[Aika Car Car Fun Talk Original]
Unconsciously, 2021 has left us, and the automotive industry has experienced many major events in this year, and even some events have had a profound impact on the industry. In 2021, the entire automotive industry is constrained by the shortage of chips, even the BBA is no exception; the Tesla female owner's roof protection incident that sensationalized the Shanghai Auto Show has attracted the attention of Xinhua News Agency, CCTV hosts, the Central Political and Legal Commission and the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, accelerating the formulation of industry norms; car brands use the fame and traffic of spokespersons to enhance brand attention, but it is difficult to prevent the collapse of human design during the celebrity endorsement period to bring marketing reaction to the brand. Did Wang Lihong involve Porsche and Infiniti? Today we come to a wave of "memory killing", looking back at the big events in the car circle in 2021, how many do you remember? The event runs through the whole year of 2021, we display the full text through the timeline, and divide the article into two parts, this article is the 2021 circle event (part 1).
◆ Chip shortage
As early as the beginning of 2021, a large number of car companies around the world stopped production due to chip shortages, and even Tesla, which used a large number of self-developed chips, was not spared. Chips in China's automotive industry mainly rely on outsourcing, and in the long run, the lack of cores has a profound impact on domestic automobile production and manufacturing.
In 2021, the "chip shortage" has become the biggest factor affecting the sales volume of the automobile market, and almost all car companies have not been spared.
At the TEDA Forum that opened on September 5 this year, Zhu Yanfeng, chairman of dongfeng motor group co., LTD. and secretary of the party committee, used a joke to tell the dilemma of the automotive industry facing extreme "lack of core", Zhu Yanfeng said, "A group of car company CEOs are squatting in Shanghai to ask for chips, Bosch's old Xu is going to jump off the building, the difference is that some people are pushing him in the back, and some people are following him below. ”
What many people don't know is that there are so many parts on the car, why is the lack of core so serious? Why do car companies find a "core" so hard to find? What is the reason for the lack of cores in the global automotive market? In July, the ferocious Delta variant swept into Malaysia, the world's seventh-largest exporter of semiconductor products, and some factory lines such as Bosch, Infineon, and ST Had to interrupt production, which was worse for global automakers who were already "extremely lacking in cores".
The shortage of chips has a greater impact on the supply of luxury and joint venture brand cars, from the data performance point of view, Honda, Toyota in October production showed different degrees of decline, the domestic first-line luxury brand BBA are affected by chips, Audi Q5L, Audi A6L, BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz C-class, Mercedes-Benz GLC and other major models in September, October sales of the main models showed different degrees of decline.
The problem caused by the shortage of chips is that the delivery date of new cars has been extended, and even the phenomenon of "mark-ups" for some popular models has returned. In order to cope with the impact of alleviating the supply of chips, some car companies launched a "reduced mating car" coping strategy, and even Audi came up with a strategy of delivering a car key first to cope with the lack of production capacity caused by the lack of cores, FAW-Volkswagen "sacrificed" the sales of the Volkswagen brand and gave priority to the chip supply to Audi, even so in October, audi's main sales model A6L sales fell from 13,000 in August to 0.36 million, down 69.11%.
Comments: From 2020 to 2021, until the beginning of this year, the global chip shortage has not been effectively alleviated. After experiencing the constraints brought about by the "chip shortage", the domestic automotive industry has once again paid attention to the importance of supply chain layout, prompting all parties to begin to pay attention to the construction of a safe and controllable supply chain, and strengthen the research and development of core key component technologies, and it is very necessary to support the development of domestic automotive chips.
◆ Giants come to cross-border car building
Baidu progress automotive industry, and Geely established a joint venture company - Jidu Automobile
On January 11, 2021, Baidu announced the formal formation of a smart car company to enter the automotive industry as a vehicle manufacturer, and Geely Holding Group became a strategic partner of the new company. In March, Geely and Baidu established a new joint venture company, which is named "Jidu Automobile Co., Ltd.", with a registered capital of 2 billion yuan, and Xia Yiping is also the legal representative, chairman and general manager.
