Author | Bo Yan
Edit | Xie Wan
On February 9, BMW Brilliance insiders revealed to Tencent Automobile that on January 20, before the Spring Festival, bmw group executives talked about the positioning of beam cars and MINI brands in a live webcast question and answer session for all BMW Brilliance employees, which is also the first time that BMW group officials have disclosed information about the MINI models that will be produced in Shenyang.
According to BMW's previous plan, the MINI model will be fully electrified in 2025 and will be produced by beam vehicles, a joint venture between BMW Group and Great Wall Motors. However, Beam Auto's plant in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, has not yet obtained a pure electric vehicle production qualification.
The above-mentioned BMW Group executives mentioned at the meeting that the first two MINI electric vehicles for the Chinese market will be produced by beams located in Zhangjiagang, but at the same time, there will still be imported MINI models from Oxford in China, and there will also be localized models produced in Shenyang.
According to insiders, the above-mentioned BMW executives also said in the Q&A session that "MINI's brand positioning has nothing to do with the origin of MINI." Our focus is not on where to produce which model, but on increasing MINI sales while maintaining MINI's brand positioning and reputation. ”
Insider: BMW will produce a fuel version of the MINI model in Shenyang
In July last year, a number of BMW Brilliance employees broke the news to Tencent Automobile that BMW Brilliance was launching a model production project code-named u28 and planned to produce MINI models on the Chinese production line.
"At present, it is still in the very early stage of project establishment, and the high-level is still planning, after all, the Chinese production line has not yet been bought." One of the employees once revealed.
On August 31 last year, brilliance group and 12 other companies held a second creditors' meeting, the main agenda of which was to vote on the property management and valuation plan, the proposal to establish a creditor committee and the "Zhonghua" brand price change plan.
Through the vote of creditors, all 3 proposals were passed at the meeting. At the creditors' meeting, BMW China's acquisition of "Zhonghua" Automobile was priced at 1.633 billion yuan, but the pass rate of this proposal was not high, and the amount of creditors who agreed to it accounted for only 57% of the amount of creditors present at the meeting, which was the lowest proportion of the proposal.
In September last year, according to a former employee of Renault Brilliance Jinbei, the equipment of the Zhonghua production line is relatively new compared to the Jinbei production line, and BMW bought it at this price very cost-effectively, he also pointed out that the production line is currently only for the production of fuel vehicles, and does not have the production conditions for electric vehicles. In response to the above news, BMW China relevant people did not respond positively to Tencent Automobile in September last year, but said that "the beam is the production of pure electric MINI".
According to the information shared internally by BMW's senior management on January 20 this year, Beam Cars came to produce a pure electric version of MINI, and the first batch of localization MINI produced in Shenyang may be a fuel model. However, it is worth noting that according to the plan, the MINI brand will be fully electrified in 2025, which means that there will be no more production of fuel vehicles, if at this time BMW wants to produce MINI pure electric models in Shenyang, or just an excessive plan to increase market sales. In response to this information, Tencent Auto asked BMW China for verification, but as of press time, it has not received a response.
On January 4 this year, an internal BMW Brilliance employee told Tencent Automobile that the MINI Shenyang production project is still advancing, and the financial system and IT have begun to prepare. At the same time, she made it clear that the model MINI will produce in Shenyang is a fuel version, not an electric model.
BMW Brilliance's equity change is going through the process
On October 20 last year, the website of the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the acquisition of the equity of Brilliance Automotive Manufacturing Co., Ltd. by BMW (China) Investment Co., Ltd.
According to the documents, Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings Limited currently holds a 100% stake in Brilliance Automotive Manufacturing Co., Ltd., thus controlling Brilliance Manufacturing alone. BMW (China) Investment Co., Ltd. has signed an equity sale and purchase agreement with Brilliance Group to acquire all of Brilliance Manufacturing's shares. After the proposed transaction, BMW China will control Brilliance Manufacturing alone.
However, there are still variables about whether BMW can successfully acquire the Zhonghua plant for 1.633 billion yuan. On November 25 last year, a Brilliance Group insider revealed to Tencent Automobile that "the acquisition of the Zhonghua factory by BMW has been stopped, and the BMW-related staff in the Zhonghua workshop has been withdrawn." ”
According to the above-mentioned person, at the end of last year, the relevant leaders of FAW were meeting with the senior management of Brilliance Group, and the group believed that BMW's 1.633 billion yuan purchase of the Zhonghua factory was "too cheap and internally disagreed." In response to the above news, Tencent Auto asked BMW China for verification, and the official said that "BMW will continue to promote this project in accordance with national policies and regulations."
In addition, the equity change of BMW Brilliance has also attracted much attention from the outside world. In October 2018, Brilliance China announced that BMW had made a request to the Company to acquire a 25% stake in BMW Brilliance from Shenyang Jinbei Automobile, so that after the closing (which is expected to be no later than 2022), BMW Brilliance will be owned by Shenyang Jinbei Automobile and BMW Shiyi respectively by 25% and 75%.
However, as of now, the above-mentioned equity adjustment plan has not been implemented. The above-mentioned BMW Brilliance insiders revealed to Tencent Auto that in response to the issue of equity change, BMW executives also made a positive response in the employee Q&A session on January 20.
According to insiders, BMW executives said internally that the feedback received from the government on the equity increase is very positive and is waiting to complete the necessary process. The share-to-equity adjustment will only affect accounting and will not have any impact on operations.
Insiders also revealed that BMW executives stressed that Brilliance Group and its joint venture Renault Brilliance Gold Cup have applied for bankruptcy restructuring, but they have nothing to do with BMW Brilliance. "Whether the stake is 75:25 or 50:50, BMW Brilliance is a separate legal entity." BMW executives pointed out that in 2018, the agreement reached between BMW Group and the Liaoning Provincial Government and Brilliance Group on capital increase is steadily advancing.
In response to the progress related to the equity adjustment, BMW China relevant people told Tencent Auto, "There is news that we will communicate, and there is no information that can be provided at present." ”