White Paper on the Survival of Auto Dealers under the "War Epidemic"--Buick Brand

Just as automakers were gearing up for a big push in 2020 to regain the momentum of the previous two years, a sudden outbreak of a new coronavirus disrupted everyone's expectations.

The date for resumption of work, which was supposed to be Feb. 3, was first pushed back to Feb. 10, and then many automakers were told to return to work on Feb. 17 because of the uncertainty of the outbreak's development and the need to prevent it from spreading again on a large scale.

In the face of the outbreak of the epidemic, in order to support Wuhan, automobile OEMs on the one hand, the money out of money, out of effort, and even at the expense of switching to the production of masks, disinfectant, and even isolation clothing; on the other hand, the dealers for its dealers have also launched the abolition of the February assessment indicators, financial support policies, to provide online training in the sale of cars and the introduction of the entire range of models that can be isolated from the virus, a brutal The "war epidemic" is slowly drawing to a close.

As the saying goes, the house is falling apart. According to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), national auto sales in January 2020 were 1.941 million units, down 18% year-on-year, and now the epidemic has suffered a relentless blow. What is the survival status of auto dealers? With a variety of questions, the automotive media cluster ghost bucket car decided to joint car Wenxuan and Guandong automotive network *** with the launch of the "auto dealers survival status quo white paper", with the real scene and detailed data to fully demonstrate part of the auto dealers face the survival of the status quo.

After repeated communication, the interviewed general manager of SAIC General Motors Buick 4S store did not want to disclose his name, for which Ghost had to use the pseudonym Panther head (Lin Chong) to replace.

1, ghost bucket car cluster: February 10, your company has officially resumed work? At present, how many people work in pre-sales and after-sales respectively, and how much difference compared to the normal state? How is the status quo, when is the specific official business?

Buick Linchong: At present, there is no official business, the sales department has two people on duty every day, the after-sales service department has three people on duty, the other personnel are waiting for duty at home, now there is no comparison with the number of staff in the normal state; February 10th so far every day there are at most 1 to 2 groups of customers into the store to see the car, the after-sales service every day, at most, there are only two units of cars into the factory for maintenance; at present, we have always been implementing flexible At present, we have been implementing a flexible working system, and the specific time of resumption of work will depend on the control of the epidemic and wait for the notification of the relevant government departments.

2, ghost bucket car cluster: affected by the epidemic, your brand host factory has launched for dealers to cope with the measures? What are the in-store countermeasures? Store employees at work as well as into the store to see the car and repair the car consumers are effectively protected? What exactly is being done!

Buick Linchong: Buick manufacturers have made a response to the initiative; the store on duty is mainly for the existing network platform to do set guest publicity and live; store every day will carry out four times without dead angle disinfection, into the plant personnel strictly temperature measurement, 37 degrees or more will be persuaded to leave, at the same time, we also provide free masks for the customers into the store.

3, ghost bucket car clusters: despite the fact that last February was the Chinese New Year, but how much difference is expected to be compared with the same period last year? Please tell us about the number of sold-in stores and the after-sales turnover since one week, respectively?

Buick Linchong: at present, the sales value is zero, after-sales service are also a few small maintenance, negligible, at present, compared with the same period in 2019, the value of production decreased by more than 95%; at present, we do not count the official resumption of work, so there is basically no turnover since a week.

4, ghost bucket car cluster: what is most affected by the epidemic in February, sales or after-sales? What percentage difference in output is expected compared to last year?

Buick Lin Chong: the whole are affected, the biggest pressure is the market, because the pressure is no one; the whole February is expected to decline about 95%.

5, ghost bucket car cluster: host factory whether canceled in February assessment indicators? What is the inventory ratio roughly? What percentage difference from the same period last year? If the assessment indicator is restored in March is it affordable?

Buick Linchong: Buick car host factory has been in the first time to notify us to cancel the February assessment indicators; inventory ratio is currently 1.1, compared with the same period last year is basically flat; if the epidemic can be effectively controlled, even if the assessment indicators in March to resume should not be a problem.

6, ghost bucket car cluster: to deal with the current situation, the host factory whether the dealer support policy? Now can you guarantee the most rationalized operation of the funds? About how many cars are in the form of promissory notes into the goods? What is the interest rate for one month? Where is the most difficult part of the current situation?

Buick Lin Chong: In addition to canceling the February assessment indicators, Buick has also launched a financial subsidy to extend the policy of one month, other normal; because we are one of the brands under the group company, the operation of the funds is still quite normal; 70% of the cars in our stores are in the form of a promissory note each month; because Buick has launched a financial subsidy support, so there is no interest in February, only a few vehicles are due; the biggest problem is that there is no interest in the form of promissory notes. Only a few vehicles are due; the biggest difficulty at present is the collection of customers, in order to fully defend against this epidemic, so that the work of the future is normal, a lot of things can not be done, and do not dare to do.

7, ghost bucket car clusters: in view of this current state of affairs, how much money is expected to lose in February? How long can the store last? If the epidemic lasts for 3 months, which part of the problem will be highlighted first? The cost of getting a car in, rent or staffing expenses.

Buick Linchong: there is no accident, at least in February, a loss of about 1.2 million; but even more difficult to adhere to, after all, there is the support of the group; the normal operation of the funds is the most prominent problem, of course, to stabilize the staff, the cost of wages can not be ignored.

8, the ghost bucket car cluster: the current store is there because of the epidemic caused by non-combat attrition? Are there any employees returning to self-isolation?

Buick Lin Chong: Our store has no sick or suspected personnel; individual employees returning from overseas have been isolated at home on their own in accordance with state regulations.

9, ghost bucket car cluster: the epidemic has caused a reduction in the number of customers into the store and the reduction of after-sales maintenance turnover, may I ask what behavioral changes the epidemic will bring to the customer, to deal with the customer's behavioral changes and what adjustments have been made? For example: online car viewing, online sales and live sales, what is the proportion of online sales at present? Are there any on-site maintenance services for existing car owners, and what is the proportion?

Buick Lin Chong: First, with the change of customer consumption psychology, the end of the epidemic will inevitably appear a small peak period of car purchases, for this reason, we have already done a good job in advance of the warm-up preparations, secondly, the epidemic will have an impact on the use of the customer's vehicle cycle, resulting in a delay in the maintenance cycle of the vehicle, in this regard, we are also ready to extend the business hours of the epidemic after the preparations; for live The work of selling cars we have just started, due to the current sales volume is very small, so I can not talk about how much weight, but is expected to be very large in the future, accounting for more than 50%; our company has a door-to-door pick-up service, the proportion of about 40%.

10, ghost bucket car cluster: in response to the reduced mobility caused by the epidemic, the host factory whether to increase the concessions of the models on sale? Are there any subsidies in commercial policies?

Buick Linchong: Buick temporarily did not increase the preferential strength of any model, and there is no subsidy in the business policy.

Changchun Buick 4S store general manager's message: I hope that the epidemic will end soon, to restore the prosperity of the past, at the same time, I firmly believe that after the epidemic, the automobile market will have a short period of peak, I hope that all the automobile people can *** with the through the difficult times, grasp the future!

This article comes from the author of the automobile home car family number, does not represent the views of the automobile home position.