Baidu is the head of the Internet giant, Geely is the head of the Chinese brand car company, the two giants for Jidu "endorsement", as if standing on the shoulders of giants, the next consumer is more looking forward to what good products Jidu cars will bring.
On November 17, Robin Li made it clear at the Baidu Q3 financial report investor meeting that Jidu has achieved rapid development through Baidu's strong wisdom cabin, intelligent driving, wisdom cloud, and smart map advantage ecology, the full-size sludge model of the first concept mass production model has completed the wind tunnel test, and the new car will be unveiled at this year's Beijing Auto Show and show its smart cockpit and intelligent driving capabilities for the first time to the market, and it is expected to achieve large-scale mass production delivery in 2023.
Giants cross-border car manufacturing - Millet car manufacturing
On March 29, 2021, near the end of Xiaomi's new product launch, Lei Jun released an "Easter egg" - Xiaomi officially entered the smart electric vehicle industry, and said that the first mass production model will be off the production line in the first half of 2024.
"Xiaomi car" is not a new thing in the circle, as early as 2012, Lei Jun went to the Tesla factory in Silicon Valley for test drive, and in 2013, he also visited Tesla CEO Musk twice. Subsequently, in the tide of new domestic car manufacturing, Lei Jun also raised the "idea" of building cars several times, and launched a research project called "micar" in 2018, but because the market feedback at that time was not optimistic, Xiaomi did not enter the car in the end.
On November 27, 2021, the Administrative Committee of Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone and Xiaomi officially signed a cooperation agreement to officially announce the settlement of Xiaomi Automobile in Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. Xiaomi Automobile will build a vehicle plant with a cumulative annual output of 300,000 units in two phases in Beijing's Jingkai District, of which the first and second phases have a production capacity of 150,000 units respectively.
At present, Xiaomi has invested in 4 power battery companies, including Honeycomb Energy, AVIC Lithium Battery, Zhuhai Guanyu and Ganfeng Lithium Battery. With the official signing of the Xiaomi automobile project in Yizhuang, Beijing, the production and manufacturing process also eliminated the speculation of the outside world in the early stage by choosing to build a factory. However, Xiaomi's car-making qualifications still need to be solved, but with the settlement of Xiaomi's automobile project in Yizhuang, it is only a matter of time before "car-making qualifications" are reached.
Mavericks also entered the game to build cars
Consumers familiar with electric vehicles must know "Maverick", on December 15, The Niutron brand under Jiangsu Niu Innovative Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was officially released, Chinese "Self-Traveling Home", a new brand for Li Yinan, the founder of Maverick Electric, to start a new business again. Positioned as a mid-sized high-end SUV with pure electric and range extender systems, youjia's first model will be available and pre-ordered in the first half of this year, and is expected to be delivered in September this year.
It is understood that at present, the first new car of Youjia has completed three rounds of engineering testing, and the official said that its test mileage and kilometers have exceeded 10,000, and the first round of winter and summer experiments has been completed, and the second round of winter testing is currently being carried out.
Road test spy photo of the first model of the tour home (image source Weibo Cars01 Torpedo car)
Maverick is a leader in the field of high-end electric bicycles, with its youthful product design and intelligent concept, it has won the favor of young consumers. This cross-border entry into the field of automobile manufacturing, if let the outside world to judge, is indeed a bold decision, but from the perspective of Niu Automobile's new car planning, it is also considered to be "planned for a long time", the first product will be small-scale mass production in March this year, september began to deliver, with the approaching time, waiting for it will be the test of the market.
Comments: Is there still a shortage of new brands in China's auto industry? There is never a final conclusion, because the market will always need a good product. A good brand, a great model is like a "catfish", which can bring new vitality to the automobile market. In 2021, giants in various fields like Xiaomi, Xiaoniu, and Baidu have entered the automotive industry, and cross-border car manufacturing has ushered in a wave of small climax.
2021 car company chip shortage / "giant" cross-border car manufacturing
◆ Huawei's ties with the automotive industry are getting closer
In recent years, the new four modernizations of automobiles have swept in, and "software-defined cars" have become one of the most discussed topics in the automotive industry. Previously, on many occasions, Ren Zhengfei has always said that Huawei does not build cars, but Huawei's connection with cars is getting closer and closer.
