China's top 10 new energy vehicle companies
Text: Ren Zeping's team
2023 is destined to be recorded in the history of China's automobile development, the new energy vehicle industry is developing rapidly, the "new three" replacing the "old three" has become a new export trend, and independent brands have opened a big era of going overseas.
At the same time, the industry is also changing greatly and constantly reshuffling: Huawei and Xiaomi have joined the battle, and some of the new power car companies have broken through, some have reversed their predicament, and some have left the scene. Some of the traditional car companies have accelerated their transformation and tried to break the high-end situation.
In 2024, car companies will compete to enter the "Warring States Era" and compete in the Central Plains. The five strategic priorities of the major car companies are the "five spells":
1. Who can seize the new opportunities of intelligent driving. In particular, there are great opportunities for companies that can lead the new ecology of intelligent driving in the future.
2. Fight for technical efficiency and cooperation efficiency. Technical efficiency: For example, the rapid development of high-voltage fast charging platforms. Cooperation efficiency: For example, some car companies have formed a linkage effect, 1+1>2, cooperation between car companies in the construction of battery swap infrastructure, reverse joint ventures with foreign-funded car companies, cooperation with data platform companies, and cooperation with enterprises with intelligent driving technology.
3. Fight who can retain the trust of users and arouse emotional resonance. The new energy vehicle industry is accelerating its shift to user experience as the core of competition, and the significance of value war goes beyond price war. Whether it is NIO making mobile phones or Xiaomi making cars, in essence, they are all aimed at more deeply locking user needs and providing convenience to the greatest extent.
4. Fight who can do high-end, who can go to sea to do the global market. On the one hand, Aion, Changan, Chery, etc. are constantly launching higher-end models, on the other hand, BYD and Geely are actively deploying cars to go overseas, proving with actions that China's new energy vehicles will lead the development of the global industry.
5. Strive to break through the bottleneck of scale, make the model profitable, and continue to invest in the capacity. In 2024, the new energy track will enter the second half, with higher requirements for cutting-edge technology research and development and model innovation investment, and attaching importance to scale effect, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and maintaining a high gross profit margin are the prerequisites for the sustainable development of car companies.
In 2024, a new pattern of China's first-echelon new energy car companies is taking shape: 1 leading electric vehicle company (BYD) + 1 "new ecology" car company (Huawei) + 3 new power car companies (NIO, Ideal, Xiaopeng) + 5 transformation car companies (GAC Aion, SAIC, Changan, Great Wall, Geely). At the same time, it is also necessary to pay close attention to the future rookie car manufacturers.
1. The new ecological car manufacturing of major technology manufacturers represented by Huawei and Xiaomi has accelerated the arrival of the intelligent era
"New ecological" car companies: Huawei and Xiaomi will have a big breakthrough and layout in the new energy vehicle track in 2023. What distinguishes them from new car companies is that both companies have rich experience in R&D, sales, and supply chain of smart mobile devices, have accumulated a large number of ecosystem groups, and have more insight into the in-depth needs of C-end users.
1) Huawei – Bosch in the new energy era.
In 2023, Huawei will put core automobile-related technologies such as intelligent driving and HarmonyOS cockpit in the new company, and cooperate extensively with traditional car companies to release the "Hero Post" of the car-making ecosystem.
2023 is a year of great breakthroughs for Huawei in the field of new energy vehicles. After the return of the Mate 60 in August, the company announced in early December that it would spin off the car BU into a new company, aiming to create an open platform for electrification and intelligence with the participation of the automotive industry. Huawei's automotive industry chain has released a number of new products, and a number of models released since the beginning of the year have attracted enthusiastic attention from the market, with the sales of the M7 increasing to more than 20,000 units in December, and the M9 Dading exceeding 20,000 units in one day. In addition, the Zhijie S7 jointly launched by Huawei and Chery Automobile was launched.
