Two Audi 4S stores in Beijing and Zhengzhou have successively switched to Wenjie, and BBA's offline base has begun to shake

The competition in the automotive industry is far more than just a "price war". The sudden changes in the channel side are equally cruel.

Recently, the largest Audi dealers in Beijing and Zhengzhou, Beijing Huayang Aotong and Zhengzhou Zhongsheng Huidi, had their authorization revoked by FAW Audi due to their switch to Huawei Wenjie Network.

Some media discovered that Beijing Huayang Aotong has installed the "AITO" logo on its door and posted a notice in a conspicuous place, stating that it will no longer be engaged in Audi brand distribution business from now on, while promising to continue to provide maintenance and repair services.

It is worth mentioning that these two dealers are top students in the Audi dealer network. Beijing Huayang Aotong has won the championship of Audi Service Double Cup National Competition for many times and is also the location of Audi Beijing Training Center. Zhengzhou Zhongsheng Huidi is the top 3 in the entire network and the largest FAW Audi store in Zhengzhou.

The withdrawal of two dealers with such great influence and their unanimous choice of new power brands is a big blow to Audi. In response, Audi made an explanation in a group communication with dealers.

According to the information spread, the investors of these two dealers want to retain Audi's authorization, but hope to move the new store to a worse address, use the original site for a new brand, and build it without approval. Therefore, FAW Audi can only implement the provisions of the "dealer agreement" and withdraw from the network.

Although Audi has a firm attitude towards this situation, it is undeniable that the loss of these two dealers indirectly reflects Huawei Wenjie's success in "instigating rebellion" at 4S.

In recent years, the competition we have seen on the surface is the fierce "price war" among car companies. In fact, the competition between car companies has already spread to the dealer network.

As Huawei's influence in the world expands, its development in the automotive field has become more and more handy. The previous offline model based on supermarkets can no longer meet its development needs, so it has begun to expand its dealer network.

For Wenjie, it is undoubtedly a time-consuming and labor-intensive "major project" to redevelop every point in the dealer network. The best way is to transform high-quality dealers into their own stores, so as to reach more end users as quickly as possible.

Industry insiders pointed out that Huawei's move at this time is to "bottom out" the dealer network that luxury brands have cultivated over the years, while achieving the goal of increasing the number of terminal users.

Although this may sound a bit weird, business competition is inherently cruel. If you want to grow quickly, you will inevitably affect the interests of other brands.

I don't know if Audi was also caught off guard by the sudden situation. However, judging from Audi's eagerness to "analyze" the situation to its dealers, it is impossible to say that it is not anxious.

It is reported that Audi also conducted sincere communication and analysis with its dealers regarding this "rebellion incident" and suggested that dealers make a prudent calculation:

First, the new power brand treats its competitors so fiercely in the business world, and will certainly treat its internal and external partners so fiercely. How many new power brands can make a profit? Even the largest brands at present.

Second, according to the plan, its network layout has developed so greatly in a very short period of time. If we enter later, will we be able to make a profit?

Third, Audi has kept us relatively profitable for 36 years. How long can a new brand keep us profitable? As a listed company, Zhongsheng Group has its own specific pressures and valuation considerations. Non-listed companies must first consider the profitability of a single store.

Finally, Audi once again emphasized that it hopes everyone can make a rational analysis and judgment.

The meaning is self-evident. It seems to be a warning to other dealers not to "sit on two boats", but in fact it hopes that everyone will not follow the new forces so quickly. After all, Audi is still very powerful.

It is undeniable that Audi did make many dealers profitable. But things are different now. With the increasing penetration of new energy vehicles, the "involution" in the car industry is becoming more and more serious. Both foreign and domestic brands have participated in the "price war" to some extent.

This has also led to a very difficult life for many terminal car dealers. Losing money on car sales has become the norm, and the issue of survival has become more urgent. Xiao Zheng, president of the China Automobile Dealers Association, recently revealed that the automobile market is showing a strange phenomenon of "increasing volume but not revenue, and increasing revenue but not profit."

In the first half of 2024, more than half of the country's automobile dealers faced losses, an increase of 7.3% from the same period last year. Dealers, especially traditional fuel vehicle dealers, generally had problems such as too many and too dense outlets, insufficient profitability, high inventory, and unreasonable business policies.

From the perspective of demand, new car prices are inverted, dealers' sales and profits have slowed down significantly, and luxury brand dealers have also suffered large-scale losses.

When you are poor, you need to think about change. As many traditional fuel vehicle dealers are already unable to make ends meet and are at the end of their rope, choosing to cooperate with new forces with greater potential is undoubtedly a good way to "save themselves".

Of course, not all dealers can "save themselves" in this way, unless you have enough chips for two-way selection.

In August this year, at the Huawei Hongmeng Intelligent Driving new product launch conference, Yu Chengdong said that the new M7 Pro would lose nearly 30,000 yuan for each unit sold, and hoped to reduce costs through future expansion. However, relying solely on online and supermarkets, the user reach is really limited, and it is even more difficult to sink into third- and fourth-tier cities.

Brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi have been operating in the market for many years, and their dealer networks are spread all over the country and are very mature. If we can choose dealers of good quality to cooperate with them, the help to the industry can be imagined.

Just like the two dealers that withdrew from Audi’s network this time, they were originally the best in Audi’s dealer network, so it’s not surprising that they were chosen by Wenjie. Wenjie has now become a dark horse among the new forces, and the chances of success for these two dealers to cooperate with it are relatively greater.

According to the sales staff in the store, the customer flow in the store has increased significantly since the switch to Huawei Wenjie. On the one hand, it is because Huawei Wenjie, as a new force brand, has a high degree of attention and topicality in the market; on the other hand, it is because Huawei Wenjie's models have certain advantages in terms of cost performance and intelligence. In addition, since Huawei Wenjie is an online order without discounts, dealers make money on every car delivered.

Perhaps, just like what Audi warned other dealers, it is recommended that everyone make a prudent calculation. The competition between new forces and traditional brands has been extremely fierce, from products, prices to dealer networks.

91che believes that in the future, regardless of whether fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles will share the world, new energy vehicles will be the mainstream. As an automobile operator in this era, if you can judge the situation and choose to cooperate with new power brands with greater potential, it may be a good way out.