Huawei and Xilis's high-end brand - AITO
On December 23 last year, at Huawei's winter flagship new product launch, the first model of AITO, a high-end brand cooperated by Huawei and Cyris, was officially released, and it was also the first model equipped with the new HarmonyOS smart cockpit, which means that Huawei is one "factory" away from building the car. In terms of price, the pre-price of the standard version of the M5 rear drive is 250,000 yuan, the pre-price of the four-wheel drive performance version is 280,000 yuan, and the pre-price of the four-wheel drive flagship version is 320,000 yuan. On December 27, Huawei's world's first new concept store was officially opened in Beijing Yintai in01, and AITO M5 was officially stationed in the new concept store.
AITO asks the M5
Changan Automobile, Huawei, Ningde era - Avita
On November 15, 2021, Avita, a high-end intelligent electric vehicle jointly launched by Changan Automobile, Huawei and CATL, was officially released, and Avita will operate independently as a high-end independent brand in parallel with the existing Changan brand after its launch. At the same time, the Avita 11 "quasi-mass production version" ushered in the world premiere, and the Avita 11 production version will be released in the second quarter of this year.
Avita 11 "Quasi-Production Edition"
According to Avita Chairman and CEO Tan Benhong, Avita 11 "quasi-mass production version" has been close to 99.9% of the mass production version design, Avita 11 is the first model launched by the Avita brand, the new car is positioned as a coupe SUV, the new car is equipped with Huawei Hongmeng system, and will also use Huawei HI (Huawei Inside) intelligent car solutions and the latest electrification technology in the Ningde era.
Avita 11 comes from the independent controllable intelligent electric network CHN platform jointly developed by Changan, Huawei and CATL, and the new car has a high-voltage overcharge capacity of more than 200kW and the intelligent driving ability of 400tops, with an acceleration of less than 4 seconds per 100 kilometers and a cruising range of more than 700km (no standards announced).
BAIC BJEV and Huawei
On September 26, 2021, Baiqi Blue Valley announced that BAIC BJEV and Huawei signed a comprehensive business deepening cooperation agreement, and the two sides jointly built arcfox and HI joint brands based on the jointly developed HBT project products, and the Polar Fox Alpha S Huawei HI Version is the first model jointly launched by the two sides.
Huawei provides a complete set of driver assistance solutions for the Polar Fox Alpha S Huawei HI Edition, including 3 lidars, 6 millimeter wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars, 9 ADS cameras, 4 surround view cameras, and a complete set of high-end intelligent driver assistance systems with a computing power of 400TOPS.
Polar Fox Alpha S Huawei HI Edition
At the same time, The Polar Fox Alpha S Huawei HI Edition is equipped with the Hongmeng OS intelligent interconnection cockpit, which supports multiple application ecosystems, supports seamless circulation of all scenarios, smart voice, free call, smart home control, smart gesture recognition, smart camera, intelligent detection of driver behavior, application market, etc. Among them, the seamless flow of the whole scene should be the function that everyone is most looking forward to, and I don't know if the actual experience can reach the vision of seamless switching between mobile phones and car machines.
BAIC Rubik's Cube
On November 19, Beijing Motor's new model - Rubik's Cube was officially released, the new car is positioned as a compact SUV, BAIC Cube will be equipped with Hongmeng OS intelligent cockpit, Rubik's Cube is the world's first fuel model equipped with Hongmeng car engine system, the previous concept car is also equipped with virtual exterior mirrors and AR-HUD system, AR-HUD system has a 60-inch large projection area, resolution of 854×420 pixels, including instruments, navigation, driver assistance and other related driving information can be directly projected on the front windshield.
Summary: In recent years, Huawei, which has always said that it does not build cars, has a deep "personal relationship" in the car circle, and has cooperated with many car manufacturers, and even opened new cars into Huawei experience stores (Q&I M5 entered a new concept store). It can be said that there may be no "Huawei brand" cars in the future, but many cars are flowing with "Huawei's blood", Huawei's layout is "clear and vague", and the future is not impossible in Huawei.
