared car operators also have an advantage. Since 2007, Chengdu Economic Development Zone has been turned into a "Chengdu Automobile Industrial Park" specializing in the development of complete vehicles and supporting parts. In the International Automobile City located in Longquan, Chengdu, including Geely Volvo, FAW-Volkswagen, FAW Toyota, Chengdu Ruihuaxian Energy Automobile and other automobile manufacturers have established large production bases.

According to the above-mentioned person close to Meituan, similar to other domestic shared car operators, Meituan will also adopt the cooperation method of financing and leasing with several car factories and rental companies to "get the car": "In the early stage, fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles may be deployed, but in the future, new energy vehicles may be the main one."

For Meituan, choosing Chengdu can be described as the right time and place. But it is not easy to land services in this city in the southwest.

Meituan’s previous data and offline operation and expansion capabilities were largely based on the business of takeaway, in-store service, and even other life services. Whether it was the difficulty of operation or scheduling, it had little in common with car timeshare leasing. In fact, Meituan’s test of the water is very likely to "start from scratch".

But Meituan’s internal expansion into new businesses is also very "goal-oriented", the person close to Meituan said: "Usually a goal is set first, and then external resources are found, rather than judging by how much resources the company has."

The early entry of Go Fun and Panda cars and EVcards has established certain resource barriers to varying degrees.

For example, parking stations are still a scarce resource for the time being, and developing them is not an easy task. At present, Go Fun (Beijing Shouqi Zhixing Technology Co., Ltd.), which has the largest market share in Chengdu, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shouqi Group. In February this year, Go Fun officially signed a cooperation agreement with Sichuan Transportation Investment Group and established a joint venture company, and then launched the Go Fun Sichuan Jiaotong cooperation project.

According to a local car-sharing operator in Chengdu, Sichuan Transportation Investment Group controls all public and road parking spots in the city. "It would be great if the number of on-street parking spaces could be increased, which is very helpful for improving operational efficiency."

In order to facilitate charging and changing electricity and improve operational efficiency, shared car operators generally recommend that users park their vehicles at the company’s stipulated parking spots. And the resources of such parking stations are almost exclusive to each company. At present, Panda has won more than 200 parking stations in Chengdu, each of which can accommodate 10 to 20 vehicles."After all, some of the resources in a city are limited," Zeng Hao admitted that Panda’s parking resources still need to be expanded, "but at least our stations have signed contracts, so it is more difficult for new entrants to expand parking resources in the same places."

As a unicorn whose valuation has soared to $30 billion, Meituan’s every invasion can trigger an earthquake in a specific field. According to a person familiar with Meituan’s travel business, like previous attempts at power banks and convenience stores, Meituan is just pushing forward with a test of the water for shared cars. "Whether it will be done on a large scale in the end is still uncertain."

This is the expansion logic of Meituan’s new business.

In November, Meituan announced the closure of the power bank business. Wang Huiwen, senior vice president of Meituan Review, mentioned in an internal letter that Meituan’s important basis for judging whether to close a new business or increase investment or continue to explore is, "The strategic synergy value between our existing business, if the future market size is not large enough, but the strategic synergy value is large enough, you can consider expanding operations, otherwise it should be closed."

How big is the shared car market? Previously, in an interview with a Geek Park reporter, once CEO Wang Yang used a "self-created" calculation method to roughly estimate the size of the shared car market."The number of people in China who have a driver’s license – the number of private cars in China + 20% of the limited number of people, according to the use of 4 people in a car, and then a 50% discount for urbanization (the requirement for travel), based on the rental price of 150 yuan a day in China. If these are counted as the demand for shared cars, this is about a 300 billion market."

Since 2015, a large number of test-takers have flooded into the shared car timeshare rental field. After a few years, there have been a lot of casualties, and there are very few positive cases for reference.

At the outset of the market, the participants were mixed up and each had their own plans. "Car manufacturers use their left-hand products to buy their right hands and earn subsidies, while the right-hand products are used for shared cars." A practitioner broke the news that there was even a situation in the industry where the subsidy income of new energy vehicles exceeded the income of car sales.

But starting in 2016, subsidies for new energy vehicles were fully reduced and subsidy reviews were upgraded. The "policy dividend" gradually disappeared, the bubble stirred up by the trick of cheating and subsidies was pierced, and shared cars ushered in a real corpse.

This is still a game without a clear business model. This has also directly led to the cautious attitude of capital towards the industry. Several investors contacted by Geek Park expressed their "wait-and-see attitude".

Once the heavy investment of assets, whether it can "make money" has become a harsh criterion for considering the industry, while challenging the patience of investors. The break-even line that shared cars aspire to has risen and fallen, and no explosive breakthrough has been achieved so far. An investor who focuses on the shared car sector told Geek Park: "On average, it takes three orders per car per day to make money, and the GO FUN with the highest market share in the country can reach an average of 1.5 orders."

