Research on the status quo, problems and development of China's spare parts industry (1)


1 Status Quo of China's Auto Parts Industry
Before the reform and opening up, China's auto industry developed slowly. The old model has not changed much in decades. The output of auto products is low, and it is low at a low level. The matching auto parts production and product technology levels are not high. There were also some imported models at that time, but due to their low inventory and high technical content, most of the required repairs were imported. After the reform and opening up, a large number of foreign models of joint ventures, the introduction and the introduction of foreign technology digestion and absorption, and promote the development of the domestic auto parts industry.
1.1 The number of parts companies is huge and the quality of products is uneven
At present, there are about 5,000 large-scale domestic parts and components companies. If the small township office, village office, sub-district office, and individual small factories are counted, it will reach 7,000 to 8,000. Some large-scale enterprises, wholly foreign-owned enterprises, and joint ventures mainly provide vehicle manufacturers with high technical content and quality. Some of the accessories used in the parts and components maintenance market have low technical content. Such as plastic parts, small parts and other enterprises too much, the product quality is also poor, relying on low prices to occupy the market, and some individual companies fraudulent use of other people's trademarks, disrupted the accessories market.
1.2 Rapid development of auto parts industry
Since the reform and opening up, China's auto parts industry has been developing rapidly, especially in recent years. According to the statistics of major auto parts industrial enterprises in the “China Automotive Industry Yearbook”, the total industrial output value was 142.41 billion yuan in 2002, an increase of 182.8% from 1997, an average annual increase of 23.1%, and the entire automobile industry only increased by an average of 20.3% annually. The total profit realized in the year was 10.63 billion yuan, an increase of 321.8% over 1997, an average annual increase of 33.4%, slightly lower than the average annual increase of 37.3% in the industry; the sales income was 124.75 billion yuan, an increase of 156.4% over 1997, and the average With an annual increase of 20.7%, China's auto parts industry has maintained a rapid growth.
1.3 Joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned enterprises increase year by year <br> Since the reform and opening up in 1983, foreign parts and components companies have come to China for joint ventures or wholly-owned production of parts and components, which has greatly increased the production capacity and technical level of domestic parts and components products in China. Famous foreign parts manufacturers such as German BOSCH, ZF, Delphi, TRW, Dana, Denso, Aisin Seiki, Fujitsu, Alpine Electronics, Valeo, etc., have established several joint ventures in China. , Sole proprietorship enterprises, these companies involved in automotive electronics, automotive electronics, car audio, automotive chassis, body parts and other varieties. According to the incomplete statistics of the "China Automotive Industry Yearbook," there were 145 foreign-funded parts enterprises in 1997, which increased to 220 in 2002 and increased 75 in five years.
1.4 Auto parts products with high technological content have already begun to develop and produce in China <br> Due to the development of automotive products and the improvement of automobile safety and emissions requirements, the technical level of auto parts has been increasing year by year. In China, due to the introduction of foreign technologies and joint ventures with foreign countries, some high-tech products have been mass produced in China. For example, Shanghai United Electronics Co., Ltd. and Beijing Delphi Wanyuan Engine Management System Co., Ltd. respectively introduced BOSCH and Delphi technology to produce gasoline electromechanical spray systems; Shanghai Automotive Braking Systems Co., Ltd. used BOSCH technology to produce ABS for cars; domestic Shijiazhuang Jiule Company and Jinzhou Co., Ltd. Chang Company and Jinzhou Wande Company developed and produced airbags for cars (more than 100,000 sets were produced in three companies in 2002); Shanghai Huake Exhaust System Co., Ltd. and Dalian Huate Gillette Exhaust System Co., Ltd. introduced technology to produce three-way catalytic converters. High-speed oil pump of Wuxi Weifu Group; gasoline engine and automatic transmission of Dongfeng Honda Engine Co., Ltd.; Toyota 8A, 5A engine produced by Tianjin Toyota Engine Co., Ltd., etc. However, most of the core technology of high-tech auto parts and components is owned by the foreign party, and we lack the ability to independently research and develop.
