Reporter 丨 Deng Yongtuo
Responsible editor 丨 Du Yuxin
Editor 丨Zhu Jinbin
In 2021, the domestic auto market was affected by the epidemic and the dual dilemma of chip shortage, but last year, China's auto industry rose to the challenge, overcame many difficulties, and achieved steady growth in production and sales, fully demonstrating the strong development resilience of China's auto industry. China continues to be the world's best-performing mega-car market and the main driver of the recovery of the global auto market.
In this year, there have been a lot of heavy news in the automotive circle, many of which have had a profound impact, such as lack of cores, such as carbon peaking, such as the addition of more car-making troops, these major events have converged into the hot spots of the 2021 car market, and will also continue to affect the future trend and changes of the automotive industry, and even a new pattern.
Lack of core "seriously injured" the automotive market
Last year, for various car companies, the "chip shortage" became an unavoidable problem. Because of the lack of chips, Ford, Volkswagen have reduced production, some factories have even stopped production, in addition to the new car delivery time is greatly extended, the entire automobile market production and sales have a huge impact, the car market decline is no longer alarmist.
According to AutoForecast Solutions forecast data, the cumulative production reduction in the global automotive market will reach 11.324 million units in 2021, of which the cumulative production reduction in the Chinese automotive market is expected to be 2.148 million units, accounting for 19% of the total production reduction. The lack of chips has led to major car companies having to cut the production of some niche models, and the reasonable allocation of chip resources is also needed for popular models, and even affects the price trend of the brand second-hand car market.
The global shortage of chips began last October. Initially, the gap only appeared in the field of consumer electronics, and after entering 2021, it gradually spread to vehicle-grade chips. At first, the industry cited historical experience and believed that the shortage problem would be alleviated from June last year at the latest, but due to the repeated intensification of the epidemic and the impact of various uncontrollable factors such as geological natural disasters, the haze of "core panic" continued to hang over the whole year.
Nowadays, under the influence of lack of cores, some car companies such as BYD and Geely have begun to develop their own chips. In the storm, how to face difficulties to solve difficulties and improve the ability to divide labor and cooperate is the essential test for various automobile companies.
"Unstoppable" Tesla
Tesla has repeatedly exposed the failure of brakes last year, from the rear-end accident in Henan to the wall crash in Hainan, driving a Tesla as if it were a kind of luck to travel safely.
Tesla's sales growth in China is indeed amazing, but there are many accidents and storms in various models. The development of each accident is reversed and reversed, and Tesla officials and the owners of the accident seem to be staging "infernal affairs", accusing each other and not coming up with a complete investigation result. Among them, the craziest and the biggest movement is the owner's rights protection incident in this accident in Henan, which eventually became a storm that has not yet dissipated.
The expansion of the situation began on April 19 last year, when the car advocate woman appeared at the Tesla booth of the Shanghai Auto Show wearing a "brake failure" T-shirt, and stood on the roof of the car and shouted "Tesla brake failure", which caused great concern. The female owner said that the accident itself had a limited impact on her and her family, and the reason why she embarked on such an extreme road of rights protection was mainly because of Tesla's arrogant attitude.
But she herself did not expect that this not only brought her the penalty of administrative detention, but also did not get full data about the accident from Tesla until 2021 was about to end, and until now Tesla has not proposed a solution. Never before has a civil rights defense had such a sustained and profound impact. This rights protection incident has triggered a wide public discussion on personal privacy and consumer rights, and Tesla, as a new technology company, should give a formal answer to every voice that raises effective questions.
Mazda "Two-Horse Merger"
After countless times of debunking and denial, the news of the merger of Changan Mazda and FAW Mazda that has been circulating for many years finally settled last year.
In August last year, Mazda Motor Co., Ltd. (Mazda), Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. (Changan Automobile) and China FAW Motor Co., Ltd. (FAW) issued a joint statement that Changan Mazda would be changed to a joint venture jointly funded by the three parties, the new Changan Mazda. The tripartite capital ratio is 47.5% (Mazda), 47.5% (Changan Automobile) and 5% (China FAW), respectively.
The new Changan Mazda will inherit Changan Mazda and Mazda's related businesses. At the same time, FAW Mazda changed its shareholding to a joint venture jointly funded by Mazda and Changan Mazda, and continued to undertake business related to Mazda brand vehicles.
