JUELUO· Car News
Foreword: The automobile industry has entered the era of transformation from fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles, and every move of automobile companies has become the focus of our observation. And when will this "focus" change, and who can change it?
If you analyze the next generation of the automobile industry from the entire industry, it is clear that the road of "automobile + IT + electric drive" must be taken. However, this analysis can only be simply understood as "the emperor's new clothes" in the early stage, or "new clothes" as a judgment on whether automobile companies can make a final definition of "automobile".
In fact, under the current situation of traditional car companies + new car manufacturers + IT companies in the automotive industry "rolling up", the new and old car-making forces can become the "platform" of the next generation of cars by controlling the "brain" or "dirty core" of the future car, so as to get a bigger piece of cake in the market. But the premise is that the pie must continue to grow larger, bringing a more advanced "intelligent manufacturing" method to the automobile industry.
It is undeniable that whether it is now or in the future, car manufacturing will still be a high-threshold industry, and only "scale" can produce next-generation products with lower prices, higher safety and stronger technology than other types of enterprises. In this regard, a company with a century-old history is worth mentioning. In this enterprise, it allows us to see the strength and confidence of being an "industrial pioneer" and insisting on "doing the next generation of intelligent new energy to the end".
The "third entrepreneurship" pushed Changan Automobile into a new moment. Nowadays, the power of "electricity" that can create miracles has become a powerful driving force for Changan Automobile to accelerate its transformation towards "new cars + new ecology".
On April 13, under the witness of 2935 dealers and 612 suppliers in more than 40 countries at home and abroad, the 2022 Changan Automobile Global Partner Conference was officially held. At the meeting, Changan Automobile released the latest corporate development strategy, explaining in detail the company's operation and determination to transform into intelligence, low carbon, mobility and ecology.
From this moment on, the "new energy clock" of the automotive industry has changed to another way!
In fact, Changan Automobile's approach first benefits from the continuous improvement of independent innovation capabilities, followed by the rising sales performance.
First of all, in terms of technology accumulation, as of February 2021, Changan Automobile has applied for 14,477 domestic and foreign patents, of which 4,733 have applied for invention patents. The achievement of the "National Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Enterprise" is something that only a few brands in the current Chinese auto market can do, which proves the intelligent manufacturing ability of Changan Automobile at a deeper level.
However, the accumulation of technology and patents will eventually be reflected in the product and will eventually meet the consumer.
Among them, the proportion of intelligent networked vehicle sales has increased to 72.4%, and the newly listed passenger cars after 2020 have achieved 100% networking; more than 30 key core technologies of L3 level intelligent driving assistance have been mastered to achieve eight core functions; L4 level has been jointly developed with partners to achieve demonstration operation in the open road scenario.
According to the March production and sales data released by the China Automobile Association, Changan Automobile ranked second in the ranking of the top 15 enterprise groups in China's brand car sales from January to March 2022 with 529,000 unit sales, 0.7 million unit increments and a growth rate of 1.3%. In the first quarter of this year, In the sales ranking of Chinese brand commercial vehicles, Changan Automobile's cumulative sales reached 154,000 units, an increase of 0.7 million units, a growth rate of 5%, becoming the only Chinese car company to maintain positive growth.
Technical strength and sales performance are the original driving force for enterprise change, but in a certain sense, it also gives Changan Automobile the idea, persistence, mission and vision of constantly "moving towards the new".
At the 2022 Changan Automobile Global Partnership Conference, Changan Automobile announced that by 2025, Changan Automobile's total sales will reach 4 million vehicles, of which Changan brand sales will reach 3 million vehicles, new energy sales will reach 1.05 million vehicles, accounting for 35%; in 2030, Changan Automobile's sales will reach 5.5 million, of which Changan brand sales will reach 4.5 million, new energy sales will reach 2.7 million, accounting for 60%, and overseas sales will account for 30%. Changan Automobile plans to achieve carbon peaking in 2027 and carbon neutrality in 2045.
So the question is, the cumulative sales of 1.75 million vehicles in 2021, the planned production and sales of 2.45 million vehicles in 2022, the total sales volume of 4 million vehicles by 2025 and the sales target of 5.5 million vehicles in 2030.