In 2023, Huawei's EV manufacturing ecosystem will undergo a structural transformation, becoming more centralized, more professional, and more focused. In the past, it has changed from the three modes of participating in the automotive industry: the Tier 1 supplier model, the Huawei Inside model, and the smart car model, to a more focused model, which is essentially a unified ecology of "HarmonyOS Zhixing Ecosystem + Car BU Empowerment". Hongmeng Zhixuan is currently dominated by the two major brands of Wenjie and Zhijie, and the AVATR brand, as an extension of Changan's participation in the HI model, is more likely to become a part of the joint venture between Chebu and Changan and other enterprises after independence. Celis, Chery, JAC, BAIC and other car companies have also received invitations to open equity in car BU.
As Huawei's EV manufacturing model matures, its ecosystem layout improves, and its system users expand, we may foresee that more Chinese automakers and core suppliers will join the new automotive industry ecosystem it has built in the future.
2) Xiaomi makes cars - the most noteworthy dark horse in 2024.
Xiaomi entered the game to build a car, completing the last piece of the puzzle of the "people, cars, and homes" ecology. Xiaomi released its first model, the SU7, at the end of December 2023, marking Xiaomi's further improvement in the field of life and travel after expanding from the mobile phone business to the smart home. The intelligent evolution logic of the future car will be greatly upgraded, from the plug-in logic to the ecological logic, the smart car defined by Xiaomi, is no longer the traditional intelligent to be regarded as an upgrade of a plug-in, stacking computing power and intelligent applications, but the car as a native intelligent ecological node, to achieve device interconnection, into a larger full-scene intelligent ecology, connecting mobile devices and home smart devices, linking people, cars and homes.
Xiaomi's huge user base and channel power have built a moat for car manufacturing. Different from the traditional way of thinking, Xiaomi did not strip the new car brand, but continued the Xiaomi logo. The advantages of this are: First, the user base of Xiaomi mobile phones is huge, and the comprehensive cost of consumers from awareness to purchasing Xiaomi cars is low. Second, Xiaomi's extensive offline mobile phone stores can also be combined with automotive terminal channels to reduce the sales cost of the automobile business.
However, can Xiaomi win all the battles in the automobile market? The problem and focus are on market positioning, marketing methods, and product systems. The pricing of Xiaomi's first car has attracted a lot of attention. At present, the main competition of new energy vehicles is concentrated in A-class vehicles, accounting for 38.5% of the share of new energy passenger vehicles, while Xiaomi SU7, as a C-class car, is positioned in the mid-to-high-end market with a small user base. How to balance sales, profits, and brands to price the first car, and what kind of models to launch in the future, to create a series portfolio with different positioning, and then to create a scale advantage?
2. The new forces are divided, and the reshuffle is desperate
1) Li Auto - take the lead in making profits by virtue of range extension
In 2023, Li Auto has a remarkable record. For the full year of 2023, a total of 376,000 units were delivered, a year-on-year increase of 182%. At the same time, Ideal is also the first new power car company with monthly sales exceeding 50,000. With accurate market segment positioning and brand building, Ideal deeply cultivates the extended-range SUV market, and its new L7/8/9 models have broadened their product lines, with a total sales volume of 135,400 L7 models in 2023, ranking first in SUV sales of 300,000-400,000.
Ideal profit, become the temporary leader of the new forces to "run out". By streamlining SKUs and extreme project process management, it achieved profitability for the first time in the first quarter of 2023, with a net profit of US$135 million, a gross profit margin of 21.6% in the industry, and a net profit of US$840 million, a year-on-year increase of 366%.
Li Auto's investment in the field of intelligent driving may have a certain gap compared with other new power car companies. By the end of 2023, Li Auto will complete the coverage of AD Max urban NOA (automatic assisted driving navigation) in 100 cities across the country, and will continue to develop gradually in the future.
In the future, the big breakthrough in pure electric technology, is the range extender a transition route for the whole market? Li Auto is betting heavily on the range extender route, so how will he deal with the future trend of technological changes? With the popularization of the 800V fast charging platform and the further improvement of the requirements of the new purchase tax regulations for plug-in hybrid models, the market's range anxiety about pure electric driving is alleviating.