In recent years, Mazda's sales in China have declined year after year, and FAW Mazda's contribution to total sales has been less than half. Adjusting its strategy and integrating resources is an urgent problem for Mazda to solve in China, and "north-south integration" may be the best choice at present. With Mazda's re-layout in the Chinese market, Changan Mazda will usher in a new mission, and it is hoped that it can promote the Mazda brand into a new era.
Huawei is making great strides to expand its automotive footprint
Huawei does not build cars. This phrase may need to be re-understood after 2021.
Huawei really doesn't build a car, but it seems to be involved in everything related to cars except car building. Huawei's R&D investment in the auto parts field reached 1 billion US dollars last year, the size of the R&D team reached 5,000 people, and more than 30 intelligent auto parts have been listed.
During the Shanghai Auto Show last year, Yu Chengdong made the first smart selection platform for Huawei, and launched the Cyrus SF5 co-built with Jinkang Cyrus. Since April, Huawei stores have begun to sell the Cyrus SF5, and this car is a test of the waters for Huawei. On the eve of the Guangzhou Auto Show, Avita's first new car, which brings together the respective advantages of Changan Automobile, Huawei, and Ningde In the field of vehicle research and development, intelligent vehicle solutions and smart energy ecology, was officially unveiled, and through the Huawei Inside model, the expansion of Huawei's automotive territory is getting faster and faster.
Just over half a month later, aito, a high-end automobile brand jointly created by Huawei and Jinkang Xilis, was unveiled. Huawei is ambitious for this new brand, and will build more than 1,000 flagship stores and experience centers with Xilix, aiming to become the world's top 3 brand of new energy vehicles within five years.
In the past six months, it seems that Huawei, which has always emphasized its unwillingness to build cars itself, is actually very attached to its "soul" role in the automotive business, and continues to covet the actual control of the remaining "body" in its ambitions. Where Huawei's car road can go may need to be tempered by the market.
Xiaomi cars are no longer far away
"The progress of Xiaomi's car manufacturing and team work has far exceeded expectations, and it is expected that Xiaomi car will be officially mass-produced in the first half of 2024."
In March last year, Rebbs said that building a car would be his "last major entrepreneurial project of his life." Half a year later, Lei Jun said that the work of car-making preparations was progressing smoothly. The news after that also confirmed that Rebus's optimism is justified, the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee and Xiaomi Technology successfully held a signing ceremony for the "Xiaomi Automobile Project", Xiaomi will build a vehicle factory with a production capacity of 300,000 vehicles in Beijing.
It is understood that the Xiaomi Automobile project will build the Xiaomi Automobile Headquarters Base, sales headquarters, research and development headquarters, and will be divided into two phases of construction, and finally build a vehicle factory with an annual output of 300,000 vehicles. The production capacity of the first and second phases is 150,000 units, respectively, and the first car is expected to roll off the production line in 2024 and achieve mass production.
According to Lei Jun's statement at the Xiaomi Investment Day, Xiaomi has three major advantages in making cars: xiaomi models, brands and users, and a fully intelligent ecology. Although full of confidence, but carefully calculated, the first phase of the Xiaomi Automobile Vehicle Factory project will be completed at least before 2024, which is less than 3 years. For Xiaomi cars, if you want to land on time, the pressure is still not small.
Musk became the world's richest man
Last year for the new energy vehicle market can be said to be a year of rapid development, and as the CEO of the world's well-known electric vehicle company Tesla, Musk can also be said to be active from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
In just 11 years since its launch in June 2010, Tesla has achieved a market cap of more than a trillion US dollars, rising second only to Facebook's record. Musk's value has also continued to soar with Tesla's stock price, and in October last year, his personal wealth exceeded $300 billion, and he became the richest man with the fastest wealth growth rate last year.
In addition to the rise in value, another reason why Musk has gradually become an after-dinner talk is that he likes to post on Twitter, and the words and deeds of the world's Internet celebrity often ignite the enthusiasm of countless fans, such as after he became the world's richest man last year, he ridiculed Bezos, Buffett and others on Twitter. In November last year, he also posted Cao Zhi's "Seven-Step Poem" on Twitter, which made netizens scratch their heads. A series of behaviors like this have made Musk active in the eyes of car friends.
