Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi Technology, announced Xiaomi's entry into the automotive field
Yu Chengdong, Managing Director of Huawei, introduced the Q&C M5
Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC Motor, is man-made in everything, and in this era of pervasive network penetration, the human factor plays a more important role. To this end, Beiqing Automobile has also selected ten "auto people" who are worth recording in the development of the automotive industry in 2021. Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and where there are rivers and lakes, there are heroes who pity each other, and there are also people who pity each other with the same disease. Beiqing Automobile "CP" ten Auto people into five groups. These five groups of characters, some proud and some frustrated, are behind the various extraordinary aspects of the automotive industry in 2021.
CP1
Change the car from the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain
●Ningde era, Zeng Yuqun
In 2021, the "wealth-making" ability of the new energy automobile industry chain is getting stronger and stronger, and the leading power battery enterprise Ningde Times has gained 67.55% throughout the year, sending its chairman Zeng Yuqun to the top of various wealth lists.
According to estimates, the equity of Ningde Times held by Zeng Yuqun is worth more than 300 billion yuan, and the same value is the huge influence of Ningde Times in the field of new energy vehicles. In the power battery sector, as of November 2021, CATL has occupied a 31.8% share of the global power battery market.
The Ningde era, which has firmly sat on the core supplier, is also constantly infiltrating into the downstream of the industrial chain. In May 2021, CATL acquired a 0.3% stake in AIWAYS Automobile through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Winding Investment Co., Ltd., and in August, CATL also led the Pre-A round of financing for Geely's Extreme Kr Automobile. In November, CATL increased its capital by 770 million yuan to invest in Avita, a high-end electrification brand under Changan Automobile, becoming its second largest shareholder in one fell swoop.
In addition, at the beginning of 2022, CATL released EVOGO, a power replacement brand based on the rapid replenishment of electric vehicles, entering the market that has been dominated by electric vehicle manufacturers as a power battery manufacturer. Considering that the Ningde era has a market share of more than 50% in the domestic market, the "Ning Wang" will shake its arms and the power exchange market will rise.
● Xiaomi Lei Jun
"Xiaomi has 108 billion yuan in cash reserves." In order to build a car and post the deposit in his hand, Xiaomi Technology CEO Lei Jun's approach is simple and direct.
At the Xiaomi Spring New Product Launch conference on March 30 last year, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi will enter the field of smart electric vehicles. And the official said that a wholly-owned subsidiary will be established to be responsible for the intelligent electric vehicle business, led by Lei Jun himself, with an initial investment of 10 billion yuan and a plan to invest $10 billion in the next ten years. As a result, Xiaomi officially entered the field of car manufacturing.
Neither the identity of the supplier nor the identity of the investor, Xiaomi is a pure Internet company into the ranks of car manufacturing. The most advantageous point is that it has a very complete ecological chain. Shortly after the official announcement of the car, Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun revealed in a live broadcast that Xiaomi's car will be equipped with Xiaomi's "family barrel", that is, Xiaomi's full set of intelligent configurations, such as air conditioning, purifiers, fresh air systems, humidifiers, refrigeration water, etc., all from the Xiaomi ecological chain. It is conceivable that these elements will bring a new way of playing to Xiaomi's car.
CP2
The "soul" of the car
●Huawei Yu Chengdong
Although Huawei has repeatedly said in public that it "does not build cars", at the Huawei winter new product launch on December 23 last year, those who can enjoy the "single link, single product" treatment, in addition to a flagship folding mobile phone, is the first new car of the AITO brand, the M5.
Introducing the M5 to the audience is Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, who is also Huawei's "spokesperson" in the automotive circle. In May 2021, Huawei released Yu Chengdong's latest titles: Managing Director, CEO of Consumer BG, and CEO of Smart Vehicle Solution BU. In the following half a year, Yu Chengdong became a regular customer on behalf of Huawei to the automotive industry partners.
From the Polar Fox S Huawei HI version to Avita 11, Huawei made frequent moves in the automotive field last year, and Yu Chengdong continued to "speak" to Huawei in the automotive industry in various ways.
In contrast, the Q&I M5 can be counted as Huawei's "heart meat", this extended-range electric SUV, the pre-sale price range is 250,000-320,000 yuan. Yu Chengdong personally appeared on the scene and introduced the new car to the audience: "The chassis of our car is the chassis of a high-end MillionAire car" "Its front suspension is a double wishbone independent suspension, we see that many cars use The McPherson suspension in order to reduce costs, the driving experience is not GOOD" "Our mileage is basically three times that of normal electric vehicles, killing a number of pure electric vehicles. I have to say that Yu Chengdong's words that introduced auto products for the first time were full of aggression and caused a lot of heated discussions, but they also successfully brought the M5 to the focus of public opinion.
