China's auto industry policy may be abandoned

On September 6, the newly appointed Director of the Industry Coordination Department of the National Development and Reform Commission Yan Yong revealed at the 2014 China Automotive Industry Development (TEDA) International Forum that the National Development and Reform Commission is studying the law to cover the whole process of the automotive industry's life cycle.

"This means that the law of the future will become an important means for the government to guide the orderly development of the automotive industry. Previous non-legal policies will be abandoned, and many policies will exit the management mechanism of the automotive industry." National Information Center Information Resources Xu Changming, director of the department, believes that if this change comes true, the domestic auto industry will face a big change.

In fact, prior to the official start of the Forum, the issue of innovation in the automotive industry had been hotly debated by representatives of the automotive industry at the closed-door summit the previous day. Among them, the automobile industry policy should not be revised, investment access policy should not be liberalized, and how the development of independent brands and other topics of concern in the industry became the focus of the closed-door summit on the day.

Industrial policy remains in doubt

If according to Yon-Yong, the macro management of the automobile industry in the future will be on the legal track, then there is no need for the "Auto Industry Development Policy" (hereinafter referred to as "industrial policy") that has existed for a decade, and it is undoubtedly a worthwhile automobile. Industry discussion topics.

At the closed-door summit, Zheng Xinli, executive vice chairman of the China International Economic Exchange Center, did not shy away from the idea that the time has come for industrial policy to be revised.

In his opinion, there are three shortcomings in industrial policy: First, when it was formulated, it did not occur that the private cars in China could develop rapidly and did not create a good environment for the use of automobiles in the family. Therefore, when traffic congestion becomes a social issue, the policy Passed by the market passively led the nose; Second, the policy is not enough to encourage the automotive industry's independent innovation; Third, the policy does not use China's huge auto market to cultivate its own brand cars.

“It is necessary to revise this policy in light of the new situation and new tasks.” Zheng Xinli believes that the contents of the policy revision should include highlighting independent and independent innovation, encouraging new energy vehicles and automobile exports, and in particular mobilizing state-owned enterprises to develop their own brand cars. "The state-owned enterprises have not developed their own brand cars. This is one of the biggest mistakes of the past industrial policies."

As one of the makers and implementers of automobile industry policies, Chen Bin, the former director of the Industrial Coordination Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, still believes that of the many industrial policies that were introduced in 2004, only the automobile industry policies have been implemented. It is the statute-based certification behind the policy, which is regulated by the Catalogue.

“In the past, industrial policy was the entry of industrial investment projects and the management of catalogs that entered the market. Later, administrative regulations should be used to strengthen the supervision during and after the event.” Chen Bin stated at the closed-door summit that he had worked more than 10 years ago. The use of administrative regulations and standards for management has been proposed, but it has not been supported. Now, the government's reforms in industrial management have provided an opportunity for the management of the auto industry to change.

In fact, after the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China deployed all-round deepening reforms in China, the issue of the future development of the automobile industry has been under discussion. Yung Yong revealed that the core of the development of the automobile industry in the future is two sentences: First, comprehensively deepen reforms; first, we must take the macro management of automobiles and take the legal management road.

"This means that there is indeed a possibility that the automobile industry policy will disappear. "Yan Yong said that the issue of policy retention is under discussion. If it still exists, it should make a contribution to supporting its own brand, otherwise it loses its significance.

Releasing access points in several steps?

In addition to the question of the abolition of industrial policies, the discussion on the investment management access of the auto industry should not be dismissed. There is also fierce debate at the closed-door summit.

In fact, after the country introduced a series of supporting policies for new energy vehicles, some people in the industry have proposed whether it is possible to liberalize investment access in the field of new energy vehicles so as to promote the rapid development of the industry. Chen Bin, one of the former policy makers, was in favor of this proposal, but he has been tangled in whether or not to fully liberalize the traditional automobile industry.

"What is the purpose of liberalization? Is the auto industry not competitive enough? Do we need to let go of further competition? If not, are we letting go to let go? This thing I have been thinking but can't figure out. I think there are some Things can gradually go, at least in the country, I personally recommend that you can put new energy vehicles. "

In this regard, Chen Bin's reason is that the core components of new energy vehicles, batteries, motors, electronic control is not good in the automotive industry, while other industries do not have automotive qualifications, can not dry electric vehicles, so he had several times reported to the higher authorities, can Consider opening outside the auto industry, but it must be conditional.

As for the traditional automotive field, Chen Bin praised the proposal of stepping away from the commercial vehicle sector first, and then the passenger car. "Now China's commercial vehicle development level can fully meet the market consumer demand, and we do not need to worry so much. After the commercial vehicle is released to a certain extent and implemented for a period of time, it can be released on passenger cars, but in order to avoid domestic automobile companies As a result, I do not agree that the same foreign company will not let go of two or more similar products. If you want to do another job, you can withdraw from the original one and then re-do it again. This idea can be explored.

At present, the opinions of the joint venture policy are not to be modified, and the opinions in the industry are not uniform. Zheng Xinli believes that whether or not the joint venture policy should be changed is not a key issue. The most critical change now is to start with industrial policies, mobilize the enthusiasm of state-owned enterprises to develop autonomous brand cars, and encourage companies to independently research and develop.

In this regard, Zhao Hang, director of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, said in an interview with a 21st Century Business Herald reporter that the joint venture should not be allowed to renew for a long time and the factory be built without restrictions. Otherwise, the market space of its own brand will be annexed by the joint venture.

“For our country, the market is the most important resource, and we must make good use of it. Before, we believe that there is no market to develop the market, but this is not the case. The market does not transfer core technologies, the engine still cannot produce itself, and the general technology as a whole The level is not high and the competitiveness is not strong.So now we do not need to introduce foreign capital again, because we have no shortage of funds, but lack of technology, so we should open the market properly to ensure that our own brands and joint venture brands can compete on the same stage. “

According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the market share of China's self-owned brand cars has dropped for 11 consecutive months. Zhao Hang believes that if the market share continues to decline, the entire industry will have problems. He suggested that the relevant departments should issue policies that the current joint venture can no longer be renewed due to expire, in order to ensure the competitiveness of the market, but at the same time can allow A joint venture car company retains one or two factories.

"We must leave a certain market space for our own brands in our national policy so as to support the development and expansion of one or two independent car companies." Zhao Hang said that he must give special channels to independent brands.