According to the source from Shanghai Haistand Management Consulting, the survey of “ 2015 Top 100 China Automobile Dealerships Groups Competitiveness Index, which was jointly compiled by 91 survey.com, Shanghai Haistand Management Consulting and Tongji University Marketing Research Institute, was formally released on 91 Survey.com on May 26^th. Regarded as the leading indicator of the development of China Automobile Dealerships Groups, this survey has immediately caught great attention from automobile manufactures, dealerships groups, industry experts, financial institutions, automobile media and consumers by virtue of its high data accuracy, and comprehensive outside-in perspective.

Top 100 Competitiveness Index was jointly designed by 91 Survey.com, Shanghai Haistand Management and Tongji University Marketing Research Institute, and got the knowledge and expertise support from automobile committee affiliated to Zhongguancun Big Data Industry Alliance. 91 Survey.com was in charge of the development of Index, big data integration analysis and index release, and Shanghai Haistand Management Consulting was responsible for providing the database of the dealerships groups and off-line data survey, and Tongji University Marketing Research Institute provided guidance of academic theories and index modeling support.

According to the responsible person from 91 Survey.com, the Top 100 Competitiveness Index has focused its research on the competitiveness system of the dealerships groups, covering 5 factors of sales capability, service capability, management capability, network capability and innovation capability. In terms of the research scope, Top 100 Index only studies the passenger vehicle business unit of the automobile dealerships groups, excluding non-passenger car businesses (e.g. commercial vehicles). In terms of data timeline, 2015 Top 100 index captured the performance of dealerships groups in 2014. In terms of sample size, Shanghai Haistand Management Consulting has selected top 200 representative dealerships groups to be the research samples of Top 100 Index.

Based on the research findings of Top 200 dealerships groups, 2015 Top 100 index is characterized by the following 6 features;

1. Top 200 overall competitiveness index of mainstream dealerships groups is 593.96 in 2015, up 2.23% from 2014. Amid the context of the fast growth of the automobile market to the medium growth, the sales of automobiles has undergone noticeable decline in the first 4 months of this year. However, some leading dealerships groups have strengthened its competitiveness and experienced growth despite of the headwinds after carrying out management innovations, cross-industry collaboration, developing the e-commerce, tapping into the potential of new energy vehicles and vehicle connectivity. There are 30 groups in the high-score segment (above 700 scores), 5 more compared with 2014. There are 22 groups in the low score segment (below 500), 20 fewer compared with 2014.

Top 200 Competitiveness index; Number of Groups with competitiveness scores above 700; Number of Groups with competitiveness scores below 500

In terms of the business revenues mix, over 80% of the groups achieved revenues below RMB 10 billion, and most of them are below RMB 5 billion. 13 dealerships groups have got revenues exceeding RMB 20 billion, such as China Grand Auto, Pang Da Automobile, Zhongsheng Group, etc.

2. In terms of sales capability, Top 200 sales capability index has reached 595,66, up 2.16% from 2014. There are 40 groups in the high-score segment of sales capabilities (above 700 scores), an increase of 5 groups from 2014. There are 23 groups in the low-score segment (below 500 scores), a decrease of 21 groups from 2014

Top 200 sales capability scores; Number of Groups with scores of sales capabilities above 700; Number of Groups with scores of sales capabilities below 500

Sales volume is one of the key indicators of sales capability. The sales volumes of passenger vehicles were 19.7 million units in 2014, and the sales volumes of passenger vehicles of 200 dealerships groups in the Top 100 index were 7.58 million units, accounting for 38.5% of the national totals. Of them, there are 11 groups with sales volumes over 10,000 units. Among the top 3, the sales volumes of China Grand Auto were 600,000 units, Pang Da were 400,000 units and Sinomach Automobile were close to 300,000 units.

3. In terms of the service capability, TOP 200 service capability index has reached 592.58, up 2.19% from 2014. There are 38 groups in the high-score segment (above 700 scores), an increase of 2 groups from 2014, and there are 28 groups in the low-score segment (below 500 scores), a reductions of 18 groups from 2014

Top 200 service capability scores; Number of Groups with scores of service capability over 700; Number of Groups with service capability below 500

67% of dealerships were making a loss in 2014, a higher percentage compared to several years ago. Dealerships groups are focusing more on the development and improvement of servicing capability. Take He’nan Weijia Group as an example. It has sped up it space establishing quick repair outlets, and developing its own brand. Among the network of Sichuan Jingdian Group, 70% of the outlets are chain outlets and quick repair outlets, whereas 4S accounting for only 30%.

