The new energy automobile industry is breaking the boundaries of the traditional supply chain, and home appliance companies see opportunities to enter the game.
A few days ago, a new company invested and established by the domestic home appliance giant Midea Group settled in Anqing, Anhui. Qixinbao information shows that the company's registered capital is 200 million yuan, which is indirectly wholly owned by Guangdong Welling Auto Parts Co., Ltd., which is an auto parts manufacturer jointly held by Midea Group and Foshan Midea Air Conditioning Industrial Investment Co., Ltd.
At the same time as the new company lands, Midea will also plan to build a new production base at the same time. The further expansion of the territory has also given Midea higher expectations for the development of its auto parts business.
"Midea's auto parts business will officially usher in the 'take-off' inflection point this year, with the goal of breaking into the supply chain system of half of the world's mainstream new energy vehicle customers." Chen Jintao, general manager of Midea Welling Auto Parts, said publicly that in the next decade, Midea will also invest 1 billion US dollars in technical research and is committed to becoming a system-level solution supplier for new energy vehicles.
In fact, the home appliance companies that want to share a piece of the "automotive circle" are not only beautiful, including TCL, Hisense, Haier, Skyworth and other home appliance giants are accelerating their investment in the new energy automobile industry and seeking new momentum for their own development. However, some people believe that in the face of the squeeze of Tier1 suppliers such as Bosch and Continental, and the catch-up of Internet companies such as Xiaomi and Baidu, there is not much space left for home appliance companies in the industrial chain.
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Compared with the high profile of Internet companies, Midea is slightly low-key on the road to entering the automotive supply chain.
At the end of 2021, midea group's mechanical and electrical business group was officially renamed "midea's industrial technology". For the name change, Fu Yongjun, vice president of Midea Group and president of Midea's industrial technology, explained that this is based on the development needs of enterprises, and midea's mechanical and electrical business group has been carrying out new industrial layout and business boundary expansion in the past 5 years, and the core components of automobiles are the focus.
"The core of The United States' business ideas in the next few years is to promote new growth with new strategies, and the industrial layout of new energy vehicles is a very important strategic direction for the future of the United States." Fang Hongbo, chairman and president of Midea Group, said.
In fact, as early as 2018, Midea Group established an auto parts company and operated under the "Welling" brand. Midea's first product tentacles reached the field of automotive components earlier. In 2016, Midea began developing electric compressors for automotive applications, and was the first manufacturer in the world to introduce rotary compressors to the automotive field. As of the beginning of 2022, the sales scale of Midea's auto parts product line has reached the order of 10 million yuan.
But such achievements have not alleviated the anxiety of the ambush army. In his view, midea from the home appliance industry into the automotive industry, the challenge is actually very large. This challenge does not come from the technology itself, but from Midea, as a new entrant, and it takes time to build customer acceptance. "In 2021, our sales are still very small, only tens of millions of orders of magnitude. So time is a very big issue. At the same time, the development speed of new energy vehicles is very fast, and this time cannot wait. Fu Yongjun said.
In order to get stuck in advance in the supply chain of new energy vehicles, Midea has adopted a parallel development route of self-research and acquisition, and selected the existing pain points of new energy vehicle products in the direction of products, enlarging its advantages in the mechanical and electrical industry chain. From the perspective of midea's relevant layout in the field of auto parts, its ambition may not be limited to "entering the game", but intends to find a new business growth pole through the switching of the track.
Chen Jintao said that Midea's auto parts business mainly revolves around three aspects, namely electric drive system, thermal management and intelligent driving execution and control system. Among them, the core components of the thermal management system are currently one of the most powerful products of midea.
It is worth mentioning that the thermal management system of new energy vehicles is different from that of traditional cars. Compared with fuel vehicles, the thermal management system of new energy vehicles is not only more complex and more demanding, but also the value of its bicycles is exponentially higher than that of fuel vehicles. At present, the bicycle value of a set of traditional fuel vehicle thermal management system is about 2300 yuan, while the cost of a new energy vehicle thermal management system equipped with a "heat pump" is about 7900 yuan, and the difference between the two is more than three times. According to public data, by 2025, the market size of electric drive, thermal management and intelligent driving in China will exceed 100 billion yuan, and the global market size will exceed 300 billion yuan. And this may mean that the tracks that Midea cuts into will bring it a huge profit return.
