Auto-First | Liu Tianming
Facing the future, the world's top ten multinational car companies will cumulatively spend 3.4 trillion yuan of real money and silver to invest in electrification transformation to ensure the sustainable development and core competitiveness of enterprises.
Auto-First found that among the top ten multinational car companies, Volkswagen has invested more than 1.1 trillion yuan in future business, and is also the only multinational car company that has invested trillion yuan in the future. The electrification investment of Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Honda is also huge at 400 to 500 billion yuan. Relatively speaking, Ford Motor and Nissan Motor are the car companies with the most critical investment in the future transformation, and their cumulative investment is about 191.19 billion yuan and 101.365 billion yuan respectively.
Multinational car companies are accelerating the transformation of electrification in order to better meet market demand. According to the statistics of the research agency Canalys, the global sales of new energy passenger vehicles (electric and plug-in hybrid passenger cars) will reach 6.5 million units in 2021, an increase of 109% over 2020, and the market penetration rate will reach 9%, and the market growth rate will be much higher than that of the global automobile market.
The demand for future development and the continuous expansion of the market, car companies continue to accelerate the new energy strategy, increase investment planning. According to auto-first statistics, in the next 5-10 years, 10 multinational car companies such as Volkswagen Group, BMW Group, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and General Motors have prepared 100 billion yuan of funds for electrification and intelligence, and 10 multinational car companies have planned to invest a total of more than 3.4 trillion yuan.
Volkswagen's €159 billion focuses on electrification and digitalization
In December last year, the Volkswagen Group announced a new five-year plan to invest a total of 159 billion euros (about 1.1 trillion yuan) in the next five years, in order to promote the strategic transformation of NEW AUTO, 89 billion euros of the total investment of 159 billion euros will be used for technologies such as software and electric vehicles, accounting for 56% of the total investment, an increase of 16 billion euros compared with the previous round of planning.
According to the plan, the Volkswagen Group will invest 21 billion euros to renovate its plants in Europe to solve the problem of capacity for electrified products. At the same time, Volkswagen Group will invest 2 billion yuan from 2025 to build a power battery production base.
With high investment, Volkswagen expects the proportion of pure electric vehicles to grow from the current 5%-6% to about 25% in 2026, which means that by 2026, one in every four cars delivered by Volkswagen will be pure electric vehicles.
The Volkswagen Group plans to build 45,000 high-power charging terminals worldwide by 2025. At present, about 10,000 charging terminals have been put into use, and more facilities will be put into operation this year.
In terms of software, CARIAD, an automotive software company owned by the Volkswagen Group, will enter the U.S. and Chinese markets this year, and by 2025, CARIAD will launch a unified software platform version 2.0, covering all brands of the Volkswagen Group.
Mercedes-Benz's €60 billion facilitates transformation
According to the plan, Mercedes-Benz will transform from the previous "electric first" to "full electric", and will invest more than 60 billion euros (about 414.486 billion yuan) for electric transformation by 2026.
During the accelerated transformation period, Mercedes-Benz will continue to reduce capital expenditures as planned and increase R&D expenses for product electrification, digitalization and autonomous driving.
In 2022, Mercedes-Benz launched a series of new pure electric models, including the new EQE and the new EQS pure electric SUV, by 2025, all newly released model architectures will be pure electric platforms, each of its models will be available in pure electric versions, it is expected that the sales of electric vehicles (including pure electric and plug-in hybrid models) account for 50% of total sales, by 2030, if market conditions permit, will be fully electrified.
In the past 2021, Mercedes-Benz's total annual R&D expenditure reached 9.105 billion euros, an increase of 6% over the same period last year, and R&D expenditure accounted for 5.42% of revenue.
The BMW Group invested 30 billion euros in electrification
In order to promote the transformation of electrification, the BMW Group plans to invest more than 30 billion euros (about 207.243 billion yuan) in research and development in the fields of electrification, autonomous driving, intelligent and connected vehicles, etc. by 2025.
In terms of products, the BMW Group plans to launch pure electric models including BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series, BMW 7 Series, BMW X1 and other series by this year. During the year, the BMW Group will mass-produce and trial-produce 15 pure electric vehicle models, covering about 90% of the market segment. By 2030, at least half of the world's total sales will be pure electric vehicles, with a cumulative delivery of 10 million pure electric vehicles to customers.
In addition, the other three bmw group brands will also be fully electrified: the Rolls-Royce brand will electrify all products; the BMW Motorrad urban mobility series will be fully electrified; and the MINI brand will also move towards full electrification from the early 2030s, providing customers with zero-emission driving pleasure.
In the past fiscal year 2021, the BMW Group invested a total of 6.299 billion euros in research and development, an increase of 10.7% over the previous year. R&D investment in 2021 will be mainly in areas related to new vehicle architectures and electric product offensives, as well as digital products and autonomous driving research and development.
