Under the shroud of the continuous and repeated epidemics, China's new energy vehicle market in 2021 is still overtaking in the midst of great changes. Many new brands represented by new forces continue to bring new atmosphere and new elements to the new energy automobile industry and even the entire Chinese automobile industry with a new brand image and marketing methods. As a pioneer in China's new energy automobile industry, Beiqi Blue Valley, which has experienced the baptism of the new energy vehicle market for 12 years, how to respond to the times and snap the card slot in advance?
In 2021, Beiqi Blue Valley resolutely pressed the acceleration button of transformation and change, faced with the rapidly changing market demand, made full efforts in terms of organizational structure, brand positioning, product structure, etc., and embarked on a road of "secondary entrepreneurship" that was reborn: by increasing research and development efforts and expanding cross-border technical cooperation, further enhance the width and depth of the moat of the core competitiveness of enterprises; by reducing the proportion of low-end models, launching a new high-end brand ARCFOX Extreme Fox, card slot intelligent high-end new energy vehicle market With innovative intelligent ecological thinking, transform marketing methods, exert channel layout, and create a user operation ecology for the era of mobile Internet.
When we end 2021, we re-examine Beiqi Blue Valley, which is leading by the high-end intelligent new energy vehicle brand ARCFOX Jihu, appearing in front of consumers and the public with a new look, ready to face the second half of the new energy automobile industry.
Strategy first, create an intelligent ecology of new energy vehicles, and face the second half of the industry
In the era of scientific and technological competition, whether it can build a people-oriented technology ecology is the key to the undefeated enterprises in the competition. The reform and transformation of Beiqi Blue Valley began with the reshaping of talent strategy and management team. In 2021, Beiqi Blue Valley began to optimize the management team, use outstanding young talents, and establish a new leadership team. In January, Liu Yu took over as chairman of BAIC BJEV. In April, Dai Kangwei, then vice president of BAIC BJEV Engineering Institute, was appointed as the general manager of BAIC BJEV. In October, Fan Jingtao was officially appointed executive deputy general manager of BAIC BJEV.
While condensing talents by optimizing the talent strategy, in 2021, Beiqi Blue Valley will continue to improve the technical thickness of enterprises and broaden the technology moat of enterprises by increasing investment in research and development. According to the financial report, in 2020, Beiqi Blue Valley invested 1.582 billion yuan in research and development, accounting for 30.04% of the R&D investment; in 2021, it reached a new high, with 652 million yuan invested in R&D expenses from January to September, an increase of 54.5% over the same period last year of 422 million yuan.
In the era of industrial ecology, enterprises must not only fully grasp the core technology, but also be good at integrating the superior technical resources in various fields of the industrial chain. The intelligent car in the era of "new four modernizations" is not only a traditional mechanical and electrical platform focusing on manufacturing technology, but also a super intelligent terminal platform that integrates the core technology of the three electrics, intelligent platform architecture, intelligent auxiliary driving, intelligent network connection, and Internet big data technology, and the automobile OEMs must change their operational thinking, through innovative cooperation in the whole industry chain, aggregate the technical advantages of various fields of the industrial chain, so as to build an industrial chain ecology that meets the needs of the era of automotive intelligence.
Because of this, Beiqi Blue Valley has operated in many ways in recent years, working with technology giants in the industrial chain industry such as Huawei, Baidu, Magna, Didi, and CATL to establish an industrial community facing the future of the industry. Since 2017, BAIC and Huawei have signed cooperation agreements four times in four years, continuously deepening cooperation between the two sides. The two sides jointly established the "1873 Davidson Innovation Lab", and continuously improved the cooperative management mechanism, strengthened product research and development, and co-brand marketing, formed a partnership that prioritized each other, and jointly built a world-class intelligent electric vehicle with industry-leading advantages with a highly coordinated development model.
In 2021, the second phase of the test center invested heavily in Beiqi Blue Valley was officially put into use, providing support for the continuous improvement of research and development technology capabilities. Beiqi Blue Valley fully redundant architecture electric platform BE21 electronic and electrical EE architecture and chassis technology and other related intellectual property rights, to achieve technology export to overseas enterprises, set a precedent in China's automotive industry, leading the development of a new generation of new energy vehicle technology in the world.
At the level of capital operation, in May 2021, Beiqi Blue Valley will raise an additional 5.5 billion yuan to fully exert efforts to "new four modernizations" and strengthen its own technical competitiveness, and the funds will mainly be invested in the development and network construction of high-end models of the Jihu brand, the improvement of 5G intelligent network connection systems, and the development of power exchange business systems.
