FAW Audi dealers: Stop picking up imported and domestically produced cars in December

This winter is particularly cold for Audi and FAW Audi dealers.

At 2:30 pm on the 22nd, nearly 30 dealer representatives from FAW Audi held negotiations at InterContinental Foshan with Dr. Dietmar Voggenreiter, Director of Sales and Marketing of Audi Germany, Joachim Wedler, General Manager of Audi China, and Michael-Julius Renz, General Manager of FAW Audi Sales Division. The meeting was chaired by "Grandpa" Ren Siming!

It was this statement made by him after the Guangzhou Auto Show media communication meeting that "Audi and SAIC join hands, there is no risk at all" that completely angered the dealers of FAW Audi. "How can there be no risk? What does he think of the dealers of Audi China? This is simply a contemptuous attitude towards dealers." When a dealer investor said this, he felt like he was about to spit fire. Of course, it would not be an exaggeration to describe his extremely angry mood as "burning with anger." He even thought that Heizmann was neither sincere nor thoughtful when he said this: "I suspect he has water in his brain."

Other dealer investor representatives also expressed similar views. Behind this somewhat emotional view is a cold digital reality: some Audi dealers have begun to lose money this year, and some profitable Audi dealers are mainly supported by good after-sales service. What makes some Audi dealers even more annoyed is that the current inventory is basically two months. The huge liquidity pressure and the reality that selling more cars will result in more losses have put these Audi dealer investors under tremendous pressure.

"Even under such difficult circumstances, we still had full confidence in Audi." An Audi store investor told Ma that the spread of disappointment and anger towards Audi came from the SAIC Audi incident.
"It's like you found a mistress outside and now you want to marry her into the big family. Shouldn't you let everyone know the news before you marry her in?" The dealer investor believes that Volkswagen China and Audi Germany have obviously ignored the feelings and power of FAW Audi dealers in the SAIC Audi incident.

Now, it seems that the Audi dealers and investors were not just forbearing during the previous meeting in Shanghai, but rather that the dealers were looking for consensus and accumulating strength. Today is the time for FAW Audi dealers to let the German Audi executives see their power.

Before the meeting:

Dealers vow to fight to the death and do not meet the requirements. From December, they will temporarily increase the purchase of domestic and imported cars.

Multiple sources confirmed that the atmosphere between the two sides was somewhat tense before the Foshan negotiations began. The negotiations were originally to be hosted by the Audi Dealer Association (CADA), but Audi "strongly" insisted on having the German side host the negotiations. The dealers agreed to the German side's request. If the German side still insisted on using official language or a "press release" attitude to communicate and negotiate with the 15 dealer representatives, the German side would definitely receive a strong response from the dealers present: "Stop taking imported and domestically produced cars from the manufacturers from December!"

"Sales of imported cars account for less than 10% of the total sales, and we lose money on every car sold. If Audi only suspends the delivery of imported cars, it is obvious that Audi will not feel any pain. So this time we will be more ruthless. If you don't agree to our demands, we will not deliver any imported or domestic models." A representative of Audi's core dealers said to Xiao Ma Ge: "We are fighting to the death this time, there is no way out."

Some relatively smaller Audi dealers are even more anxious, because according to the announcements of Audi and SAIC Volkswagen and some rumors, SAIC Audi models will be mainly sold at SAIC Volkswagen dealers in the future. Some imported Volkswagen dealers will also sell SAIC Audi models, because there are rumors that the previous move led by Singaporeans to sell some imported Volkswagen models at SAIC Volkswagen caused dissatisfaction among imported Volkswagen dealers, and this time the Singaporeans just took this opportunity to appease the emotions of imported Volkswagen dealers.

If this rumor is true, these Audi 4S stores will now have SAIC Volkswagen and imported Volkswagen stores next to them. Wouldn't they have to survive in the gap between the two? Obviously, they are unwilling to sit and wait for death. The core dealers of FAW Audi must stand firmly with FAW. "At worst, we will not do Audi anymore." The CEO of an Audi core dealer strategic group has made the worst plan.

At the meeting:

Dealers issued an ultimatum: give a reply before December 1st! Otherwise, they will suspend the delivery of domestic and imported cars

The negotiation officially started at around 2:30 p.m. Feng Derui started by talking about the highlights: First, I only have two hours today; second, I came to Foshan today to participate in another car inspection event. The implication is that he still doesn't take our dealers' affairs to heart and doesn't take us seriously. "A dealer manager said this after the meeting.

According to him, the reason why Audi cooperated with SAIC Volkswagen was because SAIC Volkswagen had been talking to them about cooperation over the years. He then repeated that the cooperation between Audi and SAIC Volkswagen would not harm the interests of FAW Audi dealers.
"We immediately interrupted Feng Derui's speech. Audi treated our matter as a child's 'playing house'. Would you cooperate with any company that talks about cooperation with you? Have you considered the feelings and interests of us, the FAW Audi dealers?" the dealer manager said angrily.

The meeting ended at around 4:30 p.m. Nearly 30 FAW-Audi dealers attending the meeting issued an ultimatum: if no clear response to suspend cooperation with SAIC Volkswagen is given before December 1, dealers will suspend delivery of Audi domestic and imported cars!

The dealer representatives then left collectively, leaving behind their resolute backs in the astonished eyes of Feng Derui and others.

The symbolic significance of the “Foshan Battle”: “Foreign brands are too strong. Now is the time to say NO to them!”

If all 431 FAW-Audi dealers stop selling imported and domestically produced cars from December, it will undoubtedly be a disaster for Audi. Even if 30 core strategic dealers of FAW-Audi do not sell cars, Audi will have trouble sleeping all night, because these 30 large FAW-Audi strategic dealers alone account for 60% of Audi's sales in China. This shows their voice and right to speak.

In addition, Audi is aiming to achieve a sales target of 590,000 vehicles in China this year, and is about to release its full-year financial report. The German Volkswagen Group is short of money. If the calculating Audi runs into trouble in the Chinese market at this time, its financial statements will not look good, and its stock will suffer another slowdown. The "exhaust gate" incident has not yet passed, and the shadow cast by the "SAIC Audi" incident on the Volkswagen Group and Audi is unimaginable, not to mention that Audi is currently carrying out its "2025 strategy" vision planning!

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.