In July, as the situation of epidemic control in China improved, the pent-up demand for automobile consumption affected by the epidemic at the beginning of the year was gradually released.

       Of the seven listed carmakers that have released sales figures, five reported   positive growth in July, according to Time Financial. In the joint venture camp, the majority of mainstream joint venture brands have achieved positive growth, with GaC Honda and GAC Toyota enjoying strong growth momentum, up 35.09% and 20.26% respectively, and both of them have exceeded 390,000 units accumulatively this year. July car Market: New forces into new energy car market dark horse; Cadillac loses to Lexus)

However, there are exceptions. In July, GAC Mitsubishi sold 6,006 vehicles, down 45.5 per cent from a year earlier. In the january-July period, GAC Mitsubishi sold 34,679 vehicles, down 53.2 percent from 74,113 in the same period last year.

      Earlier, gaC Mitsubishi sales continue to decline, and parent company Mitsubishi refocus of the business, there was a media report that Mitsubishi will gradually withdraw from the Chinese market. But then the authorities denied the rumor and clarified it.

Since this year, gaC group executives have visited Changsha for five times to investigate GAC Mitsubishi. But the other side of the GAC Mitsubishi joint venture is fraught with uncertainty.

Just on July 27, Mitsubishi released its medium-term development plan (2020-2022), showing that in the future, Mitsubishi will focus on the southeast Asian market. On the same day, Mitsubishi's board of directors announced a decision to stop introducing new models in the European market.

In response to the recent sharp decline in sales of GAC Mitsubishi and Mitsubishi's plans for the future development of the Chinese market, Time Finance asked mitsubishi's public relations department, who said they had no further information to disclose at present.

Sales halved, brands marginalized

       With the easing of the epidemic, the car market is gradually warming up. Passenger car production and sales in July were up 13.2 per cent and 8.5 per cent year on year, respectively, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. It is worth mentioning that the Japanese camp has performed strongly this year, with its market share rising to 24.1% from January to July, second only to The German (25.1%).

But Mitsubishi has not been able to keep up with Japan's rising ranks.

According to the data, GAC Mitsubishi sold 6,006 vehicles in July and 34,679 vehicles in januaryto July, down 53.21 percent from a year earlier. The sales volume was cut in half compared with 74,113 vehicles in the same period last year. In terms of models, outlander, mitsubishi's main model, sold 20,700 cars in the first six months of this year, down nearly 20,000 from nearly 40,000 in the same period last year.

Replacement products have not been released, or outlander sales continue to decline one of the important reasons.

The third-generation Outlander has been on sale in China for four years since it became domestic in 2016. Under the general trend of automobile enterprises to accelerate the rhythm of product iteration, improve the sound volume of products and stimulate consumers to buy, the third-generation Oulande, which was listed overseas in 2012, has not replaced the "old bacon" for eight years.

At the same time, in the red Sea of compact SUV market, On the one hand, Oulande needs to face the first line of Japanese brands RAV4, CRV, Hao Ying and other models continue to squeeze the living space. On the other hand, it is necessary to have the advantage of cost-effective haofe H6, chang 'an CS75, geely Boyue head independent brand star products close to hand.

Combined with the impact of the epidemic, for Outlander, sales decline is inevitable.

In addition to the main model product strength lag, Mitsubishi in the Chinese model layout is also slightly thin.

According to the official website information, at present, GAC Mitsubishi has only three domestic SUV models (Outlander, Xinjinguang and Yige), two imported models PAJERO SPORT and PAJERO, and a new energy model "Qi Zhi EV" imported from its partner GAC, with a total of six products.

In contrast, Japanese brands such as Toyota and Honda have vigorously promoted the "two-car strategy" in The Chinese market. In the SUV market alone, Honda and Toyota have set up six domestic models. Mitsubishi, which has announced its focus on the SUV market since 2015, still lags behind Toyota and Honda in terms of product segments.

To make matters worse, Mitsubishi's imported models also face uncertainty in the future.

It is worth noting that on July 27, mitsubishi Motors' board of directors decided that it would officially close its Pajero manufacturing plant in Gifu Prefecture, Japan in the first half of 2021. And in pajero factory stop production news release the second day, July 28, GaC Mitsubishi officially opened the opportunity to "Pajero honorable off-road collection edition" pre-sale. This classic model may come to an end, but unfortunately, the collection version, priced at 389,800 yuan, can only meet the fifth national standard.