2) NIO - a benchmark for high-end pure electric vehicles
In 2023, NIO has made significant progress in terms of charging infrastructure, Nio phone layout, and vehicle delivery. The annual delivery was 160,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 30.7%, and the sales volume in the Shanghai luxury car market surpassed that of BBA. At the same time, the construction target of 1,000 battery swap stations was also achieved within the year, and the layout of battery swap infrastructure is perfect: there are more than 2,000 battery swap stations and more than 16,000 charging piles. In terms of intelligence, it also officially released the global operating system Tianshu and the first self-developed chip product. In the second half of the year, NIO Phone was released, becoming the first explorer in the ecological construction of "human-vehicle-machine". At the end of December, NIO released the ET9, the executive flagship sedan, priced at 800,000 yuan, to expand into the commercial vehicle field.
The battery swap infrastructure is well-developed, but it also brings challenges. NIO's financial position still needs to be improved. In the third quarter of 2023, it achieved revenue of US$5.36 billion, an increase of 16%, but its net profit was -US$2.17 billion, and the loss widened by 78.5%, dragging down its investment in battery swap services and battery research and development. Achieving breakeven remains NIO's top goal in 2024, and continuing to focus on increasing market share is key, and further optimizing the business structure is inevitable.
We also see that whether it is cutting-edge car manufacturing, layout of battery swap stations, or self-developed batteries, and research and development of mobile phones, they are all fields that require heavy asset investment, and the competition is fierce enough. At the end of November 2023, NIO and Geely launched a strategic cooperation in areas such as battery swapping. In the future, NIO's circle of friends in the battery swap mode will become larger and larger, maintaining its brand advantage in the high-end market while reducing its own operational burden, and at the same time, the circle of friends in the battery swap mode will further consolidate its own moat.
3) Xpeng Motors - The era of intelligent driving is worth looking forward to
In 2023, Xpeng's predicament will reverse. Delivered 142,000 vehicles, up 17% y/y. In the first quarter, when deliveries fell by 45.9%, Xpeng Motors made rapid adjustments and changes to its marketing system, and finally achieved positive growth for the whole year. Xpeng's main challenge is to reverse the gross profit margin, which was -2.03% in the third quarter of 2023, which is lower than the industry average of 9.7% in the same period, and focusing on cost control is the core issue of Xpeng in 2024.
Xpeng's strength lies in its autonomous driving and artificial intelligence technology, and he is not only a car company, but also an "AI + manufacturing" company. With the acceleration of the intelligent era, the advantages of Xpeng Motors will also accelerate in the future. The successive release of bipedal robots and split flying car technology products is also an endorsement of its technical strength, which is bound to play more potential in the context of artificial intelligence sweeping the industry. In 2024, Xpeng proposed that the intelligent driving goal is "light map, full scene, and light radar", and by the end of 2023, Xpeng has completed the layout and application of urban navigation assisted driving functions in 52 cities across the country, becoming the largest car company in the industry in terms of the number of urban intelligent driving full opening. Achieving wide coverage of NGP (Intelligent Navigation Assisted Driving) is also the only way to test full-scene intelligent driving and broaden the L4 on the road.
In the era of the Warring States period of new energy, cooperation seems to be an unavoidable proposition for new energy vehicle companies. In 2023, Xpeng Motors has also accelerated external cooperation.
First, in July, Volkswagen increased its capital by US$700 million to Xpeng, and the two sides jointly developed electric models, marking the opening of the "reverse joint venture" of new energy after the strength of Chinese car companies was recognized by Europe.
The second is to acquire Didi's intelligent vehicle development business, and jointly layout with Didi, planning to launch a new 150,000-level A-class intelligent electric vehicle, which is expected to be mass-produced in 2024. At the beginning of 2024, Xpeng launched the high-end model X9, which will open up the pure electric MPV track with the fully innovative XOS Dimensity system and intelligent driving design, and will also open up a new growth curve for the new year.