Carbon peaking "carbon neutrality" has attracted much attention
In order to cope with climate change, China has put forward solemn target commitments such as "carbon dioxide emissions strive to peak by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060". In last year's government work report, "doing a good job of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" was listed as one of the key tasks in 2021; the "14th Five-Year Plan" will also accelerate the promotion of green and low-carbon development.
To achieve the "double carbon" goal, on the one hand, it is necessary to control the increase in carbon emissions through energy conservation and emission reduction, and on the other hand, it is necessary to vigorously promote and use clean energy to adjust and optimize the industrial structure.
As a vane of clean energy in the future, new energy vehicles have naturally become a hot spot for investment. In terms of market value, many new energy brands have shown the development potential of thick accumulation; in terms of sales, the number of new energy vehicles in China achieved a leapfrog breakthrough last year, and the total production and sales volume exceeded 3 million units, an increase of nearly 2 times compared with last year.
In the face of the market and policy at the same time, the development of new energy vehicles into the fast lane, in a series of new initiatives have landed, only by actively upgrading and transformation, conforming to the trend of the times, in order to seize the new opportunities it brings.
The production and sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 3 million units
In 2021, new energy vehicles will definitely stand in the C position of the automotive industry, and the electrification transformation will become more and more intense.
Even in the face of the "lack of core" that makes global car companies crazy, the high price of raw materials, and the new crown pneumonia epidemic and other unfavorable situations, China's automobile industry, especially the new energy automobile industry, has still stepped out of a beautiful upward line, showing the strong development resilience and endogenous power of the industry.
In the first 11 months, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China reached 3.023 million units and 2.990 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.7 times year-on-year, and the market penetration rate was 12.7%. Although the sales situation in December has not yet been released, it is undeniable that the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China exceeded 3 million vehicles last year, which is undoubtedly a good news for major automobile brands that need to be transformed, and the recognition of the market will inevitably accelerate the transformation of major car companies to new energy.
The new energy vehicle market has entered a new stage of explosive growth, and has shifted from being mainly policy-driven in the past to being market-driven. In 2022, with the listing or opening of many new energy models, especially the new generation of hybrid models with competitive main brands will be listed one after another, it can be expected that new energy vehicles will continue to maintain rapid growth.
The Ningde era broke through trillions
On May 31 last year, the stock price of CATL continued its strong performance, the intraday increase continued to expand, and the total market value exceeded the trillion yuan mark in one fell swoop, becoming the first company on the ChiNext board to touch the trillion market value. What is even more surprising is that the total market value of the current Ningde era is about equal to the sum of BYD, Great Wall Motor, SAIC Motor, and the three car companies with the highest A stock market value.
From the perspective of the industry, behind the record high market value of the Ningde era is the unprecedented development and progress of China's new energy automobile industry, and this development has also shown sustainability. Nowadays, the development of science and technology enterprises has reached a new high, which also indicates that China's economic structure has quietly changed in the context of carbon neutrality.
The market value performance of the Ningde era is the embodiment of absolute strength, from the perspective of the new energy models registered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2020, more than 6800 models have been effectively entered, and more than 3,400 models supporting power batteries in the Ningde era, accounting for about half. In the future, with the accelerated development of new energy vehicles, the market value of the Ningde era may continue to rise with technological breakthroughs and market share climbs.
Didi U.S. stocks were delisted
On June 30 last year, Didi Chuxing was quietly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and as we all know, it was reviewed by the department within a few days, and its stock price fell all the way down and fell continuously. On the third day of the last month last year, Didi officially issued an announcement that it planned to delist in the United States and delist, while planning to go public in Hong Kong.
In just a few words, Didi is clear about its own arrangement, and even when the melon-eating masses began to think that everything was fine, didi's stock price on that day was "mouth-to-mouth integrity", jumping to the stock price of 6.07, first falling 22.18% for respect. At present, Didi's stock price is $5.3 per share, down nearly 60% from the issue price, and the current average price of U.S. custodian shares is lower than the average price of shareholders at that time, and Didi's market value has evaporated by nearly $41 billion.
There is no doubt that Didi's "delisting-listing" scheme is not small, seemingly a simple conversion of peer-to-peer, and actually hides a crisis. Perhaps the listing of Hong Kong stocks can fill the capital hole caused by the delisting of US stocks, but the ensuing litigation troubles, trust crises, and recognition of the Chinese market will become obstacles to Didi's "rebirth".