【Autobot】Gu Huinan: Leading the new track

Embrace new technologies with new systems and drive new industries with new technologies. If 2017-2022 is regarded as the first five-year plan of GAC EIAN, then Gu Huinan, the practitioner of this five-year plan, has brought EIAN into a faster development track and contributed its unique E-An experience to the Chinese automotive industry in the era of transformation.

Text/"Autobot" Zhang Min

In 2021, China's new energy vehicle market showed explosive growth, and GAC Aeon's performance was particularly dazzling, up 119% year-on-year, and the absolute sales volume also reached 120,000 vehicles.

Since the beginning of this year, although the prospects of the domestic new energy vehicle market have been unanimously optimistic, they still face no small challenges.

Following the year-on-year increase of more than 100% in March, the overall sales volume of the industry also fell sharply in April due to the limited supply of the industrial chain caused by the regional epidemic, and the competition pattern of the new force head camp was also quietly changing.

At the end of last month, at the annual report conference of GAC Group, Feng Xingya, general manager of the group, said: "What is the minimum goal of Aeon's mixed reform? Change the current 'Wei Xiaoli' to 'Ai Xiaowei'. ”

At least in terms of sales, this goal has now been achieved. According to the sales data from GAC Aean, its sales in April were 10,212 vehicles, an increase of 23% year-on-year; the cumulative sales volume from January to April reached 55,086 vehicles, ranking first among the new brand of smart pure electricity year-on-year.

From the establishment of GAC EIAN in 2017, to brand independence, and then to the promotion of mixed reform, Gu Huinan, general manager of GAC E-An, led the team to "dare to try, dare to be the first" to achieve the step-by-step advancement of EIAN. In the first full year after GAC Aeon announced the independence of the brand, Aeon achieved all-round fission and the climb of its industry position.

Technical traction

For why the new energy vehicle market can be developed at a high speed, Gu Huinan analyzed that there are three main core reasons:

First, the speed of scientific and technological innovation is fast, such as mileage, which can basically meet the travel needs of most users in just a few years;

Second, ICV (intelligent networked vehicle) technology is also developing rapidly, especially by young people;

Third, the country's industrial policy has also played a very crucial role.

Technology is the traction of Aehan's rapid fission, and it is also the topic that Gu Huinan is most willing to talk about. According to him, GAC Aeon achieved more than 100% growth last year and has always maintained its top three positions in the field of new energy of more than 100,000 yuan. "Aeon Development has also benefited from continuous investment and leadership in scientific and technological innovation."

At the beginning of 2021, Aeon put forward the ambition of leading the world with scientific and technological innovation. Many seemingly difficult to achieve technological development prospects, in the next year, Gu Huinan has fulfilled his promises one by one.

On March 10 last year, GAC Aeon released the safety technology of the magazine battery system, redefining the safety standard of ternary lithium batteries and alleviating consumers' long-standing doubts about the safety of power batteries.

In mid-November last year, the AION LX Plus made its world premiere. Among them, the pure electric endurance of 1008km ends the mileage anxiety of consumers, whether it is urban commuting, or long-distance high-speed, to meet the needs of consumers "want to go", becoming the mileage benchmark of new energy vehicles.

Also in November, GAC Aeon launched a new vehicle technology architecture, the Xingling Architecture. The soa framework design of the whole vehicle can achieve rapid iteration and provide a safe and reliable interface to third parties, through which a shared development ecosystem can be built.

Another technological breakthrough point is reflected in the fast charging. AEan has deployed 6C charging, that is, charging power up to 480kW, peak charging voltage 1000V, charging current 500A, can achieve 0-80% charging in 8 minutes, 30%-80% charging in 5 minutes, and the speed is comparable to fuel vehicle refueling.

Gu Huinan revealed that the most important thing for Aean at present is the layout of technology. Focusing on technology iteration, in 2022, EAN mainly focuses on technologies such as magazine batteries, silicon anode chip batteries, ultra-double-speed batteries, and Xingling electronic and electrical architecture, and continues to upgrade on the technology side and product side.

The reason why Aeon can continue to maintain a leading sales position in the camp of new forces is that in addition to the wide recognition of technology, brand power and product power, it is also because it is backed by GAC Group and has a strong system advantage in the global supply chain. By introducing advanced supply resources in the industry, AEon has built a differentiated, streamlined, efficient and competitive global industrial chain system.

At the end of the industrial chain, Aeon himself is laying out his own battery cell line. In terms of technology investment, GAC has laid out horizons and heduo, and the layout of the industrial chain has been further improved.

On the manufacturing side, Aeon is rapidly expanding its production capacity, and has now achieved a leap from 100,000 to 200,000 vehicles, and has started the renovation and construction of its second plant (formerly GAC Fiat plant). Using the world's leading process technology, based on the production method of GAC Automobile that integrates the Japanese lean manufacturing system, we will create a more efficient E-AN production method.

The power of institutional innovation

In addition to the continuous technical storage capacity and production capacity layout, the system and mechanism are another important supply factor.

At the end of last year, GAC Group released the news of "mixed reform". In order to form a synergy in technology research and development, the Group reorganized the personnel and R&D business of Aeon and the former GAC Research Institute. The "three electric" R&D team of GAC Research Institute, as well as some patented technologies and R&D centers, have been transferred to GAC Ae-An, which means that GAC Ae-An will realize the integration of "R&D-production-marketing" in terms of personnel composition.

On March 17 this year, GAC Group announced that GAC Aean raised a total of 2.566 billion yuan, and the GAC Aean employee equity incentive platform and the GAC Research Institute Science and Technology Personnel Shareholding Platform held a total of about 4.55% of the shares, and the three strategic investors held a total of about 2%.

Gu Huinan said that whether it is the transformation of the shareholding system or the change of the organizational structure, the core purpose is to activate the vitality of the whole company. He once proudly said: "After the implementation of the three-level approval system, combined with digitalization, the overall work coordination efficiency has increased by 90%, and now after the reform of the organizational system, the efficiency is very high." ”

By establishing a modern corporate governance structure, GAC Aeon has won the opportunity to compete on an equal footing with the new car-making forces. In 2022, deepening change remains the theme. Gu Huinan stressed: "In this new track, we must continue to change in order to meet the needs of future development. ”

On the electric intelligent car track, who occupies the commanding heights of technology will lead the starting line. Under the support of science and technology empowerment, GAC Aean has achieved continuous leadership in electrification and intelligent technology, and has continuously accelerated its speed on the road to becoming a benchmark for high-end intelligent automobile brands.

Judging from the sales volume in April this year, new energy vehicle companies have been affected by the overall decline in sales in the industry, and the head brands of smart pure electricity new forces, Eian, Xiaopeng and Weilai, are no exception. However, whether it is from the cumulative sales volume in April, or January to April, Eian is in the position of leader, and the momentum of continuing to lead the camp of new forces has not changed.

With the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles reaching 20% in 2022, consumer demand is still strong. With leading products in science and technology, EIAN is currently showing a trend of continuous growth in order volume, coupled with strong cost control capabilities, which is expected to outperform the industry trend.

Embrace new technologies with new systems and drive new industries with new technologies. If 2017-2022 is regarded as GAC E-AN's first five-year plan, then Gu Huinan, the practitioner of this five-year plan, has brought E-Ann into a faster development track and contributed to the Experience of Aeon in the era of transformation. 【Copyright Notice】This article is the original manuscript of Automan Media, and may not be reproduced without authorization.