In general, for the three car companies of Wei Xiaoli, 2023 will either have a big breakthrough in their performance, or have gained something in the whole ecological layout, or further consolidate the moat of their autonomous driving development.
However, for new power car companies, it is a necessary element to continue to launch mature new energy models, and it may be difficult for entrants who are still in the process of ramp-up production capacity and market verification to survive.
Even WM Motor, which was founded in 2015 and has led the sales of many models, and ranked among the top 20 in the world in pure electric sales in 2021, has stopped at the door of listing and cannot obtain sufficient financing to enter bankruptcy proceedings in 2023. On the other hand, Aiways, which has been favored by local state-owned assets and has mature independent car companies and foreign-funded teams, has also filed for bankruptcy at the end of the year, although its models are exported to Europe and have won the attention of various large-scale auto shows. There are also Gaohe Motors, which entered the game late in 2019 but joined by the former BMW chief senior designer, and there are rumors that it will suspend work at the beginning of 2024, or become the first to go out this year.
In the first half, the aura of the new forces "catfish" began to fade, and the marathon in the second half has just begun. Due to its rapid development attributes, large industries can often gather many high-quality competitors to enter the game, but at the same time, great changes are still being staged.
3. Traditional car companies are competing for the new energy track, and the price war has turned to a value war, and a few are happy and a few are sad
1) BYD - the first place in China's new energy vehicles.
In 2023, the sales volume will be 3.02 million units, a year-on-year increase of 61.8%, and the market share will remain the first with 32%.
BYD's advantages lie in the layout of the whole supply chain and its strong cost control capabilities. From the perspective of profitability, the gross profit margin of BYD's auto business in the third quarter of 2023 is as high as 25.7%, much higher than Tesla's 17.9% and the industry average of 9.7%, highlighting its strength in the context of the 2023 industry price reduction tide.
Second, the success rate of model development is high. In December 2023, a total of 11 models will have monthly sales of more than 10,000, of which 6 models will exceed 20,000.
The third is to lead the export tide of China's new energy vehicles. BYD's overseas progress is relatively fast, and overseas consumers have a high awareness of the BYD brand. BYD achieved a high growth rate of 334% in new energy exports throughout the year, with a total of 243,000 exports, leading the industry, and boasting its own brand strength in Munich and Tokyo at the two world-class auto shows in Munich and Tokyo with its three-electric technology. In the future, in addition to relying on excellent new energy technology strength and model product strength, whether local automobiles have sufficient maintenance and operation and maintenance systems in overseas markets is also one of the keys to affecting the choice of overseas consumers. After all, Toyota is still the car company with the largest sales volume in the world in 2023, with a total global sales of about 10.65 million units, and sales in regions such as Asia and Europe continue to grow.
2) SAIC - the new energy leader of state-owned enterprises, the second in terms of sales
In 2023, the Group sold 1.123 million new energy vehicles, ranking second among Chinese automakers. However, the year-on-year growth rate was 4.95%, which was low compared with the growth rate of new energy of other group brands. However, SAIC's overall financial position is good, with a net profit of 11.4 billion yuan in the third quarter, ranking second in the industry.
SAIC's transformation road is slightly "worrying", and the new energy brand needs to continue to high-end and "relay upgrade". SAIC-GM-Wuling accounted for 40.8% of the total sales of new energy vehicles, SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle accounted for 31.9%, SAIC Volkswagen accounted for 11.6%, SAIC-GM accounted for 8.9%, and Zhiji Automobile and others accounted for 3.4% respectively.
The trend of high-end new energy is inevitable. Under the trend of high-end, SAIC, which has a huge volume, only relies on A0 and A00 grades to drive the long-term growth of the group's new energy performance. In 2023, SAIC-GM-Wuling's wholesale sales will decrease by 38% year-on-year, while at the same time, the annual growth rate of high-grade SAIC-GM-Wuling's new energy vehicles will be 40%. The rapid growth of high value-added brands represented by Zhiji, Feifan, Roewe, and MG may replace low-value-added models such as SAIC-GM-Wuling to become a more solid foundation for SAIC New Energy in the future.