Will the closure of pajero's Japanese plant have an impact on sales of imported Chinese models? Time Financial for this matter to mitsubishi PUBLIC relations, but as of press time, the other side has not yet responded.

"Gac Mitsubishi is a small company with a single product and limited channel layout. Faced with the impact of the epidemic market, did not seize the opportunity to rebound. At the same time, its product strength and brand strength are in the gap between the first-line joint venture brand and the head independent brand. In the current market environment of fierce competition, its position is a little awkward." On August 13, a GAC insider said in an interview with Time Finance.

In retrospect, Mitsubishi's inability to forge a close, stable joint venture in China has led it to miss opportunities to deepen its presence there. As early as 1995, Mitsubishi and Changfeng started a partnership in the form of technology transfer to launch models in China. In 2004, it teamed up with BaiC to set up Beijing Mitsubishi, but its performance was dismal. In 2006, Mitsubishi turned to Fuqi and took a 25% stake in Southeast Automobile, jointly holding shares with Yulon and Fuqi, and using this as the carrier to import Mitsubishi models for sale in the Chinese market.

But the boom was short-lived. Mitsubishi, with only a 25% stake, had repeatedly sought to raise its stake in Southeast. In 2010, Mitsubishi, seeking to improve its share ratio, reached a cooperation agreement with GAC. Since then, Mitsubishi has not introduced new models in Southeast Auto, but focuses on GAC Mitsubishi. After the establishment of GAC Mitsubishi, with the development focus of Mitsubishi gradually on SUV products, GAC Mitsubishi also introduced only Outlander, Jin Dazzle and other SUV products.

With head joint venture brands such as Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen has with more than two Chinese auto group to establish a stable relations of cooperation, accelerate to develop the Chinese market compared to the use of local resources, mitsubishi, since the 90 s, due to factors such as joint venture shares, constantly change the joint venture partner in China, until only temporarily stable cooperation with gac, and let it missed many deep in the Chinese market, continue to build brand influence.

Strategic adjustment in China, where mitsubishi road?

In addition to slow product introductions and volatile joint venture relationships, mitsubishi's future in China is uncertain from its parent company.

In May this year, the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance unveiled a new "leader-follower" strategy. Among them, mainstream and important emerging auto markets such as North America, Europe, China, Japan and Russia were divided up by Nissan and Renault, while Mitsubishi only got the remaining scraps (ASEAN, Oceania).

Following the alliance's overall strategy, Mitsubishi released its medium-term development plan for the 2020-2022 "Small But Beautiful" on July 27. Mitsubishi will take Southeast Asia as the core market and radiate Oceania, Middle East and other key markets. On the same day, Mitsubishi's board of directors announced a decision to stop introducing new models in the European market.

                       Medium-term business plan source:

In fact, the proposal of the "small and beautiful" medium-term plan is also a helpless adjustment of Mitsubishi under the new strategy of the alliance. Analysts say the Renault-Nissan/Mitsubishi alliance is also hampering Mitsubishi's presence in China.

"Prior to the announcement of the new strategy, the infighting between the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance may have affected the implementation of Mitsubishi's strategic plan in the Chinese market. Under the new strategy, Mitsubishi will become a leader in Southeast Asia and Oceania, which does not include the China market, which will have an impact on Mitsubishi's development in the China market. Ren Wanfu said.

It is worth mentioning that only ASEAN has set specific sales targets in this medium-term plan, and it has not set specific development targets in China and North America.

After all, under the new division of power, the Chinese and North American automobile markets have become important "territories" of the alliance leader, Nissan.

For GAC Mitsubishi, which has been far away from the first-tier joint venture brands, to gain a place in the current stock competition dominated by China's auto market, not only its own operating ability, but also the choice of the parent companies of China and Japan.

       According to official information, gaC executives have visited Changsha five times since 2020 to investigate GAC Mitsubishi.

However, for Mitsubishi Motors, after the adjustment of its global business, whether it can continue to work closely with its Chinese partners to manage the Chinese market may be the key to the success.