With the end of the 315 party, the breath-taking car companies have finally "escaped the disaster" this year. Behind a calm wave, but there is an undercurrent, in 2021, the number of domestic car recalls is on the rise, especially new energy vehicles.
According to data from the State Administration for Market Regulation, in 2021, the mainland implemented a total of 232 car recalls, involving 8.736 million vehicles, an increase of 16.6% and 28.8% respectively, of which 830,000 new energy vehicles were recalled, accounting for 9.5% of the total recall.
While sales have doubled, the number of recalls of new energy vehicles has also soared. According to the data of China's new energy vehicle sales of 3.521 million units in 2021 (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers), the proportion of new energy vehicle recalls in 2021 will increase from 14:1 last year to 4:1 this year. In other words, on average, one of the 4 new energy vehicles sold is recalled.
Behind the rushing new energy vehicles, many people are paying the price.
While selling cars, recall at the same time
"Yes, our production is like hell."
For the controversial issue of vehicle quality, Tesla CEO Musk is not shy about it, and the quality control problem recognized by the CEO himself makes Tesla's large-scale recall seem not surprising.
Tesla's recall in 2021 is 770% of annual sales (70,602 units). According to public data, Tesla recalled 543811 electric vehicles in China in 2021, and none of the popular models such as Model 3, Model S, and Model Y were spared, and Tesla also became the new energy vehicle company with the most recalls with nearly 70%.
While desperately selling cars while recalling in batches, although the quality of the car has been repeatedly criticized, the arrogant Tesla is not ready to bow its head. "There is no way to compromise, this is a necessary process for new product development, and 90% of customers are willing to choose Tesla again." After the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show incident, Tesla executives responded.
It's not good, but it's true.
The domestic "new force" Xiaopeng, the first batch of mass production G3 off the production line in 2017, the cumulative delivery of 58392 vehicles in 2018-2021, the recall of 13399 Xiaopeng G3s in January 2021, the recall rate reached 22.95%, that is to say, almost one in 4 G3s has a problem.
Among traditional car companies, Great Wall Motor announced in July 2021 that it recalled 16,216 Euler iQs with the risk of thermal runaway of power batteries; Mercedes-Benz's first tram EQC has been recalled three times in a row since last year, and the most recalled one (10,104 units) has also exceeded the annual sales volume in the same period.
From "new forces" and independent brands to joint venture car companies and foreign car companies, the "army" of new energy recall is getting bigger and bigger, and the number is also increasing. To a certain extent, the recall is linked to the quality control ability of car companies, and car safety is no small matter, and new energy vehicle companies are also anxious.
On February 18, Tesla once again recalled some domestic Model 3 and Model Y models, a total of 26,047 vehicles. Affected by this news, Tesla's stock price fell 2.21% on the day, and the market value evaporated by $19.95 billion.
Recalls are not a panacea
It is undeniable that the company recalls products is the performance of the user responsible, the recall process consumes both financial resources and also needs to take into account the brand image, from the "Takata death airbag recall incident", as small as the Honda Odyssey tail post error caused by the recall, as a part of the after-sales service, the recall has long been familiar to the car companies, is one of the ways to solve the car quality problem.
But the recall is not a panacea, and new energy vehicle companies may also understand this truth, but under the vigorous tide of new energy, they can only be actively or passively wrapped up in the forward.
There are not many people, and there are many fiery new energy problems, among which, the "three electricity" system is especially in the hard-hit areas. According to data from the State Administration for Market Regulation, among the 3033 defect clues of new energy vehicles, the problems of power batteries, motors and electronic control systems accounted for 52.5% of the total clues.
The development of fuel vehicles has been a hundred years, the development of new energy vehicles is only a few decades, until recent years to grow rapidly, whether it is technology or industrial chain maturity is not high, resulting in the entire industry is in trial and error.
"Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles present new safety characteristics," Wang Yunsong, deputy director of the Quality Development Bureau of the State Administration of Market Supervision, told the media: "Some vehicles on the market have emerged new types of risks such as battery chemical stability, regenerative braking, and collision compatibility, which need to be studied in depth and strengthened supervision." ”
For example, the battery is one of the most frequent links in the recall of new energy vehicles, in March last year, BAIC BJEV EX360 and EU400 were jointly recalled by them and Fu Neng Technology; last July, Great Wall Euler mentioned Fu Neng Technology when explaining the reasons for the car recall, but later Fu Neng Technology responded that BMS was not supplied by Fu Neng Technology.
If the recall caused by supply chain problems such as batteries is not the complete responsibility of new energy vehicle companies, and needs to be improved by the joint efforts of the industry, then in other places, new energy vehicle companies still have a lot of room for improvement, such as design.
The design reason is the most important reason for the recall of new energy vehicles, not manufacturing. According to the data, in 2021, there were 91 recalls for design reasons, involving 7.393 million vehicles, accounting for 84.6% of the total number of recalls; 141 recalls for manufacturing reasons, involving 1.343 million vehicles, accounting for 15.4% of the total recalls.
Whether it is a traditional car company or a new car-making force, in terms of application technology, the young new energy automobile industry is still in the exploratory stage. As auto analysts said, in the era of oil vehicles, the development of a model takes three to five years, and in the context of the quite mature oil truck industry chain, the car problem is still continuous; new energy launches a new car in less than two years, and there is simply not enough verification time.
You know, each generation of iPhone process development has a year and a half, and the new products to be released in September this year will be handed over to the factory to be repeatedly polished half a year before the new products were released last year. The automotive industry, which is much more complex than mobile phones and has a longer supply chain, should take longer to polish. However, the current rapid growth of the market does not leave so much time for new energy vehicle companies.
Of course, there are also some problems, which are purely "done" by new energy vehicle companies themselves. In recent years, complaints such as "inconsistent with publicity" and "power battery shrinkage" have emerged in an endless stream, Euler Good Cat has secretly replaced Qualcomm's 8-core chip with an Intel quad-core chip, and WM Motors has "locked the electricity" in the name of free maintenance... Whether it is excessive marketing or fraudulent consumption, they should reflect on it.
epilogue
Knowing that mistakes can improve greatly, vehicle recall is not entirely a bad thing, but the safety of new energy vehicle owners obviously can not withstand trial and error, in the new energy vehicle penetration rate further increased, the entire market from subsidy-driven to market-driven environment, consumers urgently need product safety this "reassurance pill".
Fierce market competition will not give new energy vehicle companies too much room to make mistakes.