The Stellantis Group invested 30 billion euros
In 2021, Stellantis Group announced plans to invest more than 30 billion euros (about 207.243 billion yuan) in the electrification and software sectors by the end of 2025.
In March, stellantis Group released its detailed transformation strategy, the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan. The strategic plan is to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2038. To achieve its goal of zero carbon emissions, the Stellantis Group plans to sell only electric models in the European market by the end of 2030, and 50% of all vehicles sold in the United States are pure electric models. By 2030, the Group will have more than 75 pure electric vehicle models, with annual sales of pure electric vehicles worldwide reaching 5 million.
In terms of specific models, the Jeep brand of Stellantis Group will release the first pure electric SUV model in early 2023, and the new Ram 1500 pure electric pickup model will be released in 2024.
On the software side, the Stellantis Group plans to build a software development team of 4,500 software engineers by 2024. Meanwhile, Stellantis Group relies on the Stellantis Ventures Venture Capital Fund to invest in start-ups in the automotive and mobility sectors, with an initial investment capital of 300 million yuan.
The Stellantis Group will also launch a global digital marketplace that provides consumers with a smooth experience across all of its branded products and services. By 2030, one-third of the Group's global sales will be brought to the online sales model.
Toyota invested 8 trillion yen in 17 new models
At the end of last year, Toyota motor released a new electrification strategy, releasing 17 electric vehicles in one go. Of the 17 new cars, there is not only the first pure electric vehicle bzSDN concept car created by Toyota and BYD, but also the lexus RZ and Electrified Sport concept cars under Lexus' new pure electric models.
According to the plan, Toyota Motor will launch a total of 30 electric vehicles by 2030, providing users with a complete lineup of electric vehicles. Toyota's large new vehicle matrix has led Toyota to raise its sales forecast, adjusting its global annual sales target of 2 million electric vehicles by 2030 announced in May to 3.5 million. Toyota is also accelerating R&D investment, with a cumulative investment of 8 trillion yen (about 448 billion yuan) by 2030 for technology research and development and equipment investment. Among them, 4 trillion yuan (about 224 billion yuan) is used for electric vehicle research and development and battery research and development.
In Toyota's electrification strategy, Lexus will transform into a brand centered on pure electric vehicles. It plans to achieve a full layout of electric vehicles in all vehicle segments by 2030, and achieve 100% of electric vehicle sales in Europe, North America and China, with a total global sales volume of 1 million vehicles, and global electric vehicle sales accounting for 100% by 2035.
In addition to pure electric vehicles, Toyota will also promote the development of fuel cell vehicles, using related technologies to power other vehicles such as buses and large trucks.
Honda invested 5 trillion yen to prepare 30 electric vehicles
Honda unveiled a new electrification strategy in April, pressing the accelerator button on the road to electrification transformation. Honda will adjust its organizational structure starting in this fiscal year, separating the electric products and services, batteries, energy, mobile power packages, hydrogen fuels, software and networking fields with future core competitiveness from the existing organizational structure divided by motorcycles, automobiles, and power products, and merging them into a new organization, "Business Development Headquarters".
Over the next 10 years, Honda plans to invest 8 trillion yen (about 405.462 billion yuan) in research and development budgets. Investment in electrification and software is expected to be 5 trillion yen, of which about 3.5 trillion yen will be spent on research and development expenses and about 1.5 trillion yen will be invested. In addition, Honda plans to invest about 1 trillion yen in the next decade to invest in new technology fields and resources.
In terms of power batteries, Honda plans to invest 43 billion yen to build a solid-state battery demonstration production line, which is expected to be put into operation in the spring of 2024. The self-developed power battery is expected to be introduced to the market in the late 2020s.
In terms of electrification products, Honda plans to launch 30 electric vehicle products worldwide by 2030, covering commercial mini electric vehicles, SUVs, flagship models, etc., with an annual production of more than 2 million vehicles.
Nissan will invest 2 trillion yen over the next five years
In response to environmental concerns and consumer demand, Nissan Motor released the Nissan Ambition 2030 in November 2021, which plans to achieve carbon neutrality of the entire company's operations and product life cycle by 2050.
According to the strategic plan, Nissan Motor will invest 2 trillion yen (about 101.365 billion yuan) in the next five years to accelerate the layout of electric drive products and technological innovation. By fiscal 2030, 23 electric models will be launched, including 15 pure electric models, and nissan and Infiniti brands will account for more than 50% of electric vehicle models.
In terms of sales, Nissan Motor plans to account for more than 75% of total model sales in the European market by fiscal 2026, more than 55% of total model sales in japan, and more than 40% of total model sales in the Chinese market. In fiscal year 2030, sales of all-electric models in the U.S. accounted for 40% of total model sales.
Nissan Motor also plans to launch an electric model equipped with an original all-solid-state battery (ASSB) by fiscal year 2028, and plans to build a pilot plant in Yokohama, Japan, in fiscal 2024. Nissan Motor will further develop autonomous driving technology and plans to install the next-generation LiDAR system (LIDAR) on all new models by fiscal 2030.