Most of the experimenters are still looking for a breakthrough from a single city. Not long ago, TOGO Tuge CEO Wang Lifeng mentioned at the B round financing conference that Tuge has been able to "level or even start making profits" in Beijing; according to another person in charge of a shared car company who did not want to be named, they can reach four or five orders a day in a good season, with a daily profit of 150 yuan per car.

In October this year, EZZY, which was closed down after only one and a half years of operation, is a typical example. EZZY, which focuses on the mid-to-high-end market, once used the method of "not caring about wear and tear efficiency" to create the ultimate user experience. The model of "burning money" made it extremely dependent on capital. When the 40 million yuan financing was exhausted, the capital chain was broken, and the business ended.

"This is a very heavy O2O field. Although EZZY has received 40 million before, this amount is too small for this industry." The person in charge of the shared car told Geek Park.

Meituan, which just announced a $4 billion financing in October, may become a giant in this field in terms of capital volume. Once it enters the market, it also means that Meituan has further penetrated the hinterland of Didi after the taxi business.

In fact, existing players in the industry are all worried about Didi’s next move. "Compared to Meituan and Mobike, which recently announced the news, we will be more concerned about Didi’s entry. Didi has government resources, funds, and a lot of travel user data, which is likely to bring about some different changes."

Didi, which has a clear first-mover advantage, is taking action.According to a car-sharing company executive contacted by Geek Park, he has received an invitation from Didi headhunters, but after the exchange, the executive said that Didi has not disclosed the specific gameplay for the time being, "I think they may not have thought about it."

Meanwhile, as recently as November, Didi’s vice president in charge of automotive business, Yang Jun, also publicly stated that Didi wants to become an operator of new energy vehicles and charging stations – a layout that can also help Didi pave the way in the field of shared cars.

"This industry still lacks an Internet company that relies on" technology "and volume to win. At present, the policies for shared cars in various places have become clearer. The next step is to see who can do this job that requires heavy asset control capabilities and extremely refined operations." An investor who focuses on the travel sector told Geek Park.

Before there were uncertain industry attempts, followed by Didi’s strict defense, Meituan’s shared car business attempts were doomed to navigate a muddy road.

However, for the entire industry, the arrival of the era of giant invasion must not be a bad thing.

Byd Qin L DM

On April 25th, Qin L DM-i, a brand-new mid-level car of BYD Dynasty, made its world debut in auto china in 2024, and the marine sister model, Seal 06, made its simultaneous appearance.

According to reports, the length, width and height of Qin L are 4830mm/1900mm/1495mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2790 mm. It is a standard mid-size car.

In the car matrix of the current dynasty, the Qin family is a compact pin crown, the Han family is a medium and large pin crown, and the Qin L sword refers to the intermediate level, which just fills the gap between the two cars.

As a brand-new mid-level sedan in the dynasty, Qin L adopts "the aesthetics of the new country’s tide and the beauty of the dragon’s face", integrates the dragon’s momentum into the body, has slender and elegant sides, and adopts an ultra-wide rear shoulder design at the tail, so that the whole car presents a "wide body and low body" posture.

In terms of interior, the integrated center console is centered on the rotating large screen, creating a strong sense of embrace, and also adopts an ergonomically comfortable and cloud-like seat.

Qin L is equipped with DiLink intelligent cockpit, which integrates 15.6-inch adaptive rotating suspended Pad, car ETC, NFC digital key, full scene intelligent voice and other configurations. DiPilot intelligent driving assistance system, including adaptive cruise, intelligent navigation, emergency lane keeping assistance, blind spot monitoring and other functions, comprehensively improves driving safety. With the luxurious cockpit, quiet space, immersive concert hall, etc., meet the daily entertainment needs of users.

In terms of power, BYD officially said that Qin L was built on BYD’s new generation of plug-in and hybrid vehicle platform, and integrated a number of forward-looking technologies, which was designed for plug-in, more efficient, safer and more interesting. As for the actual performance, we can look forward to it.

According to the previous news, BYD’s fifth-generation DM-i super hybrid consists of a 1.5L engine and motors with two powers of 120kW and 160kW provided according to different configurations. It is said that the comprehensive battery life has exceeded 2,000 kilometers, and the fuel consumption is lower than 3L. Whether it is true or not needs to be verified after the real vehicle is launched.

According to the official introduction, the arrival of Qin L will fully lead the new trend of mid-level cars, provide the mainstream families with the choice of upgrading the quality of cars, and provide young people with the one-stop choice of buying cars.

