Author 丨 Mei Xukang
Editor 丨Hao Qiuhui
Do you know volkswagen sausages?
The sausages it made were once more popular than cars.
Many car companies have started to do "side business", especially on the top. For example, Mazda has launched metal egg steamers, Nissan has designed smart furniture, Ford has launched dog houses, Toyota has produced hydrogen-powered yachts, and Honda has also built airplanes.
However, compared with Tesla's humanoid robot Tesla bot and Xiaopeng Automobile's intelligent machine horse, the "side business" of other car companies seems to have a little less sense of technology.
In August 2021, Tesla released a humanoid robot Tesla bot at its own AI Day event, and integrated the company's artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and other technologies into this robot. The first prototype next year may be officially unveiled.
Coincidentally, Pengxing Intelligence, a technology company under Xiaopeng Automobile, released a smart machine horse that can ride, with its "silly" shape and intelligent technology, it has been popular for a while.
The above is just the tip of the iceberg of many car companies "not doing business".
From the perspective of the car companies' outward expansion business, their cross-border ambitions have long been restless, but tesla and other new forces are more bold.
From the perspective of the 2025 planning of many car companies, electrification has become a core strategy, and there are many mentions in project research on intelligent technology, charging and replacement services.
Yiou Automobile believes that technology drives the development of the industry, and demand defines the direction of change. Car companies are no longer limited to the traditional fuel vehicle market, and finally realized the "change is passable" and began to look into the distance.
A stone stirs up thousands of waves, and the business form of car companies is undergoing great changes. Under the great changes, by 2025, will car companies still be car companies?
Our answer is no.
In the future, what will car companies become?
01 Energy Company: The main driver of sustainable energy development
In the process of sustainable energy development, car companies are undoubtedly the main drivers.
With the prominence of the world's environmental problems, countries have introduced corresponding environmental protection measures to strengthen the development of sustainable energy. The transformation of All In new energy vehicles has also become the only way for car companies to develop.
In order to promote the rapid development of new energy vehicles, car companies have expanded their battery energy business to ensure the continuous output of power.
For example, Hive Energy, which was established in 2018, was born from the Great Wall Power Battery Division; in 2020, BYD released a "blade battery"; GAC also released a magazine battery in March 2021... Gradually strengthened the research and development of the battery business.
As one of the core competitive areas of the new energy automobile industry, if car companies want to take the lead and embark on the road of independent research and development of batteries, it is a good idea.
With the slow popularization of new energy vehicles, the demand for batteries has gradually increased, and the charging/replacement services supporting them have been born accordingly.
For example, the market value ceiling of car companies - Tesla, its charging network has begun to emerge.
According to Yiou Automobile, Tesla currently uses more than 7,600 superchargers in Chinese mainland, covering more than 360 cities in China.
NIO has also launched NIO Power to build its own charging network through components such as supercharge piles, power stations, and charging vehicles. At present, the number of WEILAI substations exceeds 560, and the number of overcharging stations has reached 500+.
In addition, energy companies such as lonity, which are jointly established by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Ford, represent the ambitions of car companies in the field of charging/power replacement.
Under the multiple energy business layout, car companies are not satisfied with building a charging network to serve their own cars, they want to become an energy supplier.
As the starting point for the emergence of new energy vehicles, energy problems are a hurdle that smart electric vehicles cannot bypass. Taking a step forward in the energy field, car companies can use this to deepen their roots, expand their influence, and increase their right to speak.
With the improvement of the energy business of car companies, the intelligent electric vehicle industry will also integrate and develop with the energy industry, efficiently coordinate, and achieve energy interaction, thereby promoting the construction of a green, low-carbon and safe energy system.
02 Technology companies: changers of mobility
Under the dual thrust of technology and demand, the intelligent networking of automobiles has become an irreversible trend. The car has become one of the effective carriers of artificial intelligence, and intelligent technologies such as automatic driving have gradually landed on the carrier of the automobile.
In the field of automatic driving, the new forces of car manufacturing have been on the cusp of the storm.
For example, the Xiaopeng XPILOT 3.0 intelligent driving assistance system with functions such as "NGP (High-speed Autonomous Navigation Driving)" and "Parking Lot Memory Parking"; NIOPilot, which supports functions such as remote vehicle software upgrade (FOTA); and the ideal AD assisted driving system known as full-stack self-developed, etc. Zhiji Automobile has also created an IM AD intelligent driving system.
Compared with the new forces, traditional car companies seem to be more conservative.
In February this year, Great Wall Motor's self-driving company, Mimu Zhixing, announced the completion of a 300 million yuan Pre-A round of financing; Changan Automobile expects to achieve L4 level autonomous driving in 2025.
The entry of a number of Internet companies has made the market competition more intense.
The Polar Fox Alpha S equipped with Huawei's HI has announced that it has L4 level automatic driving capabilities. Baidu Apollo's autonomous driving demonstration application has been implemented in five cities including Shanghai.
Xiaomi, which announced its high-profile participation in the car-making tide this year, also announced on August 25 that it acquired the autonomous driving technology company Shendong Technology with a total transaction amount of about $77.37 million, extending the industrial layout to the field of automatic driving.
Smart chips have also become a fragrant feast for car companies. If the second half of new energy vehicles is intelligent, then the chip is one of the foundations of intelligence.