1.5 Mid-to-low-end domestic production of parts and components, and exports are increasing year by year
For parts and components with relatively low technological content, domestic production has been mass-produced. Due to its low-cost labor force, it has a certain degree of market competitiveness and has been exported to developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan. In 2002, China’s exports of parts and components (excluding engine exports) were US$2.21 billion, (including US$ 2.46 billion in engines), accounting for 73.2% of the total US$3.36 billion in exports for the year, while exports of vehicles only accounted for 7.4% of the total exports for that year. . In 2002, exports of auto parts (without engines) increased by 35.41% over the previous year. In 2002, the export value of spare parts increased by 3.9 times from the value of spare parts exported in 1997 to 450 million U.S. dollars. The average annual growth rate was 37.5%, which was much higher than the growth rate of the export value of complete vehicle products.
At present, there are a number of export-oriented enterprises that mainly export parts and components in China. For example, an automobile electrical export base has emerged in Ruian City, Zhejiang Province. The main parts and components that China currently exports include universal joints, aluminum wheels, brakes, car stereos, radiators, car batteries, automobile castings, and so on. The number of enterprises that have exported hundreds of millions of yuan per year has increased year by year. For example, Shandong Longji Group exported 900,000 brake drums in 90% of its total output in 2002. In 2002, exports of brake discs reached 3.3 million, accounting for 66% of the total output. 10,000 US dollars; Tianjin Fujitsu Electronics Co., Ltd. exports 6.7 million automobile CD movements, 100% of its products are exported, earning US$98.60 million; Guangdong Dongguan Clarion Electronics Co., Ltd. has almost 100% export of car audio, earning US$42.37 million; privately-owned enterprises Wanxiang Group The total exports of universal joints and transmission shafts amounted to US$47.57 million, and the Wanfeng Auto Group exported aluminum wheels for 37.73 million US dollars. In 2002, the nation’s aluminum wheel exports made a total of US$409 million. Shanghai Yanfeng Johnson Controls Seating Co., Ltd. exports seats to the United States and Japan, with a total foreign exchange of US$94.40 million. Some joint ventures have also imported large quantities of imported products abroad, such as the Shanghai General Motors 2.4L engine, FAW-VW engine block, cylinder head (2002 exports 20.39 million US dollars), Tianjin Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. Toyota 5A crankshaft, cylinder heads, etc. . With China's accession to the WTO, the number of parts and components purchased by foreign multinational auto groups in China will also increase year by year.
1.6 Development of spare parts industry has laid a good foundation for vehicle development <br> As the development of domestic parts and components industry, the key parts needed by vehicle companies do not need to increase investment and development by themselves and can be purchased in the country. Investment costs also reduce investment risks. For example, when the Santana was introduced in 1985, Shanghai set up a localization office with a large investment and the introduction of matching parts and components. Some companies in the aerospace and aviation systems have also joined Santana’s localization and have been domesticating for several years. It has been greatly improved. In recent years, SAIC Chery has not invested much in the development of new cars Chery Fengyun, Oriental Sons, QQ, and Beiqi Foton in the development of Auman Heavy Trucks. Many of the spare parts needed are easily found in China. .
1.7 There are many problems in the parts and components industry <br> Although China's parts and components industry has developed rapidly, there are also many problems, mainly reflected in: 1 high-tech product technology is in the hands of foreign parties; 2 too many factories, Chaos, a large number of fake and shoddy phenomenon exists; 3 local protection is serious; 4 export companies to reduce competition, will face foreign anti-dumping complaints; 5 parts and components of product independent development capability is poor; 6 development costs, investment, poor self-development.

2 Problems in China's auto parts industry
2.1 The number of companies is too many and disorderly, and the quality of products varies greatly. There are more than 5,000 non-state-owned parts and components companies with state-owned and state-controlled and sales revenues of over 5 million yuan, together with village-run enterprises, small non-state-owned enterprises and family workshops. The total number of small parts and components companies will exceed 7,000 to 8,000. Some small businesses are poorly equipped, low in technology, and low in quality. They rely on low-cost and counterfeit products to dominate the market.