◆ Through the Model 3 female car owners' auto show to defend their rights, see the reflection of the "industry"
Tesla can be said to be the traffic star of the car circle, in 2021, it has been on the "hot search" list many times, and there have been many "brake failure" accidents; a Model 3 in Nanchang has a malfunction abnormality when charging, Tesla said that it is not a vehicle problem, it is the State Grid current is too large, the State Grid Nanchang "responded" to Tesla through Weibo, and then Tesla apologized to the State Grid Nanchang... If the most impressive, or the Model 3 female owner standing on the show car at the Shanghai Auto Show.
Tesla Shanghai Auto Show rights protection female car owner scene map
During the Shanghai Auto Show last April, Tesla, which did not have a new car to participate in the exhibition, was on the "hot search" because of the rights protection incident, which also attracted the attention of Xinhua News Agency, CCTV hosts, the Central Political and Legal Commission, and the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
So far, the legal proceedings on the female owner's lawsuit against the Model 3 brake failure and Tesla's lawsuit against the female owner for "reputation infringement" of 5 million yuan are still ongoing. The model 3 female owner has always questioned the incomplete original data provided by Tesla, if there was a "black box" on the car at that time, things would not have fermented here.
Regarding data records, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Notice on the Implementation of GB 72582017 No. 2 Amendment Order Related Matters" requirements, from January 1 this year, newly produced passenger cars should be equipped with EDR systems that comply with the provisions of GB 39732, EDR is the abbreviation of Event Data Recorder, also known as the car "black box", can record the key data of vehicle operation before and after the accident, the data content mainly records the vehicle before and after the collision, the collision, The key operating data of the car in the three stages after the collision (including engine speed, vehicle speed, accelerator pedal depth, brake pedal pedaling depth, brake system tubing pressure, steering wheel angle, transmission gear, whether the airbag is opened, when it is turned on, etc.) provides more real and detailed raw data for later investigation and evidence collection.
Summary: Albert Einstein once said that it is often more important to raise a problem than to solve a problem, just like the "new four modernization car" industry in China's rapid development, through the "extreme" rights protection of Tesla female car owners, reflecting the problems that occur at the current stage of new energy vehicles, and the future new energy industry will develop better and better.
The topic returns to the "rights protection" itself, at the Shanghai Auto Show, the Model 3 female owner standing on the roof of the Tesla car, although this incident has received widespread attention from the society, we still do not advocate such an "extreme" way to protect rights. Just like the chip door incident of Tesla good cat owners exposed by CCTV financial channels not long ago, through legal and normal channels to protect rights, things will also be valued by relevant car companies, and finally through consultation, things will get a proper solution.
Behind Huawei's circle of friends/Model 3 rights protection
◆ 156 days of Didi
On the evening of June 30, 2021, Beijing time, Didi went public on the U.S. New York Stock Exchange, and did not even hold a bell-ringing ceremony. The news that "Didi packaged the company's data to the United States for listing in the United States" came out on the Internet, and although Didi urgently refuted the rumors, it was still notified by the security review of the State Internet Information Office.
On July 2, the State Internet Information Office released the news that in order to prevent national data security risks, maintain national security, and protect the public interest, in accordance with the National Security Law of the People's Republic of China and the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China, the Cybersecurity Review Office implemented a network security review of Didi Chuxing in accordance with the Measures for Network Security Review. In order to cooperate with the network security review work and prevent the expansion of risks, "Didi Chuxing" stopped new user registration during the review period.
On July 4, the State Internet Information Office released a message that the "Didi Chuxing" app has a serious problem of collecting and using personal information in violation of laws and regulations. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China, the State Internet Information Office notified the app store to remove the "Didi Chuxing" App, requiring Didi Chuxing Technology Co., Ltd. to strictly follow the legal requirements and refer to relevant national standards, conscientiously rectify existing problems, and effectively protect the personal information security of the majority of users.
On July 16, seven ministries and commissions, including the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of State Security, entered Didi to conduct a network security review.
On December 3, Didi Chuxing released a message through Sina Weibo, and after careful study, the company immediately started the work of delisting on the New York Stock Exchange and started preparations for listing in Hong Kong.