Not only that, in March 2020, Midea Group acquired a controlling stake in Hekang Xinneng through its subsidiary Midea HVAC. As a manufacturer of traditional high- and low-voltage inverters, Hekang Xinneng is more attractive to mid-term or its layout in the field of new energy vehicles. It is understood that Hekang New Energy's business also includes the provision of new energy vehicle powertrain, motor controller, auxiliary power system, electric vehicle intelligent charging pile and new energy vehicle leasing platform construction and other products and services. At present, in the powertrain and key components of new energy vehicles, Hekang New Energy related products have formed supporting relationships with many mainstream domestic car manufacturers such as FAW and Jachuai.
In addition, Midea's Meiren Semiconductor Company has entered the field of automotive chips in the second half of 2018 and began mass production in 2021, mainly producing chip types for MCU control chips, and its annual output in 2021 is about 10 million.
The well-planned layout of the industrial chain makes Midea also have higher expectations for its auto parts business. "In 2022 we are at a relatively mature stage. Customers in the automotive industry are project-based, and as customers (new models) begin to mass-produce, our products have also begun to be listed in large quantities, and Midea's auto parts business has officially come to the inflection point of take-off. Chen Jintao said that Midea's auto parts business will be divided into "three steps", and this year's goal is to break into the supply chain of half of the world's mainstream new energy vehicle customers. In the next three years, Midea will strive to become a supplier of system-level solutions for new energy vehicles. In the next decade, Midea's auto parts business will also invest $1 billion in technology research and development.
Home appliance companies
Scrambling to pour into the car-making track "Nuggets"
At present, the home appliance companies that want to share a piece of the "auto circle" are not only beautiful, including Gree, Hisense, Haier, Skyworth and other home appliance giants have accelerated their investment in the new energy automobile industry.
In March 2021, Hisense spent 1.3 billion yuan to become the controlling shareholder of Japan's Sanden Holdings. As a world-renowned supplier of automotive air conditioning compressors and air conditioning systems, Sanda's automotive air conditioning compressors ranked second in global market share in 2019. Hisense, which completed the acquisition, also officially announced its plans to enter the field of automotive electronics. "Hisense's positioning is very clear, that is, to serve the main engine factory and be a first-class supplier of key components and solutions for smart cars." Liu Hongju, deputy director of hisense Automotive Electronics Research Institute, said publicly.
Coincidentally, TCL's goal is also to become a provider of key devices for new energy vehicles, but it is currently paying more attention to areas such as in-vehicle displays. It is understood that the FHD products developed by TCL Huaxing have achieved mass production on BYD Han models. TCL Venture Capital Group has also invested in a number of industry chain related enterprises, including many leading enterprises in the Industry such as CATL, LiDAR Company Innoviz, and Zhongke Cambrian.
Some analysts believe that the current automobile market is not limited to the traditional mechanical part, but also pays more attention to software and technology, home appliance companies have rich applications in the field of electronic products and software, "The United States" believes that this is an excellent opportunity. From the perspective of the overall layout direction, home appliance companies also take the existing advantageous industries as the main incision for their entry into the automotive field. For example, Midea, which specializes in thermal management systems and core components of electric drives, has nearly 30 years of technical accumulation in the field of electromechanical, and its annual output of air-conditioning compressors is close to 100 million units, and its global market share exceeds 40%; In the global 8K TV field, TCL Huaxing has a global market share of more than 40%.
Although their respective advantages are different, the purpose of home appliance companies to enter the automotive industry may be basically the same. According to the "2020 China Home Appliance Market Report" released by the China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute, the retail sales of the mainland home appliance market in 2020 will be 833.3 billion yuan, down 6.5% year-on-year. This is the second consecutive year that the mainland home appliance market has suffered setbacks since 2019. This means that home appliance companies are looking at the huge potential behind the new energy automobile industry.
However, there are also views that compared with traditional Tier1 suppliers such as Bosch and Continental, the resources and technical strength of home appliance companies in the automotive field are not dominant. In terms of ecological construction and empowerment, its comprehensive capabilities are not as good as ICT (instant messaging technology) companies such as Huawei and Internet companies such as Xiaomi and Baidu. Can home appliance companies finally gain a foothold in the automotive supply chain? Perhaps only time will give the answer.