In particular, Bentley, Aston Martin and McLaren, three established British luxury brands, have experienced unprecedented difficulties.
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According to overseas media reports, Bentley will "voluntarily" lay off more than 65,438+0,000 employees in the UK (and may even be forced to lay off employees in the future), and this figure has already accounted for 25% of its total employees. In addition, 25% of Bentley employees are on vacation, and another 25% can only work at home. According to British media reports, Bentley's factory in Crewe, England, has resumed production, but the number of employees is only about half of usual. In order to keep the distance needed for epidemic prevention, the production capacity was only restored by 50%.
Although layoffs are affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the root cause is the decline in sales. Adrian, Chairman and CEO of Bentley? Hallmark told the outside world that layoffs are not what Bentley wants to see, but in order to ensure the normal operation of the brand and achieve the strategy of "Beyond 100" in the future, Bentley must do so.
"Beyond 100" strategy is a brand-new brand upgrade plan put forward by 20 19 on the occasion of Bentley's centenary birthday. The plan is dedicated to making Bentley a leader in luxury travel in the future 100, and hopes to make Bentley a sustainable industry with environmental protection and sustainable economic development. To this end, Bentley plans to launch a hybrid version with long driving range for all its models by 2023.
In order to realize this plan, Bentley had to "break the wrist of a strong man." Although layoffs are 25%, Bentley predicts that the company's total revenue will also be reduced by 25%-30% in 2020.
Coincidentally, the luxury brand Aston Martin recently publicly stated that Aston Martin will lay off nearly 500 people, accounting for about 20% of the company's total employees, in order to realize its "100000 cost reduction plan". A spokesman for Aston Martin said that this round of adjustment is to improve profitability and push the cost base and production reduction level to a new balance. Aston Martin has to admit that the layoffs reflect the embarrassing situation that Aston Martin's production and sales volume are lower than expected and the overall productivity needs to be improved. It is understood that aston martin will take new measures to adjust its organizational structure and production scale. According to the financial report released by Aston Martin, the company suffered serious losses in the first quarter of this year, and at the same time, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the overall sales volume dropped by nearly one third.
Aston martin's dilemma has a long history: as early as September 20 19, aston martin's core performance was mired in losses, and the company had to announce that it would borrow 12% to enrich its balance sheet. Considering the factors such as Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, the Sino-US trade war and the global economic downturn, Aston Martin is really in a difficult situation when faced with cash flow health problems and investors' concerns about its balance sheet.
McLaren Group, which belongs to the three British luxury brands, will also cut 1200 jobs according to the proposed restructuring plan, while McLaren has only more than 4,000 employees, accounting for one third of the total. After announcing the layoff plan, McLaren also announced that the cost ceiling of 202 1 will be lowered from $654.38+75 million to $654.38+45 million, so as to reduce the cost in all directions and maintain the survival and basic operation of the core team. Even so, the McLaren team with more than 800 people will lay off about 70 people.
McLaren said in a statement that the restructuring plan is expected to have an impact on the Group's application technology, automobile and racing businesses. The cancellation of Formula One races, the interruption of global automobile production and retail activities, and the reduction in demand for technical solutions have all had a major impact on McLaren's revenue.
Compared with other luxury brands, ultra-luxury brands such as Bentley, Aston Martin and McLaren have encountered great difficulties. The reason is simple-lack of money.
Tight cash flow is the dilemma that luxury car companies are facing at present. The shortage of cash flow and lack of profitability forced these brands to adopt a straightforward way-layoffs. Take Bentley as an example, although it has the support of a huge Volkswagen Group, its profitability has aroused the dissatisfaction of other brands within the Group. In the whole fiscal year of 20 18, Bentley became the only loss-making brand in the Volkswagen Group, so that the Porsche family repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Bentley's profit contribution and demanded that Bentley turn a profit within two years, otherwise the Volkswagen Group would "abandon" Bentley.
As the saying goes, "the landlord has no surplus grain", the Volkswagen Group, which is in a transitional period and is also in trouble in the epidemic, has not made much effort for Bentley's "blood transfusion". Faced with difficulties, families are trying to borrow money, lay off employees and save money ... but these methods are only to cut expenses. To truly realize open source, we must find new markets.
At that time, they turned their attention to China.
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Although the automobile market in China has also suffered a "cold winter" in recent years, the luxury car market has maintained a good upward trend. Increasing the China market is a way out for luxury brands.
