Observation chamber
Written by | Zhao Wenhua
"4 million in 2025, 5.5 million in 2030", what is the concept for a Chinese brand?
Refer to the 2021 global car sales top 10: General Motors last year with global sales of 6 million units, ranking fifth, followed by the European marriage giant of PSA and FCA, the Strands Group, with a cumulative global sales of 5.38 million vehicles, while Ford ranked eighth with annual sales of 3.72 million vehicles. In other words, once the goal is achieved, the Chinese car company will not only enter the top ten in the world, but also very likely to become one of the world's top five auto groups.
This Chinese car company is Changan Automobile. At the 2022 Global Partner Conference, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, laid out a detailed plan for two major goals: in 2025, Changan Automobile's total sales reached 4 million vehicles, of which 3 million were in the autonomous sector and 1.05 million in new energy sales, accounting for 35%; in 2030, Changan Automobile's total sales reached 5.5 million, of which 4.5 million were in the autonomous sector and 2.7 million in new energy sales, accounting for 60%.
From the perspective of ordinary people, this is just a commercial competition from the local deduction to the overseas, a new version of the battle between autonomy and joint ventures, but if we think about it a little, we will find that the impact of this world-class counterattack is far from what we think. You know, the epidemic that was initially considered an exogenous shock has evolved into a normalized suppression of the global economy, and the automobile is the pillar industry of the national economy, to the largest extent, it is a social stabilizer, and at a smaller level, it is solving the problem of the rice bowl of our ordinary people.
Even if the original emotions are put aside and from a rational point of view, the author still believes that Changan will be the Chinese brand that is most likely to rush into the world's top ten as soon as possible. There are two reasons for this:
First, after 5 years of "the third innovation and entrepreneurship", Changan has entered the "most Chang'an" state with the highest sales scale, the largest history of explosive products, the highest customer satisfaction history, and the best operating efficiency.
Let's look at several key data: In the first quarter of this year, Changan Automobile's cumulative sales reached 529,000 vehicles, the retail ranking rose to second, and the wholesale ranked first, once again regaining the throne of its own boss. At this pace, coupled with the boost of 36 new cars (including remodeled models) throughout the year, it is not too difficult to achieve the annual production and sales target of 2.45 million vehicles. Not only that, the Changan brand continues to rise, driven by independent benchmark models such as CS75PLUS, Yidong, UNI-V, etc., Changan brand brand preference has reached 41.1%, becoming one of the most popular brands among consumers.
Second, Chinese brands have ushered in the best overtaking opportunities in history. Look at another set of data: in 2021, the market share of Chinese brand passenger cars exceeded 40% for the first time, reaching 41.9%, and in the first quarter of this year, this data rose to 45.2%, if you look at new energy alone, the market share of Chinese brands has reached 83%, crushing joint ventures. With such a development trend, when new energy reaches a scale of tens of millions, the status of Chinese brands in the world can be imagined freely.
Of course, for Changan, the key to achieving the two major goals lies in the new energy sector. In the eyes of the outside world, Chang'an's new energy business seems to have just started, but in fact, Chang'an released the "Shangri-La Plan" as early as 2017, in other words, in order to do a new business, Changan has been preparing for 5 years. Here, I also want to express a point of view, do not copy the template of the new forces, they are almost all Internet fast-selling thinking, even if the research and development, manufacturing system is immature, even if the OEM does not matter, but the traditional large factories pay attention to the systematic strength, although slightly slower than the new forces, but as long as they enter, they will "operate like a tiger".
Deep blue + Avita detonates new energy
Let's take a look at what are the "fierce tiger" operations of Chang'an?
At the Global Partner Conference, Changan officially released a new digital pure electric brand - Changan Deep Blue, which is a brand that symbolizes "exploration, life, technology and the future" and makes people full of beautiful aspirations. As the largest base of Changan's new energy business, Changan Deep Blue will launch 5 new cars including C385EV and C673EV in one go this year, and its first strategic model, C385EV, will be launched soon, whether it is performance or intelligence, C385EV can be hard-rigid Model 3.
▲Changan Deep Blue's first strategic model, the C385EV
For young entry-level users, Changan will also launch a small pure electric vehicle LUMIN (glutinous corn) within the year, Q Meng can be bombed it will redefine the "scooter", in the future, Changan will also launch 4 boutique small electric vehicles.