It is reported that Qin L will be listed in the second quarter of this year, and it is estimated that it will be sold at 120,000 yuan. Interested friends can look forward to it.

In addition, Seaseal 06, the sister model of Ocean Net, also appeared simultaneously, and it was also built based on BYD’s new generation plug-in vehicle platform.

The appearance of Seal 06 is similar to that of the current seal series, and the same energy consumption performance is also the focus of everyone’s attention. Interested friends can look forward to the energy consumption performance and daily experience of the two cars.

Stop production, close factories, OEM … How to break the dilemma of automobile overcapacity?

  Recently, the China Machinery Industry Federation released the operation of the machinery industry in the first half of 2019, in which the data of the automobile industry showed that the growth rate of total profit turned from positive to negative, and it showed negative growth for the first time in more than a decade. In the second quarter, the utilization rate of automobile manufacturing capacity was 76.2%, down 2.1 percentage points from the first quarter. The National Bureau of Statistics’ "National Industrial Capacity Utilization Rate" data shows that the capacity utilization rate of China’s automobile manufacturing industry was 77.2% in the first half of 2019, down 3.8% year-on-year.

  Compared with the normal range of capacity utilization rate of 79% ~ 83%, the figure of 77.2% means that China’s automobile capacity utilization rate has fallen below the "safety line". However, as the signs of recovery in China’s automobile market are still not obvious and the market is weak, the sales data in July showed that the new energy automobile market, which has been growing at a high speed, experienced negative growth for the first time, so the situation of idle production capacity may continue to deteriorate. How to find a way out for excess capacity has become a top priority for many auto companies.

  The production capacity of car companies exceeds 60 million.

  In fact, the word overcapacity has been in parallel with the rapid development of China’s automobile industry. As early as 2006, the State Council clearly pointed out that the automobile industry was overcapacity. The National Development and Reform Commission also issued documents to control new vehicle projects and appropriately improve investment access conditions, aiming at curbing overcapacity. At that time, the annual sales volume of China cars was 7.2 million.

  However, with the irrational growth of China’s automobiles, many automobile companies have long forgotten the overcapacity in the face of double-digit annual growth. 10 million vehicles, 20 million vehicles … … The huge increase in automobile production and sales has made many automobile companies see the great potential of the China market, and they are overly optimistic about the market expectations. Many automobile companies have started to invest blindly and continue to expand their production capacity reserves. The news that "the fourth factory of XX automobile enterprise is officially put into production" and "the foundation laying ceremony of the fifth factory of XX automobile enterprise is officially held" is constantly seen in newspapers. According to the report "Capacity of China Automobile Industry at the End of 2015", by the end of 2015, China’s automobile production capacity was 31.22 million. Among them, during the period from 2011 to 2015, China’s new automobile production capacity increased by 10.87 million vehicles; By 2016-2017, the new production capacity will be about 6 million vehicles. At present, China’s automobile production capacity is still in the stage of continuous expansion. While auto companies are still investing and building factories for the rapid growth of the market and think that the auto market will climb further, China’s auto market suffered the first decline in sales in 2018, and began to continue to slump. The problem of overcapacity in the auto manufacturing industry, which has not attracted enough attention, has finally been exposed.

  In 2018, the planned annual production capacity of China’s automobile industry has exceeded 60 million vehicles, among which the announced production capacity of new energy vehicles will exceed 20 million vehicles by 2020, which is 10 times the sales target of the Medium and Long-term Development Plan for Automobile Industry. According to the data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the annual automobile output in 2018 is only 27.809 million, and the growth rate of production capacity reserve is far greater than the growth of market demand, so it is inevitable that a large amount of production capacity will be idle.

  The capacity utilization rate of many car companies is less than half.

  Although the capacity utilization rate of China’s automobile manufacturing industry in the first half of 2019 given by the National Bureau of Statistics is 77.2%, in fact, the capacity utilization rate of many automobile companies has already been lower than this figure. In the automobile industry research report released some time ago, Guosen Securities pointed out that in 2018, the capacity utilization rate of Geely Automobile, FAW Group, Chery Automobile, BYD Automobile, Jianghuai Automobile, Dongfeng yueda Kia, Changan Ford and Haima Automobile did not reach 70%. According to foreign media reports, in the first half of 2019, the capacity utilization rate of Ford’s factory in China was only 11%; The capacity utilization rate of the joint venture between Peugeot Citroen Group and Changan Automobile is only 1%, and that of the joint venture with Dongfeng Motor is only 22%.