The hidden concern faced by SAIC's transformation is that the joint venture models contribute its main revenue and profits, but the new energy transformation of the joint venture is slightly "half a beat". Now, the share of the American and German systems in the Chinese market has begun to decline, with only 17.8% and 8.8% of the market share by 2023, respectively, and the joint venture with SAIC Volkswagen and General Motors of the United States for the new energy transformation is a big problem, especially for the huge changes in China's new energy vehicle market, whether this "slow motion" can adapt is a huge problem. In 2024, SAIC's independent new energy passenger vehicles will still be an important starting point, and it will be replaced and upgraded in its own advantageous markets.
3) Geely Automobile - its own brand new energy overtaking, with many model layouts
In 2023, the sales volume of new energy vehicles will reach 487,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 48%. Among them, plug-in hybrid vehicles grew rapidly, with sales of 153,000 units, an increase of 1.3 times.
Geely's advantage lies in the fact that its independent quality is deeply rooted in users and its model layout is rich. Geely launched the Galaxy series in February, aiming for 150,000 consumers, and achieved sales of more than 8.3 units in seven months after its launch. In the field of high-end new energy, the ZEEKR brand has also achieved outstanding results, with a total sales of 119,000 vehicles throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 65%. In addition, Geely Panda focuses on micro pure electric models, the Geometry series focuses on affordable users, and Lynk & Co focuses on the mid-to-high-end market, with clear positioning and perfect layout in the whole market range.
One of Geely's future efforts is also to go overseas with new energy. Although Geely exported 408,000 passenger cars for the year, ranking third in the industry, the proportion of new energy vehicles is low, with less than 1,000 units exported in December 2023. Therefore, exploring emerging electrification markets such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America has also become an important direction for Geely brands to go overseas.
4) GAC Aion - the largest new energy unicorn car company
GAC Aion has made breakthroughs in the past with cost-effective models and occupied a dominant position in the B-end market, and will further make efforts in the high-end market in the future. Since its independent operation, GAC Aion's production and sales have exceeded 1 million units, and the cumulative sales volume in 2023 will exceed 480,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 77%.
In addition to the mature product lines of Aion S and Aion Y, GAC Aion also focuses on the high-end layout of the Hyper brand.
It is worth noting that in 2024, many car companies will face different competition patterns: first, continue to go overseas and improve their popularity in Southeast Asia and other regions. For GAC Aion, how to PK with brands such as BYD and Changan in overseas markets is also the key. Second, there are many car companies in the pure electric medium and large sedan market that are aiming at high-end and upgrading high-end, and there is competition in the Red Sea. In response to the changes, GAC Aion's Inpai battery plant was officially completed and put into operation at the end of the year, and at the same time released the magazine battery 2.0, which is a strategy to reach a new level in 2024 with battery technology and intelligent manufacturing.
5) Changan Automobile - Extensive cooperation with new energy vehicles
The annual sales volume of self-owned brand new energy exceeded 470,000 units, and more than 230,000 units went overseas. In the third quarter of 2023, it achieved a net profit of 9.88 billion yuan, ranking third in the industry, second only to BYD and SAIC.
Changan New Energy's advantage lies in the stable fundamentals of economic cars. The company can continue to invest in new models, superimpose vertical equity cooperation with Huawei, and horizontally diversify the layout of battery swap agreements with NIO, accelerate market layout from multiple angles, and achieve brand leapfrogging.
Action 1 is the multi-model layout: the Yidong series consolidates the low-end basic new energy market, and rapidly transforms the mid-to-high-end with the dark blue brand.
The second action is extensive cooperation, Changan and Huawei cooperate with AVATR to develop high-end fields, and the Kaizen brand enters the younger market with Jay Chou's endorsement.