Avita, born with a golden key, is a heavy chess piece laid by Changan in the high-end new energy market, NINGDA times, as one of the heavyweight shareholders of Avita, will provide it with the best battery performance solutions, and another deep participant - Huawei is responsible for vehicle intelligence, at present, Avita has planned 4 new cars, and the first pure electric SEV Avita 011 will also be listed in the second half of the year.
The two major brands broke out at the same time, and at the speed of 8 new cars a year and 30 new cars (including fuel vehicles) in 4 years to attack the market, Changan's new energy business is the same as the personality of this century-old car company, bold and pragmatic, at any time to maintain a sober mind, at any time can firmly grasp the initiative.
What core technologies has Changan saved?
I have seen an article before, the author said that "new energy is divided into two factions, one faction fights intelligence, one faction fights performance", this statement does not apply to Changan, because it is to do "both intelligent and performance" new energy vehicles.
▲Avita's first strategic model, the Avita 011
Whether the performance is outstanding and whether the level of intelligence is leading depends largely on the advanced nature of the platform. For different products and user needs, Changan has developed three new platforms, MPA smart architecture compatible with ICE and its electrification products, supporting multiple energy sources, multiple scenarios, so that young people love at first sight UNI-V from the platform; EPA is pure electric architecture, facing the mainstream electric vehicle market, C385, C673 and the future Changan deep blue all pure electric vehicles are from this; CHN platform is a high-end electric vehicle brand Avita unique, which once again proves the value of Avita.
In terms of "three electricity", Changan has accumulated more than 400 core technologies. Last year, Changan released a new generation of deeply integrated motors, reducers and other seven major assemblies of the "seven-in-one" super collector electric drive, the new electric drive platform supports 450V/800V electric charging, so that "charging 5 minutes to live 150-200 kilometers is not a dream", while the world first launched the electric drive high pulse heating technology, which can heat the battery at 4 °C per minute in the extremely cold weather of -30 °C, overcoming the technical problems of electric vehicles with low temperature power loss and extreme cold can not be used; Changan broke through the integrated integration technology of the battery chassis of the vehicle lightweight, and achieved longer endurance with semi-solid-state batteries; in addition, Changan also launched the "seven-in-one" intelligent vehicle domain controller, which built-in Changan's self-developed SVDC intelligent chip, which is 70% smaller than the previous generation, but the performance is improved by 70%.
Intelligent networking and intelligent driving are the traditional advantages of Changan, which are reflected in two aspects: one is the rapid breakthrough in technology, the other is the rapid application of mass production, and the newly listed Changan passenger cars after 2020 are equipped with vehicle networking systems. In terms of intelligent networking, at present, Changan has mastered more than 200 core technologies such as visual perception and multi-mode fusion, of which 26 technologies, including integrated adaptive cruise system (IACC), remote control parking (APA5.0) and remote intelligent parking (APA6.0), are the first in China, and the "automotive robot" Changan Auchan Z6 is equipped with the world's first out-of-car voice; and in terms of intelligent driving, Changan has independently mastered more than 30 core technologies of L3-level intelligent driving assistance. L4 levels are also under collaborative development. It is worth mentioning that Avita 011 will mass-produce high-speed and urban point-to-point intelligent driving assistance, which is suitable for all-scenario applications of Chinese road conditions.
Engaging in technology is nothing more than two points, one is people, and the other is money. "By 2025, Changan Automobile plans to invest more than 80 billion yuan in R&D expenses in key areas such as new energy, intelligence, and digital transformation, and the R&D team will exceed 20,000 people to achieve full-stack self-research", in this regard, I said: "Big factories, is bull gas"!
"Final Talk"
It is undeniable that the automobile industry is experiencing a major test that has not been encountered in a hundred years: on the one hand, the breakthrough application of the Internet, communications, AI, chips and other technology groups has changed the product attributes of the car, as Zhu Huarong said, "the future car will be transformed into a large-scale intelligent platform product"; on the other hand, electrification, "software-defined car", forcing automobile companies to transform from traditional manufacturers of transportation to technology companies that provide "travel products + travel services + ecological services". The industrial revolution, which already had many uncertainties, has been exacerbated by the epidemic and the resulting chip shortage, raw material shortage and energy crisis.
With the end of the era and the opening of the era of electric vehicles, the global automobile pattern will undergo subversive changes, which undoubtedly provides a very imaginative development space for Changan and more excellent Chinese brands.
We may not yet be able to fully determine whether Changan will be the first world-class Chinese brand in the next decade, but at least it is the Chinese brand with the most strength to impact this goal.
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