Air suspension: intelligent electric premium track, when domestic substitution is carried out

Zhitong Finance APP learned that Tianfeng Securities released an automotive research report pointing out that under the independent breakthrough of passenger car consumption upgrading (intelligent electric catalysis) and commercial vehicle regulations, the penetration rate of air suspension at both ends of domestic commercial vehicles is expected to increase rapidly and synchronously, and the industry has a broad space for growth. At the same time, under the trend of cost reduction pressure and software and hardware decoupling trend of the main engine factory, it is optimistic that local suppliers will achieve breakthroughs in products and customers in the field of air suspension components, and accelerate the realization of domestic substitution from point to surface. Key recommendations for individual stocks in the field of air suspension: Zhongding Shares (000887. SZ), Baolong Technology, Tianrun Industry (002283. SZ), Tuopu Group (601689. SH）。

The main views of Tianfeng Securities are as follows:

Advantages of air suspension: intelligent + lightweight, improve driving comfort, handling and safety. Traditional automotive suspension systems are composed of elastic elements, shock absorbers, guide mechanisms and other components, which are responsible for connecting the car body, chassis and wheels, transmitting their interacting forces and torques, and mitigating the impact from the road. Compared with the traditional suspension, the biggest difference in the structure of the air suspension is the upgrade of the elastic components, and the addition of electronic control systems and air pumps and other components, giving the suspension intelligent active adjustment function, with stable control, height adjustable, lighter weight, good vibration damping effect and other advantages, which has been continuously concerned by consumers.

Driven by passenger car consumption upgrades + commercial vehicle regulations, the penetration rate of empty suspension is expected to increase rapidly. Air suspension penetration in the mature automobile market in Europe and the United States is high, especially in the field of commercial vehicles, the penetration rate of high-end large buses has reached 100%, and more than 80% of medium and heavy trucks and trailers. In China, with the rapid development of the intelligent electric vehicle market, driven by consumption upgrades, high-end breakthroughs of independent brands and cost reduction of parts and components, the empty suspension is infiltrating from more than 600,000 luxury cars to the optional and even standard products of the new forces of car manufacturing in the range of 300,000 yuan; in the field of superimposed commercial vehicles, laws and regulations require specific specific trucks and semi-trailers to force the installation of air suspension, which together drive the rapid increase in air suspension penetration. Tianfeng Securities expects that the domestic passenger car and commercial vehicle air suspension market space will reach 28.8 billion yuan and 5.94 billion yuan in 2025, with a compound growth rate of 61.1% and 12.7% respectively.

Local parts suppliers accelerate growth, air suspension domestic substitution is underway. The technical barriers to the core components of air suspension are relatively high, and in the past, OEMs mainly purchased mature products from foreign suppliers such as Continental, Wybak, and AMK. For the sake of cost reduction and software and hardware decoupling considerations, domestic car companies may gradually tend to develop their own air suspension control units and algorithms (eventually integrated into the chassis domain controller), and disassemble the total hardware components into air supply units, air springs, sensors and other components purchased separately, and finally led by the main engine factory for integration, which brings opportunities for domestic parts suppliers to make a single breakthrough, such as Baolong Technology, Zhongding Shares, Tianrun Industry, Kong Hui Automobile, etc., and has gradually realized the mass production and matching of air suspension related components In the future, with the continuous maturity of technology and products, it is expected to accelerate domestic substitution with rapid response and local supporting advantages.

Investment advice: Compared with traditional suspension, air suspension has outstanding advantages in areas such as comfort, handling and safety. Driven by the independent breakthrough of passenger car consumption upgrading (intelligent electric catalysis) and commercial vehicle regulations, the penetration rate of air suspension at both ends of domestic commercial vehicles is expected to increase rapidly and synchronously, and the industry has a broad space for growth. At the same time, under the cost reduction pressure of the main engine factory and the decoupling trend of software and hardware, Tianfeng Securities is optimistic that local suppliers will achieve breakthroughs in products and customers in the field of air suspension components, and accelerate the realization of domestic substitution from point to surface. Key recommended areas of air suspension:

(1) Master the core technology of the air supply unit and steadily promote the localization of Zhongding Shares;

(2) Layout of air springs, electronically controlled shock absorbers, gas storage tanks, etc., and has obtained the fixed point of air springs, and the products have accelerated to land on the ground of Baolong Technology;

(3) Commercial vehicles have been mass-produced, and it is expected to enter the Tianrun industry in the passenger car field in the future.

(4) With the help of the extension of advantageous products, the air suspension is expected to be gradually mass-produced by the Top Group.

Risk Warning

1. The penetration rate of air suspension is less than expected: due to changes in the technical route of the chassis, the penetration rate of air suspension is slowly improved, or it has an impact on the performance growth of related listed companies.

2, the fierce competition in the air suspension industry led to less than expected profit growth: due to the fierce competition in the industry, the price war in the empty suspension industry was caused, which in turn affected the profit margin of the relevant company's products.

3. Risk of recall of OEMs due to immature air suspension technology: Due to immature technology, OEMs recall related models, which has a negative impact on parts suppliers.

This article is from the "Hongquan Policy" WeChat public account, the original text is the research report of Tianfeng Securities; Zhitong Finance Editor: Wenwen.