Diess' 2021

Volkswagen CEO Diess is becoming a prominent figure in the transformation of traditional car companies, among the three major German car companies, Diess has the most distinct personality, and is also the most direct entrepreneur to learn from competitor Musk. From cost management, pushing for electrification, learning from Tesla to working with more partners and seeking new opportunities outside of traditional businesses, volkswagen group is becoming a sample of the transformation of traditional car companies.

Wen 丨 wisdom driving network Jinshan

In the transformation of the three major German car companies, I am most optimistic about the Volkswagen Group.

This paranoia stems from my love for Dies.

The outside world pays much attention to the power struggle of the public internal managers, and it seems that Dis has been released and marginalized.

But it is these changes in power and responsibility that reflect Disy's determination to comprehensively enhance the transformation of Volkswagen Group into a technology mobility company from the two dimensions of electrification and software-defined vehicles.

On March 15, the Volkswagen Group announced its 2021 market results and 2022 development plan.

From the perspective of various data, the Volkswagen Group has achieved steady progress in 2021, pure electric models have improved in the global core market, and software strength and hardware construction are growing.

The market performance of Volkswagen Group in 2021 has improved significantly, and the most noteworthy points include the following points:

First, pure electric models have grown significantly, ranking first in the European market, occupying 25% of the pure electricity market; in the United States market, it is second, occupying 8% of the pure electric market; in the Chinese market, sales have also increased by more than four times.

Second, profits doubled to 20 billion euros and return on operating sales increased to 8 percent, up significantly from 4.8 percent in 2020.

Third, it turned a profit in the North and South American markets, with Europe and China leading the way.

Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG, said at the press conference: "The Volkswagen Group has almost doubled the delivery of pure electric models in 2021, exceeding 450,000 units. In 2021, the Volkswagen Group has made considerable progress in all regions, which has a lot to do with the correct localization strategy. ”

In Europe, the electrification strategy that the Volkswagen Group decided on early on has begun to reap market returns, with 1 out of every 4 electric vehicles sold from the Volkswagen Group.

In North America, the Volkswagen brand resumed profitability in three markets: Canada, the United States and Mexico. Five new SUV models, including the ID.4, gained market recognition, accounting for more than 75 percent of Volkswagen's U.S. sales, reaching 375,030 units.

In the Chinese market, deliveries of all-electric models more than quadrupled to 93,000 units. Volkswagen Group executives believe that more cars could have been sold in the Chinese market in 2021, but because the chip shortage problem remained unresolved, it affected production.

According to financial data, volkswagen group vehicle sales in fiscal 2021 were 8.6 million units, down 6% year-on-year, but sales revenue rose 12% to 250.2 billion euros. Operating profit, excluding special project expenses, nearly doubled from the previous year to €20 billion, and return on operating sales, excluding special project expenses, increased to 8 percent from 4.8 percent in the previous fiscal year.

Net cash flow from the automotive business also reached 15.5 billion euros, an increase of 5.5 billion euros over the previous fiscal year. At the end of 2021, its net liquidity was EUR 26.7 billion.

In the current era of transformation, major car companies are carrying the burden forward, on the one hand, to stabilize the existing market position, on the other hand, to open up new markets and invest huge energy to promote the landing of new technologies and new ecosystems.

The Volkswagen Group, as the top player in the automotive industry, is also under the greatest pressure. However, judging from its 2021 performance, it is indeed quite effective, and Volkswagen Group can be called one of the first giants to show the results of the transformation road.

The transformation led by Diess can achieve good results, which is inseparable from the series of measures he has taken, and it is also worth learning from the industry.

At the beginning of the transformation, Diess used Tesla as a model to learn from, and he himself has repeatedly expressed his appreciation for Tesla. "Tesla and Musk have played an important role in the field of smart electric vehicles, and we must accept that Tesla has set a new benchmark in electric vehicles, not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of productivity and speed of development," Dies said. ”

In the view of the intelligent driver, the reference to Tesla's unconventional development experience is likely to make the Volkswagen Group achieve a multiplier effect with half the effort. Whether it is Tesla's successful experience or failure experience, it has improved the transformation efficiency of the Volkswagen Group and accelerated the development of its new technologies, new models and new ecology.

Volkswagen Group quickly found the market direction through the ID. series, and the selling points and marketing methods of the products have been recognized by young consumers, which is more or less related to this reference.

In addition to the corporate operating philosophy, a series of open source and throttling initiatives of Diess have also begun to play a role.

In terms of "throttling", the Volkswagen Group launched an indirect cost management project in 2021. As a result, the Volkswagen Group achieved ahead of schedule its goal of cutting indirect costs by 10% by 2023.

According to official data, compared with 2019, the Cost Savings of the Volkswagen Group in 2021 reached 4 billion euros.

In terms of "open source", the Volkswagen Group released the NEW AUTO strategy in July 2021 with a view to generating new profits.

