On April 3, BYD officially issued a statement, saying that according to its strategic development needs, it will stop the production of fuel vehicles from March 2022. This means that BYD has become the first car company in the world to officially announce the suspension of fuel vehicles. Courtesy of Visual China
In 2021, China's new energy vehicle sales share in the global market surpassed that of Europe, becoming the world's largest new energy vehicle market. BYD's passenger cars sold more than 100,000 units in March, and the entire series sold 104338 units. The picture shows consumers buying new energy vehicles in a BYD store in Hangzhou. Courtesy of Visual China
Over the past five years, although China's passenger car production and sales have shown a downward trend year by year. However, new energy vehicles have shown a strong counter-trend growth trend.
From 516,000 units sold annually in 2016 to 3.31 million units in 2021, China's new energy penetration rate has reached 13% so far. At the same time, in 2021, China's new energy vehicle sales share in the global market will surpass that of Europe, becoming the world's largest new energy vehicle market and becoming a veritable "blue ocean" of new energy vehicles in the world.
However, moving the hand of time forward, looking at the development history of the global automobile industry, you will find that the development history of China's new energy vehicles is not too long. Some people say that if new energy vehicles want to truly replace traditional fuel vehicles, they are still in the "first step of the long march".
In the process of the "Long March" of new energy vehicles, a number of car companies have withstood the test by deeply judging the market and deeply cultivating core technologies, and have become leading enterprises in the new energy automobile industry in China and even the world. BYD is one of the representatives.
On April 3, BYD officially issued a statement, saying that according to its strategic development needs, it will stop the production of fuel vehicles from March 2022. This means that BYD has become the first car company in the world to officially stop production of fuel vehicles.
As soon as the news came out, the topic related to "BYD stopped selling fuel vehicles" immediately rushed to the top of the Weibo hot search list, and triggered the "earthquake" of the industry and the hot discussion of consumers. People can't help but wonder, what is the basis for BYD to stop selling fuel vehicles? What new impacts and changes will such a statement bring to the automotive industry?
Is BYD's "moat" deep enough?
In the comment area below by BYD's official statement, "The world's first car company stopped production of fuel vehicles!" BYD rises! The comment received over a thousand likes.
Obviously, most consumers are supportive of BYD's suspension of fuel vehicles. The decision to resolutely cut off the 'back road' of the fuel market will also give BYD the courage to better lead the future." When talking about this topic, Liu Zhichao, an analyst in the automotive industry, analyzed.
In his view, "announcing the suspension of fuel vehicles" is not a reckless decision made by BYD's "hot head", and there are deep comprehensive considerations and long-term assessments behind it.
"New energy vehicles have been raised to unprecedented heights. New energy vehicles have exploded with huge energy, becoming the 'top pillar' for the transformation of new and old kinetic energy in the industry and the promotion of consumption. As Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD Co., Ltd., said, 2021 is an important milestone in the development of new energy vehicles in China, and the whole industry has entered a new stage of market-oriented development.
Therefore, while issuing a statement on the suspension of fuel vehicles, BYD released the latest sales report card: BYD passenger cars sold more than 100,000 vehicles in March, and the entire series sold 104338 vehicles. It is worth mentioning that BYD's sales in March are all new energy vehicles, and there is no production and sales of fuel vehicles.
Among them, BYD produced 54,600 pure electric passenger cars and 51,400 plug-in hybrid passenger cars; in the first quarter of this year, BYD sold a total of 286,300 new energy vehicles, an increase of 333.06% year-on-year.
Obviously, the excellent performance in the market has become an important confidence for BYD to dare to stop selling fuel vehicles. At the same time, continuous innovation and iteration at the technical level have made BYD one of the earliest and best performing independent brands in the field of new energy.
For global automotive companies, "technological innovation" is always an important cornerstone of enterprise development. For the new energy vehicle market segment, the level of technology directly determines the market development prospects and even the survival of enterprises.
In recent years, BYD's development trajectory has once again verified this truth. In Wang Chuanfu's view, the most critical factor for BYD to win the long-term recognition and excellent reputation of consumers in the market is to adhere to "technological innovation and iteration". By mastering the core technologies of the whole industry chain such as batteries, motors, electronic controls and chips, BYD has achieved independent controllability of the industrial chain and benchmarking of the innovation chain.
Especially in the past two years, BYD has accelerated its efforts and layout in the field of core technology. In 2020, BYD launched a blade battery, aiming at the safety pain points that the market is most concerned about; in 2021, BYD released DM-i super hybrid to accelerate the replacement of traditional fuel vehicles, and also released the much-watched pure electric exclusive platform e platform 3.0, realizing the platformization of the vehicle architecture.
In the view of many people in the industry, for more than a decade, BYD has been insisting on running continuously on the track of "technology forward", and with the results of "continuous iteration of technology" and "continuous growth of sales", it proves that "only by mastering the core technology can independent brands stand firmly and develop upwards".
