Recently, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, released the digital pure electric brand "Changan Deep Blue" at the Changan Automobile Global Partner Conference, and announced that it will accelerate the transformation to an intelligent and low-carbon travel technology company.
There is no doubt that the Chinese auto market has been developing rapidly in recent years and continues to undergo profound changes.
On the one hand, the market system has gradually matured, and the "Matthew effect" has intensified. In the foreseeable future, only a small part of the head brands can seize most of the market share, and most of the hundreds of existing middle and lower car brands will be marginalized one after another, or even ruthlessly eliminated by the market.
On the other hand, "electrification" has become the most important development direction of the automotive industry: in 2021, China's new energy vehicle sales will account for 53% of the global market share, surpassing Europe, becoming the world's largest new energy vehicle market, and becoming a veritable "blue ocean" of new energy vehicles in the world.
More importantly, the share of Chinese brand passenger cars in the first quarter of 2022 further increased to 45.2%. Among them, in the field of new energy, the share of Chinese brand passenger cars has reached 83%. In this case, Changan Automobile, as one of the leading enterprises in China's automobile industry, has accelerated the pace of development.
"Whether it is in electrification and intelligent transformation, or in the exploration of emerging business models, Chinese car brands are no longer bystanders or simple followers, but have become runners and even leaders." Recently, at the 2022 Changan Automobile Global Partner Conference, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, made a remark that vividly demonstrated Changan Automobile's continuous upward confidence.
"Deep blue" was born, and new energy products played the leading role
The Deep Blue brand is mainly aimed at young new energy users, and there are currently five models in the planned model, in addition to the first model C385 launched during the year, the C673 will also be released during the year.
Statistics show that in the past year, there are 85 brands in the traditional fuel vehicle market, 34 brands with monthly sales of less than 1,000 units, and 9 brands have disappeared. It is expected that in the next 3-5 years, 80% of brands will face shutdown and turnaround.
"It can be seen that although many independent brands have been eliminated by the market over the years, thanks to the overall 'curve overtaking' strategy of China's automobile industry, the rapid development of new energy and intelligent networked vehicles has provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Chinese auto brands to rise and participate in global competition, and the market share has not decreased but has risen." Xue Xu, an associate professor at the School of Economics at Peking University, analyzed.
"We will further optimize the strategy and positioning of Changan Automobile's brands and make a comprehensive transformation to electrification and electrification." At this event, Zhu Huarong officially announced the release of the digital pure electric brand "Changan Deep Blue", accelerating the transformation to an intelligent low-carbon travel technology company.
It is reported that the deep blue brand is a new digital pure electric brand under Changan Automobile, and Changan New Energy will become the operation platform of the Changan deep blue brand. The Deep Blue brand is mainly aimed at young new energy users, and there are currently five models in the planned model, in addition to the first model C385 launched during the year, the C673 will also be released during the year.
In addition to the release of the new Deep Blue brand, Changan Automobile also announced the new product plan of Changan Automobile Group in 2022, the annual sales target and the long-term brand plan for 2025. At the same time, Changan Automobile has made it clear that it plans to achieve carbon peaking in 2027 and carbon neutrality in 2045.
Zhu Huarong revealed that Changan Automobile will launch 36 new products and 19 independent brands during the year, including 9 new products, 10 new products and 8 new energy products. Based on the launch of new products, Changan Automobile plans to produce and sell 2.45 million units in 2022, an increase of 6.5% year-on-year, and its own brand production and sales of 1.857 million units, an increase of 5.9% year-on-year, with a market share of 11%.
It is understood that the EPA architecture is a platform architecture for the mainstream electric vehicle market, and the pure electric series products C385, C673, and Changan LUMIN will be released soon.
According to the plan, by 2025, Changan Automobile aims to achieve a total sales volume of 4 million vehicles. Among them, the independent sector has 3 million vehicles, and the annual sales of new energy have reached 1.05 million vehicles, accounting for 35%, achieving the goal of first-class domesticity.
"By 2030, Changan Automobile's total sales target is 5.5 million units, and Changan's brand sales are 4.5 million vehicles, of which new energy sales are 2.7 million units (accounting for 60%), and overseas markets account for 30%." Zhu Huarong said confidently.
He said that by 2025, Changan Automobile plans to build 2-3 overseas manufacturing bases, complete the production capacity layout of the first phase of the global automotive market and establish European headquarters and North American headquarters in The European and North American markets in a timely manner, so as to promote the product to fully enter the European and North American automotive markets.
In fact, Changan Automobile's pace of attacking new energy is not limited to the product field. Zhu Huarong said that at present, Changan Automobile has built an electrification promotion architecture and platform system for all products.