Make every effort to build a high-end brand ARCFOX Polar Fox, and achieve full coverage of the core market in one year
When "PPT car-making" has become popular among new energy vehicle start-ups in recent years, Beiqi Blue Valley, which has been working in this industry for 12 years, has demonstrated its deep system, technology, product accumulation, and strong strategic execution capabilities. Beiqi Blue Valley and Huawei jointly created a new HI version of the Polar Fox Alpha S, unveiled at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show, and the Guangzhou Auto Show officially landed mass production and began to accept reservations. A series of rapid actions amazed the industry.
The new HI version of Polar Fox Alpha S realizes intervention-free intelligent driving on Shanghai's urban roads, causing a sensation and being regarded by public opinion as a sign of the arrival of the first year of high-level assisted intelligent driving. It is not only the world's first mass-produced Huawei ADS intelligent driving model, but also the first high-end pure power production car equipped with Huawei's smart cockpit-Hongmeng car machine OS; the first 750V high-voltage platform super electric product; the first wireless charging mass production product; and the first fully redundant architecture mass production car. With so many "firsts", it deservedly became the star model of the Guangzhou Auto Show and the popular model of 2021.
As a high-end brand built by Beiqi Blue Valley, the two models of the Jihu brand, Alpha S and Alpha T, have been officially put on the market for delivery, and their high-quality characteristics have gradually been recognized by the market. At the recent 2021 China Automotive Safety Conference, Alpha S won two awards: "China's Top Ten BodyWorks" and "Best Materials". At the same time, Alpha S and Alpha T have shown excellent safety, battery life and driving control quality in many professional media evaluations at home and abroad. According to the data for the third quarter of 2021, the delivery volume of Alpha S and Alpha T increased by 183% sequentially.
At the same time, throughout 2021, Jihu Automobile has laid out a number of "technology day" activities on various occasions such as the auto show, making its "extremely intelligent and safe" body structure, battery technology and intelligent attributes deeply rooted in the hearts of the public. At the same time, marketing actions such as Polar Fox Action, Ice Landing City, MountainTop Coffee, and Polar Fox Planet Street Party have become famous IP in the industry.
In terms of channel network construction, by the end of 2021, Jihu Automobile has completed more than 120 authorized construction outlets. Especially in the 15 key cities where sales volume in the high-end pure electricity market accounts for more than 80%, 100% coverage has been achieved. It is estimated that in 2022, the marketing storefront of Jihu Automobile will reach 150. In terms of service network, Jihu has established 75 authorized service centers, covering 53 cities across the country.
Accelerate the industrial layout of the new energy ecological chain and boost the strategy of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality"
In the past year, Beiqi Blue Valley can make the outside world refreshed, and one of the key factors is undoubtedly the high-end layout of enterprises to reduce the sequence of low-end products and accelerate the launch of high-end products of the Jihu brand. The accelerated launch of new products has continuously injected fresh blood into the new energy vehicle market and effectively promoted the national strategy of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality".
As a pioneer in low-carbon emission reduction in the automotive industry, Beiqi Blue Valley has also accumulated a lot of valuable experience in energy conservation and emission reduction. For example, through artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and other technical means, establish a calculation and tracking system for product carbon emissions, and realize the transparency and traceability of carbon emissions, so as to facilitate the "whole life cycle" management action of products. As of the end of November 2021, the number of models sold by Beiqi Blue Valley has exceeded 530,000, with a total mileage of 23 billion kilometers, and a comprehensive energy saving and emission reduction of 3.93 million tons, equivalent to planting 14 million trees.
In addition, Beiqi Blue Valley continues to expand the power exchange business, in order to solve the pain points of the industry and promote the healthy development of the new energy automobile industry. At present, Beiqi Blue Valley has invested about 33,000 electric vehicles in 22 cities such as Beijing, Xiamen, Lanzhou and Guangzhou, and has built a total of 277 supporting power stations, ranking first in the world. Among them, Beiqi Blue Valley has put 24,000 electric taxis in Beijing, built 165 charging and replacement power stations, and achieved an average service radius of 2.78 kilometers in the urban area, achieving 24-hour uninterrupted operation. Next, Beiqi Blue Valley's power exchange business will focus on 11 pilot cities, and promote the landing and promotion of provincial capitals.
Former IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner once wrote a book called "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance" about the successful transformation of a former industry leader. In 2021, Beiqi Blue Valley told another story about "elephant dancing", with a new look of technology, driving market competitiveness and system capabilities to a comprehensive advancement, and with the consciousness of "secondary entrepreneurship", walking out of a "BAIC road" where new energy automobile enterprises have changed from "growth" to "maturity".