Although he once again reiterated that Huawei "does not build cars", from the perspective of Yu Chengdong's busyness and investment this year, Huawei, which "does not build cars", has "infinitely close to" car building.
●SAIC Chen Hong
As the head of China's most profitable listed car company, Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC Motor, has never lacked attention. But in 2021, Chen Hong's most "hot" appearance was also related to Huawei.
On June 30, 2021, at the SAIC shareholders' meeting, in response to a question from shareholders about whether SAIC would consider cooperating with third-party companies such as Huawei in autonomous driving, Chen Hong, who has just been reappointed as chairman of SAIC, said: "It is unacceptable for SAIC to cooperate with third-party companies like Huawei on autonomous driving. In this way, it becomes the soul, and SAIC becomes the body. SAIC wants to take its soul into its own hands. ”
This was the "theory of the soul" that provoked heated discussion at that time. There is no doubt that the volume of the SCO Group must master the core technology in its hands, as is the engine, gearbox and chassis of that year, as well as the future of automatic driving and intelligent networking.
So from a certain point of view, SAIC's rejection of Huawei is also not lacking in reason. The reason why Chen Hong is under pressure because of the "soul theory" is more because SAIC Group, especially SAIC's own brands, has rarely "shined" in the field of automatic driving and intelligent networking in the past two years. The original industry-leading "Zebra" intelligent car machine system was slapped down in a "back wave". Critics are not questioning that "SAIC wants to take the soul into its own hands," but are worried about where SAIC's "soul" is.
At the time of the "soul theory", Chen Hong had just been renewed. In the following six months, SAIC's R car was renamed Feifan Automobile and began to officially enter the market, and Zhiji Automobile's first product, L7, also started a road test. I don't know if SAIC can find a new "soul" this time.
CP3
High-end is the same way
● Jily Li Shufu
If you talk about Chinese automakers, who has gone the farthest on the road to high-end is Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group and chairman of Volvo Car Group. The much-anticipated acquisition of that year brought Li Shufu's Geely to the road of high-end, and in the next few years, the Geely brand became a "brother" of its own brand, the Lynk & Co brand gradually gained a foothold in the high-end market, and Volvo Cars achieved independent listing.
In April last year, with the release of the new high-end electrification brand Extreme Krypton, Li Shufu had another high-end trump card in his hand, and he also had a new title: chairman of Extreme Kr Intelligent Technology.
The extreme krypton, which was ostensibly born out of Lynk & Co's electrification plan, is actually the product of the vast architecture that Geely has worked hard to create. The Krypton brand is not only Geely's business unit focusing on high-end electrification, but also an attempt to operate users who are not good at traditional car companies. On the basis of the Lynk & Co model, Ji Kr has established a nanny-style user operation system similar to the new force, from the user community to the booking and delivery, to the use of cars and replenishment, although the size of the Extreme Kr brand is small, it has helped Geely Group enter a new field of high-end development.
● Great Wall, Wei Jianjun
At the beginning of the year, the tank brand was independent, at the end of the year, the salon new car was unveiled, the Wei brand opened a "café", and Euler raised a lot of "cats"... In the past year, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor, has seen that the enterprise he has established has completed the "old look for a new look".
No matter what people say about Great Wall Motors' multi-brand and multi-category strategies, and what kinds of discussions there are about various bizarre names and shapes, it is undeniable that Great Wall Motors has become "interesting".
Of course, it is also more high-end. Tank brand models have achieved a high premium with the positioning of "hardcore off-road", and the pricing range of Wei brand is also improving under the support of a series of hybrid "coffee" models. As for the salon that came late and "went the farthest", it directly entered the 500,000 yuan price range.
Now Wei Jianjun no longer has to stand for many of the Great Wall's products as before, but needs to consider more far-reaching issues. At the Great Wall Motor Science and Technology Festival in June last year, Wei Jianjun put forward the goal of "sales of 4 million vehicles in 2025, of which new energy vehicle sales account for more than 80% and operating income exceeds 600 billion yuan", which is from his sentence "Will Great Wall Motors survive next year?" The question of the soul has been less than a year.
CP4
Rub the boss's traffic
●Weilai Li Bin
"Why do people still buy gas trucks?" During the NIO DAY 2021 event last December, Weilai Chairman Li Bin asked a proud question.
Immediately, some people thought of another scene more than 1,000 years ago: hearing the news of famine, Sima Zheng, the Emperor of Jinhui, asked his courtiers: "Why don't you eat meat paste?"
