The three major car companies plan to invest 400 billion yuan in research and development in 5 years The export of new energy vehicles is expected to double

The automotive industry is the benchmark of the manufacturing industry, and China's car companies frequently exert their efforts to "future track".

On December 29, Great Wall Motor (48.600, 0.03, 0.06%) signed a strategic investment agreement with Tongguang Co., Ltd. to officially enter the core industry of third-generation semiconductors.

Great Wall Motors told the Yangtze River Business Daily reporter that the leading investment in Tongguang shares is in line with Great Wall Motors' strategic development plan in the field of new energy.

The reporter of Changjiang Business Daily found that the "independent top four" Great Wall Motors, Geely Automobile, Changan Automobile (15.160, -0.04, -0.26%) and BYD (267.130, -1.87, -0.70%) are catching up with you and carrying out healthy competition.

Among them, Geely Automobile, Great Wall Motor and Changan Automobile have pledged to invest a total of 400 billion yuan in research and development in the next five years.

Moreover, China's domestic car companies have also set sales targets, many of which are aimed at overseas markets, and China's automobile exports are expected to exceed 2 million in 2021.

Xiao Hong, an automobile observer, told the Yangtze River Business Daily reporter that domestic car companies are firmly grasping this "overtaking journey", and leading independent car companies are expected to open up double growth space.

Provide support for the new energy automobile industry

On December 29, Great Wall Motor signed a strategic investment agreement with Hebei Tongguang Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tongguang"), a leading third-generation semiconductor company, to officially enter the core industry of third-generation semiconductors.

It is understood that Tongguang Co., Ltd. was established in 2012, in the field of third-generation semiconductor core technology has industry-leading technology accumulation, is the first in China to achieve mass production of the third generation of semiconductor materials silicon carbide single crystal substrate of high-tech enterprises.

Great Wall Motor told the Yangtze River Business Daily reporter that the leading investment in Tongguang shares will promote the development of the latter's silicon carbide industry and focus on the application of the third generation of wide bandgap semiconductor silicon carbide in the new energy automobile industry.

Recently, Great Wall Motor released an announcement showing that the company's sales in the first 11 months of 2021 reached 1.1186 million units, an increase of 16.34% year-on-year. The reporter of Changjiang Business Daily found that the car company will exceed one million sales for the sixth consecutive year.

Under the influence of multiple unfavorable factors such as repeated epidemics, unstable supply chains and rising raw material prices, it is not easy for Great Wall Motor to achieve medium and high sales growth.

What is even more rare is that Great Wall Motors previously released the 2025 strategy, proposing that the cumulative R&D investment in the next five years will reach 100 billion yuan.

Great Wall Motors told the Yangtze River Business Daily reporter that the key core technology areas of the third-generation semiconductors such as large computing chips and silicon carbide are one of the key development directions in Great Wall Motors' 2025 strategy.

The "independent top four" research and development investment is not soft

Investing huge amounts of money in research and development has become the consensus of the "four independent powers" of China's automotive industry.

The "autonomous top four" usually refers to Great Wall Motors, Geely Automobile, Changan Automobile and BYD, and the four car companies are chasing after each other and carrying out healthy competition.

According to the data, in the first three quarters of 2021, the research and development expenses of BYD, Great Wall Motor and Changan Automobile were 5.234 billion yuan, 2.856 billion yuan and 2.085 billion yuan respectively, an increase of about 6.99%, 50.7% and -3.7% respectively year-on-year.

In the first half of 2021, Geely Automobile invested a total of 2.304 billion yuan in research and development, an increase of 33.87% year-on-year.

Facing the future, in addition to Great Wall Motors' proposed five-year R&D investment of 100 billion yuan, the other three car companies are also "big money".

In the "Smart Geely 2025" strategy released by Geely Automobile, the company plans to invest 150 billion yuan in research and development funds in the next five years, launch more than 20 new intelligent new energy products, and will achieve mass production of 7nm and 5nm automotive grade chips.

Geely Automobile also proposed that the total sales volume in 2025 will reach 3.65 million units, ranking first among Chinese brands in terms of market share.

Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said at the company's 20 millionth vehicle off-line activity that it plans to invest an overall of 150 billion yuan in research and development in the next five years.

Changan Automobile also said that it will comprehensively accelerate the transformation to an intelligent low-carbon travel technology company, and by 2025, Changan brand sales will reach 3 million vehicles, and new energy will account for 35%; By 2030, it will become a world-class brand, with sales of 4.5 million vehicles, new energy accounting for 60%, and overseas sales accounting for 30%.

In addition, Great Wall Motor proposes to achieve global annual sales of 4 million vehicles by 2025, of which 80% will be new energy vehicles.

As for BYD, although it has not announced the specific amount of future planned R&D investment, the company has always been the "independent top four" with the largest R&D expenditure.

From this point of view, Geely Automobile, Great Wall Motor and Changan Automobile alone have pledged to invest a total of 400 billion yuan in research and development in the next five years.

Leading autonomous car companies are expected to open up double space

Not only are the "four independent strong" in power, but domestic car companies are also full of expectations for the future market.

A few days ago, SAIC Motor (20.530, -0.06, -0.29%) released the "14th Five-Year Plan" and strives to enter the top five of global car companies by 2025, with an operating scale of trillions.

According to the plan, by 2025, SAIC's annual overseas sales will jump to the mark of 1.5 million vehicles, and key overseas regional markets such as Europe will achieve profitability; In 2025, the European market sales will reach 300,000 vehicles, and new energy vehicles account for 70% to 80%.

At present, SAIC's products and services have entered more than 70 countries and regions around the world, and will soon form a number of "50,000-vehicle" overseas markets such as ASEAN and Europe.

On December 27, Dongfeng Motor (6.810, -0.02, -0.29%) Group Co., Ltd. set three "one million" targets, and by 2025, sales of commercial vehicles, autonomous passenger cars and new energy vehicles will reach 1 million units, respectively.

GAC Group (15.280, 0.26, 1.73%) strives to produce and sell 3.5 million vehicles by 2025, and strives to achieve 5 million vehicle production and sales by 2035, accounting for 50% of new energy vehicles.

When BAIC Group released its "Greater Beijing" brand strategy, it proposed a sales target of 500,000 vehicles by 2025 and 1 million vehicles in 2030.

Not only that, at present, Chinese car companies have taken advantage of the transformation to electric vehicles to stand on the starting line of competition in the European market.

In 2021, China's NIO ES8 car officially opened user delivery in Norway; During the Munich International Motor Show in Germany, the Great Wall of China (14.350, 0.39, 2.79%) Automobile's Wei brand plug-in hybrid model Mocha debuted in the world... Chinese automakers continue to exert efforts in the European market, and domestic electric vehicles are increasingly favored by consumers.

According to the data, China's automobile sales are expected to exceed 26 million in 2021, new energy vehicle sales are expected to reach 3.4 million, and automobile exports are expected to exceed 2 million.

Xiao Hong, an automobile observer, told the Yangtze River Business Daily reporter that China's auto brands, especially the new energy vehicle export market, are expected to achieve multi-fold growth, and various car companies are also grasping this "overtaking journey", and leading independent car companies are expected to open up double growth space.