  According to public information, Changan Ford has five vehicle factories in Chongqing, Harbin and Hangzhou, with a total production capacity of about 1.6 million vehicles. After Ford’s sales in China reached its peak level three years ago, it sold a total of 957,000 new cars in 2016, and then continued to decline. In 2018, the output was 387,000, and the capacity utilization rate was 24.2%. In the first half of 2019, Changan Ford sold a total of 75,000 new cars, a year-on-year decrease of 67%.

  Another hardest hit area with idle production capacity is French car companies. Founded in 1992, Dongfeng and PSA each hold 50% of the shares. It owns two brands, Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen, and four production bases, among which the first, second and third factories of Shenlong are located in Wuhan, and the fourth factory is located in Chengdu. The data shows that the production capacity of the first three factories is 300,000, 150,000 and 300,000 respectively, and the total production capacity of the four factories is 990,000. According to the production and sales data released by the Federation, in the first half of 2019, Shenlong Automobile produced a total of 64,000 vehicles, down 61.6% year-on-year. Changan Peugeot Citroen has produced only 107 vehicles, down 96.9% year-on-year, while its first-phase factory has a production capacity of 200,000 vehicles. Serious idle production capacity has attracted the attention of PSA Group executives. Previously, in the second quarter earnings conference call, Philippede Rovira, the global chief financial officer of PSA Group, said that PSA Group would solve the problem of idle capacity of Shenlong Automobile by renting factory facilities.

  The overcapacity problem of Renault, another legal brand, in China is also very prominent. The total production capacity of Renault Wuhan plant is 150,000 vehicles, and only 48,000 vehicles were produced in 2018, with a capacity utilization rate of 31.9%. In the first quarter of this year, Dongfeng Renault’s capacity utilization rate was only 15.2%, with 5,700 vehicles produced and 5,800 sold.

  The situation of Korean car companies is equally bad. Since entering the China market in 2002, Hyundai Motor has quickly won the favor of the market by relying on the advantages of high cost performance in joint venture brands, and in 2013— In 2016, the annual sales volume exceeded one million. However, the sales of Hyundai Motor in China plummeted because it didn’t follow the changes of consumers’ tastes and launch products that kept pace with the market demand. In 2018, Hyundai Motor’s sales in China dropped to 790,000 vehicles, only half of the total production capacity of 1.65 million vehicles in China. Among them, Hyundai Motor Chongqing No.5 Factory was completed in 2017, and the operating rate has been very low. According to BusinessKorea, Hyundai Motor is preparing to transform its Chongqing factory into an electric vehicle factory to revive its declining business in China.

  The situation of the same brother Dongfeng yueda Kia is similar. According to the 2018 annual report, Dongfeng yueda Kia has three factories in Yancheng headquarters, with a total production capacity of 890,000 passenger cars per year. Based on the sales volume of 370,000 vehicles of Dongfeng yueda Kia in 2018, its capacity utilization rate is less than half.

  Japanese car companies have insufficient production capacity and are still expanding.

  Although the overall capacity of China’s automobile industry is overcapacity, the capacity utilization rate of some automobile enterprises is not only higher than the safety line of 80%, but even the capacity is insufficient. According to the data released by Bernstein, a research consultancy, at present, the capacity utilization rate of Daimler and BMW joint ventures in China has exceeded 90%. The capacity utilization rate of GM’s joint venture in China is 88%. Volkswagen’s joint ventures in China have also exceeded 80%. The capacity utilization rate of the joint venture between Honda and Toyota in China even exceeds 100%. Relevant persons of Dongfeng Honda even revealed in an interview with the media that the capacity utilization rate of this enterprise is close to 140%.

  Due to a serious shortage of production capacity, Toyota is still starting a new factory. At present, Toyota’s two joint ventures in China, FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota, have eight factories in Changchun, Chengdu, Tianjin and Guangzhou. The total production capacity of FAW Toyota’s three factories and five factories is 622,000 vehicles, and the total production capacity of GAC Toyota’s three factories is 480,000 vehicles. FAW Toyota sold more than 720,000 vehicles in 2018, with a target of 745,000 vehicles in 2019, and GAC Toyota sold 580,000 vehicles in 2018. 720,000 vehicles plus 580,000 vehicles, which shows that Toyota’s eight factories in China have been working overtime and overloaded in 2018, and the capacity utilization rate has exceeded 100%.

  In 2019, Toyota’s sales target in China was 1.6 million vehicles, up 8.4% year-on-year, and the target in 2020 was 2 million vehicles. Toyota’s production capacity in China is only 1.1 million vehicles, compared with 2 million vehicles, there is still a gap of nearly 900,000 vehicles. Therefore, at the off-line ceremony of the brand-new TNGA Asian Dragon on March 22nd, FAW Toyota announced the completion of a new TNGA plant, and simultaneously started the new plant capacity increase project. According to the relevant EIA report, FAW Toyota has started to increase the capacity of 240,000 new energy vehicles, including 120,000 in Tianjin Xinyi Plant and 120,000 in Changchun Fengyue Plant. The 12-million-yuan expansion of GAC Toyota’s third plant has also been officially launched. At the same time, the fourth factory with a total investment of 4.988 billion yuan and an annual production capacity of 200,000 new energy vehicles is carrying out preliminary work, which is expected to be the production base of new energy vehicles exported by Toyota to Asia in the future.