In Changan Automobile's view, this confidence comes from the products of "intelligent new energy" and the new goal and new mission of "automobile + IT + electric drive".
First of all, through the "brand renewal", focus on creating a new digital pure electric brand - Changan Deep Blue, in terms of goals, the deep blue brand will let the new energy users of generation Z feel the convenience and beauty brought by digital technology. Secondly, more than 30 products will be launched by 2025, and the first model based on the CHN platform, the Avita 11, is about to achieve mass production. In 2022, C385EV, C673EV, UNI-K PHEV, UNI-V PHEV and Auchan Z6-PHEV will be launched in a total of 5 new products, and the first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell car in China will also be unveiled...
In the near future, with the listing of the first blue whale iDD hybrid system UNI-K iDD in March this year, Changan Automobile has taken a new step towards the new energy market, and the trend of "whale" cutting thorns is quite obvious. In today's increasingly "melee" of the automobile market, changan automobile and UNI are at least half successful in believing in their own electrification standards and standing at the "forefront" of the market.
The success of the product in the market side also benefits from Changan Automobile's "early technical reserves".
In 2002, it knocked on the door of the new energy field, and successively experienced three stages of technology research, industrialization promotion and market-oriented operation, and completed the positive development process from prototype vehicles to products. To this day, these reserves have become an important milestone in Changan Automobile's "definition of the track".
However, achieving channel resonance with each generation of consumers has always been an unchangeable issue for Changan Automobile. This time, no exception. "New car + new ecology", Changan Automobile joined hands with "core technology" to face the "definition of intelligent new energy".
Among them, with the goal of independent control of key core technologies, we will further consolidate the core technical capabilities of new energy vehicles. In action, we will create a new generation of deeply integrated electric drives, breakthroughs in the development and application of power semiconductors; continue to strengthen the integrated design of energy consumption, reduce the energy consumption of the whole vehicle, and achieve a longer driving range; independently master the system integration and control technology, and strive to create fuel cell technology and products with "zero pollution, low hydrogen consumption, high efficiency and high safety".
With the integration of new energy and intelligence, automobiles are changing from traditional travel tools to intelligent mobile terminals and smart partners in living space. In this regard, it must be inseparable from the "lips and teeth dependence" of the same industry, multiple fields and ecology. Changan Automobile said that in the future, it will work with partners to transform into a green energy ecology, a green service ecology, and a green supply chain ecology. In particular, in the cooperation plan with IT companies, we focus on chips, operating systems, core algorithms and other fields, deepen cooperation with huawei, Tencent, Bosch, mainland, Chinasoft international and other global outstanding enterprises, and build the strongest new ecosystem of science and technology.
In fact, the competition around intelligent new energy is often behind the competition of talents. By 2025, the total number of R&D personnel in Changan will reach about 20,000, including more than 6,000 intelligent and software R&D personnel, more than 5,000 new energy R&D personnel, and about 1/4 of R&D personnel. Based on technical reserves and talent accumulation, by 2025, Changan Automobile is expected to invest more than 80 billion yuan in key areas such as new energy, intelligence, scientific and technological innovation, and digital transformation, and accelerate the construction of core capabilities in the field of transformation.
It is undeniable that in terms of the scale of the automobile industry, China has surpassed the developed countries and regions of Japan, the United States and Europe, and has obvious advantages in terms of market size, growth potential and purchasing power. Based on the above points, Changan Automobile has no reason not to go out of its own trajectory in accordance with the "definition" method, and to create a different "intelligent manufacturing" logic in the same market environment.
Break the game. Today's traditional automobile companies can no longer rely on the vested opportunities, but should feel the increasing crisis, to become a technology + mobile service enterprises is the right way. What is enviable is that at this conference, Changan Automobile's counterattack brought milestone significance, and only similar "century-old enterprises" are the car companies that truly promote "new cars + new ecology" and aim at the next generation of automobile industry.
At the same time, I also hope that Changan Automobile will bring transformative thinking to every corner of the market, so that the development of the automotive industry and related industries will never be endless!
Edit | symyan
Permanent Secretary-General of North China Automotive New Media Cluster
Vice President Unit of Liaoning Automobile Circulation Association