Text | Joey
Traditional car companies in the era of electric vehicles are not working?
Two things happened just last week. The first is a new car that has attracted much attention from a new car head enterprise, after holding a test drive, some media issued an exclamation that "after the test of this car, the BMW 5 Series is immediately out of breath". To be honest, although I don't understand this kind of emotion, I am very shocked.
Second, Volkswagen released an electric version of the ID.BUZZ. As soon as the car was released, it attracted a large number of attention and love on the Internet. More importantly, it took my soul back to the 1950s more than 70 years ago, and met Volkswagen's most classic "van" - the T1. At that moment, Volkswagen's classic MiniVan model was possessed by the soul and came to a whole new era.
These two things are actually very indicative.
On the one hand, new car products are more and more affirmed, representing new car brands from scratch, for the new energy era, pure electric era of pride and ambition; at the same time, the widespread attention of ID.BUZZ also represents that not everyone has completely forgotten the classic models in the history of the automobile industry and abandoned them. The struggle between the new and old eras of electric vehicles seems to have the possibility of being evenly matched at this time.
But if I had to take a stand, in this round of competition, I would choose traditional manufacturers, especially volkswagen.
It's all new, it's not the masses
Since last year, especially after many models of the ID. series began to enter the south and north Volkswagen for localization, the acceleration of Volkswagen's layout in the field of new energy vehicles, especially pure electric vehicles, has really taken shape in the eyes of the Chinese market and Chinese consumers.
But this is only one aspect of Volkswagen's layout in the new energy product line. In fact, the treasures available to the masses go far beyond these products that have been created from scratch. As early as two years ago, in 2020, Volkswagen had applied for trademarks at the European Union's Intellectual Property Office, which had trademarked many classic model names with the "e" letter prefix.
Who are included in these trademarks? Includes a range of classic models such as e-Beetle, e-Golf Classic, e-Kübel and e-Karmann. Although in the eyes of many people, this kind of registration is more of a commercial practice and the protection of intellectual property rights, and it is not necessarily really used passively, and it is really named to the product.
But people with a keen sense of smell have realized that Volkswagen may be able to revive these classic models in Volkswagen's history by electrifying them. While the opportunity may not be great, at least it is. And ID.BUZZ is clearly the confirmer of this speculation.
Although it was not named after e-XXX. But you can find a wide range of design elements that blend classics and modernities from ID.BUZZ design elements. Its "van" like carriage shape, a large part of which is born from the design of the T1, but in the front, headlights and many other details to maintain consistency with the design of the ID. series. It inherits the positioning of the T1 "van" MiniVan to meet the trend of MPV products that may set off a new boom today, but it also uses pure electric energy to meet the new era of the automotive industry.
For example ID.BUZZ this fusion of the old and new era not only satisfies the retro ideas of some people, but also completely integrates with the development of the era of the automobile industry, and it is obvious that only the century-old factories with deep accumulation can play and play.
Compared with the people who like T1, there may be more people who like the Beetle and like the classic model of Golf. That is to say, if the public wants to further go down the road of combining the old and the new, there are a lot of materials that can be realized step by step.
Of course, the public is not the only one who has such a treasure. Previously, Mercedes-Benz has also decided to fully electrify its smart brand. Similarly, BMW's MINI brand has such a plan. If these two companies are also like Volkswagen, will the most classic models in the history of the brand be electrified and "refurbished", will they have the same effect?
Obviously, this classic product refurbishment of the road, the new car certainly can not go. But at this time, you will definitely raise another sharp question, relying solely on accumulation, relying solely on classic models to take the road of electrification "refurbishment", is it enough to make these traditional manufacturers become leaders again in the era of pure electric?
Big investment drives big speed
It is not enough to fully tap the internal potential and easily return to the peak in the new energy era. After all, the new forces are also constantly financing and pursuing listing to obtain more funds to invest in product research and development and iteration. I have to say that after years of hard work and continuous investment, the head camp of pure electric vehicle new car brands that can survive now has indeed made a qualitative leap in product quality and scientific and technological content.
Such a leap is not only reflected in the quality of the product and the gradual transformation of the market from doubt to a hot attitude, but also in the sales volume of the product. In 2021, it is no surprise that Tesla will occupy the top spot in the global electric vehicle sales list.
Occupying the second place is Volkswagen, which sold 762,400 new energy vehicles. Among these 760,000 vehicles, pure electric vehicles accounted for 452,900 vehicles. Proportionally, it is 50% more than the 300,000 hybrid vehicles it has sold. You know, a year further forward in 2020, the public is still not ranked on this list, at least the ranking is not so high.
This result is obviously inseparable from Volkswagen's investment in the field of new energy. After all, once the traditional car manufacturers exert their strength, the scale and accuracy of their investment are larger, more sustainable, and the purpose is clearer.
As early as early 2019, Volkswagen spent $800 million in Tennessee to build a factory that would produce assembled electric vehicles. This year, in 2022, the 3.4 million-square-foot facility will officially produce electric vehicles designed and manufactured on the Volkswagen MEB platform.
Earlier in 2018, Volkswagen's joint venture in China, SAIC-Volkswagen, began spending 17 billion yuan to build a new energy factory with a total area of 610,000 square meters in Anting, Shanghai. In October 2020, the plant officially started production, and it is this plant that is now responsible for the production of the domestically produced SAIC ID. model.
At the same time, Volkswagen's pace of building new factories has not stopped. Just a few days ago, Volkswagen made another investment of up to $2.2 billion in wolf castle, its base camp. The aim is to establish a new plant with an annual production capacity of 250,000 units and the ability to produce trinity, the brand's flagship electric model, by 2026.
Seeing this, you should be able to understand why in 2020, Volkswagen is still unknown on the sales side of new energy vehicles, and the reason why it suddenly appears in the top camp in 2021 - the huge system.
Important 2025
2025 is an important and milestone time node for any traditional car company that wants to recreate its glory in the era of electric vehicles.
For example, Audi plans to achieve a sales target of 800,000 plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles by 2025. BMW, which has already delivered its 1 millionth new energy vehicle in 2021, plans to achieve a completely redesigned IT and software architecture, a new generation of high-performance electric drive systems and batteries, and a new sustainable concept throughout the vehicle life cycle – the 2025 plan in 2025. At the same time, Mercedes-Benz also plans to achieve the goal of 50% of new energy vehicle sales in 2025 (the original time point for achieving this goal was in 2030).
What about the masses, who are also Ashkenazi giants? Obviously, Volkswagen, as a non-high-end attribute, but a car brand with a larger market share, has more specific goals. In the third quarter of last year, Volkswagen Group CEO Diess made it clear that it plans to surpass Tesla in 2025 to become the world's largest seller of electric vehicles.
There is no doubt that this is not a small goal, but it is indeed a very important brand statement for the public, as well as a target display. In the past few years, all the efforts and investments made by Volkswagen have been accumulated for this goal. In the three years from now, the public will begin to sprint towards this goal.
I am cautiously optimistic about whether this goal can be achieved. After all, it has only been a year to reach the second place in the world, which is enough to prove the profound strength of the company. In the next two years or so, as long as there are no mistakes, the possibility of the public achieving this goal is indeed not small.
Because of this, I also firmly believe that even if the automobile industry has entered the era of new energy, it is still not an easy task for new car brands to easily grasp those traditional giants.