  Where is the way out for idle capacity?

  A few car companies urgently need to expand production capacity, but most car companies still need to deal with idle production capacity. For some car companies, how to digest excess capacity has become a major event related to the survival of enterprises.

  For example, Shenlong automobile, which has been in the vortex of various rumors recently. Since 2015, the sales of Shenlong Automobile have been falling. 705,000 vehicles, 600,200 vehicles, 377,500 vehicles and 253,400 vehicles. The number in the first half of this year was 63,000 vehicles, down 60.05% year-on-year. The decline in sales volume is undoubtedly accompanied by the idleness of production capacity and manpower. How to solve this problem? There are rumors that Dongfeng Motor wants to sell its PSA shares. After clarification by both parties, it is reported that Dongfeng Motor and PSA Group will lay off employees and sell the factory … …

  In addition to unconfirmed news, it is certain that many auto companies have taken action early in order to transform idle capacity. Dongfeng yueda Kia temporarily closed an automobile manufacturing plant in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, and plans to start producing electric vehicles in the plant by the first half of 2021.

  Compared with closure and suspension, changing production is a relatively good choice. Since last year, BAIC Group has adjusted its industrial structure, product structure and industrial chain, and transferred the Beijing branch of BAIC to Beijing Benz, becoming the third factory of Beijing Benz, and turning it into the production base of Mercedes-Benz high-end new energy vehicles in the future.

  Some companies have chosen to work for the new car-making forces. For example, Jianghuai OEM Weilai, Haima OEM Tucki, Changan Suzuki OEM Luchi Automobile, Dongfeng yueda Kia OEM Chinese Express & HELIP; … Although the OEM model has been controversial, after the cooperation between the two parties, traditional car companies can effectively revitalize idle production capacity, and new car-making forces can also save the construction cycle and quickly reach mass production.

  In addition to OEM, it is also a good idea for traditional car companies to warm up with new car-making forces and set up joint ventures. For example, Guangzhou Automobile Group will set up a joint venture with Weilai Automobile, and Tianjin faw xiali will set up a joint venture with Bojun Automobile. For the new car-making forces, they can obtain the qualification of new energy production and sales, at the same time, save the cost and cycle of investment and factory construction, rely on the manufacturing advantages of traditional car companies, and create brand-new products through joint development (the best cooperation state) to achieve the purpose of reducing costs and increasing efficiency. For traditional car companies, idle production capacity can be reused. Bundling the brand promotion of new forces to build cars can also enhance their brand influence. So far, the two sides have achieved win-win cooperation.

  Expert opinion

  Is OEM the best way to solve idle capacity?

  Compared with stopping production, closing factories or selling land, OEM for new car-making forces has become a good choice for many enterprises with serious overcapacity.

  However, many professionals believe that OEM is only one of the transition strategies. "The loss of fixed assets can’t stop, and OEM earns points." Whether it is a traditional car company or a new force to build a car, OEM is not a long-term solution. " An insider of an independent brand said.

  Recently, it is reported that the draft management measures for OEM have been drawn up, which requires R&D investment, production capacity and sales volume as restrictive conditions, and the threshold for OEM and OEM car companies has been greatly improved. For example, in the past three years, the domestic R&D investment has reached at least 4 billion yuan; In the past two years, the sales volume of pure electric passenger cars worldwide has reached at least 15,000; The OEM contract must be signed for 3 years or more, and the annual production capacity of the OEM in the same place should reach at least 50,000 vehicles; Enterprises need to have paid-in capital of billions of RMB; At most, it can only be contracted by two car companies.

  "The OEM model is more like a transitional means. Because with the growth of output and sales, it is essential to build a factory and have independent research and development and production strength. This is also conducive to solving possible production technical problems and improving production efficiency. " Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Association, said.

  This view has also been confirmed by Shen Hui, chairman of Weimar Automobile. Shen Hui believes that the cold winter of the automobile and capital markets has not dissipated, and capital will be more concentrated in the head enterprises that have achieved batch delivery. "Generally speaking, high-quality production capacity will not be idle, and idle production capacity will not be of high quality. Therefore, encouraging the coexistence of various production modes such as OEM is also an important lever for utilizing and upgrading idle and backward production capacity." However, Weimar chose a self-built factory with higher cost and greater difficulty instead of OEM because it attached importance to product quality and quality. "The self-built factory can control the quality and quality on the basis, and can continuously upgrade and improve, and at the same time realize C2M customized production."

