Who would have thought that SAIC Volkswagen was publicly asked to pay 2 million yuan for the project.

As the former car market sales champion, no matter how much the sales volume declines, even if the crown is lost, can't it even pay 2 million yuan?

1. SAIC Volkswagen is asked to pay 2 million yuan

In the past, we often saw migrant workers asking for wages, but now there are more and more self-media asking for wages, especially self-media in the automotive industry.

Since the beginning of this year, there have been frequent claims on social platforms that travel expenses and the like have been in arrears, and some have not been paid for more than a year.

Recently, another top self-media asked for wages, and the target was the industry giant SAIC Volkswagen.

On August 14, the well-known video blogger "Film and Television Hurricane" posted a message on WeChat Moments, asking SAIC Volkswagen and its agent Hongxing for more than 2 million yuan in project funds, and also said that verbal communication could not get it back, and would try to expose it on the entire network and send a lawyer's letter to ask for wages.

It is reported that the video blogger is a "film and television hurricane" with nearly 20 million fans on the entire network, and more than 9 million fans on Bilibili alone. He has been on the list of the top 100 UP masters for five consecutive years and has a huge online influence.

The quality of his videos is very good, and he is a top-tier among the top-tier. In 2021, he was invited to help Audi shoot videos, and a 2,000-square-meter studio was built at that time.

Just as netizens were eating big melons and jokingly "waiting for a period of rights protection videos with the highest quality on the entire network", the blogger posted a circle of friends saying: "After three-party communication, a phased settlement has been reached with SAIC Volkswagen."

The top stream is the top stream, and a circle of friends can make SAIC Volkswagen bow its head.

2. A plunge of more than 800,000 vehicles in five years

We don't know the specific details of the matter. But SAIC Volkswagen has indeed fallen from the peak in recent years.

In 2018, SAIC Volkswagen sold 2.065 million vehicles, continuing to win the domestic auto market sales crown, and continued to trample on all other domestic auto companies such as FAW-Volkswagen.

However, since 2019, SAIC Volkswagen's sales have been falling, and it has been on a downward slope for five years.

In 2019, SAIC Volkswagen's sales fell to just over 2 million vehicles, and its throne as the top seller in the auto market was also taken away by FAW-Volkswagen. Since then, SAIC Volkswagen has never been able to turn over and has been trampled under the feet of FAW-Volkswagen.

From 2020 to 2023, SAIC Volkswagen's sales have declined almost every year, reaching 1.505 million, 1.242 million, 1.321 million, and 1.215 million respectively.

From more than 2 million vehicles at its peak to just over 1.2 million vehicles, SAIC Volkswagen's sales have plummeted by more than 800,000 vehicles in five years.

Entering 2024, SAIC Volkswagen's sales situation has further deteriorated.

In July this year, SAIC Volkswagen sold only 81,000 vehicles, a year-on-year drop of 18.1%. This means that SAIC Volkswagen has been declining year-on-year for three consecutive months, and the decline is getting bigger and bigger, and it seems a bit unstoppable.

3. SAIC Volkswagen is struggling to survive

In the first seven months of this year, SAIC Volkswagen's cumulative sales volume was 593,000 vehicles, down 1.5% year-on-year.

In the ranking of wholesale sales of manufacturers from January to July of the China Passenger Car Association, SAIC Volkswagen, which used to be ranked first, has slipped to sixth place. It is not only inferior to FAW Volkswagen, but also greatly surpassed by four independent brands, BYD, Chery, Geely and Changan.

Under the dimensionality reduction of new energy vehicles, the traditional fuel vehicles of joint venture brands such as Volkswagen no longer have the advantages and are gradually abandoned by consumers.

In addition, Volkswagen's electrification transformation lags far behind independent brands such as BYD. Its ID series models have good sales in joint ventures, but compared with independent brands, they are not good enough and even become "unique electric vehicles".

What's more serious is that it is not only the sales volume that has declined, but also the profits.

Jia Jianxu, the former general manager of SAIC Volkswagen, once said that before the price reduction of ID.3, each car lost 27,000 yuan, and after the price reduction, the loss exceeded 40,000 yuan.

Even so, SAIC Volkswagen is such a large enterprise, and a lean camel is bigger than a horse. It should not be unable to take out even 2 million yuan. It may be a problem of communication between the three parties, or it may be that the agency owed money to Hurricane Films.

However, SAIC Volkswagen is indeed able to reduce costs and increase efficiency. It is reported that a lot of sales and other expenses have been cut.

It is reported that SAIC Volkswagen has re-evaluated the cost optimization potential in 2024 and plans to optimize more than 2 billion yuan of structural costs this year. In human terms, SAIC Volkswagen will spend 2 billion yuan less this year.

Some media said that SAIC Volkswagen's cost reduction direction focuses on optimizing development license fees, sales expenses and personnel expenses.

All signs indicate that Volkswagen's "golden signboard" in the era of fuel vehicles is fading, and the joint venture SAIC Volkswagen is experiencing a low period, just like a difficult tribulation.

If you are lucky enough to survive, you will usher in a rebirth and a bright future; if you can't survive, you may never recover.