The 19th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition can clearly feel the tide of electrification coming from the electrification, intelligent forward-looking technology and new energy products displayed by global automobile brands.
Carbon neutrality is becoming a global issue. In China, striving to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 has risen to a major strategic decision. Helping to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, global automotive brands are also competing to launch new energy models to accelerate the electrification process.
At the Volvo Cars booth at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show, the new XC60 debuted to give a "high score answer" to travel in the era of electrification and intelligence. Volvo Cars' business thinking of demonstrating the development of electric integration and full-link win-win is also worthy of attention.
Volvo Cars unlocks a new "enjoy" method for smart mobility. Courtesy of Volvo
Formulate a clear electrification timetable and promote win-win cooperation across the link
Facing the goal of carbon neutrality, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and other major car companies have issued their own decarbonization plans, and Volvo Cars has also given a clear timetable: in 2021, all product lines of Volvo Cars will be electrified; in 2025, the proportion of pure electric models will reach 50%, and the rest will be hybrid models; in 2030, it will become a pure electric luxury car company; and in 2040, it will strive to become a climate zero-load benchmarking enterprise. ”
Yuan Xiaolin, Senior Global Vice President of Volvo Car Group and President and CEO of Volvo Cars Asia Pacific, said in an exclusive interview with People's Daily: "Achieving the goal of carbon neutrality is not a simple goal setting, but decomposes into the entire value chain under the condition of careful research, analysis and evaluation. For Volvo Cars, it will consider the possible impact on carbon emissions in product manufacturing, use process, business operation, and cooperation process, which must be a concerted effort that includes the entire upstream and downstream industry chain. In addition to its own efforts in product reductions and business operations, Volvo Cars will continue to work with its supplier partners to achieve a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions associated with global supply chains by 2025 and the use of 100% renewable energy. ”
Volvo promotes carbon neutrality through electrification and explores win-win cooperation throughout the link. Courtesy of Volvo
In terms of products, as one of the earliest traditional luxury brands in the Chinese market to start electrification transformation, Volvo Cars has achieved the goal of electrification of all models, forming a complete electrification product layout including pure electric models, plug-in hybrid models and mild hybrid models.
In terms of supply chain, in November 2020, 25 direct supplier representatives from Chengdu and Volvo Cars jointly launched the "2021 Green Electricity Chengdu" plan, promising to achieve 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2021.
"A carbon-neutral solution should be a comprehensive set of KPIs and a healthy balance that presents valuable examples for customers, with changes that may not be obvious from year to year, but changes from decade to decade." Yuan Xiaolin said.
The transformation of electric integration Official direct sales explores a sustainable business model
The Passenger Car Market Information Joint Committee recently released a report pointing out that China's luxury car market continues to develop rapidly, but the recognition of luxury brands is deeply rooted. In the face of the new high-end car under the current new energy transformation, it is necessary to cultivate the concept of new luxury car.
On the creation of luxury concepts, Yuan Xiaolin said: "Providing worry-free travel solutions for everyone in a safe, personalized and sustainable way is Volvo Cars' vision and brand value pursuit. In the era of new energy, Volvo Cars will still provide such products and services in its own way around people and the environment in which we live.
In this regard, in addition to continuously increasing product investment and supply chain optimization in the electrification transformation, Volvo Cars has also continuously optimized the car purchase experience at the sales end, and launched an official direct sales model relying on the dealer system, so that consumers have more opportunities to experience the entire car purchase and service process conveniently through online and offline integration.
The new XC60 is fully electrified. Courtesy of Volvo
In this regard, Yuan Xiaolin said: "Official direct sales is actually exploring how to find a more suitable business model for the development of electrification under the electrification trend, and this groping is a relatively clear industry trend. In this process, the value chain of the automotive industry is unchanged, and the changes brought about by the trend are only reflected in the role and proportion of each link in the value chain. ”
As Yuan Xiaolin said, in the direct sales model, the main engine factory, as the core of the entire value chain, should make good use of new technologies, do a good job in products, establish an efficient and unified, timely feedback system, and maximize the value of all participants. Distributors, on the other hand, must provide value in terms of network layout, receiving customers, serving customers, and providing derivative products. "In the entire value chain, apply technology well, assign roles well, and give full play to their respective advantages, so as to better respond to changes and better serve customers." Yuan Xiaolin said.
Driven by forward-looking and pragmatic goals, Volvo Cars has also received incentives from sales. Since April last year, Volvo Cars has achieved double-digit growth in the Chinese market for 12 consecutive months, and volvo Cars' cumulative sales in the Chinese mainland market increased by 118% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, setting a record for the best first quarter sales in the history of the Chinese mainland market.
Yuan Xiaolin said: "China is volvo cars' largest single market, the proportion of sales will be higher and higher, on the one hand, the absolute capacity of the Chinese market is still developing, in addition, Volvo's systematic construction and brand influence are also constantly improving, we are full of confidence in the development of China." ”
At present, electrification has become an important direction for the green development and transformation and upgrading of the global automotive industry, and the Chinese market has become the focus of the world. According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China ranked first in the world for six consecutive years, with a cumulative promotion of more than 5.5 million vehicles.