Text/Shinoda
The Japanese glass heart is broken again! This time is because Japanese car companies intend to purchase electric vehicle batteries from China and South Korea, and Japanese netizens believe that their automotive industry is one of the best in the world, how can they even produce low-cost batteries, they are worried that in the long run, Japan will be forced by China and South Korea.
According to the Global Network quoted by Japanese media reports, a few days ago, a source revealed the battery procurement plan of Japan's Honda electric vehicles. It is reported that in order to achieve honda's goal of only selling electric vehicles by 2040, it is looking for ways to purchase batteries at low prices and in large quantities. They plan to purchase batteries from Chinese and Korean companies for three major markets, among which the Japanese domestic market and China, the world's largest automotive market, will use the on-board batteries of The Chinese enterprise Vision Power and the Ningde era respectively, while the North American market will choose to purchase batteries from South Korea's LG company.
The reason why Japanese car companies choose to purchase batteries from China and South Korea is because under the same performance standards, Japanese companies have higher battery cost technology and do not have the strength to compete with China and South Korea. It is reported that in addition to allowing various production bases to purchase parts from Chinese and Korean companies nearby, Honda is also stepping up research and development of a new generation of batteries with a longer battery life.
As soon as the news that Honda's three major markets will use Chinese and Korean batteries came out, it caused great concern, and the glass hearts of Japanese netizens were broken. The Japanese have always believed that their country's automotive industry is in a leading position in the world, and they can't imagine that Japanese car companies should purchase batteries from China and South Korea. Some netizens believe that this news is "very humiliating", and Japanese companies seem to have forgotten that low-cost manufacturing is a technology. Some netizens said bluntly that if Japan cannot develop a battery with an "overwhelming advantage", it will be "suppressed" by China and South Korea. There are even fears that the Japanese auto industry will repeat the mistakes of the semiconductor field.
The reason why the Japanese are so sensitive to this news is because Japan has always been unable to deal with China and South Korea, and now the proud automotive industry has to be pinched by China and South Korea, and they are naturally not happy. In particular, even the Japanese domestic market uses Chinese batteries, which makes them feel ashamed and angry. In addition, for some time, the war of words between Japan and South Korea has been uninterrupted, and Koreans have made great efforts to boycott Japanese goods, while Japanese car companies have to send large orders to Korean companies.
In addition to fearing being compared to their two neighbors, the Japanese are also afraid that today's premier auto industry will decline as much as the semiconductor sector did then. In the 1980s, Japan occupied half of the world's semiconductors, and it was brilliant. Then, Japanese companies failed to seize the opportunity to make business changes, nor did they reduce production costs through industrial standardization, and they were suppressed by the United States, so they were gradually defeated by other competitors.
Nowadays, when electric vehicles are booming, the market of Japanese car companies has indeed been impacted, and they have turned to Chinese and Korean batteries in order to catch up in the field of new energy vehicles. High globalization has become a feature and trend of the current era, and cooperation between Japan and China and South Korea is inevitable, so Japanese people need to look at it with a calm mind. As for what the Japanese fear of being compared to China, this is completely unnecessary, because in many respects Japan is far inferior to China, and they should accept this fact as soon as possible.