2.2 The phenomenon of counterfeit and shoddy goods is serious and there are still more to ban <br> There are many counterfeit and shoddy products in the accessory market. Because the auto parts sales and auto maintenance business are operated by state-owned, collective, joint venture, private, individual, and some dealers to obtain high The amount of profit, operating fake and shoddy products. Some bus drivers are greedy for high rebates at the time of purchase. Some private car users are also willing to buy counterfeit and inferior parts for cheaper prices; individual maintenance departments also use counterfeit parts, and local protectionism in some places causes resistance to counterfeiting. The industry and commerce departments, the State Bureau of Technical Supervision, and the production enterprises have invested a large amount of manpower and material resources for counterfeiting each year. However, they have repeatedly prohibited them. This phenomenon is difficult to stop for a time.
2.3 High-tech parts and components technology is in the hands of foreign parties
In recent years, there have been many joint ventures in the auto parts industry. The joint venture has introduced many advanced technologies such as EFI systems (Shanghai United Electronics, Beijing Wanyuan Delphi), automatic transmissions (Dongfeng Honda), and high-pressure pumps (Wuxi Weifu). ABS (Shanghai Automotive Brake System Co., Ltd.) and exhaust purification system (such as: Dalian Huatejiileite Exhaust System Co., Ltd.), but the core technologies of these high-tech products are in the hands of foreign companies, and some of the accessories products are wholly foreign-owned production in China. Even joint ventures are controlled by foreign parties for production technology and product development.
2.4 In recent years, especially after the accession to the WTO, there has been a clear trend in the control of foreign-owned companies and sole proprietorship in the production of spare parts and components.
In recent years, especially after joining the WTO, in order to reduce the friction between China and foreign countries, foreign companies are afraid that the core technology will be mastered by the Chinese side, and they are more interested in controlling or investing in factories. This has adversely affected the absorption of foreign advanced technology and the improvement of China's auto parts autonomy. Take the 2003 Sino-foreign joint venture project as an example. SAIC Volkswagen Engine Co., Ltd., a joint venture project in Germany, accounts for 60% of the total investment of 2.2 billion yuan; in October 2003, FAW Sihuan and the German company Mekran formed a joint venture to form Changchun Fuomei. CRON Car Mirrors Co., Ltd., German side accounted for 60%; in 2003 Japan Bridgestone established a shock absorber production base in Changzhou, Japan accounted for 100%; China, Japan, South Korea joint venture established Suzhou Huachang Machinery and Electrical Company ( (Shanghai Volkswagen's production safety products) Chinese Gui Airlines only accounts for 35%; FAW's joint venture with Germany's ThyssenKrupp (production steering column) FAW only accounts for 40%, and the world’s ninth largest supplier of parts and accessories Faurecia Group at the end of 2003. It was decided to invest solely in Wuxi to build a seat recliner factory for 25 million euros...
2.5 Domestic enterprises that produce export products compete with each other and may bring more anti-dumping complaints
At present, the export volume of domestic automotive products has been increasing year by year, especially labor-intensive component products with relatively low technological content (such as aluminum wheels, universal joints, batteries, brake pads, pistons, castings, automotive glass, etc.), but there are enterprises The phenomenon of inter-pressure price competition has greatly reduced the profits of enterprises and at the same time caused foreign anti-dumping complaints. For example, Fuyao Glass was subjected to foreign anti-dumping complaints. Although the Chinese side finally won the case, these issues must attract the attention of Chinese companies.
2.6 Foreign countries set up some technical barriers and non-tariff protection measures. China's research is not very thorough and how to counteract the lack of experience.
Due to the large number of Chinese parts and components being exported, some foreign countries have adopted some technical barriers (some of them are not just targeting China, but China has not studied very well some foreign laws and technical standards.
2.7 The phenomenon of various factions, systems, and repeated introductions in the accessories industry
At present, foreign large automobile enterprise groups (commonly referred to as 6+3 in the international community have entered China and established a joint venture vehicle manufacturer. Each enterprise group has its own set of supporting systems, and many vehicle manufacturers have The foreign parts and components factories have also been introduced into China, such as the Toyota Vios, Corolla, and Xiali cars produced in Tianjin, Japan’s Sumitomo Harness, Toyota Driveshaft, Aisin Seiki Auto Accessories, Toyota Engine, and Japan Denso Motors. In Tianjin, a joint venture was set up to support the introduction of Japanese models, but these companies do not have much support for the introduction of other foreign models; other foreign models such as the German Volkswagen models also do not use the Japanese series of accessories. Catalytic converter plant (Red Lake with Shanghai Santana; Wacker with Passat; Delphi with Shanghai GM Buick), due to different sources of vehicles, supporting plants are also different, after Beijing Hyundai put into operation, Beijing has newly entered a number of South Korean parts companies , Similar to the above situation there are many domestic, resulting in some parts factory capacity is not enough, not enough, some new Into new models supporting factory still.