It is worth mentioning that Nissan Motor will also rely on the cooperation of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance to achieve cost savings and technology sharing in the fields of carbon neutrality and technology, electro-drive, software and services. In January, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance announced a partnership plan to invest 20 billion euros in the development of electric vehicles over the next five years and launch 30 new electric vehicles by 2030. The 30 electric vehicles will be built on a common five electric vehicle production platforms.
Hyundai Motor aims 95.5 trillion won for 1.87 million electric vehicles
At this year's CEO Investor Day, Hyundai Motor (including Geniseys) announced its medium- and long-term electrification development strategy to accelerate the transition to electrification. To this end, Hyundai Motor has prepared 95.5 trillion won (about 493.088 billion yuan) for the research and development of related technologies between 2022 and 2030.
Of the 95.5 trillion won, KRW 39.1 trillion will be invested in research and development, KRW 43.6 trillion will be invested in equipment, and KRW 12.8 trillion will be used for strategic investment. It is worth mentioning that about 20% of the total investment of about 19.4 trillion won will be used to increase the production capacity of electric vehicles.
According to the plan, by 2030, 17 pure electric vehicle models will be launched, namely 11 models under Hyundai Motor and 6 models under Genisais. Specifically, Hyundai Motor will build an electric vehicle matrix consisting of six SUVs, three sedans, one light commercial vehicle and one innovative model to achieve annual sales of 1.52 million electric vehicles. This year, hyundai's electric vehicle exclusive brand IONIQ (Ani Kr) 6, the second pure electric vehicle model, will be officially launched.
Hyundai expects to sell 840,000 electric vehicles by 2026 and 1.87 million by 2030. If the sales target is achieved, Hyundai's share of the global electric vehicle market will increase from 3% in 2021 to 7% in 2030. In order to achieve the sales target for electric vehicles, Hyundai Motor will continue to improve production efficiency while formulating a "comprehensive battery strategy" to ensure a stable battery supply and the development of next-generation battery technology.
At the same time, Hyundai Motor plans to develop an integrated module architecture (IMA) based on the E-GMP platform. The architecture will facilitate not only chassis standardization, but also battery systems and motors, and will be suitable for electrified models in all market segments. Based on the new Integrated Module Architecture (IMA), Hyundai Motor will launch the passenger car-specific electric vehicle platform "eM" and the PBV (personalized model) special electric vehicle platform "eS" in 2025.
In terms of software, Hyundai Motor plans to expand sales of software-related businesses to 30% of total sales by 2030, and plans to invest 12 trillion won in software research and development, with professionals growing at a rate of 20% per year.
GM increased its capital from $27 billion to $35 billion
In January last year, GM announced that it would achieve carbon neutrality in its global products and operations by 2040, achieving zero carbon emissions through its own energy conservation and emission reduction, as well as carbon offset and carbon credit purchases. To become carbon neutral, GM plans to invest $27 billion in total planned investments in electric vehicles and autonomous driving projects over the next five years, surpassing its fuel vehicle projects.
Five months later, GM's electrification transition accelerated, increasing investment in electric vehicles and autonomous driving, and the planned investment between 2020 and 2025 increased from $27 billion to $35 billion.
In terms of products, GM will rely on Aoteneng batteries and electric drive platforms to launch 30 pure electric vehicle models in the global market by 2025, covering a wide range of market segments. Among them, in the Chinese market, more than 40% of the new models that GM plans to launch in the next five years will be new energy models.
Ford Motor 30 billion usd for electrification business
As the founder of the modern automotive industry, Ford Motor is gradually accelerating the electrification transformation, breaking through the typical production and sales model of the automotive industry for decades.
Ford accelerates and adds investment in electrification, investing more than $30 billion in its electrification business, including battery development, by the end of 2025, while increasing efficiency from Ford's flexible electric vehicle architecture and modular technology.
In terms of products, Ford expects that by 2030, pure electric vehicles will account for 40% of its global sales. In terms of power batteries, Ford Motor established Ford Ion Park, a global battery innovation center, to launch a wide spectrum of electric vehicle battery products, including IonBoost lithium batteries, IonBoost Pro lithium iron phosphate batteries developed for commercial vehicles, and solid-state batteries with long battery life and low cost.
In March, Ford accelerated its strategic transformation by splitting its automotive business unit into two separately operated electric vehicle and fuel vehicle business units. Among them, Ford Blue will become the main body of the fuel vehicle business, and Ford Model e will focus on electric vehicles. Coupled with ford Pro, which previously announced an independent commercial vehicle business entity, Ford Motor was split into three independent companies.
In 2022, Ford expects spending (including capital expenditures, expenses, and direct investments) in the electric vehicle business to reach $5 billion, an increase of 200% compared to 2021. (Some of the pictures come from the Internet)