For Didi, in the 156 days from the listing of the US stock on the New York Stock Exchange to the delisting, Didi faced a regulatory crisis, public opinion controversy, and penalties for product removal and suspension of new user registration. Competitors launched a hunt for Didi's market share during this "window period" and accelerated the "race". In September, Caocao Travel announced the completion of a Series B financing of 3.8 billion yuan, and in October, T3 Travel announced the completion of a Series A financing of up to 7.7 billion yuan.
According to the national online ride-hailing regulatory information interaction platform, in September, T3 travel orders rose by 37.6%, Shenzhou chauffeur orders rose by 75.6%, CaoCao travel orders rose by 2.5%, and Didi Chuxing orders fell by 0.6%.
Comments: After this "unusual" 156 days, the online ride-hailing market has changed from the original Didi to the "giants" such as Didi, Caocao Travel, and T3 Travel. As the romance of the Three Kingdoms said at the beginning, the general trend of the world, long-term will be united, long-term must be divided, division and integration are uncertain, this is also the natural law of the development of events, how the trend of the online ride-hailing market this year, let us see the difference at the end of the year.
◆ An ideal car owner exposed that the seat cushion has mercury, and the ideal emergency investigation is the same batch of products on the day, and there is only one vehicle involving the mercury seat cushion.
On the evening of July 4, 2021, an ideal ONE owner posted a video on the ideal car APP saying that he found mercury oozing out of the ideal ONE seat. According to the uploaded video, in the gap of the seat of its ideal ONE, there are many silver beads rolling, as long as you press the seat hard, the beads will come out. After the owner removed the seat, he found that traces were found in the gap between the seat brackets, the plates, and the seat between the leather seats. Subsequently, the owner collected the silver beads and put them on the ground, saying, "The amount of mercury is even more than in the 10 thermometers." ”
The seat cushion exposed on the web has the ideal ONE of mercury
On July 30, the ideal "mercury owner" said through Weibo that after being hospitalized on July 28, the discharge test value reached 359 within 24 hours of investigation (the normal value of ordinary people is less than 4, the standard of poisoning is less than 35), and the mercury in the body exceeds the biological contact limit, which is 10 times the poisoning standard, and the normal value is nearly 100 times.
Ideal ONE for 2020
After the incident, Ideal Auto said through the official Weibo that all aspects of the ideal car's parts, production, manufacturing, etc., the use and purchase of mercury (mercury) is zero, and if the presence of mercury is found on the car, it must be caused by external behavior. At the same time, through the investigation of seat supplier Faurecia, a total of 563 seats were produced on the day of the production of the main seat and the passenger seat of the problem car, and the 2020 ideal ONE partially equipped with these 563 seats was sampled between July 6 and July 20, and no mercury was found, excluding the problem of the entire batch.
Through multi-party investigation, there is currently only one ideal ONE seat containing mercury, and as of today, there is no "conclusive" conclusion about the mercury incident of the ideal ONE.
Comments: As of now, the ideal owner and the ideal car have been alarmed, but the ideal ONE incident containing mercury in this seat has not yet had a clear conclusion, about such a high degree of attention to social news, we call on readers to look at the matter itself more rationally, there is a problem through legal channels to protect rights, the use of "public opinion" can not solve the matter, will only exacerbate the seriousness of the development of the situation.
◆ In 2021, the car brand of the spokesperson and promoter was not selected
Entertainment circles and celebrities are the most discussed topics in daily life, and celebrities endorsing car brands are also commonplace. In 2021, there are many cases of celebrities involving endorsement brands due to "human overturning", of which Wu Yifan and Wang Lihong can be said to be the most influential. Wu Yifan is the first Porsche China motorsport spokesperson, but the endorsement period is only 3 months; while Wang Lihong's endorsement of Infiniti is only 30 hours, which can be called the shortest spokesperson for the car brand.
The screenshot is from Porsche's official Weibo
On April 17, 2021, at the 20th anniversary of Porsche Chinese mainland, Porsche China announced that Wu Yifan had become the first Porsche China motorsport spokesperson, and after the endorsement official announcement, he "shined". On July 18, due to the revelation of "Du Mou", Wu Yifan's people collapsed, and many brands have announced the termination of contracts with Wu Yifan. On July 19, Porsche, the only car brand wu worked with, terminated its partnership with Wu Yifan.
