The real auspicious may not be the auspicious you think.
It also owns more than 10 automotive sub-brands and also owns shares in overseas car companies such as Daimler, Lotus and Aston Martin.
In terms of investment, no one knows better than Geely. On July 11, "investor" Geely once again expanded its circle of friends, Geely Holding Group and Renault Group jointly announced that the two parties will establish a joint venture.
(Source: Geely Automobile's announcement)
Yes, you read that right, that is the Renault that has never withdrawn from the Chinese market, but has shifted its focus to electric vehicles and light commercial vehicles in China.
After all, Renault has almost no combat effectiveness in the domestic passenger car market, but in fact, Geely and Renault will establish a joint venture focusing on hybrid and fuel powertrains, and the new company can have an annual production capacity of more than 5 million sets of engines and gearboxes.
In other words, the purpose of the joint venture is not to launch the "Geely Renault" model, but to provide powertrain solutions for third-party car brands.
In this way, Geely and Renault do have a joint venture.
Geely needs Renault as a catalyst
As we all know, the development of the new energy vehicle industry is very rapid, but there may be many people who do not understand that new energy vehicles have become the main force of automobile exports. According to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's exports of new energy vehicles in 2022 reached 679,000 units, of which Geely Group accounted for 198,000 units.
Even An Conghui, chairman of Geely Automobile, did not mince words, "In the global new energy wave, Chinese automobiles have achieved the first-mover advantage of large-scale, systematic and generational lane change around the world. ”
(Source: Extreme Krypton Automobile official)
More and more independent brands are choosing the European market as the foothold to promote new energy to the global market. Xiaotong (ID: dianchetong233) observed that there are two reasons for this.
First, the acceptance of new energy models in the European market is relatively high, and nearly half of the new energy vehicles exported by China in 2022 will be destined for the European market.
Second, Europe's new energy market has policy promotion. According to the plan, the sale of non-zero-carbon fuel vehicles will be banned in the EU from 2035.
(Source: Geely Galaxy New Energy)
Today, Geely has the support of the two major platform architectures of pure electric vast and hybrid Raytheon in new energy technology, and its models have passed verification in their respective domestic market segments, and the continuous increase in export volume is undoubtedly one of the important evidence of Geely's global influence.
However, in Xiaotong's view, Geely may take a long time to seize the European market by relying on its own new energy technology, and it needs Renault's "catalyst" to accelerate the speed of seizing market share.
Although Renault does not have much influence in the domestic market, it still has a certain prestige in the European market. In the first half of this year, Renault sold 501985 vehicles in Europe, becoming the second best-selling brand in the European market.
Geely can get at least three benefits from this joint venture.
First, Geely's global layout is gradually accelerating, and the demand and cost of powertrains will gradually increase, and joint ventures are one of the best ways to reduce R&D costs and increase production.
Second, by cooperating with more enterprises, Geely's own technology can be continuously optimized. As a century-old automobile brand, Renault produces engines that are lightweight, efficient and fuel-efficient, and the technology is worth learning from Geely.
Third, with the influence of Renault in the European market, the output of Raytheon hybrid technology in the European market can be accelerated, which is conducive to further opening up overseas markets.
Whether Renault can successfully transform is crucial
In January 2022, Renault CEO Luca de Meo said that by 2030, Renault will fully transform into an electric vehicle brand, and all cars sold in Europe will be pure electric vehicles.
It stands to reason that if Renault can make a difference in China, the world's largest new energy market, it will be of great help to the rapid transformation of the brand.
However, although Renault has not given up the domestic new energy market, there are still two joint venture new energy vehicle companies, Jiangling Group New Energy and Yijiete New Energy, but the popularity of Yi, Xiaoda and other models under the two companies is very low, and the brand influence in China is even more impossible.
(Source: Jiangling New Energy official)
Seeing this, you may have questions, Geely and Renault's joint venture business in addition to hybridization, but also fuel powertrain, which seems to be contrary to Renault's pure electric route.
But in Xiaotong's view, this is an important step in Renault's smooth transition to electrification.
Although the scale of the fuel vehicle business in the global market has begun to shrink, some car companies have begun to cut the research and development of pure fuel engines and focus more resources on the field of electrification.
But in fact, for a long time to come, fuel-powered and hybrid-powered models will not retire from the historical stage, and the continuous development of these two businesses can provide power system solutions for more third-party car brands, providing capital for Renault's rapid transformation in the later period.
In addition, although Renault has a certain prestige in the European market, its new energy models still have a lot of room for improvement in technology.
(Source: Renault Automobile official)
Take Renault's best-selling pure electric car Megane E-Tech electric as an example, not to mention the level of design and materials, as a compact crossover pure electric SUV, its pure electric range is only 470km.
This cruising range may be sufficient in the European market, but on the other hand, the extreme Krypton X, which is also a compact SUV, has a pure electric cruising range of 500km, and if Renault can improve the hard power of the product, it will also be beneficial to improve the new energy market position in Europe.
With this joint venture, Renault can learn from Geely's electrification technology in hybrid technology, thereby promoting its own development in the field of new energy. For its own development, Renault can also appropriately put more research and development costs into the field of pure electric vehicles.
It is difficult for Renault to improve its presence in China
Geely is steadily constructing its own global business territory, and the European new energy field has a large space to be explored, and the joint venture with Renault can quickly open up the European market and expand brand awareness with Renault's hand.
Although Renault and Geely jointly develop the field of fuel power and hybrid technology, they can obtain more capital in fuel power and learn more advanced technologies from Geely in hybrid technology, which provides sufficient prerequisites for the subsequent transition to pure electric vehicles.
The establishment of a joint venture between the two parties is most likely a win-win situation.
But then again, Renault may expand its share of the European new energy market through Geely, but it may still be difficult to compete with other new energy vehicles in the domestic market.
(Source: Jiangling New Energy official)
For consumers, at least the current consumers, they have high enough requirements for the popularity and technology of new energy brands, such as Toyota using BYD powertrain, it is difficult to form a high enough influence in the domestic market.
Of course, it is not a bad thing for Renault to "reign alone" in the European market.
Cover image source: Extreme Krypton Automobile official