The reporter learned that the current MPA architecture owned by Changan Automobile is compatible with ICE and its electrification products, integrating multiple forms, multiple energy, and multiple scenario architectures, which have been launched with UNI-V; the EPA architecture is a platform architecture for the mainstream electric vehicle market, and the pure electric series products C385, C673, and Changan LUMIN will be released soon; the CHN platform is an intelligent electric vehicle technology platform built by Changan and Huawei and Ningde era; and Changan Automobile will also build an intelligent electric vehicle architecture SDA in the future.
At the same time, in the mainstream passenger car market, Changan Automobile will launch 21 new products, including 5 of changan deep blue brand. In addition, in 2022, A total of 5 new products will be launched, including C385EV, C673EV, UNI-KPHEV, UNI-V PHEV, and Auchan Z6-PHEV, and the first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell car in China will also be unveiled to meet the quality green travel needs of mainstream people.
At the same time, Changan Automobile will further optimize the brand strategy and positioning of Changan UNI, Changan Passenger Vehicle, Auchan and Kaicheng, and make a comprehensive transformation to electrification and electrification. In the commercial vehicle market, Changan will launch 6 new products in the future, achieve full coverage of the mainstream bus market by 2025, and launch two new platform pickup truck products at the same time.
Throwing 80 billion yuan to make the technical wings "fuller"
In the eyes of many people in the industry, whether it is the new goals and new visions released by the Global Partnership Conference, or the seven key actions, new product plans, and the release of the "Changan Deep Blue" brand, it is not difficult to see that Changan Automobile's goal of "transforming to an intelligent low-carbon travel technology company" has always been firm.
"Under the traction of national strategies such as double carbon strategy, scientific and technological innovation, and green development, the transformation of the automobile industry has entered the fast lane, and the transformation of the automobile industry will usher in a new industrial economy, and the industrial chain will face restructuring." As intelligent new energy vehicles have begun to truly enter a new stage of market-oriented development, the automotive industry pattern is being reconstructed. Zhu Huarong said bluntly.
He pointed out that in the future, new cars will further change people's way of life, and the automobile industry will not only play a more prominent role as an economic pillar, but also deeply participate in social governance, affecting political security and even military security.
"Due to the breakthrough of the 'technology group', China's consumption upgrade and China's excellent business environment, Chinese auto brands have reached a critical moment of accumulation. The rapid development of new energy and intelligent networked vehicles has provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Chinese auto brands to rise and participate in global competition. In the next ten years, world-class Chinese brands will surely be born in the world. In Zhu Huarong's eyes, with the restructuring of the market, the competition is more intense, and the survival of the fittest accelerates.
To this end, Changan Automobile has increased its investment of 80 billion yuan to enrich its technical wings.
Zhu Huarong said frankly that Changan has prepared for transformation from many aspects, and Changan Automobile has entered the "most Chang'an" state in history.
According to the plan, by 2025, Changan Automobile will 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.
At the same time, Changan Automobile will achieve a total of 20,000 R&D personnel, including more than 6,000 intelligent and software R&D personnel, more than 5,000 new energy R&D personnel, and R&D personnel accounting for about 1/4.
In addition, Changan Automobile will also break through the integrated technology of battery chassis and accelerate the research and development and industrialization of (semi-semi-solid-state batteries). Through the integrated design of battery and chassis, the vehicle weight and cost are effectively reduced, and the mass production application (semi-) solid-state battery provides consumers with longer battery life and a safer pure electric experience.
In terms of the energy replenishment system, Changan Automobile plans to work with strategic partners such as the State Grid and Aodong to develop industry-leading fast charging and power replacement technologies around the pain points of user energy replenishment, and pilot a refueling center integrating light storage and charging to create a one-stop green energy replenishment service ecology for people.
In the eyes of many people in the industry, whether it is the new goals and new visions released by the Global Partnership Conference, or the seven key actions, new product plans, and the release of the "Changan Deep Blue" brand, it is not difficult to see that Changan Automobile's goal of "transforming to an intelligent low-carbon travel technology company" has always been firm.
Obviously, this release not only points out the direction for the future development of Changan Automobile Group, but also announces a number of major decisions, which is also a big boost to the industry and the automotive industry chain.
"We will start from the whole industry such as product, design, manufacturing, supply chain, renewable energy and material packaging, etc., to reduce carbon emissions in all aspects in an all-round way, and we will work together to reduce carbon emissions by 30% compared with 2020 in Chang'an supply chain by 2030." Zhu Huarong said frankly that Changan has prepared for transformation from many aspects, and Changan Automobile has entered the "most Chang'an" state in history.
Source: China Youth Daily (April 21, 11th edition)
Zhang Zhenqi, a reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network
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