In 2021, the tall Rolls-Royce also "fell" in marketing, and on the evening of September 24, Rolls-Royce invited the famous car critic Chen Zhen, the founder of Mumu Art Museum, Lin Han, and Lei Wan cocoon (late) to do a promotional video. Did not think but caused an uproar, many netizens, car owners in the comment area said that the invitation to late endorsement pulled down the style of the Cullinan Balack Badge version, Wang Sicong left a tear message said, "Suddenly feel that RR is very low, will not buy again in the future." Forced by "public pressure", on October 14, Rolls-Royce China apologized on the official micro-blog and offline the video.
Screenshot from Rolls-Royce's official Weibo
Coincidentally, on October 14, Mercedes-Benz also "stepped on the thunder" on the Weibo official micro, because Mercedes-Benz reprinted the promotional video of talk show player Yang Kasa and caused heated discussion from many parties, although Mercedes-Benz clarified afterwards that Yang Kasa was not a spokesperson and promoter, and since then Yang Kasa Studio has also issued a statement, "saying that Yang Kasa does not have any commercial cooperation with the brand, nor does it have any car category endorsements." Although both sides have replied, netizens do not seem to buy it, the situation has been fermented repeatedly, and the comments have bluntly said that audis, BMW, etc. will be reselled (which is equivalent to helping Audi and BMW do a wave of publicity).
Screenshot from Sina Weibo
On October 22, Li Yundi's "screen hot search", the brand associated with the car associated with Li Yundi in the exposure also surfaced. In August, when the fourth-generation Highlander was listed, Li Yundi was invited by GAC Toyota to promote as the owner of the fourth-generation Highlander, and on the day of Li Yundi's detention, GAC Toyota urgently clarified at the first time that GAC Toyota and Li Yundi had no cooperative relationship. At the same time, as the ambassador of Dongfeng Nissan 2021 Tianlai, Dongfeng Nissan also deleted all Weibo promotion content with Li Yundi at the first time.
Wang Lihong appeared at the QX60 pre-sale conference on the evening of December 16
The screenshot is from Infiniti China's official Weibo
As the spokesperson and promoter of the automobile brand, there is first a certain degree of fit between the star and the product and the brand image, which can bring consumers a positive and enterprising brand impression of upward development. Infiniti, a Japanese high-end brand, launched its third domestic model QX60 in the domestic market in 2021, and signed Wang Lihong, the "Prince of Music", who debuted for 26 years, as the brand spokesperson. On December 16, 2021, Infiniti China officially announced Wang Lihong as the brand spokesperson of Infiniti, on the same day Wang Lihong was exposed to the news of divorce, and on the night of December 17, Wang Lihong's ex-wife Li Lianglei issued a long complaint, resulting in Wang Lihong's "image collapse"; 2 hours later, at 1:00 a.m. on December 18, Infiniti China issued a statement through Weibo, infiniti decided to terminate the cooperative relationship with Mr. Wang Lihong from now on, and landed on the top of the Weibo hot search list. At the same time, Infiniti China official micro deleted all relevant news about Wang Lihong's interactive promotion, which was jokingly called Infiniti 'day throwing' Wang Lihong by netizens.
Summary: It is very common for car brands to find celebrity endorsements in promotion and marketing, and it is understandable that car brands can increase traffic by cooperating with celebrities. But so far, there is no authoritative data can reflect, the star to a brand, a certain model sales of how helpful, celebrity endorsement is more of a character image and brand fit, the image of the mainstream health (this is also the current state advocates), like this year's endorsement of "overturning" events, for car companies is indeed not worth the loss, such as Infiniti and Wang Lihong, although within 2 hours after Wang Lihong was "hammered" by his ex-wife, Infiniti issued an announcement of understanding, For a while, it received praise and praise on the Internet, but what help did it help the sales of car companies?
Written at the end: In this article, we introduce 7 more influential events for you according to the development of the timeline, I don't know if there is anything you are interested in? If you feel that you are not happy, we will announce in advance here, on Saturday, January 8, the 2021 car circle event (below) will be launched as scheduled, and please pay attention to Aika Car.
In 2021, Didi's key 156 days / star endorsement car companies