The auto parts industry is as deep as the sea, if you can't break the parts and components, the key technology of the parts in their own hands, the manufacture of the whole vehicle is based on an invincible position.
"Domestic substitution" may become the fundamental evolution logic of the auto parts industry in the future.
The rise of the new energy automobile industry does make some parts have a certain degree of alternative innovation space, and the improvement of the vehicle must start from the improvement of parts, such as in the car suspension, compared with the traditional car suspension system, the medium that supports the vehicle and saves energy has changed, and the air suspension uses the "air bag" as the medium to support the vehicle, and the role of supporting the vehicle is achieved through air pressure.
The air suspension system has many advantages such as improving the intelligent level of the automobile chassis, controlling the height of the body, the inclination of the body, adjusting the vibration damping force, and improving the handling and comfort of the vehicle, which has been deeply chased by the majority of automakers, and the air suspension market has expanded rapidly in recent years.
As an advanced configuration, the air suspension system has been used in luxury brand models such as Porsche, BBA and Volvo, and has once become a symbol of high-end luxury. Nowadays, tesla, Weilai, Xiaopeng, ideal, hongqi, Lantu, Krypton and other new models of independent brands have also chosen to be equipped with air suspension systems.
However, the air suspension system is mainly composed of air springs, air supply units (including air compressors, air receivers, distribution valves, etc.), ECU controllers, shock absorbers, and sensors (including body height sensors, acceleration sensors) and other components, with complex structures and high technical barriers.
The reason why there are high technical barriers to gas springs is mainly reflected in three aspects:
First, there are not many air spring talents in the world, and it is very scarce in China;
Second, many companies have not yet mastered the standard of the entire development test verification, to the air spring of the most critical rubber piece skin bag design as an example, it takes a lot of time to accumulate, because the rubber parts are not like metal parts, metal dispersion is relatively low, the dispersion of rubber is relatively large, so from the formulation development, vulcanization process, etc., more arrangements and combinations and a large amount of fatigue test verification are needed to be determined;
Third, in the air spring assembly process, the biggest difficulty is the crimping, the technical difficulty of the process is quite large.
Due to the high technical barriers, and foreign suppliers in this field to start earlier, the technology is more advanced, for a long time, air suspension technology was blocked by foreign companies, local manufacturers are difficult to share in this blue ocean market.
Baolong Technology (603197. SH) from 2012 to 2021, ten years of grinding a sword, overcoming difficulties, breaking through the technical monopoly of foreign giants, creating a national brand of air suspension, supporting a number of domestic new energy head car companies, and becoming a leading enterprise in China's air suspension.
What kind of company is Baolong Technology? This article will lift the veil.
Founded in 1997, Baolong Technology is based on the automotive industry, developing in the direction of automotive intelligence and lightweight, and entering new product fields year by year from point to surface:
In 1998, the tire valve was developed;
In 2000, the wheel balance block was developed;
In 2001, the exhaust system pipe fittings were developed;
In 2002, TPMS was developed;
In 2005, it acquired THE AMERICAN DILL Corporation;
In 2009, the development of automotive pressure sensor;
In 2012, the development of automotive structural parts, optical sensors and gas springs;
In 2013, the development of vision systems, millimeter wave radar;
In 2016, developed electronically controlled shock absorbers;
Listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2017;
In 2018, the dynamic vision system and ECAS were developed;
In 2019, Baofu Electronics officially operated, The Joint Venture Company of Baolong Saskida was established, and the Austrian MMS was acquired.
In the 24 years since its establishment, Baolong Technology has undergone 7 entrepreneurships, and its product line ranges from valve balance blocks, exhaust pipes, hot end pipes to TPMS, sensors, automotive structural parts, intelligent driving systems and today's air suspension systems. Involved in more than a dozen auto parts products, the company currently in Shanghai Songjiang, Anhui Ningguo, Hubei Wuhan, Anhui Hefei and the United States, Germany, Poland and Hungary, Austria and other places have production bases, R & D or sales centers.
Downstream customers cover most of the world's car companies, including Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors, Hyundai Kia, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Jaguar Land Rover, SAIC, Dongfeng, FAW, Changan, BAIC, GAC, Great Wall, Geely, etc.
In 2012, Baolong Technology aimed at the market opportunities of air suspension systems, actively developed the emerging business of air suspension systems, and the air suspension project was officially approved, and began to form a research and development team.
Since 2015, Baolong Technology has developed cab air springs for well-known enterprises at home and abroad. After starting from commercial vehicles, after being recognized by domestic and foreign car companies, it slowly moved to passenger cars, and began to enter the field of passenger car air springs in 2017.
