In 2022, the first year of new energy for joint venture car companies?

The new energy vehicle market in 2022 is about to usher in a new force, and the joint venture car companies that have been "accompanying the run" will fully enter the main track. Volkswagen, GM, Toyota and BBA will launch a number of new cars in China based on the new pure electric exclusive platform. Different from the previous "oil to electricity", this time each family has come up with hard weapons that have been polished for several years.

German-American-Japanese systems broke out en masse

According to the Association of Passenger Vehicles, the cumulative sales of new energy passenger vehicles in 2021 reached 2.899 million units, an increase of 169.1% compared with the scale of 1.111 million units a year ago, which was almost twice as large as expected. What's more, this increase is 38 times that of the passenger car market in the same period, and the market penetration rate is close to 15%, almost 3 times that of a year ago. The association previously expected that the sales of new energy passenger vehicles will reach 4.8 million units in 2022, and has now been raised to 5.5 million units, increasing the penetration rate to 25%. The joint venture car companies seem to have foreseen this trend.

At the end of last year, Mercedes fired its first shots. Mercedes-Benz luxury D-class pure electric sedan EQS officially landed in the Chinese market, this car is Mercedes-Benz's first electric vehicle based on a pure electric platform. "In 2022, we will launch 21 new products covering a wide range of power options, including 8 pure electric and plug-in hybrid models, accelerating the transition to electrification and intelligence," said Yang Ming, president and CEO of Beijing Benz Sales & Service. BMW will continue to increase its sales of 48,000 new energy vehicles in 2021. According to the plan, in 2022, BMW will launch five pure electric models in the Chinese market, including BMW iX, BMW i4, and pure electric BMW 3 Series produced in Shenyang. By the end of 2023, the BMW Group will offer around 13 pure electric products in the Chinese market; by 2025, a quarter of sales in the Chinese market will be pure electric vehicles. In the BBA, electrification is also a strategic focus for the Audi brand in 2022. With the release of the first MEB models, including the Q4 e-tron, Q5 e-tron, Audi's first "Roadjet" and e-tron GT, the New Energy Models of the Audi brand will also be fully strengthened. Globally, by 2025, Audi plans to launch 30 electric models, of which more than 20 are pure electric models.

In terms of Volkswagen, the Volkswagen ID. series aims to sell 140,000 vehicles in China in 2022, which is a goal of doubling from 2021. This year, Volkswagen's third pure electric vehicle plant in China, the Volkswagen Anhui MEB plant, is expected to be completed, and the first model will be put into operation in the second half of 2023. Volkswagen will also build 17,000 high-power charging piles through cooperation with Kämmes.

GM is committed to promoting the sales of pure electric vehicles worldwide, and the newly developed Ultium platform, as the core of the company's electrification strategy, will cover a wide range of market segments from mass to high-performance models. GM has adopted a two-step strategy in China: the first step is to build a global electric vehicle platform, deploy the Ultium platform in China, and the first electric vehicle Cadillac's LYRIQ will be launched in both China and the United States in 2022; the second step is to continue to promote cooperation between GM and SAIC to launch more products with the help of small electric vehicle platforms.

2022 is also very critical for Toyota China, with two new energy vehicle plants completed and put into operation in the middle of the year, North and South Toyota will aim at Toyota's annual production capacity target of 2 million units in China, and Toyota's investment in China's new energy vehicle production capacity will also be doubled. GAC Toyota expects to invest 11.3 billion yuan to produce 400,000 new energy vehicle projects in 2022, and many new models are expected to be launched in China in 2022.

The frontal stranding of chinese and foreign forces

According to the data of the Association, in December 2021, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury vehicles was 32.7%, but the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in mainstream joint venture brands was only 3.3%. "The new power enterprises have come from the 'Spring and Autumn Period' to the 'Warring States Era' and are about to enter the stage of new car manufacturing 2.0." In the view of industry insiders, in 2022, the internal roll between new car-making forces and traditional car companies will be accelerated.

Judging from the trend of the development of the global automotive industry, all of Europe will switch to electric vehicles in 2035, and electrification is the trend of the times. If joint venture car companies want to participate in the competition, they must build new energy vehicle factories, develop new energy vehicle platforms and production lines, and accelerate the completion of transformation to enhance their competitiveness in the Chinese market and the world market. Ren Wanfu, an analyst in the automotive industry, believes that the observation and waiting period of the joint venture has passed, and it needs rapid development to keep up with the pace of industrial change, and increasing the production capacity of new energy vehicles has become inevitable.

"Joint venture car companies have gathered to expand the production of new energy models, mainly to compete for the following two types of users: one is to choose between the joint venture hybrid model and the domestic car; the other is to choose between the joint venture pure electric model and the domestic pure electric model. With the substantial increase in the recognition of new energy vehicles by domestic users, joint venture car companies competing for new energy vehicle users will put pressure on the new and old forces of domestic new energy vehicles. Cao Guangping, an independent researcher in the new energy automobile industry, told the China Times reporter.

Zhang Yongwei, vice chairman and secretary general of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association, pointed out that at present, there are five forces in the domestic automotive industry that are participating in the transformation and upgrading of electrification. He believes that the first type is the new car-making force group that has been recognized by the market, after several years of development, these companies have formed their own competitiveness, and the follow-up performance is also worth looking forward to; the second type is the second echelon of new car-making forces, as more and more participants enter, the rules of the market are changing, they also began to appear opportunities; the electric vehicle business developed by traditional automobile companies themselves, as well as the new electric vehicle force composed of multinational companies, is also becoming the third and fourth type of participating forces that cannot be ignored; in addition The crossovers that are constantly entering are also becoming the fifth type of power group.

In Zhang Yongwei's view, the window opportunity to enter the new energy automobile industry has not been closed, a large number of capital and enterprises are also pouring in, 2022 will become a key year for the development of the new energy automobile industry, and the future development pressure of the unwinned will become greater. Xiao Yaqing, minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the press conference of the State Council New Office a few days ago that the number of new energy vehicle companies is too large and is in a small and scattered situation, and it is necessary to give full play to the role of the market, encourage enterprise mergers and reorganizations to become bigger and stronger, and further improve industrial concentration.

Independent brands and new car-making forces are the pioneers of China's new energy vehicles, from breaking the stereotype to pushing up the market, many car companies have died nine times, making China the world's highest-selling and most mature new energy vehicle market. But it has to be said that the market without the participation of joint venture car companies is incomplete, whether it is "yellow bird behind" or "catfish effect", I believe that only sufficient competition can quench the strong.

Responsible Editor: Li Yan'an Editor-in-Chief: Yu Jianping