  Simply speaking, C2M customized production is to make products meet the individual needs of consumers. Zhu Weihua, secretary-general of the Information Service Committee of China Automobile Industry Association, said frankly: "The overcapacity of automobiles needs C2M rescue."

  Zhu Weihua believes that at present, all kinds of personalized customization are pseudo-customization in nature, and car owners have only a limited number of choices in the end. Car companies are still selling by production in essence, but they only produce more configuration varieties and give users more choices. It is impossible to talk about the user placing an order and then producing it. As a result, car owners give up their personalized choice, and car companies waste their costs on spare parts inventory and dealer inventory, and there is no incentive to optimize production and manufacturing costs.

  Judging from the grim situation of the current automobile market, it is possible for car sellers to satisfy the needs of a small number of users only by working very hard to please users. If users are not given more choices, it is impossible to sell a large number of cars. The larger the car companies, the more they need C2M, and then consider the differences between car networking and electric car service packages, and consider the personalized marketing of these personalized services.

  In addition to starting with products, many people in the industry also suggest that enterprises should integrate and hold a group to keep warm. Dong Yang, the first vice chairman of the International Automobile Manufacturers Association, once said that the lack of cooperation is an important shortcoming among China brand enterprises. If we can get better development without joining forces in the past, then in the current market environment, it is even more important for China car companies to strengthen cooperation and learn from each other’s strong points for mutual benefit and win-win results.

  Giving full play to the synergistic effect and establishing alliance relations are the forms to cope with the increasingly severe competition in the market. Last year, FAW, Dongfeng and Changan took the lead in establishing strategic cooperation in four areas: forward-looking common technological innovation, automobile full value chain operation, expanding overseas markets and exploring new business models. In addition, traditional car companies, internet companies, travel service companies and new car-making enterprises have begun to cooperate hand in hand in various fields. The cooperation with new power enterprises has also gradually expanded from the earliest OEM production to in-depth cooperation in research and development, procurement and sales.

  When the downward trend of the automobile market encounters industrial transformation and upgrading, there will be a large number of car companies whose operating conditions are worrying. Zhu Huarong, president of Changan Automobile, once said that in the next 3-5 years, the shutdown and transfer of car companies will no longer be information. Most automobile enterprises will be eliminated. Faced with the uncertainty and complexity of the market, it is necessary for car companies to integrate and develop before, between new forces and traditional car companies to achieve a win-win situation.

  Text/reporter Li Dongying

Observation variety: Although the story is good-looking, don’t lose the sense of reality.

  Hu Xiang

  Recently, observation variety shows have become more and more popular. In the second season of "Exciting offer", the camera is aimed at the legal elites who have just entered the workplace, showing their process of upgrading and cracking monsters, from youth to maturity. Under the same roof, the observed people are a group of strange young people who live together in an apartment. The program hits the pain point that young people are too busy to socialize, can’t socialize, and dare not socialize, causing heated discussion. Why does this vertically subdivided observation variety show repeatedly break the circle? This is related to their omniscient and omnipotent perspective of God and the constant self-evolution of internal narrative.

  Two-layer narrative theory and web synthesis version 2.0

  Genette, a structuralist narrator, put forward a double-layer narrative theory. This division theory holds that the first narrative of literary works is an external story, which focuses on presenting the whole work; The second layer is internal narrative, focusing on sharing internal stories. Therefore, the double-layer narrative structure can be divided into internal and external narrative perspectives. The external perspective focuses on explaining the narrative from the internal perspective, while the internal perspective focuses on strengthening the authenticity of the story and promoting the plot development. This theory is suitable for observing variety shows. The internal narrative is the story of the observed object, and the external narrative is the off-site comments of the star guests. Internal narrative is responsible for creating suspense and conflict, while external narrative is a discussion field of values, which complement each other and advance together. This is forming a relatively fixed variety show mode, which is constantly evolving.

  From its development history, such programs as My Boy, My Daughter and My Wife’s Romantic Travel can be called Version 1.0, which is characterized by taking stars as the observation objects and mainly satisfying the audience’s interest in the personal life of stars. However, the second season of Exciting offer and Under One Roof are version 2.0. The observed objects are amateurs, and the observation tentacles also extend from single interpersonal relationship to a broader workplace and social field, with further innovation in narrative, and the biggest feature is to strengthen its storytelling.

