20 | Friday, April 12, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY BUSINESS New car platform eyeing BELT & ROAD INITIATIVE bigger presence in more countylevel regions
By ZHENG YIRAN restriction policy have made it pos [email protected] sible that used cars can circulate across regions in China, and con Chehaoduo Group, parent com sumers can benefit more from the pany of Chinese online used car convenience of crossregional car platform Guazi, is looking to expand purchases. Therefore, the company its new car business to more county aims to boost crossregional car cir level regions, as well as further culation, and with the help of its off develop its usedcar business, to off line stores across China, its system set slowing growth in China’s auto offers “smart matches” for consum mobile consumption industry, a top ers to select the most suitable car. company official said. At the same time, its complete ser The company plans to upgrade its vice ecological system gets rid of over 300 offline direct stores for new consumers’ concerns about cross cars and establish over 1,000 such regional car purchase, while its big stores in 1,000 countylevel regions datadriven digital system solves the of China this year. uneven situation of car sources “Demand for new cars is slowing, between regions, boosting balanced while that for used cars is constantly development across China. expanding, thanks to the govern Last month, Guazi teamed up ment’s favorable policies, an with Taobao’s usedcar platform in increase in car ownership, people’s the “New Retail” area, including transformation to a more rational consumption service, usedcar auc consumption attitude, as well as the tions and usedcar circulation, to growing number of people who plan build a “New Retail” platform for to change or buy cars,” said Yang used cars. Haoyong, CEO of Chehaoduo Group. Currently, they operate through At the same time, it plans to open Alibaba’s auction platform pai more brickandmortar usedcar mai.taobao.com, and will jointly stores across China, so that more launch stores at Taobao soon. In this consumers can benefit from their way, both companies are helping to onestop services. It also plans to promote the consumption upgrade open car maintenance stores in the in the automobile industry. country, to offer consumers a more By using Guazi’s service capabili complete service throughout the ties that extend the whole con An employee works on the assembly line of a SAICGMWuling Automobile Co plant in Indonesia on March 14. DU YU / XINHUA whole life span of car consumption. sumption life cycle of used cars, Statistics from the China Associa Guazi and Taobao will offer con tion of Automobile Manufacturers sumers with onestop car con showed that from January to Febru sumption services covering ary, China’s new car sales totaled transactions, ownership transfer, 3.85 million units, down 14.9 per financial services, insurance and cent yearonyear, and the decline maintenance. SAIC joint venture to ramp had been going on for eight months. Zhan Hu, operations director of Industry experts said that surging Taobao’s usedcar platform, noted demand for new cars in the past has that their partnership will offer led to saturation in new car con consumers highquality car servi sumption and urban consumption ces, explore new business modes of up production in Indonesia capacity. Besides, considering the usedcar circulation across regions, macroeconomic environment and develop the incremental market, house loan pressures, it is inevitable and provide consumers with one that there is a decline in the sale of stop car services combining online Company looks to boost competitive work in a market dominated by our SUV here,” Dian Ashmahani, a new cars. and offline. Japanese companies. brand manager of SGMW’s Indone “With the development of the Chehaoduo has also targeted the edge abroad with refreshed models Statistics from the Association of sian operations, told the Jakarta internet, the penetration rates and new car market. Its new car plat Indonesia Automotive Industries Post. transaction volumes of internet form — Maodou.com, plans to fur By LI FUSHENG show that SGMW’s sales rose from According to the local newspa based ecommerce platforms and ther develop the market and [email protected] 4,958 in 2017 to 17,002 last year, per, SUVs are one of the most lucra ‘New Retail’ platforms went up year penetrate into lowertier cities, Indonesia has a lot of which ranked it ninth on the list of tive automotive segments in after year. Consulting institute zhi with a goal of opening 1,000 physi SAICGMWuling Automobile brands available in the country. Indonesia, after multipurpose vehi yan.org forecast that by 2022, the cal new car stores in 1,000 county Co is set to rev up its production market potential but Japanese carmaker Toyota was cles. overall penetration rate of China’s level regions this year. efforts in Indonesia, a major coun not enough the topselling brand in 2018 with SGMW is planning to expand its ecommerce industry will reach 28 “China’s car ownership is lower try involved in the Belt and Road 352,161 cars, followed by Daihatsu sales network as well. So far, it has percent. Internetbased usedcar than 170 per thousand population, Initiative that is expected to competition. As a with 202,738, Honda with 162,170 93 dealerships across the country. platforms are evolving rapidly. The far behind that of the developed become a hub for the carmaker’s new brand in the and Mitsubishi Motors with The company said its success sto transaction volume of Guazi.com in countries. With continued sales to other Southeast Asian mar 142,861. ries in the country are based on its the past two years surpassed that of improvement in the level of urbani kets, according to a senior execu country, we would “Indonesia has a lot of market understanding that a company the offline dealers,” Yang said. zation, as well as the increase in the tive. like to be a good potential but not enough competi cannot achieve sustainable devel He noted that the revision of the disposable income and consump “We will roll out refreshed or all tion. As a new brand in the country, opment in overseas markets if it car circulation management tion level of rural residents, huge new models every year to sharpen competitor.” we would like to be a good competi does not aspire for extensive and approach and the cancellation of potential lies in the lowertier cit our competitive edge in the Indo Zhou Xing, marketing director tor,” said Zhou. longterm