What the hell happened to Kung Fu Car |? Joint venture car companies to create explosive models, more and more difficult!

I don't know when it started, the joint venture brand cars seem to have lost their charm. There is a very magical fact that all the new models that have been born in the past two years that can hit the top ten sales have all come from wholly owned brands.

For example, Tesla series, China Star series, BYD Song, Qin series, Hongguang MINI EV, etc., all from wholly-owned brands. The joint venture brands that had unlimited scenery before fell into an absolute defensive position, and no new explosive models were born, and they could still play those old-fashioned models.

Why did the joint venture car company lose its vitality overnight? What are the problems with their ability to build blockbusters? Let the kung fu car take everyone to see it together.

From interdependence to mutual restraint, the traditional joint venture model has come to an end?

The birth of the joint venture car company is actually for historical reasons. In the early stage of reform and opening up, in order to protect the national automobile industry, the domestic automobile industry implemented a policy of joint venture and cooperative operation. At the heart of this policy is actually a 50:50 peer-to-peer equity ratio.

In the early days, the joint venture car companies were actually representatives of the advanced. Previously, when Kung Fu Automobile wrote about Shanghai Automotive Industry, he also mentioned that the birth of SAIC Volkswagen was absolutely revolutionary. For foreign-funded enterprises, they only need to pay technology and a certain amount of capital to enter China's market with unlimited possibilities, with a very abundant labor force and a high degree of attention. For domestic enterprises, they can get the most advanced technology, and at the same time, they can learn advanced production and manufacturing experience.

Therefore, when the first joint venture model Santana in China was listed, it immediately caused a very good response. Compared with the international brand cars imported at that time, Santana not only greatly reduced the price by virtue of the advantages of localization, but also greatly reduced the maintenance costs in the later stage, allowing big-name cars to enter the homes of ordinary people. Compared with the self-owned brand cars at that time, it had a huge advantage in performance and reliability.

The strong rise of the joint venture has even affected the decision of domestic environmental protection policies. Domestic emission policies, fuel consumption test regulations, etc., are basically copied European standards, to some extent, because European car companies are the first to enter the domestic market. International car companies have fixed the technology, and domestic car companies have completed localization, so that the competitiveness of joint venture car companies can be said to be very strong.

But with the deepening of cooperation, this 50:50 peer-to-peer cooperation model has gradually cracked. First of all, it must be the profit level, which is also to earn one dollar, but it takes two people to share, which is equivalent to a sharp reduction of 50% of profits. Secondly, at the product level, there are often disagreements between the two sides, resulting in a slower response.

Geely's China Star series misplaced competition, the joint venture has no right move; the Great Wall's tank 300 is hot, the joint venture has not responded; Hongguang MINI EV, BYD DM-i These new energy forces have risen, and the joint venture has not come up with a countermeasure. In order to protect the interests of both sides, it is difficult for them to make concessions in profits, and in order to catch up with their opponents, it is also difficult for them to make large investments in unison.

The joint venture model, once considered an advanced representative, has increasingly become a constraint.

The rise of independent brands, pragmatic is king?

The biggest impact on the joint venture market is undoubtedly the rise of independent brands. They have gradually erased the technology gap over the past few decades and can now pose a very big threat to joint ventures.

Compared with joint ventures that rely on the introduction of technology, independent brands mainly rely on independent research and development, which makes them have higher autonomy. Looking at the product lines of major independent brand car companies, it can be said that it is quite unified, basically 1.5T and 2.0T two engines, and the gearbox is mainly a wet dual-clutch transmission. They did not build large-displacement engines such as V6, V8, V10 or W12, because they were absolutely niche in China, nor did they impact multi-speed AT transmissions, because it was too difficult to bypass patents and the cost was high.

Domestic car companies have basically invested in small-displacement turbocharged engines and wet dual-clutch routes, which have produced agglomeration effects. Take Geely's Drive-E powertrain system as an example, its T5 engine can achieve high low-speed torque at 1500 rpm, and the T6 engine has more torque than the previous five-cylinder engine in the full speed range, and the displacement is only 75% of the other side. This powertrain is used in high-end brands such as Volvo, and can be directly broken with the BBA. Subsequently, it expanded to the brands of Lynk & Co and Geely, and achieved a very good reputation.

In the field of electrification, independent brands have an absolute advantage over joint venture brands. After all, half of the world's top ten power battery manufacturers are in China, and there is no absolute technical generation gap in the field of drive motors. In the past two years, domestic hybrid technology has also made major breakthroughs, BYD's DM-i, Great Wall DHT, Geely Thor hybrid, have achieved a good reputation. Compared to Japanese hybrids, they are more efficient, more powerful, and much cheaper.

The development of independent brands is to firmly grasp the domestic demand, and their cost performance and market response speed are often more prominent than joint venture brands.

The rise of "new joint ventures", or do you want to "take what you need"?

As mentioned earlier, the joint venture model used to be an advanced representative, and it can form a dislocation advantage for both imported brands and independent brands. To a large extent, because of this model, it gives full play to the advantages of China and foreign parties, and the two work together to harvest the market, which is naturally unfavorable. Nowadays, China's dependence on foreign technology is not as great as before, and foreign parties do not rely on China's market expansion, so the cooperation between the two sides is naturally not so compatible.

Then the joint venture model must not work? In fact, it is not necessary, but it is necessary to change the way of thinking.

The most typical is the recently opened booking of Smart Genie #1, as the first pure electric model launched by the Smart brand, it incorporates the latest global design of Mercedes-Benz, and integrates the sensitive and sharp design philosophy. Although it has "transformed" into a large-space SUV, it still has a small and flexible visual experience.

At the technical level, the new car is based on Geely's latest SEA haohan architecture, which is considered a "distant relative" with The Krypton 001 and has very strong performance. Not only can the 0-100km/h acceleration be achieved in 6.7 seconds, but the maximum cruising range of the CLTC can also be 560km. In terms of configuration, the new car is equipped with the latest Smart OS locomotive system and has L2+ level intelligent driver assistance functions.

Combined with the price of 190,000 yuan, it can be said that it is quite tempting. At least there are already many people around Kung Fu Motors who have decided that it is likely to become the best-selling "joint venture" electric vehicle.

Smart Genie #1 is a very typical product of the new joint venture model, first of all, Geely and Mercedes-Benz are not partners in political "matchmaking", but out of technical and market interdependence, they came together. The Beam Car established by the Great Wall and BMW will soon launch an electric version of THE MINI, and it is likely that this route will also be launched. Of course, there is also the momentum of BYD's cooperation with Mercedes-Benz, which recently debuted the new car D9, which is also very promising.

No longer entangled in the stock ratio, nor is it a strict technology and production "separation", the joint venture car companies under the new model will be faster in terms of response speed and more adaptable to the market.

Kung Fu shoots

The traditional joint venture model has come to this point, and there is not much room for improvement. Especially after the technical advantages of independent brands are weakened, joint venture brands will become more and more difficult. In addition to those familiar names, it may be difficult to produce new blockbusters.

However, the new generation of joint venture models will have more markets. No longer limited to the stock ratio, nor entangled in the introduction of technology, the two sides will take out their best set to maximize product power and improve cost performance, which is the final way out of the joint venture.