The new SSP scalable system platform is also about to usher in the first landing model, the Volkswagen Trinity, and the Volkswagen Group has decided to invest 2 billion euros to build a new plant in the area next to the main factory in Wolfsburg to produce the new car.

In addition, the Volkswagen Group will invest 800 million euros in research and development centers focused on the development of SSP platforms. In the Volkswagen Group's planning, the SSP platform will become the group's only production platform in the future for the production of pure electric vehicles and support for autonomous driving functions.

In addition to its own product camp, the Volkswagen Group is also actively promoting cooperation between enterprises. On March 14, the Volkswagen Group announced that it will expand its cooperation with Ford and will produce Ford's second pure electric model based on the MEB platform in the future. Production of Ford's MEB models is expected to double to 1.2 million units within six years.

Prior to this, Volkswagen and Ford had also formed a strategic alliance, and the two sides had cooperation in the fields of electric vehicles, commercial vehicles and autonomous driving technology.

Looking at the cooperation territory of Volkswagen Group, its fields cover all aspects of software development and hardware construction.

In the software sector, the former Volkswagen Group software division has now been renamed CARIAD, which now integrates Hella's camera software business and is working with Bosch to develop L3-level autonomous driving technology.

In the hardware field, Volkswagen Group has established a joint venture with The Italian National Power Company in Europe and cooperated with BP to launch the first batch of high-power charging facilities; in China, Volkswagen Group and FAW, JIANGHUAI, Wanbangde Four-Party Joint Venture Joint Venture Company Chemies is also developing steadily in the field of charging facilities; in the United States, Volkswagen Group and Electrify America have formulated a new expansion plan, planning to build 10,000 high-power charging terminals by 2025.

Another point of attention was volkswagen group's earnings call on March 15, in which Dis mentioned that volkswagen group would shift production to China and the United States due to the escalation of the situation in Russia and Ukraine, and would give priority to China.

This is obviously related to the volkswagen group's significant growth rate in North America and The Chinese market in 2021. On the basis of the European market has won the first place, the Volkswagen Group has begun to brew a new expansion plan - to compete with Tesla in North America and further seize the share of the world's largest new energy vehicle market in China.

"Given the situation in Europe, we will move more of our business to China," Dies said. China maintains the concept of open development, we are an asset to grow and develop in China, and boosting sales in China is more important than ever for the public. The Volkswagen Group currently has a market share of about 16 percent in China and plans to double its pure electric vehicle sales in China this year, which is a priority for the company. ”

Volkswagen Group's emphasis on the Chinese market has already begun. Too far away, starting from the stage of electrification transformation, at the "Volkswagen Group Night" conference in April 2019, volkswagen group announced the goal of producing 22 million pure electric vehicles by 2028, more than half of which will be produced in China.

At the time, Diess said: "Volkswagen Group is undergoing a global transformation, and China will play a central role in it." ”

This plan makes people see the long-term planning of the Volkswagen Group, and the Chinese market will become the "home" of the Volkswagen Group after entering the electric age.

This not only shows that the Volkswagen Group attaches great importance to the Chinese market, but also shows that the Volkswagen Group is also unprecedentedly dependent on the Chinese market. China has the world's largest new energy vehicle market, but also the world's more and more mature, perfect industrial chain pattern, which is the most desired for the research and development and sales of car companies.

The Volkswagen Group's move of its business core east to China will bring more benefits to its development.

Since the first quarter of 2021, the Volkswagen Group has ushered in a new "flashpoint" of pure electric platforms in the Chinese market. In March, the first MEB platform model, ID.4, was launched in China, in June, ID.6, and in October, ID.3 was launched. Three pure electric platform new cars have been listed domestically in half a year, and the pace is unprecedented.

Taking ID.3 as an example, 1255 vehicles were delivered in just one week after its listing, and the power of the Pure Electric Platform of Volkswagen Group in the Chinese market has already taken shape.

In addition to its products, the Volkswagen Group has also adopted new sales methods for younger customers, including 120 pop-up stores opened in Chinese stores, which have also played a major role in its sales growth.

At present, volkswagen group has taken deep root in China, in addition to FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen Audi, there are saicid audi, Audi FAW, JAC Volkswagen, Kaimeis and other joint ventures. In 2021, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini also set new sales records in China.

According to official information, the Volkswagen Group has set a target for its development in 2022: it expects deliveries to increase by 5% to 10% and operating sales returns to increase by 7.0% to 8.5%. At the same time, officials also admitted that 2022 will face more uncertainties.

The new crown epidemic is not over, the chip shortage has not yet been solved, and the Russian-Ukrainian war has not yet dissipated, which will have an impact on the development of major car companies.

However, it is also an indisputable fact that the development trend of the Volkswagen Group is continuing to improve, the MEB platform already has the ability to pick the beam in the next stage, and the new SSP scalable system platform that undertakes long-term development tasks is about to begin to land, which makes the Volkswagen Group's 2022 more worth looking forward to.

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