  With the advent of the Internet age, storytelling has been promoted to a great extent, and the principle of "content is king" has become more prominent. In order to satisfy the audience’s thirst for stories, platforms and creators have almost racked their brains, whether they are long videos, medium videos or short videos, they are all pursuing a sense of story. Hot pot dramas, dinner dramas and interactive dramas emerge one after another, and variety shows follow the trend and embark on the track of storytelling.

  For example, "Under One Roof" is a true record of social stories of six strangers in a closed space on the surface, but it is actually an idol drama-style narrative. With the plot of the variety show, the characters’ behavior can also see the shadow of the script behind them, which is more dramatic on the whole. This is no longer a pure record approaching the truth of life, but more like a dramatic performance purified in life, which makes people feel a sense of being difficult to distinguish between true and false.

  The editing techniques in the second season of "Exciting offer" follow the rhythm of legal drama. Many people lament that Li Jinye is like He Yichen himself in "How to Shengxiao Mo", and the audience has a strong empathy with the characters. Some people think that story telling is a cognitive game, which can exercise our minds and let us simulate the world around us and imagine different strategies, especially in social scenes. The audience can also feel the pursuit of drama when watching variety shows, which is the charm brought by storytelling.

  Inversion, Story Sense and God’s Perspective

  The original intention of Under One Roof is to simulate a social scene and solve the social emotional needs of young people in the current fast-paced urban life. The characters selected in the program are very representative, including Liu Keli, a young boss who is busy starting a business, Li Hsing, a moat brother who realizes financial freedom, Chu Mengna who pursues the dream of an actor, and Wang Tianqi, a migrant worker who works in a fashion shop. At the beginning of the program, Liu Keli’s overbearing president’s manner, Wang Tianqi and Chu Mengna’s fireworks at street food stalls, and the mysterious e-sports professionals’ daily life were all the highlights that attracted people’s attention, because they all had a dual effect of being both real and dramatic. In particular, Wang Tianqi’s identity as a "rich second generation" from an idle worker was completely in line with the imagination of drama reversal, and the "between Li Hsing and Liu Keli and Chen Liuming" Therefore, "Under One Roof" is essentially a genre-based narrative of idol drama. In a space, it is in contact with young people from almost all walks of life and all walks of life, temporarily getting rid of the shackles of mediocre life, and seems to restart life and have a sense of fantasy.

  In contrast, the second season of "Exciting offer" is more realistic. This season, the assessment mechanism of interns is more cruel, and the "kicking the pavilion" link is introduced, and two interns with relatively backward performance are really eliminated. Interns have also gone through legal negotiation, public welfare legal aid, investigation and evidence collection, 1V1 debate and mock trial trial. Every time, their tasks are getting heavier, and "involution" is becoming more and more intense. In particular, Hui Ding’s internship in naked resignation in pursuit of a lawyer’s dream has been dubbed "Bei Shuihui", which is regarded by netizens as a portrayal of migrant workers’ workplace, thus attracting a lot of attention. "Bei Shuihui" was "at the bottom" from the beginning of the interview to the first project task, and from the second debate began to counterattack, resulting in a sense of gap. Wang Xiao, known as "Sister Wang", took the initiative to break the aura of famous schools from the "favored son of heaven" who graduated from Stanford Law School, and the gradual mature transformation also made people feel emotional. Another example is Qiu Yi’s "slow fever" from the beginning, and her bold decision in the negotiations later made people look at each other with new eyes.

  The program group just grasped the details of these changes and created a sense of story through "conscious" editing, as if letting the audience watch an eye-catching and thrilling legal industry drama. At the same time, with the advancement of the program, interns need to peel off the cold texture of legal provisions, personally explore the strong collision impact between human feelings and jurisprudence, reality and dreams in the society, feel the sense of powerlessness brought about by hard reality crushing in tears and loss, and regain their confidence and shine with the encouragement and help of teachers and friends. As robert mckee said in The Story, the story is not an escape from reality, but a carrier that carries us to pursue reality and try our best to dig out the true meaning of chaotic life.

  In addition, the guest comments on the observation variety show ostensibly provide God’s perspective, which is actually an important part of building a sense of story. The internal narrative of the observation variety is very similar to the phantom on the wall in the cave described by Plato in the Republic. It is a simulation of reality and has always been separated from reality. Guest comment time is like the role of bringing cave people into the real world. The lights are on and all the discussions are held in the sun. Moreover, when the guests expressed their views, they provided many stories with their own life experiences, including positive and negative experiences and lessons. For example, if you should take the co-pilot when accompanying the leader in the car, and how to break the social deadlock when you first enter the workplace, guests can often provide a more mature value concept. Many netizens said on the barrage that "get new skills", which is also a shortcut to "exercise your mind". Through the blending of internal and external narratives, it reflects the broad social reality, and promotes the story from the internal perspective to the output of values from the external perspective. This is the secret of the advanced narrative expression of observation variety.