In 2018, the team was set up to develop ECU and air suspension system integration, fully entered the field of air suspension system, after years of exploration and development, in the system architecture design, control strategy research and development, system integration and vehicle testing and calibration and other aspects have accumulated rich experience, and has the ability to provide on-demand customized solutions for OEMs; air suspension business began to gradually increase.
At the beginning of 2020, with its R&D accumulation and experience in R&D and production of commercial vehicle air springs, Baolong Technology successfully entered the pre-installation fixed point of passenger car enterprises and gradually increased its market penetration in the field of passenger cars.
Baolong Technology invested 1 billion yuan in Hefei Park to build an air spring production line integrating automation, informatization and flexibility, which is one of the most automated production lines in China, which has the ability to produce 100,000 vehicle air springs per year.
At present, the products in the field of air suspension of Baolong Technology include commercial vehicle air springs, passenger car air springs, electronically controlled shock absorbers, air receivers, height sensors, body acceleration sensors, suspension control units, etc., covering the after-sales maintenance service market and the vehicle supporting market, and the batch production customers include ZF, Changchun Fuwei Andoto, Beijing Guanghua Rongchang, Shanghai Keman, China Highway Vehicle Machinery Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Huajin and Saif Holland, etc.
Baolong Technology is now a leader in the field of domestic air suspension and air springs, and is the only supplier of air springs in China to get the international tier1 project.
In 2020, Baolong Technology's air spring and vibration damping business contributed more than 47 million yuan in revenue.
One new project after another is extending an olive branch to Baolong Technology, which has now entered the harvest period due to its early forward-looking layout.
On the evening of December 17, 2021, Baolong Technology issued the "Announcement on Obtaining the Notice of Designated Points for Air Suspension System Product Projects", saying that the company recently received the "Notice of Development Fixed Point" from a domestic new energy vehicle head brand main engine factory (limited to confidentiality agreements and its name cannot be disclosed), and once again selected the company as a parts supplier for the front and rear air springs of its other new platform project, the new model air suspension system. According to the customer's plan, the project has a six-year life cycle, with a total life cycle amount of about RMB 460 million, and mass production is expected to begin in January 2024.
On December 28, 2021, Baolong Technology's "Air Suspension System Release and Hefei Park Opening Ceremony" was held in Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone, Anhui Province. This means that the mass production of Baolong Technology's self-developed passenger car air spring shock absorber pillar assembly and independent air spring off the production line is undoubtedly an important milestone achieved by local suppliers in the field of air suspension systems.
Fortunately, The pillar assembly and independent air spring of Baolong Technology air spring shock absorber have been designated for five main engine projects of new energy head brand car companies.
It is worth mentioning that compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the application of air suspension systems in new energy vehicles is more important, because new energy vehicles have higher requirements for the stability of the chassis system.
The company recently designated a new energy vehicle air suspension project, is the domestic new energy vehicle leading enterprise platform project, Baolong Technology for customers each car to provide 4 air springs, the project is expected to be mass production in November 2022, after the full production of annual sales is expected to exceed 250 million yuan.
Other new products are also making efforts, And Baolong Technology said on the Shanghai E Interactive Platform on January 20, 2022 that the company has obtained sensor fixed-point projects that are expected to be mass-produced in 2022. Millimeter wave radar has achieved mass production by the end of 2021, and it is expected that orders will be further increased in 2022.
In the secondary market, Baolong Technology closed at 51.38 yuan per share on February 16, 2022, with a market value of 10.677 billion yuan.
On February 15, 2022, Baolong Technology was reduced by 395,300 shares by the Shanghai Stock Connect, and the holding volume after the reduction was 18.7813 million shares, accounting for 9.04% of the total share capital of the company's A shares. In the past five days, the shareholding data of Shanghai Stock Connect are as follows:
According to industry research institute Mordor Intelligence, the global automotive air suspension market space will reach $6 billion in 2020, and it is expected that the global air suspension market space will reach $9 billion in 2026, with a compound growth rate of more than 6%.
In the domestic market, Baolong Technology also expects that the designated special projects obtained by suppliers will begin to increase in 2023, and the air suspension penetration rate of the domestic new energy vehicle market will increase in the past two years, and will be further accelerated after 2024.
At present, the first air suspension line of Baolong Technology has been put into production, with a production capacity of 50,000 units, and the second and third lines will be put into production in 2023, with a total of 150,000 units after being put into operation, and 6 more production lines will be planned to be built in the future, and the annual output of more than 500,000 vehicle air springs will be achieved in 2025. In the early stage of the air suspension business, Baolong Technology is about to arrive at a fruitful harvest period.
Author: Hui Ze Lee