Core Introduction:
1) Volvo is the world's second largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer, with 166,800 vehicles sold in 2020 and the group achieving revenue of 2.4 trillion yuan;
2) Volvo products are positioned as high-end, global sales, Volvo F-series models have the highest sales, mainly high horsepower; among them, the FH models are Volvo classic models, which have lasted for 5 generations and have endured for a long time;
3) Volvo's layout on the "new four modernizations" is also very early, striving to become a pure electric vehicle company in 30 years in electrification; realizing the commercialization of automatic driving in semi-closed scenarios in intelligence; and reducing costs for customers through the "Renwoxing" fleet management system in the network.
Source | Yunlian Think Tank (ID: tucmedia), author | Zhang Qi, Editor, | Small L
Domestically, Volvo Trucks is the most popular and highest-selling imported truck brand, selling much more than Scania, Mercedes-Benz and GermanMan. Volvo is also the first truck brand to propose full localization production, and it is believed that its market share will further expand with local production in the future. As the beginning of the "Special Topic of Automobile Companies" of the Institute of Transport And Connectivity, this article will analyze Volvo from the perspective of Volvo products and market positioning, and analyze the secret of its success.
1. Basic overview
1.1 The world's second largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer
Volvo Group is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial transport and construction equipment, providing a complete range of solutions for trucks, buses, construction equipment, ships, engines, as well as finance and after-sales services, and is the world's second largest producer of heavy-duty trucks. The Group has 12 major sub-brands, factories in 18 countries and sales to 190 markets. Truck-related brands in the sub-brands are volvo, Mack, UD and Renault Truck models.
In 2015, Volvo Group and Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. jointly invested in the formation of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd., a commercial vehicle joint venture with a 45% to 55% ratio, of which Dongfeng Products is a brand of the joint venture.
1.2 Volvo Trucks sold 166,800 units in 2020
In 2020, Volvo Trucks sold a total of 166,800 units, mainly heavy-duty truck sales, accounting for 84.35% of the total, of which 140,700 units. Compared with the truck sales in the past 5 years, in addition to the serious decline in sales in the past 20 years due to the impact of the epidemic, the annual truck sales have basically remained at about 200,000 units, and there is a slight growth trend.
Volvo Trucks is sold primarily in Europe, North America, Asia, South America and Africa & Oceania. In 2020, Volvo Trucks sold 79,800 units, or 47.8%, in Europe, followed by North America and Asia with 32,000 units and 27,000 units, respectively.
Among the various strains, the Volvo strain sold the largest in 2020 with 93,800 units, followed by the Renault Truck strain with 41,100 units, with the two strains accounting for 80.87% of the total sales. The Volvo strain has the highest market share in Brazil, reaching more than 20%, and the lowest market share in North America, less than 10%; the Mack strain has an average market share of 8% in North America and 7% in Australia; the UD strain has the highest market share in Japan, averaging 18%, and Australia has the lowest market share, with an average of 3%. The average market share of the Renault Trucks strain in Europe is 8%.
1.3 In 2020, the group's revenue was 2.4 trillion yuan
In 2020, Volvo Group's revenue was 2.4 trillion yuan. Compared with the group's revenue in the past 5 years, in addition to the sharp decline in revenue in 2020, the revenue in the first 4 years was in a stable growth state. Among them, the revenue of the truck sector was 1.46 trillion yuan, accounting for 61.53% of the group's overall revenue; followed by the engineering equipment sector, with a revenue of 0.57 trillion yuan, accounting for 23.8% of the group's overall revenue. The Group's revenue is mainly derived from the truck segment.
Among the truck segments, Europe had the highest revenue, contributing 647.68 billion yuan, accounting for 40.0% of the total truck segment revenue. It was followed by North America, with revenue of 365.84 billion yuan, accounting for 25.0% of the total truck segment revenue. Compared with the regional revenue in the past 5 years, the proportion of revenue in each region has not changed much, and the revenue from Europe has basically remained at about 40%.
In addition, in 2020, the Group's R&D expenditure was 1.18 trillion yuan, accounting for 5% of total revenue. Compared with the R&D expenditure in the past 5 years, the group's R&D expenditure in the past 5 years has basically stabilized at about 1 trillion yuan, accounting for about 5% of the total revenue.
Compared with the R&D expenditure between Volvo, PACCAR, Scania and Daimler, Daimler's R&D expenditure was the highest, reaching 11.52 billion yuan, followed by Scania, with R&D expenditure of 5.31 billion yuan, and Volvo was the least, only 1.17 billion yuan. At the same time, compared with the proportion of R&D expenditure (total revenue), Volvo, Scania and Daimler's R& D expenditure accounted for about 5%, while PACCAR's R& D expenditure accounted for the lowest proportion, only 1.6%.
2. Product matrix
2.1 Product positioning: high-end, global sales
The group's four truck brands are positioned differently. Volvo F-series, Renault series, Mack series are positioned as high-end products, global sales; Volvo V-series is positioned as high-end products, regional sales; and UD Truck series is positioned as mid-range products, global sales.
Among the four truck brands, the Volvo series has the highest sales volume. The Volvo strain consists of 12 models, including 9 tractors, 3 trucks, and 4 models of FH, FH16, FM and FMX series. Different models are sold in different regions, with the Volvo F-series sold globally and the V-Series mainly sold in North America. The main models sold in Asia are the Volvo F-series, including the well-known Volvo FH and Volvo FM series models.