Total business operations of Nationwide Dealerships

Making a loss; Breakeven; Profitable

Top 200 network capability index; Number of Groups with scores of network capabilities over 700; Number of Groups with scores of network capabilities below 500

4. In terms of network capability, Top 200 network capability index has reached 590.83, up 2.05% from 2014. There are 37 groups in the high-score segment (above 700 scores), an increase of 10 groups from 2014. There are 27 groups in the low-score segment (below 500 scores), a reduction of 19 groups from 2014.

In terms of network structure, 8 groups have over 100 4S outlets, including Pang Da, China Grand Auto, Lifeng Auto, Yongda Auto. 167 groups have fewer than 50 4S outlets, accounting for 83.5% of all the groups. In 2014, aside from setting up new stores, dealerships groups are also adopting M&As and partnerships. E.g. Shandong Jialun Group became the Shandong Subsidiary Company of Rundong Group, and Greenland has controlling stakes in Rundong

5. In terms of management capability, TOP 200 management capability index has reached 641.95, up 2.69% from 2014. There are 32 groups in the high-score segment (above 700 scores), an increase of 5 groups from 2014. There are 9 groups in the low-score segment (below 550 scores), a reduction of 25 groups from 2014

Top 200 management capability index; Number of Groups with scores of management capabilities over 700; Number of Groups with management capabilities below 550

From the perspective of management, improving internal management has become the main trend in the industry. With the intensified competitions, the old management approaches and business models can no longer be applied in the new environment. Some enterprises such as Runhua Group has been strengthening corporate culture, and Jiangsu Haipeng has been optimizing business unit structure to strengthen the competitiveness of business units.

6. From the perspective of innovation capability, TOP 200 innovation index has reached 537.38, up 1.73% from 2014. There are 28 groups in the high-score segment (above 700 scores), an increase of 4 groups from 2014, and there are 66 groups in the low-score segment (below 450 scores), a decrease of 4 groups from 2014.

Top 200 innovation capability index; Number of Groups with scores of innovation capabilities over 700; Number of Groups with scores of innovation capabilities below 450

The innovations of dealerships groups are mainly reflected in developing new marketing models. There have been big changes in China’s policy environment in 2014 with the release of the Anti-Monopoly Law, the amended version of Brand Management Measures to drive the innovations and changes of dealerships groups. The rapid development of e-commerce, such as the large e-malls, and Baoxin Automobile Street has played a good demonstration role for dealerships groups.

On the bases of the above-mentioned 6 features along with the data monitoring and analysis of 91 Survey.com’s big data platform, the development of China Dealerships Groups has shown 4 key trends;

Trend 1: M&A and strategic cooperations have become the new normal

The dealerships groups have accelerated the network expansion through M&As. For example, China Grand Auto has acquired Xi’an Tangdu, and planned for a back-door listing on the A-share market by using the shell of MERRO Pharmaceutical Company. Other examples such as Rundong and Greenland and Huitong Jiahua. On the other hand, building strategic partnerships with OEMs to intensify collaborations. Examples are Dalian Zhongsheng Group developed strategic partnerships with FAW-Volkswagen and Audi. Zhengtong Group has built strategic partnerships with Audi and Volvo.

Trend 2: Intensify the effort to develop the after-sales market

As the profits of selling automobiles are going down, the dealerships groups are now attaching greater importance to the after-sales market through developing stronger service capability. Henan Weijia and Sichuan Jingdian are making deployments in the after-sales market. Zhongsheng Group has planned to set up 500 repair chain outlets independent of 4S system. Donglian Group has planned to develop 1000 Donglian quick repair center. Pangda Group is engaged in building an automobile industrial park, covering automobile repair services, auto financing, used car business and automobile culture.

Trend 3: embracing internet+ automobile e-commerce

Embracing internet plus automobile e-commerce has become an important trend of the dealerships group. For example, China Grand Auto has built a used-car O2O transaction platform with Alibaba.com; Pangda group is developing a Pangda e-commerce mall. Guangdong Automobile Trading Company has created the largest automobile e-commerce platform in Guangdong, which was Chevip.com. China Harmony Auto, Foxconn, and Tencent signed the cooperation agreement on the e-commerce of smart electric vehicles.

Trend 4: Entered into new energy and automobile connectivity sector

Some dealerships groups have began to enter into new energy and car connectivity sector. For example, Pangda Group and BAIC Motor will jointly set up Pangda and Beijing BAIC Motor new energy vehicle sales company, which will cover the sales, network development and service of the new energy vehicles in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei regions. Wanbang Group has made aggressive investment in the new energy sector and set up charge station manufacturing plant

The TOP 100 Competitiveness Index will be formally released on 91 Survey.com in May or June every year. The index will use a fresh perspective to review the evolutions, and success and failure cases in the automobile dealerships industry and provided directions and strategic recommendations, with a view to promoting a healthy and sustainable development of China’s automobile dealerships industry.