2.8 There is also intra-group protection among domestic enterprise groups, and local protection also exists in local areas.
Most of the enterprise group-owned parts and components companies are supported by the Group's automakers (for example, Dongfeng Cummins Diesel Engines will not be installed on liberation vehicles). Some of the suppliers do not belong to the enterprise group. When suppliers of complete vehicle accessories want to support other companies at the same time, sometimes It was also interfered with, so that the production capacity of some component factories was let go.
2.9 Domestic auto parts companies have weak self-development ability
Some well-known parts and components companies abroad have implemented modular production and have strong self-development capabilities, such as Delphi, BOSCH, TRW, and Denso. When developing an automobile plant, it also depends on the mature technology of the parts factory, while the domestic parts and components companies mostly rely on the vehicle factory technology (including imported technology). Due to the price competition of complete vehicles, OEMs continue to push down the prices of supporting parts and components, resulting in a decrease in the economic efficiency of many parts and components factories and a lack of R&D costs. The cost of research and development of foreign large-scale spare parts companies accounted for more than 5% of sales revenue, while domestic enterprises accounted for only about 1% to 2%.
2.10 The localization rate is linked to the import tax rate. Currently, the phenomenon of loading CKD vehicles in China is increasing, which is not conducive to the development of domestic parts and components industry.
Before China's accession to the WTO, the original automobile industry industrial policy stipulated that when localization of imported vehicles reaches 40%, 60%, and 80%, as the localization rate gradually increases, the tariff rate on imported parts will decrease, and the introduction of imported models will be encouraged. Producing accessories for imported products in China has promoted the development of domestic parts and components industry and improved the level of technology. After China's accession to the WTO, this policy was cancelled. Foreign companies use the tariff difference between imported vehicles and imported spare parts to install CKD and SKD (such as Beijing Hyundai Sonata, FAW Mazda M6, Shenyang Jinbei Brilliance BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series, Changan Ford Mondeo, Dongfeng Nissan Sunshine, Beijing Jeep Grand Cherokee, etc.) Excessive CKD and SKD products are not conducive to the development of domestic parts and components industry.
2.11 The investment of automotive investment will bring about the investment in parts and components. <br> Currently, a new round of investment in autos has been set off in China. Large foreign companies have to increase investment to occupy the world’s largest potential automotive consumption market. . According to relevant statistics in a previous article in the China Industry News, by 2010, the production capacity of foreign auto companies in China will reach 4.505 million, plus domestic private investment, local government input and domestic Production capacity, vehicle production capacity will be greatly overdue in a period of time, excess vehicle production may also lead to overcapacity of some component products (types that cannot be exported in large quantities), which inevitably results in the depletion of investment capacity, waste of investment funds, and idleness of equipment. .
2.12 Support for the production and development of high-tech products in China should be strengthened
At present, domestic high-tech parts and components, such as ABS, airbags, electronic fuel injection systems, and automatic transmissions, are imported in large quantities each year. For example, the import value of airbags in 2002 was USD 61.20 million; the import amount of automobile transmissions (mainly automatic transmissions) was USD 307 million; the import amount of brakes (mostly containing ABS) was USD 239 million. These products have been developed and produced in China except for automatic transmissions. Because foreigners insist on using foreign original accessory products, they have to import large quantities. For example, Jinzhou Jinheng, Jinzhou Wande and Shijiazhuang Jiule of airbags have developed a considerable amount of production capacity through several years of development and technology introduction. In 2002, the airbag output of these three companies reached 4.40, 3.94 and 12200 sets, respectively. For domestic Red Flag, Changan, Fukang, Chery and other products. However, because domestic cars mostly use imported airbag products, domestic policies do not support these products adequately, leaving them in a state of inadequate food and economic growth. Other products have similar conditions.