2.2 Volvo F-Series: High-horsepower models
The Volvo F-series is mainly equipped with Volvo's self-developed D series engines, with a displacement of 13 liters and horsepower ranging from 330 to 750 horsepower. For example, the FH series is mainly medium and long-distance vehicles, with D13K engines or D16K engines, horsepower 420, 460, 500 and 540 horsepower, FH16 series can even choose 750 horsepower models.
The volvo F-series has five main types of cabs, namely short cabs, day cabs, sleeper cabs, double-row cabs, and space cockpit cabs. FH series models are commonly used in medium and long-distance trunks, the cab is mainly based on sleeper cabs and spaceship cabs, and the FMX series is mainly for engineering vehicles, so the cab has a sleeper cab and a space capsule cab, as well as a short cab, a day cab and a double-row cab.
2.3 FH model: a classic model that has lasted for 5 generations
The Volvo FH series is a Volvo classic and has undergone 5 evolutions since 1993. The original Volvo FH was born in 1993 with a new chassis, a new cab, a D12A engine, and 470 hp. Subsequently, airbags, FUPS (Front and Lower Collision Protection) and electric brake systems were added. In 2001, volvo FH II was launched, with I-Shift gearbox and ESP (including ABS and ASR), I-Shift gearbox has endured for a long time, and it is still used until the fifth generation of FH. The ACC (Active Cruise System) was added in 2003 and fuel monitoring was added in 2006. In 2008, the third generation of FH was introduced, and in 2012, the fourth generation of FH was introduced, with only four years in between, adding DAS (Driver Alarm System), Anti-Collision Emergency Braking and VDS (Volvo Dynamic Steering System). Five years later, in 2017, the FH fifth-generation LNG model was launched.
Taking the Volvo FH16 model as an example, the FH16 is mainly suitable for medium and long-distance and engineering scenarios. Equipped with I-Shift gearbox and D16K engine, it is mainly high horsepower, 550, 650 and 750 horsepower. There are three main types of cabs, the cockpit cab, the sleeper cab and the low-top sleeper cab. It can be a two-axle, three-axle, four-axle truck, or a two-axle, three-axle tractor. There are three highlights of the FH 16 model, highlight 1 is equipped with D16K engine, horsepower up to 750 horsepower; highlight 2 is the total weight of the car and cargo up to 325 tons, strong bearing capacity; highlight 3 is equipped with Volvo dynamic steering system, which can improve the safety driving coefficient of the vehicle.
3. New four-way layout
3.1 Electrification strategy: Strive to become a pure electric vehicle company in 30 years
When the wave of "new four modernizations" swept the world in 2020, Volvo has been exploring the road of "new four modernizations" for 5 years. Volvo launched its electrification strategy in 2015, fully introducing plug-in hybrid systems and developing a whole new line of small electrified vehicles, with mass production and sales in 2019. In 2019, the "2040 Environmental Plan" was released, aiming to develop into a climate zero-load benchmarking enterprise by 2040, and developed battery packs for truck products with the Samsung SDI Alliance. In 2020, we will develop fuel cell systems with Daimler and expand our lineup of pure electric trucks, including heavy-duty trucks, and start testing work on all-electric FH, FM and FMX models.
Volvo plans to fully electrify and pure electric models by 50% in 2025, and the pure electric models sold online will reach 50% of the overall sales; strive to become a pure electric luxury car company in 2030, only selling pure electric models, and become a climate zero-load benchmark enterprise in 2040, and all pure electric models will only be sold online.
In terms of electric trucks, FL Electric and FE Electric will be launched in 2019, VNR Electric will be launched in 2020, and mass production of FH series, FM series and FMX series heavy-duty electric trucks will begin in 2022. Take, for example, the VNR Electric model, which is suitable for regional transportation, went on sale on December 3, 2020, and is mainly sold in the United States and Canada. The series of models mainly has 4*2 and 6*2 models, with a driving range of 150 kilometers, an output power of 264kWh, and a full charge of 80% of the power in 70 minutes.
3.2 Intelligent strategy: Semi-closed scenarios to achieve commercialization of autonomous driving
In 2016, the Volvo FMX self-driving truck was tested in a mine shaft 1320 meters underground in northern Sweden, the world's first underground mine self-driving truck; in 2017, it partnered with Swedish scrap recycling company RENOVA to develop an autonomous garbage truck, and every subsequent year it will launch products or systems related to intelligence. On 1 January 2020, Volvo's Autonomous Driving Solutions division was established to meet the growing demand in areas such as mining, transportation between ports and logistics centers.
At present, Volvo Trucks has mainly completed the commercialization of autonomous driving in semi-closed scenarios such as deep mining, garbage recycling, crop harvesting, and specific long-distance transportation, but has not yet achieved commercialization in open scenarios. So far, no autonomous driving company has completed the commercialization of open scenarios, and the commercialization of autonomous driving in open scenarios still requires a period of exploration.
3.3 Networking strategy: "Renwoxing" fleet management system
Volvo Trucks' networked application is mainly reflected in the "Renwohang" fleet management system. The "Renwoxing" fleet management system includes Dynafleet service, that is, the driver scoring system and the Volvo Connect management system. Volvo Trucks has refined the assessment criteria into a total of 11 driving codes in four categories, including predictive braking, speed matching, engine and transmission utilization, and idle speed, and established an assessment mechanism. At the same time, trucks can achieve continuous self-monitoring, such as vehicle weight, urea sales, high and low gear, cruise, etc., and can also carry out ETC, oil and other management.
Volvo Connect uses the Dynafleet service on tablets and mobile phones to manage multiple fleets, with all information queried in real time. The biggest core value of the "Renwoxing" fleet management system is to reduce the management cost of the fleet by helping the team reduce fuel costs and driver costs.