In the past 2021, there have been too many "black swan" events in the Chinese car market. Repeated epidemics continue to consume the public's consumer confidence; the continuous shortage of chips has added one problem after another for car companies. While facing the "black swan" event, traditional car companies also face huge pressure to transform, and the penetration rate of new energy models in 2021 has reached 20%. This means that traditional car companies have come to a critical moment of transformation.
In this era of electrification and intelligence as the main theme of the change, whether it is the top luxury brand car companies, or the annual sales of more than one million car factories, must enter a new schedule. Even if the pressure of transformation is unprecedented, SAIC-GM, as the leading force of the joint venture car company, is still firmly in the game, accelerating the promotion of electrification while maintaining a development trend of high-quality growth.
Through the full-link system with Aoteneng as the core, electric universal will take off
The development of automobile electrification and intelligence is like a terrifying wave lapping, fast and strong, wave after wave, car companies do not advance or retreat, and the "giant wheel" SAIC-GM takes the Aoteneng electric vehicle platform as the driving force to achieve rapids and successfully drive to the forefront of the wave of electrification and intelligent development.
2021 is the first year of Aoteneng, since the release of the Aoteneng platform in April, SAIC-GM's electrification layout has been accelerating, from technology to products, from publicity to service and other aspects of the changes, so that we see a new "electrocution" of GM. As a sharp edge for SAIC-GM's electrified automobile market in China, the Aoteneng platform has many advanced technology support, such as the industry's first wireless communication technology, thermal management technology with a number of patents and OTA upgrades, etc., which makes it more confident in the fierce competition in the electric vehicle market.
The birth of the Aoteneng platform is a step for SAIC-GM to launch a fierce attack in the electrification "chess game". With many advantages, SAIC-GM is accelerating to surpass a group of rising stars. The Cadillac LYRIQ, the first domestic model based on the platform, also fully demonstrated to consumers the leading technology of the Aoteneng platform.
The development of pure electric vehicles wants to form a scale effect, in addition to achieving large-scale application at the technical level, it is also necessary to simultaneously scale in manufacturing. With the opening of the New Energy Test Building of the Pan-Asian Automotive Technology Center and the Guangde Battery Safety Laboratory, the Aotene Super Factory at the Jinqiao Base in Shanghai was completed and put into operation. With the Aoteneng platform as the core, SAIC-GM has officially opened up a complete system of full-link new energy vehicles from early research and development, testing, procurement and manufacturing. This will bring SAIC-GM more efficient production, lower manufacturing costs, a richer research sample, and better localization products.
Empowered by science and technology, electrified and intelligent multi-line layout
The penetration rate of new energy models continues to grow, and under the large environmental impact of accelerating electrification transformation, a clear corporate development map has been launched within SAIC-GM. In 2022, SAIC-GM will take "science and technology" as the core of development, and through the empowerment of science and technology, it will bring about the upgrading and landing of a number of advanced technologies, and the three major brands will also bring a richer product lineup.
2021 is the year that SAIC-GM completed the preliminary layout of electrification, and the release of the Aoteneng platform and the opening of the full-link system have provided solid support for it to show its strength in the electric vehicle market. 2022 is a big year for Aoteneng products, Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet brands will launch a number of models based on the Aoteneng platform, LYRIQ will also be delivered within this year, marking SAIC-GM officially entered the awakening era of transformation to electrification.
At the same time, as an important component of SAIC-GM's construction of intelligent electric vehicles, intelligent developments such as Super Cruise and VIP intelligent electronic architecture will also usher in a comprehensive upgrade. The new generation of Super Cruise super assisted driving system will be introduced this year, adding richer functions, further enhancing SAIC-GM's competitiveness in the field of intelligent assistance and supplementing the performance of traditional car companies in this field. With the continuous improvement of the system, Super Cruise will cover Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet brand models in the next five years, so that consumers can better feel the convenience of assisted driving.
VIP intelligent electronic architecture is the core of realizing the intelligent networking of enterprise products. Relying on the VIP intelligent electronic architecture, the Aoteneng platform can realize the OTA upgrade of the battery management system, which is a forward-looking layout in the electric vehicle industry. In addition, the architecture also lays a solid foundation for SAIC-GM's new electrified models to introduce various intelligent networking advanced technologies to better meet the needs of the Chinese market for intelligent networking technology.
It is reported that by 2025, saicid-GM's three major brands will apply a new electronic architecture. This can not only further improve the level of intelligence of the model, but also obtain a more complete and diverse information model, providing a wealth of data reference for the optimization and upgrading of intelligent driving, network connection system, battery management and other architectures in the future.
In terms of service marketing, SAIC-GM has also brought a heart-warming move. As the policy subsidies for new energy vehicles usher in a new round of reduction, the pressure on consumers to buy electric vehicles has increased accordingly. To this end, SAIC-GM announced that it will provide corresponding corporate subsidies for users who pay a deposit to purchase Buick and Chevrolet brand electric models before March 31, 2022, up to 9,000 yuan, and the guidance price of current models will not change.
SAIC-GM has improved quality, and the three major brands have ushered in high-quality development
For SAIC-GM, the transformation is not only reflected in electrification, but also the high-quality transformation and development is the key word for the company in 2021. The total annual sales of its three major brands Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac were 1331567 vehicles, which is a strong proof of SAIC-GM's upward development. In the past 2021, SAIC-GM's high-end model sales accounted for 5% year-on-year, and the average transaction price of each brand also showed a different increase of 6%-16%, indicating that SAIC-GM is moving towards high-end and high-value.
Behind the high-quality development is the multi-dimensional force of the three major brands. In 2021, SAIC-GM will achieve positive transformation and uphold the strategic determination of high-quality development, creating a new situation for the future-oriented high-quality development road. Among them, the sales of high-end models of the Buick brand accounted for 60%, and the star models GL8, Encore Banner, and Oncowe car series all had different increases, and the momentum was quite rapid.
Chevrolet brand's Maribal XL, Trailblazer and Explorer also increased sales to 48.3%, an increase of 15% year-on-year. The Cadillac brand sold more than 230,000 vehicles in the whole year, an increase of 1.4% year-on-year, and hit a new high in sales in the Chinese market, and a number of star models performed well.
SAIC-GM's high-quality transformation is not only reflected in the growth of the sales structure of high-end models, but also the improvement of brand influence and user reputation. J.D. Power's 2021 Annual China AutoMotive Market Survey Report and 2021 China Automotive User Satisfaction Evaluation have won many awards for Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet brands and products.
At present, the automotive industry is in a critical period of change, and the improvement of sales figures is far less valuable than the optimization of sales structure, technological breakthroughs and innovations, and the improvement of enterprise system strength. Through a series of high-quality development and transformation measures, SAIC-GM has achieved all-round advancement in terms of products, sales and technology, and these efforts are also leading SAIC-GM to take the lead in getting out of the industry pain period.
Write at the end
2022 will be a year of SAIC-GM's electrification transformation and quality attack, and its strength will be comprehensively improved. Under the comprehensive upgrading of technology, products and marketing, the forward-looking brand planning strategy and rich development experience will make SAIC-GM still not be alarmed in the face of the ever-changing market, and more confident in its development towards high quality, electrification and intelligence.