localization. the domestic usedcar relocation ies,” Yang said. nesian market,” said Zhou Xing, of SAICGMWuling Automo “We have our advantages and “We are stepping up efforts to marketing director of SGMW. bile Co space for development, with focus help localize spare parts. With us, Indonesia is one of some 30 on product quality and niche seg a total of 16 Chinese suppliers countries, mostly in Southeast ments creating more value for cus have made their establishments Asia, Africa and the Americas, $700 million, it is SGMW’s first tomers.” here in Indonesia, covering items where it is selling cars, but the only overseas manufacturing facility The latest model in its lineup, a ranging from steel and plastic place where it has built a plant. and China’s largest automotive sport utility vehicle called Almaz, parts to air conditioners,” said He said the company is consider investment in Indonesia. The which has seen good market Zhou. ing making Indonesia a regional plant, with a maximum annual response since its launch in Febru “This will increase our competi hub of exports, adding that it has production capacity of 120,000 ary, will help SGMW to boost its tive edge as a system, cut the cost started to negotiate business with vehicles, is currently producing brand awareness among local cus of spare parts and speed up our nearby countries including Thai and marketing four models, which tomers. response to the market.” land and Brunei, which are also are developed based on SGMW’s “As we see, today the trend for Zhou said the company is mean Belt and Road countries. bestsellers in China. SUVs is there in Indonesia. More while working with more local SGMW’s Indonesian plant, locat Within two years of its arrival, and more people are using SUVs suppliers as well, which will help ed in Cikarang, started operations the carmaker has been making rap and we see that the market is get boost the development of the in July 2017. With an investment of id progress through its sales net ting bigger, so we are introducing automotive industry in Indonesia. Epec makes waves in industrial products trade A customer passes a billboard of new car platform Maodou.com in Shanghai. GAO YUWEN / FOR CHINA DAILY By ZHENG XIN form was also endorsed as the general of the China Electronic [email protected] $13.5 ecommerce platform of industrial Commerce Association, said earlier billion products for the BRICS nations by that Epec, part of Sinopec’s efforts Global.epec.com, an internation the BRICS Business Council in to transform itself into a market the accumulated transaction al online marketplace for industrial amount of Global.epec.com, an 2017. oriented enterprise, is expected to and energy products, has reached international online market It signed an agreement with get more opportunities to serve as a an accumulated transaction place for industrial and energy ApexBrasil, the Brazilian trade bridge connecting the domestic NOTICE OF VOTER REGISTRATION FOR THE amount of $13.5 billion in the past products, in the last two years and investment promotion agen and the international market, REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS two years since its launch in 2017, cy, last year for purchase of oil and while further diversifying the com and has served as a bridge that con chemical products, electrome pany’s business and enhancing its The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of the Republic of Botswana has nects trade in industrial products chanical equipment, coal and oth profitability. designated the period between 15th April 2019 and 28th April 2019 (both dates inclusive) as the Second Supplementary Voter Registration period. produced in countries and regions Enterprise import and export er materials and to establish a The global website of Epec.com, Registration will take place during working hours on participating in the Belt and Road trade with the United Arab Emir cooperative partnership to jointly aiming to introduce China’s best Initiative. ates reached $710 million in the promote quality products and ser products to the outside world and Weekdays (Monday to Friday) from 09h00 to 13h00 and 14h15 to 17h00 at: Some 125 suppliers and 141 pur past two years and with India and vices in Brazil and expand busi help connect trade chains world Embassy of the Republic of Botswana chasers from the 34 countries and Indonesia $270 million and $93 ness opportunities of Brazilian wide, has been built along the lines No. 1, Dong San Jie, Sanlitun regions participating in the Belt million respectively. The trade enterprises in China, through the of Sinopec’s domestic industrial Chaoyang District and Road Initiative have registered included products like seamless Epec platform. The contract value product system, which currently BEIJING, 100600 on the platform as of March 10, steel pipes and construction has since reached $45.6 billion, it sees millions of products in coal, To be eligible for registration, one must fulfill the following criteria: since it was first launched by China machinery. The platform has said. steel, petrochemicals and oil equip 1. Be a citizen of Botswana; Petroleum and Chemical Corp, also attracted more than 1,222 online With a broader presence world ment available on the platform. 2. Possess a valid national identity card (Omang); known as Sinopec, two years ago. suppliers and covers 9,735 online wide, many companies worldwide Sinopec’s domestic Epec has ena 3. Must have attained the age of eighteen (18) years. The accumulated industrial products, said the company. are showing interest in joining bled deals worth 358 billion yuan 4. Present oneself physically at the polling station/registration center 5. Must have not registered already during the General Voter Registration products import and export trade Epec launched its global website Global Epec to sell or buy industrial ($53.3 billion) by March 2019, since For information: among enterprises with business in English on April 18, 2017, fol products. Insider believes the plat its launch in 2015. Some 59,000 es involved along the route has lowed by the Russian and Spanish form is in accordance with the enterprises have registered on Tel: +86 65326898 reached $3.74 billion, accounting versions on March 16, 2018. country’s sustainable high econom Epec, and most of the purchases do Email: [email protected] for 27.7 percent of the platform’s Committed to promoting trade ic growth. not involve the Sinopec group, it total volume, it said. in BRICS countries, the Epec plat Wan Donghui, deputy secretary said.