First come first! Interview with Geely Zhou Jianqun: In the next five years, it will become a leading enterprise in the commercial vehicle industry

Recently, a news of "the change of the chairman of Geely Commercial Vehicle Group" has attracted widespread attention from all parties. After Zhou Jianqun takes office, what impact will it have on the development of Geely Commercial Vehicle Group? At present, what is geely's latest development in the field of new energy commercial vehicles? What will be achieved in the future?

Zhou Jianqun, the new chairman of Geely Commercial Vehicle Group, was interviewed exclusively by China Industry And Information Industry Network and Made in China on the above issues.

Geely Commercial Vehicle Group's two "characteristic routes"

In 2010, after Geely Holdings successfully acquired volvo cars (hereinafter referred to as "Volvo"), the world luxury car brand, it has integrated with Volvo in terms of enterprise operation system, enterprise management system and enterprise operation mode, and gradually integrated with international standards.

For the adjustment of the management structure of Geely Commercial Vehicle Group this time, Zhou Jianqun interpreted it like this, "After adjusting the management structure, it will be more conducive to the long-term and steady development of the enterprise and better change to the governance structure of professional managers." "Geely Commercial Vehicle Group's strategic development route will not change substantially, but will be more thoroughly implemented.

Geely Holdings has been in the commercial vehicle field for a long time. As early as 2013, when Geely Holdings acquired the British Manganese Copper Company (later renamed "London Taxi") and the Emerald Company (the main body of lightweight design), it began to market layout for commercial vehicles.

In 2014, Zhou Jianqun was invited by Li Shufu to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Geely Holdings"), leading the establishment of Geely Commercial Vehicle Group. Prior to that, he was a director and general manager of Wanxiang Qianchao Co., Ltd., a director and vice president of the board of directors of Wanxiang Group, and had many years of rich experience in commercial vehicle management. At the same time, he also served as the vice president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and other positions, familiar with industry policies and development trends.

Geely Holdings wants to start doing commercial vehicles, the first thing to consider is what kind of technical route to choose, because the direction determines how far it can go in the future.

Geely Holdings chose to start directly from the new energy commercial vehicle, not only to value the encouragement of new energy technology and national policies, but also geely commercial vehicle Group has "everything in place" in all aspects of research and development, technology, production and sales.

In order to choose a correct industry direction, Zhou Jianqun and Li Shufu had several in-depth discussions. Through research, they agreed that the development of Geely Commercial Vehicle Group must take a "characteristic route":

First, commercial vehicles, which are mainly based on traditional fuel vehicles, do not conform to the future trend of China's economic and social development. So be sure to aim in the green smart direction.

Second, it is necessary to build a new generation of commercial vehicles on the basis of passenger cars. With the development of economy and society, the consumption structure of the mainland will certainly be closer and closer to developed countries, and the application of intelligent, comfort technology and active safety technology in passenger cars to the new generation of new energy commercial vehicles will win the future market.

"Geely Holdings has become the head of domestic passenger car enterprises, on this basis, grasp the opportunities of the commercial vehicle industry, there are more investment and development prospects and opportunities." Zhou Jianqun said.

Therefore, in 2014, Geely Holdings established a commercial vehicle project team. Subsequently, in March 2016, after Geely Holdings wholly acquired 100% of the equity of Dongfeng Nanchong, it invested in the construction of a new energy commercial vehicle production base and officially launched the new energy commercial vehicle brand "remote car".

Geely Commercial Vehicle Group's pace of going global has not slowed down. On December 27, 2017, Geely acquired a stake in Volvo Trucks Group and became its major shareholder, and on February 24, 2018, Geely acquired a stake in Daimler Benz Trucks Group, becoming its largest shareholder, and Geely Holding Group has basically achieved a strategic layout in the truck field.

"Looking back at this route today, in fact, it is equivalent to taking the 'Tesla' route of a commercial vehicle industry." Zhou Jianqun admired the foresight and accuracy of Li Shufu's choice that year.

In the next five years, it will become the leading enterprise of commercial vehicles

Identify the target and keep adding weight. At present, in the field of new energy commercial vehicles in China, Geely Commercial Vehicle Group started the earliest. Moreover, it has also established China's largest new energy commercial vehicle research institute with research and development as the forerunner, with more than 2,000 people jointly conducting research around green and intelligent commercial vehicle technology.

"Automobile projects are not supported by research and development, and it is not far to go without research and development investment as a precursor." Zhou Jianqun pointed out that Geely Commercial Vehicle Group can develop so quickly, which has a huge relationship with the importance attached to the R&D team and the investment in research and development. At present, Geely Commercial Vehicle Group has formed the basic strategic framework of "12225":

"1" Vision: Create intelligent interconnection and lead green commercialization.

"2" features: commercial vehicle development positioning based on passenger cars, and product positioning with the newly developed new energy power system as the core.

"2" major core technology route: urban commercial vehicle technical route with pure electric drive and extended range electric drive as the core; highway commercial vehicle technology route with liquid hydrogen energy methanol power and pure electric drive with power exchange technology as the core.

"2" R&D Center: Relying on the Central Research Institute of Geely Holding Group, a Hangzhou R&D center focusing on the development of new energy and intelligent technologies for commercial vehicles has been established.

"5" large product line: the whole vehicle has formed a full range of commercial vehicle products based on urban commercial vehicles and taking into account highway commercial vehicles, covering a series of products such as heavy trucks, light trucks, small micro trucks, LCVs, and buses.

In 2021, Geely Commercial Vehicle Group, on the basis of the previous "12225" strategy, officially began to implement the "1233" market ecological strategy. Zhou Jianqun said that "1" and "2" are also the vision and "characteristic routes" of Geely Commercial Vehicle Group. The two "3s" are Geely Commercial Vehicle Group's implementation of "three strategic synergies" based on "three platforms" to open up the market ecology.

At present, geely commercial vehicle group is accelerating the promotion of a new generation of commercial vehicles according to innovative business models, relying on the three platforms of green Huilian, all-weather friendliness and sunshine Mingdao, accelerating the replacement of traditional fuel vehicles, and carrying out strategic synergy between vehicles and goods, vehicles and energy, and vehicles and the environment.

The latest data shows that in 2021, the overall sales of long-distance vehicles increased by 288% year-on-year. Among them, the new energy heavy truck increased by 369.9%, ranking first in the industry in the target market of new energy heavy trucks; the new energy light truck increased by 460.6% year-on-year, and the sales volume ranked first in the industry; the zengcheng light truck increased by 372.0% year-on-year, maintaining an absolute market segment for three consecutive years.

"Geely Commercial Vehicle Group's goal is to be the head position and the forefront of market share", Zhou Jianqun told reporters, Geely Commercial Vehicle Group positioned itself as "the Tesla of the commercial vehicle industry". It is precisely because of years of research and development accumulation and mature electrification and intelligent technology in the field of passenger cars as the foundation, there is sufficient confidence, in the next five years, Geely must be the head of the commercial vehicle industry, must be the leader of a new generation of commercial vehicles.

Editor: Zhu Yansheng Guo Aochan