Recently, at the 2024 China Automobile Forum held in Jiading, Shanghai, Yang Xueliang, senior vice president of Geely Holding Group, once again "blasted" internal circulation and expressed his views on the recently popular "card game theory".
He said: "To this day, we are still lucky enough to play cards at the poker table. We hope that fellow players will strictly abide by the rules. If some players are found to steal cards, change cards, or play fake cards, they should consciously and proactively accept the punishment, and should not be angry and demand that the players who abide by the rules be kicked out. China's laws will definitely support good money driving out bad money, not the other way around. If this phenomenon continues for a long time, the tragedy of bad money driving out good money will occur."
Yang Xueliang once again emphasized that "involution is a derogatory term, involution is a bad phenomenon, and involution is synonymous with unhealthy competition", and gave three suggestions: respect the legal high-voltage line and stick to the moral bottom line; do not engage in simple and crude price wars, but engage in high-quality price wars, technology wars, quality wars, service wars, brand wars, and moral wars; adhere to global compliance operations.
He also added, "I believe that there will be a fair, just and open legal conclusion for the well-known incident of atmospheric pressure fuel tanks and serious non-compliance with emission standards in the industry, and the truth will be revealed to the world."
On July 13, 2024, at the 2024 China Automotive Forum in Shanghai, Yang Xueliang, Vice President of Geely Holding, gave a speech.
The "card game theory" originated from the China Automotive Chongqing Forum held in early June this year. At that time, Li Yunfei, general manager of BYD Brand and Public Relations Department, said when talking about internal circulation and price wars: "Price wars should be conducted within one's capabilities. If you can follow, follow. If you can't, just give up and launch the next phase of products. Competition should be healthy and healthy. Don't get angry or overturn the table. It's just like playing a card game. If this round doesn't work, there's always the next round."
This "card game" theory has been repeatedly cited by friendly companies.
For example, at the launch conference of the new generation Haval H6 on June 19, Li Ruifeng, CGO of Great Wall Motors, said: "Some people say that market competition in the automotive industry is like playing cards together. You have to choose whether to play cards according to your own strength. If you can't keep up, you can shout "pass" and wait for the next round. I agree with this. However, Chinese auto brands are a whole, a symbol. If someone on the table is cheating, we must issue a warning, stand up, "knock on the table", or even "turn over the table."
In addition to Yang Xueliang, Jianghuai Automobile Group Chairman Xiang Xingchu also talked about competition at the forum. He said that the current industry competition is becoming increasingly fierce, product homogeneity is serious, price wars are inevitable, and the resulting survival of the fittest and mergers and reorganizations are inevitable.
He believes that improper vicious competition is not conducive to the sustainable and healthy development of the entire industry. The key to breaking the internal competition problem is to insist on being user-centric, meet the differentiated needs of users through continuous technology and product innovation, and truly create added value for consumers. Technological empowerment and integrated innovation are the core key means to avoid "internal competition" price cuts and start differentiated competition.
Wang Lang, deputy general manager of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., pointed out in a closed-door meeting of the forum that there is no way out for Chinese auto companies to roll downward. The only way out is to move upward, enhance the value of the brand, move left and right, broaden the industrial circle, expand the circle of friends, and achieve win-win cooperation.
Wang Hui, vice president of Changan Automobile, called on the industry to strengthen self-discipline and relevant departments to provide supervision, crack down on disorderly competition and create a fair environment.
Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out in his speech that the current industry still faces challenges. For example, there are shortcomings in automotive chips and basic software, and competition in new technologies such as new-generation power batteries and autonomous driving has intensified. In addition, there is disorderly competition in the market, corporate profits are declining, and trade barriers hinder overseas expansion.
He called on companies to tackle original innovative technologies, adhere to quality first, and strengthen international exchanges and cooperation.
Xu Niansha, president of the China Machinery Industry Federation, also said that China's automobile industry has made remarkable achievements, but it still has a long way to go to become an "automotive power." There are still shortcomings in new energy vehicles, such as power battery resources, automotive-grade chips, full-stack software, operating systems, and so on.
In addition, the integration and coordinated development of the automotive industry chain also face challenges. The development of intelligent connected vehicles not only relies on the development of the automotive industry, but also goes far beyond the automotive industry, requiring cross-industry and cross-field collaboration such as chips, software, operating systems, industrial ecology, information industry, energy industry, and mechanical processing industry.
He encouraged companies to export not only their products but also their "standards", expand the "circle of friends" of international standards by integrating domestic and international standards systems, and promote industrial transformation and upgrading, improve corporate product quality, and achieve high-quality development of the industry.
Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, also pointed out in his speech that anti-globalization behaviors such as trade barriers will hinder the technological development and global popularization of intelligent connected new energy vehicles.
He proposed that as a key product, new energy vehicles should establish a complete product carbon footprint management system and promote the green transformation of the entire industrial chain. The integrity of the management system will be related to the confidence of Chinese new energy vehicles in dealing with the carbon footprint traceability systems of other countries when they go overseas.
