According to the latest data from the China Automobile Association, heavy-duty truck sales totaled 53,000 units in December 2021, and the cumulative sales of heavy-duty trucks in the whole year were 1.39 million units, down 14% year-on-year.
In the short term, this is the "eight consecutive declines" in 2021. So under such a market, how do domestic OEMs cope? What are the trends in the commercial vehicle market of the future? We may be able to get a glimpse of the distribution of exhibition vehicles at the annual corporate meeting.
The loading volume of AMT vehicles has increased, and new energy has been fully developed
At the end of last year, The 2022 Cloud Business Conference of Sinotruk was held in Jinan, and a total of 38 vehicle products (34 commercial vehicles + 4 passengers) were exhibited on the spot, covering a full range of commercial vehicles and passenger car products.
Among the 34 commercial vehicle products on display, a total of 13 new energy vehicles, accounting for about 38%, 13 vehicle products equipped with AMT gear shift mechanisms, accounting for about 61% of the internal combustion engine products (21 vehicles). China National Heavy Duty Truck Cloud Business Conference Exhibition Car Atlas: 600 hp Yellow River X7 unveiled
Another point worth noting is that in all the tractor products on display, whether it is new energy or traditional fuel models, most of the power packages have adopted the configuration of high horsepower + amt + small speed ratio. Therefore, it is not difficult to find that new energy and AMT are the two core keywords of Sinotruk in 2022.
In the parts assembly exhibition area, Sinotruk exhibited a number of new energy components at one time, including the appearance of 5 new electric drive bridges and 2 hybrid transmissions, which is enough to show the determination of Sinotruk to comprehensively lay out the new energy field in the future.
According to Jiage' understanding, in the future, on the new energy track, Sinotruk will make full use of its rich product structure according to the characteristics of various segments to create a differentiated competitive advantage.
First of all, at the technical level, the three major technical routes of pure electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel cells will be further studied and explored, so as to explore more possibilities for new energy application scenarios in commercial vehicles.
At the product level, based on the diversified application mode of commercial vehicles, in the future, we will develop a full range of new energy commercial vehicle products for four major categories of traction, cargo, engineering and special models, and comprehensively lay out its self-developed electric drive bridge technology, and successively put 3-16 tons of electric drive bridge products on the market.
The annual meeting "fights bayonets", and all car companies plan in advance
Coincidentally, in addition to the comprehensive layout of heavy energy in the field of new energy, the remaining top OEMs in China also gave their own response plans to the opportunities and threats that the commercial vehicle market may encounter in 2022 at their annual meetings.
FAW Jiefang: In 2022, FAW Jiefang's marketing system will implement the "54363" strategy. At the product level, Jiefang will take the lead in establishing new energy commercial vehicle industry standards, standardize the industrial chain, avoid waste of resources, and boost the rapid growth of new energy undertakings. At the same time, FAW Jiefang said that in 2022, the sales volume of jiefang new energy vehicles will exceed 10,000.
Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle: In 2022, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle will take the market and customers as the center, adhere to the market, goals and problems-oriented, in terms of model strategy, according to the current user's car habits, based on the Dongfeng Tianlong platform and longqing gold power chain to create a variety of vehicle products, comprehensive layout of high-speed logistics, cold chain, hazardous chemicals, engineering vehicles and other segments.
Foton Motor: In 2022, Foton will take customer value management as its core goal and is committed to helping customers tap more value. At the technical level, Foton released the Galaxy technology brand, and based on this to create two major vehicle products, Auman Galaxy Heavy Truck and Euroair Rpro Medium Truck, which will greatly improve the efficiency and safety of trunk logistics operations in the future, extend the professional life of drivers, and strive to provide "optimal TCO" solutions.
Three major trends observed by truck players
Most of the annual meetings of enterprises are composed of two parts: summarizing past experience + looking forward to future development, and for commercial vehicle companies, in addition to singing the proud performance of the brand at the end of the year, it is also very important to set the tone for the work of the coming year.
Trend 1: The configuration of segments is becoming more and more accurate
With the improvement of living consumption level and the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, residents' online consumption activities have gradually become more frequent, especially in the fields of fresh food shopping, express delivery and cold chain warehousing, which have increased to varying degrees.
In order to adapt to the rapid development of the above segments, if automakers want to seize the opportunity, they must carry out corresponding product upgrades. Most of the exhibits of the tractor at the annual meeting of SINOTRUK adopt the configuration of "high horsepower + amt + small speed ratio", which may also be a signal released in advance in order to quickly seize the high-speed trunk market.
On the other hand, for users, product configuration specialization helps to cultivate the habit of special vehicles, and in the long run, it can also help logistics companies & individuals reduce vehicle operating costs.
Trend 2: Upgrading new formats in the field of new energy
The "3060 Double Carbon" goal will lead the development of the new energy commercial vehicle industry in the future from the macro level. For the commercial vehicle products themselves, electrification is one of the important factors to achieve the double carbon goal, which is why more and more car companies are now in the field of new energy, and the increase in the proportion of new energy in the annual exhibition vehicle is also a good evidence.
On the other hand, under the increasingly stringent environmental governance and the requirements of emission regulations, who can take the lead in the new energy field and lay out the new energy field in advance may overtake in the corner.
Trend three: the proportion of intelligent product configuration has increased
In recent years, with the development of the information age and the gradual improvement of communication technology, the commercial vehicle industry has continued to move towards electrification, intelligence, networking and even sharing.
This means that whether it is in the logistics industry, rescue industry or maintenance service and other industries, the development of intelligent truck products will usher in opportunities and challenges with the trend, how to explore a suitable path for the enterprise is particularly important.
Whether 2022 can turn the tide
In 2021, the annual sales volume is high and low, and in 2022, the commercial vehicle market is bound to usher in a new round of competition, and emission upgrades and dual-carbon policies may become the key to the efforts of all parties. After the end of 2021, can the "8 consecutive declines" market stop in 2021? How will the heavy-duty truck market start in 2022? Truck players will keep an eye on it. (Text/Li Haiqiang)