Aston martin even directly intends to "sell herself to take refuge"-since 20 19, aston martin has been reported to negotiate with potential investors and further evaluate the financing requirements and financing channels. Among them is Geely Automobile in China. According to reports from Lu Bianshe, Geely has started due diligence on Aston Martin and will become a potential buyer of the latter.
However, this matter ended in nothing. From Aston Martin's point of view, it may be a better way to impress consumers in China with products.
In view of the popularity of SUV models in the world, Aston Martin has high hopes for its first SUV model, DBX. In fact, whether negotiating with investors or borrowing10.50 billion dollars, Aston Martin's intentions in DBX are well known in the industry.
What's more, aston martin's spokesman has publicly stated that the company will pin its hopes on the China market, and China is also regarded as the most critical market for DBX in the future in strategic planning. In the case of COVID-19's heavy losses, they pinned their hopes for a rebound in short and medium-term performance on the China market.
Aston Martin is not the only one who thinks so. Adrian, Chairman and CEO of Bentley? Hallmark also mentioned the importance of China market many times when describing Bentley's future recovery strategy. Adrian has it. Hallmark said that despite the signs of recovery in the European and American auto markets, European auto companies will not be able to restore their pre-epidemic production capacity in the short term due to the epidemic. According to the most optimistic estimate, the overall recovery of the global automobile market may be from the end of 20021to the beginning of 2022. During this period, China, which has the most effective epidemic prevention and control, will become the largest market in the world, and China is likely to play a leading role in the recovery of the automobile market.
Adrian, Chairman and CEO of Bentley? characteristic
The reason why luxury brands are optimistic about the China market is nothing more than the reassuring performance of luxury brands in China in recent years.
In the context of the overall cold of the domestic automobile market, the domestic passenger car market has fallen sharply, but luxury cars have maintained a growth trend. According to the data, the annual growth rate of BMW in 20 19 was as high as 13. 1%, in which 12 won the sales champion in China luxury car market in 20 19 (67,897 cars were sold).
Although Audi is facing the replacement of the main sales models, it still achieved the performance of 765,438+0,487 vehicles in that month, setting a new record for the best performance of Audi brand in a single month. Porsche, an ultra-luxury brand, achieved a year-on-year increase of 8% in sales of 86,752 vehicles, which is definitely a good record for Porsche with a starting price of more than 600,000 vehicles.
In addition to German luxury cars, Cadillac, which faced a replacement in 20 19, still achieved an annual sales volume of 212,507 vehicles under the condition of imperfect product matrix. Lincoln, who is also an American luxury car, has maintained more than 46,000 vehicles after localization. Although it is slightly lower than the achievement of more than 53,000 vehicles in 20 18, it can also satisfy enterprises.
In terms of Japanese luxury cars, Lexus, which leads the domestic luxury brand camp by increment and the sales volume exceeds 200,000 for the first time, is the most beautiful. Most importantly, Lexus sold 200,000 vehicles with almost no preferential measures and no discounts. Is it awesome?
With the development of finidi QX50, the brand achieved a year-on-year growth of 265,438+0.4% with a sales volume of 35,035 vehicles in 2065,438+09, and reached 4,683 vehicles in a single month in 2065,438+09. In addition, Acura brand also achieved sales of 65,438+04,786 vehicles in 2065,438+09, a year-on-year increase of 63.0% (9424 vehicles in 2065,438+08 and 2065,438+06,348 vehicles).
In addition, Volvo performed well in 20 19. The sales volume increased by 65,438+08.7% year-on-year. The total sales volume in China (including Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan) reached 65,438+0,665,438+0,436 vehicles, among which the annual sales volume in Chinese mainland exceeded 654.38+0.5 million vehicles for the first time, reaching 65,438+0,546 vehicles.
20 19 In the cold winter of China automobile market, the luxury car camp actually performed well. And this momentum will continue in 2020. After all, judging from the performance of the luxury car market in May 2020, the data is still very telling.
Image source: automobile consumption network? Source: China Cheyou Federation.
So you ask me, if British luxury cars want to increase the China market, is it useful? My answer is certainly useful. Now people in China like to talk about "empowerment", so luxury cars are also a good thing for "empowerment" in the eyes of China people. Of course, quality is always the first factor to attract consumers. China local tyrants do have money, but they are not stupid. Fortunately, the quality of Bentley, Aston Martin and even McLaren is rarely questioned, but the best time to enter the China market has passed. It's really hard to judge whether it's late or not at this time.
(This article only represents the author's personal views and does not represent the position of the car club. )
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.