  The reality show was made into an idol drama?

  Human beings’ pursuit of stories is eternal, and it is understandable that observation variety shows strengthen the sense of stories, but this will easily lead to the paradox of authenticity. The biggest feature of observation variety is truth, especially now the observation variety which is mainly amateur has become an important direction, that is, to tell more stories of ordinary people, but like Under the Same Roof, it really walks between reality and fiction. On the one hand, I want to create the texture of real life, on the other hand, especially in the second half of the program, the sense of plot design is becoming more and more obvious.

  For example, after Wang Tianqi and Chu Mengna went to the movies on a rainy day, they quarreled emotionally. Mona complained that Wang Tianqi was not considerate enough to cry, and the close-up shots in lines and actions were skillfully switched, and the sensational music was followed up in time. It was simply a replica of the idol drama around 2000, and the barrage was full of spit.

  For another example, Wu Jiawen and Li Hsing have been having an affair for a long time, but suddenly they turned him down on the grounds that she likes people with a sense of youth. In the next issue of the program, a 20-year-old basketball player who is 1.9 meters tall and full of a sense of youth immediately appeared, and they had a "love triangle". No wonder netizens think that Wu Jiawen is a "tool person" and the program has thus become a "blind date program". If the hypothetical sense of drama is not well grasped, the realism created by the whole program will be greatly reduced, which will hurt the quality of the program.

  Since the development of network observation variety, it has formed a stable expression paradigm and established its own advantages, especially its keen capture of young people’s lives, lively and free expression and moderate storytelling, which have deeply attracted young audiences. In fact, some traditional TVs are learning this mode now, but they have not learned the characteristics of networking, which leads to the good values of the program, but the communication effect is not satisfactory.

  In the future, network variety shows must understand the double-edged sword of "truth and hypothesis", try to extend the tentacles of observation into the varied society and describe the style of the times, so as to observe the truth, taste and wisdom.

The NBA of golf is coming! The PGA Tour agreed to merge with the Saudi-backed LIV.

The American golf market has undergone amazing changes.

On Tuesday, June 6th, PGA, the PGA Tour of the United States, and LIV Golf, the upstart golf supported by Saudi Arabia, agreed to merge. This amazing move put an end to the differences and debates about who has dominated American golf since last year.

The two parties indicated that the agreement merged LIV-related businesses supported by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund with the businesses and management rights of PGA and Dubai World Tour, a third-party entity, into a new, collectively owned for-profit entity.

The two sides also said that the merger will end the litigation between the two sides. Since the launch of LIV, the two sides have always had differences in law and public opinion.

The unnamed new business entity will be headed by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, President of Saudi Public Investment Fund, and Jay Monahan, President of PGA, will be the CEO. PGA will appoint a majority of the members of the board of directors and hold a majority of voting rights in the combined business.

The 2023 LIV Golf Tournament will be held as planned. A PGA memo said that after the end of this season, the two sides will "cooperate to establish a fair and objective procedure for any player who wants to reapply for PGA membership".

The memo reads:

Today is an important day for our organization and the whole golf game. When we make the final agreement, there are still many details to be solved, which will eventually need the approval of PGA’s policy Committee.

Golf is usually regarded as a peaceful sport, but the entry of LIV has caused quite a stir in this sports market, and also brought great changes to the operation mode of this sport, because LIV Golf has signed high-value, long-term and guaranteed contracts with players, similar to those obtained by NFL or NBA players.

In contrast, PGA is more like a performance-based league, where players earn money according to their performance in the game and the sponsorship and endorsement fees they can get.

LIV has also signed contracts with some top players in PGA, and the amount is staggering. For example, phil mikkelsen’s $138 million, dustin johnson’s $97 million and Brian Deschamps’ $86 million. However, there are still some famous adherents who continue to support the PGA Tour, including Tiger Woods, rory mcilroy and jordan spieth.

According to reports, Woods and McRoy got a contract of hundreds of millions of dollars from LIV Golf, but they were eventually rejected. Both of them continue to support the PGA Tour, saying that LIV’s contract will undermine competitiveness and reduce players’ motivation to improve their skills.

PGA also tried its best to shut out the players who signed up for LIV Golf, so that they could not participate in the competitions organized by PGA. Therefore, this makes some major events that are not hosted by PGA more attractive, because it is the only place where golfers from two leagues can face each other.

There have been competitive sports leagues in the United States before, such as NBA versus ABL or AFL versus NFL. At some point, the final combination of the opposing sides will bring better games and more income for athletes. However, the market once thought that it would be very difficult to merge LIV and PGA, because LIV is backed by Saudi Arabia with deep pockets, which means that the merger between the two parties may take longer.

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