"In fact, since the state confirmed the implementation of the new energy vehicle strategy in 2009, China's new energy vehicle development can be regarded as the official start." Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Vehicle Information Joint Association, recalled, "During this period, there have been many adjustments in the main development routes, subsidy policy formulation, enterprise access management and other policies. ”
Subsequently, with the support and encouragement of policies, many domestic OEMs began to increase R&D and market investment in the field of new energy. After 2014, the addition of new car manufacturing forces has accelerated the development of the new energy market, and there are more than 200 new energy vehicle companies in the market. Cui Dongshu concluded that after several years of full market competition, many "extensive production" new energy automobile enterprises have been eliminated by the market, and the remaining enterprises have also actively developed high-quality products. Nowadays, "the new energy vehicles on the road are more elegant and the quality is better" has become the consensus of most consumers.
"BYD's suspension of the sale of traditional fuel vehicles is a model for the world's car companies." Cui Dongshu commented, "Due to breakthroughs in the fields of blade battery and DM-i hybrid technology, coupled with its strong vertical integration of industrial capabilities, BYD can use plug-in hybrid models to compete in alternative fuel models, achieve good consumption upgrades, and effectively replace international brand fuel vehicles." ”
How far away is "full suspension of fuel vehicles" from us
In the context of the global hot discussion of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality", the discussion of the "fire ban timetable" has almost never stopped. Some car companies and countries have clearly announced their own plans and timetables for "stopping the sale of fuel vehicles". Judging from the statements of various countries and major car companies, "banning combustion" can be said to be the trend of the times.
At the end of 2021, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Scotland, there was a topic on "stopping the sale of fuel vehicles in 2040 and completely replacing fuel vehicles with new energy", which became the focus of the conference.
In this issue, seven car companies, including Volvo, General Motors, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BYD, Jaguar and Land Rover, signed the agreement, clearly stating that they will completely stop selling fuel vehicles in 2040. At the same time, traditional car companies such as Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW, and Nissan refused to sign the pledge.
Although these car companies have not signed the commitment, it does not mean that they are negative about the issue of "electrification transformation". In fact, the mainstream car companies have long clarified the timetable for the transformation of fire ban and electrification, and are accelerating.
In November 2021, Nissan announced that it plans to stop selling fuel vehicles by 2025 and shift its R&D and sales direction to all-electric and hybrid models. Honda also announced in the same year that it will account for 40% of total vehicle sales of all electric and fuel cell models by 2030, 80% in 2035, and 100% in 2040, and discontinue the production of fuel vehicles.
Volkswagen has also publicly stated that it will withdraw from the European internal combustion engine market in 2033-2035, and plans to achieve carbon neutrality of all new production vehicles by 2050 at the latest, and stop selling fuel vehicles in the Chinese market no later than 2030.
Nowadays, as BYD has sounded the horn of "stopping the sale of fuel vehicles" and becoming the first car company to truly "eat crabs", more and more ordinary consumers have begun to face the problem of "completely stopping the sale of fuel vehicles".
In the message of "BYD's suspension of fuel vehicles" related news, a large number of readers clearly expressed their supportive attitude, and some consumers said that they could accept BYD's decision to stop selling fuel vehicles, but they were not ready for a "total ban on combustion" in the market.
"According to the current level of development of new energy vehicles, it is still unrealistic to completely replace fuel vehicles in the short term." Chen Yutong, a new energy vehicle owner in Qingdao, said bluntly, "The hardware facilities of new energy vehicles are still lacking, and new energy car owners who travel on holidays have a deep understanding of this, and the embarrassment of 'five hours away, queuing for charging also takes five hours' often occurs." ”
"In the face of the future wave of electric vehicles, if we do not take precautions, from the charging hardware environment, software service capabilities and other aspects of advance layout, the phenomenon of 'mileage anxiety' in the use of electric vehicles may be more and more." Xue Xu, an associate professor at Peking University's School of Economics, said.
Xue Xu suggested that to solve the problem of charging difficulties, it is necessary to start from the overall perspective, do the "addition" of construction, encourage more capital to enter the charging market, and increase the construction of charging facilities.
"In addition, it is also necessary to do the 'subtraction' of management, solve the problems of rebuilding light pipes and fragmentation, and promote the upgrading of existing facilities to fully play a role in matching the new needs of the market." Xue Xu added.
At the same time, the new energy used car market needs to be improved. According to third-party data, the 3-year retention rate of pure electric vehicles is less than 25%, while the 3-year retention rate of fuel vehicles is generally about 55%-70%. Therefore, the low retention rate of new energy vehicles also directly affects consumer confidence in pure electric vehicles.
Therefore, in Xue Xu's view, in the face of the new energy transformation outlet, for car companies, switching from traditional energy vehicles to new energy vehicles is undoubtedly a huge challenge, and there are huge opportunities behind the "breakaway".
"BYD's suspension of the sale of fuel vehicles provides an example for other car companies. However, it is still too early to talk about the issue of 'complete suspension of fuel vehicles'. Xue Xu concluded, "At present, car companies with new energy core technologies, research and development capabilities, and a large enough market volume can consider gradually shifting their focus to the field of new energy vehicles." Other car companies will gradually embrace the tide of new energy vehicles after the infrastructure construction is gradually improved. ”
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Zhang Zhenqi Source: China Youth Daily
Source: China Youth Daily Travel Weekly