Zero-run auto has released the first autonomous driving computing chip independently developed by domestic car companies - Lingxin 01. BYD, Great Wall Motors, SAIC Motor, etc. have injected capital into horizons, and Xiaomi has continuously participated in the black sesame intelligent strategic round and C round financing of autonomous driving computing chip company.
Yiou Automobile believes that the cross-border crossing of the automotive industry has greatly changed people's travel methods and given cars more imagination. Promoting the transformation of the automobile industry will greatly enhance the scientific and technological capabilities of car companies and promote the evolution of car companies into a technology company.
03 Internet of Things company: the carrier of smart life
Just like every Internet company has an Internet cloud, then every car company will also have an auto cloud in the future.
Compared with the driving experience of traditional cars, today's users are more inclined to enjoy digital and social driving spaces. Users want the car to become a "small room, a large mobile phone", that is, a "third mobile space".
Cars have become more "socialized" from an industrial product with a strong private nature.
The car is not just a connection between two destinations, but also a connection between work and home, private and social. On this basis, car companies want to establish a connection between users and car companies, and then expand this connection to the level of user life, and smart cars can also become information hubs like smart phones.
If you want to give users a good travel experience, it is inseparable from the support of Internet of Things technology.
The application of Internet of Things technology in automobiles has made users more and more involved in the entire industry. After the user-centric concept has become more and more popular, all car companies are eager to create a user ecosystem, increase user stickiness, and integrate cars into the user life circle at a deeper level.
The user co-creation model began to receive attention.
At the moment of the development of intelligent electrification of automobiles, car companies have given it new significance. The angles of user participation in car co-creation will become more diverse, forming a high-frequency interactive connection, so that they can get more sense of participation, so as to help build a user ecosystem. For example, NIO Day, Geely's "we", etc. are all aimed at this purpose.
The development of digital technology and the change of user needs have urged car companies to change to technology companies, in this process, car companies have learned to deal with users, tap the deep needs of users, obtain data information, in addition to mechanical non-perceptual data, user perceptual data outside the car is equally important.
Yiou Automobile believes that the transformation from functional to service-oriented enterprises and deep integration into people's lives will be the only way for car companies.
As Li Maoxiang, a partner at Cathay Fund, said, the inevitable trend of the automotive industry is that the car will no longer be a car, it will become an important part of the Internet of Things.
04 Heaven into the earth, the car has "seventy-two changes"
No matter how people's needs change, the demand for travel is always there.
Cars are built, but what kind of cars to build has a lot of articles. For example, the flying cars in "Blade Runner" are also entering reality.
The ground can no longer accommodate the dreams of Autobots, the vast sky only the plane seems too lonely, and the research and development of flying cars has long been put on the agenda.
In July 2021, Xiaopeng released a flying car, the Traveler X2. According to Xiaopeng, the Traveler X2 is a two-person intelligent electric aircraft with a maximum load of 200 kg, an endurance of 35 minutes, a flight altitude of 1000 meters, and a maximum flight speed of 130 km/ h.
The Traveler X2 is the third flying car released by Xiaopeng after the Traveler T1 and the Traveler X1, and is expected to be officially launched in 2024.
In addition to flying cars, perhaps the future car can one day do the sky into the sea, the galaxy travels, using technology to turn fantasy into reality, I believe that for many auto industry cultivators, it is a very romantic and meaningful thing.
The future may not be far off, but the focus needs to be on the immediate.
Under the requirements of carbon neutrality and sustainability, new energy vehicles do have sufficient potential and market. Although the current topic is constant and the market is hot, compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the market share of new energy vehicles is not high.
For a long time in the future, various power forms of vehicles such as fuel vehicles, pure electric vehicles, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and extended range vehicles will coexist.
Yiou Auto believes that the potential of new energy vehicles has enough room to be realized.
In the "2021 China Intelligent Electric Vehicle Competition Pattern", Yiou Think Tank predicts that domestic intelligent electric vehicle sales will reach 12 million in 2025, and there will be substantial growth this year.
Among a number of car companies, the major traditional car companies have deep roots, have a set of operating models that can stand the test of time, and have considerable advantages in controlling product quality and production and operation in various links.
The new forces of car manufacturing have a unique Internet gene, and in the field of user service, the strength is strong, which adds a lot to intelligent technologies such as automatic driving.
Market competition promotes market prosperity, traditional car companies and new car-making forces are each in the advantages of each layout, each taking its own strengths, inclusive, for the car companies to innovate and transform and upgrade to make full preparations.
05 Conclusion
If you compare all this to a long river, then energy is gushing water, no water, no flow; technology into the earth's gravity to reshape the mountains and rivers, drive the long river to rush forward; network interconnection, help the Tongsai Tuodao, so that the river flows unimpeded.
Yiou Automobile believes that the automotive industry chain is being reconstructed, and user ecology, digital transformation and other sections have become new value growth points.
The layout in the fields of energy and chips helps car companies grasp the source, deepen the foundation, grasp a greater right to speak, and avoid being choked by people. The research and development of intelligent technology helps car companies give users a better driving experience.
The development of the Internet of Things and daily areas will become the focus of future planning of car companies, collect user data, build platforms, build ecology, and obtain deep user data will give enterprises more customized information and develop products that meet user needs and behavior patterns.
Every automobile company has its own pride and ambition, eager to build its own whole industrial chain, expand and deepen the industrial layout, in order to increase its own heritage, in the era of change to gain a firm foothold.
— What will the future become of the automobile?
In the future, the changes in the car will be beyond our imagination.
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