Although the mark of 3 million vehicles per year was broken in 2021, the limitations of the popularity of new energy vehicles, especially pure electric vehicles, are still there. The problem of shrinking cruising range and insufficient charging facilities are all stubborn diseases that restrict consumers from purchasing pure electric vehicles.
Of course, most of Weilai's users are not in this list, because Weilai has more charging outlets, and there are one-key power-up, one-key power-changing and other services available. However, the average selling price of WEILAI is 428,000 yuan, and in terms of the income and consumption level of residents in the mainland, most consumers cannot afford the selling price of WEILAI, and naturally have no connection with these fast service methods.
But this is the real situation of most electric vehicle consumers, unfortunately, as the leader of the new domestic car-making forces, Li Bin "does not understand". Many young people have taken Li Bin, the person who "lived the most miserable" but did not give up, as an inspirational idol, and in the blink of an eye, if the same group of people found themselves as the object of Li Bin's "ridicule", they did not know how they would feel.
"Why not eat minced meat?" The person who said this is said to have a bit of a brain problem. Li Bin is a smart person, "Why do people still buy gas trucks?" "Such a question, or ask less good."
●Ideal Lee wants
Lee is known for wanting to love public intimidation. In the year of 2021 alone, there was first a "wish" in the mercury incident that the parties were "filled with mercury in their heads", and then there was the person in charge of Volkswagen China who questioned the technical route of the extended range hybrid technology route in the ideal ONE sales volume, and if you count the group car network that will be officially announced a few days ago, it has confirmed the name of the expert of the "scare" person in the car circle.
Unfortunately, li xiang, who loves people, has also been shaped by some people into a straight image of "going straight" and "saying something". But in fact, as the person in charge of a car company, Li wants to scare people these times, not completely reasonable, and even more devoid of grace. The "mercury incident" has not yet been publicly concluded, and the ideal of being a vehicle manufacturer is always a statement; the forced comparison of sales is considered to be a manifestation of lack of temperament, after all, the other party's views are completely centered on technology, and Li Xiang's remarks are pointing out names.
What is more interesting is that Li wants to "scare" people not because of his intentions, but because he is careful. At Huawei's new product launch at the end of December last year, Yu Chengdong directly criticized the three-cylinder extended range engine of friends: "At least four cylinders, buy a car must not buy a three-cylinder engine."
This time, Li, who was dissed by direct competitors, thought, and did not make a sound.
CP5
Front waves on the beach
● Evergrande Dai Lei
Evergrande's car building thing, I'm afraid it's going to be yellow. This is not unusual, but people familiar with the automotive circle will notice that this is another fold of Dai Lei, who returned as the "executive vice president of Evergrande Automobile".
From Infiniti to BMW, Dai Lei once had a smooth ride in the automotive industry. Unfortunately, Dai Lei, who embarked on the road of entrepreneurship, is difficult to continue the scenery of his career. Byton, who "lost" 8.4 billion yuan, is now only a mess, and Dai Lei has to leave his job and run away.
Surprisingly, at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show, Dai Lei returned to the public eye and his new identity was the executive vice president of Evergrande Automobile. What is slightly embarrassing is that Dai Lei, who has been in charge of the business of the two major luxury brands in China and first joined the new car-making forces, can only rank in the second row in the introduction of Evergrande Automobile's senior management team, and even the head portrait is half a size smaller.
What is even more lamentable is that after more than half a year of "condescending" sending people to the fence, the "fence" behind Dai Lei fell.
●Weima Shen Hui
In 2021, the sales volume of new power car companies will generally rise. When the leaders have unlimited scenery, Weima and its founder Shen Hui are an exception.
The original rumored April IPO failed to materialize, and the sales of several models were also far from Wei Xiaoli, even worse than rookie Nezha Cars and Zero-Run Cars. What is more serious is that in the past year, there have been a series of fires in WM motors: 4 fires in 9 and 10 months; 3 more cars caught fire in December.
The "power lock" incident that occurred next was considered to confirm the defect of WM's battery: in the winter when the battery life was severely reduced, WM limited the available power of the battery without notifying the user. In some cases, vehicles that originally had a nominal range of 400 kilometers could only have a usable range of more than 100 kilometers, which led to a large number of user complaints.
Industry insiders pointed out that the "power lock" is to protect the battery, and if it were not for the seriousness of the situation, Weimadang would not have taken such a policy.
Since the start of the trial car fire incident in 2018, the battery safety problem has been accompanied by WM, and there have been no less than 10 well-documented fire incidents, which has also made WM the most "fire" car-making new force.
Shen Hui, who came from a traditional automobile company and is well versed in the way of car manufacturing, has not been able to completely solve this stubborn disease of Weima in more than three years, so he has to sit back and watch Weima "get up early and catch up late". Text/Yang Zheng