Aggressive electric plans, toyota invested $35 billion in it
In 2020, while the global automotive market shrank by a sixth, the number of newly registered electric vehicles increased by 41%. In November, Toyota refused to join a pledge signed by six major automakers, including GM and Ford, to phase out fossil fuel vehicles by 2040. They argue that not everywhere in the world is ready for the transition to green cars at the moment.
On December 14, Toyota said it would invest 4 trillion yen ($35 billion) to produce 30 pure electric vehicles by 2030. Toyota is looking to develop a growing market for zero-emission vehicles, which will be part of a total investment of 8 trillion yen in electric vehicles by 2030, which includes hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
By 2030, Toyota aims to sell 3.5 million electric vehicles a year, equivalent to about a third of current global sales, According to Akio Toyoda. Toyota has previously said it plans to launch 15 pure electric vehicles by 2025, including 9 new cars. By 2030, Toyota will have 30 pure electric vehicle models.
Luxury brand Lexus will achieve 100% pure electric vehicles in Europe, North America and China, and this goal will be expanded to the world by 2035. Tatsuro Ueda, chairman and general manager of Toyota Motor China, said that the bZ pure electric exclusive series models have planned 7 models, of which 5 models will be introduced to the Chinese market in the future.
In order to achieve the goal of electrification, Toyota has made long-term investments in various fields. In 1992, Toyota established an electric vehicle development division; in 1997, Toyota unveiled the world's first mass-produced hybrid car, the Prius; in 2000, Toyota demonstrated its prototype "e-com" for a small commuter electric vehicle; and in 2012, Toyota launched the "COMS", an ultra-small electric vehicle, as well as a small "eQ" electric vehicle.
In 2021, Toyota launched the "C+pod" and "C+walk". In Japan, Toyota has begun marketing its compact electric vehicle, the C+pod, to corporate customers. In addition, Toyota Motor Corporation said it expects to invest more than 87.2 billion yuan to develop batteries and battery supply systems, including next-generation lithium-ion batteries and solid-state batteries, by 2030, with a view to leading this key automotive technology in the next decade.
Masahiko Maeda, chief technology officer of Toyota Motor, said Toyota aims to cut battery costs by 30 percent or more by improving battery materials and battery structure, and expects to cut battery costs in half around 2050 and build a total of 70 electric vehicle production lines. As a result, they plan to invest 2 trillion yen in battery production by 2030, up from the previously announced 1.5 trillion yen.
Geely and Lifan joint venture or high-end new energy
On December 13, Lifan Technology issued an announcement to the outside world: Lifan and Geely established a joint venture company, each with an investment of 300 million yuan and a shareholding ratio of 50% each, which means that Geely has taken a very practical step after restructuring Lifan. The company's business scope includes vehicle design, research and development, sales (including accessories, parts processing equipment, automotive decoration), import and export of goods, agent import and export, technology import and export; software development; technology development, technical services, technical advice, technology transfer.
At the same time, it was also found from the announcement that after the joint venture company received the investment funds from both parties, the investment funds will be used to carry out the research and development of the whole vehicle (including but not limited to the replacement model), operation strengthening, market development, brand stability maintenance and other daily operations and other production and operation activities of the target company.
According to the announcement issued by Geely, Lifan Technology is owned by Geely Technology for about 28.98%, while Li Shufu holds about 91% of the equity of Geely Technology. Li Shufu is an executive Director and controlling shareholder, holding approximately 41.16% of the total issued share capital of the Company as at the date of this announcement. Therefore, according to the Listing Rules, Lifan Technology is not a contact person of Shufu Li and is not a related person of the Company.
Therefore, pursuant to Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules, the formation of a joint venture does not constitute a related party transaction of the Company. In terms of management power, the general manager, deputy general manager, financial leader and other senior management personnel of the target company are nominated by Lifan Technology and hired by the board of directors of the target company.
In May this year, Lifan, which completed the restructuring, restarted its automotive business. Lifan Technology released the news that the first power-changing model, Lifan 80V, was mass-produced off the production line in Liangjiang New Area, marking that Lifan has stepped out of the "ward", returned to normal life and entered a new stage of development.
It is understood that Lifan 80V is the standard replacement model of Maple Leaf 80V, and Maple Leaf 80V is the second mass production model of Maple Leaf Automobile, based on Geely's GBRC power exchange platform, which is Geely's first electric vehicle to use power exchange. According to the data, Maple Leaf Automobile is an automobile brand under Maple Leaf Automobile Technology Group Co., Ltd., and Maple Automobile Technology Group Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned holding company of Geely Technology Group Co., Ltd., and has currently laid out two models, Maple Leaf 30X and Maple Leaf 80V.
According to Lifan Technology, in addition to the Lifan 80V, this year will also launch 60S and 80X two power replacement models, of which 60S will face the taxi market to replace the car, 80X is a large replacement SUV, mainly for official car customers. In addition, Lifan Technology will also launch a number of new models to meet market demand.
Xiaopeng was suspected of privacy violations and was fined 100,000 yuan
From January to June 2021, a total of 431623 face photos were collected and uploaded. The act violated the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law without obtaining the consent of the consumer, nor did it explicitly or inform the consumer of the purpose of collection and use, and was fined 100,000 yuan by the relevant departments. As of the time of the case, the parties have dismantled the face recognition camera equipment in the above-mentioned stores, the uploaded face photos have been deleted, and the parties have no illegal gains.
Xiaopeng Automobile's explanation of this matter is: in this incident, the store in shanghai hoped to improve the reception process and better serve the customers who arrived at the store through the collection and analysis of data such as the customer flow of the store, but due to its unfamiliarity with the relevant legal provisions, it mistakenly purchased and used the products of a third-party supplier (Yuluoke) that violated the relevant legal terms.
Xiaopeng Automobile said that it fully obeyed the administrative punishment and made a deep reflection on the matter. At present, all face data has been deleted, and there is no case of leakage or illegal use of personal information. In this regard, the reaction of netizens is - only 100,000 fines? After all, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, He Xiaopeng, is a top programmer (graduated from South China University of Technology with a degree in computer science and the founder of UC Browser).
Obviously, in this case, whether it is a company that sells cameras with facial recognition or a company that installs equipment, it is very clear that it is illegal to do so, and He Xiaopeng, who is a programmer, cannot be unaware that it is infringing. So, why does Xiaopeng Motors still do this? It is obviously impossible to say that it is not known.
There is only one explanation: the cost of "fouls" is too low. Netizens' comments on the incident of Xiaopeng Automobile were also surprisingly consistent: 430,000 face photos, only fined 100,000 yuan, the average cost of a photo is only more than 2 cents, the cost of breaking the law is too low, and the punishment is not enough to deter.
For the problem of face recognition being abused, the domestic legal community and IT community are trying to come up with a complete solution, I believe that under the efforts of the whole society, in the future, whether it is the privacy protection of biological information such as faces, or personal data security will be the safest and most appropriate solution.
Written by Sun Chen
Editor-in-Chief Sun Chen
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