However, Chang'an's high-end exploration still has a long way to go, and the "Chinese content" is getting higher and higher is also a hidden concern for some users, and AVATR delivery is less than expected, with annual sales of about 25,000 vehicles, only a quarter of the annual target, and its high-end road may also need deeper brand precipitation.
6) Great Wall Motors - the five major brands have fully switched to new energy
The five major brands of Haval, WEY, Ora, Tank and Great Wall Cannon have fully turned to new energy and become one of the fastest-growing new energy vehicle companies. In 2023, the sales volume of new energy vehicles will reach 262,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 98.4%.
Great Wall focuses on plug-in hybrid products to focus on market segments, such as ORA positioning the female new energy market, and the tank 500Hi4-T has become a plug-in hybrid representative in off-road scenarios. In addition, we will accelerate the overseas layout and build an "ecological going to sea" with the successful case of Thailand combined with the world.
Great Wall Motor's hidden concern lies in the complex brand pedigree and the lack of inherited model naming, which leads to high user awareness costs and low influence of some new energy models. The naming method of "animal series" and "coffee series" has discouraged many potential car owners. Great Wall is also actively seeking to change, and in 2024 it will replace a batch of names in a more uniform and standardized way.
Great Wall's advantages in excellent supply chain management and fuel vehicle technology have maintained the top three gross profit margins in the industry, reaching 18.8% in the third quarter of 2023, double the industry average, giving Great Wall Motors the confidence to calmly transform into new energy.
7) Chery Automobile - has great potential to go overseas
Chery Automobile's own brand has been the first to go overseas for 21 consecutive years, and it is expected to emerge in the era of China's new energy vehicles going overseas. In 2023, Chery exported 923,000 vehicles. However, Chery's new energy transformation has not yet formed a pressure advantage, and the price of its main new energy models is low. In 2023, the sales of new energy passenger vehicles below 80,000 yuan in mainland China will decrease by 21.8% year-on-year, and under the new policy regulations in 2024, most models will not enjoy purchase tax reduction, and low-end new energy models will be difficult to become a growth force.
Chery's mid- and high-priced new energy vehicles, such as the pure electric models of the Star Era, the plug-in hybrid series of Jietu and Xingtu, have not yet formed a scale effect. The Chery Fengyun brand returned at the end of the year, focusing on the hybrid track as a new energy sequence, and launched the Fengyun A8 priced at 120,000 yuan. Another major direction is to move towards high-end: in November 2023, the Zhijie S7 in cooperation with Huawei will be launched, with a price of about 250,000 yuan, and officially join the Hongmeng Zhixing ecosystem. The parallel of the two lines may become the support point for Chery's transformation into new energy.
4. New energy opportunities in 2024 will be intelligent
In 2023, the world will usher in the explosion of artificial intelligence and large models, and AI applications are also being applied in all walks of life, bringing new opportunities for the development of intelligent driving. In 2024, intelligent driving will enter a critical period of high-level roading, and it will also create more value increments for car companies.
1) L3 and L4 models are officially tested on the road, releasing a huge market space for upgrades, and in the future, the industrialization process of intelligent networked vehicles will be accelerated: the key is who takes the lead in layout, who can get more actual operation data of autonomous driving, and confirm profit points, which is expected to show its strength in the competition.
By August 2023, more than 20,000 kilometers of test roads have been opened across the country. Before 2025, it is a critical period for L3 and above vehicles to be piloted on the road. Technically, car companies have the ability to mass produce and deliver L3 or above, and now there is an important breakthrough on the policy side, and the industry has entered a major turning point. On November 17, 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Transport jointly issued the Notice on Carrying out the Pilot Work on the Access and Road Access of Intelligent Connected Vehicles. Through the selection of qualified products, the pilot test on the road will be carried out. Including AVATAR, Deep Blue, Jihu, Zhiji, Cialis and many other car companies have obtained test licenses. On January 17, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Transport jointly carried out the pilot work of the "vehicle-road-cloud integration" application of intelligent networked vehicles, and 100% of the pilot vehicles were equipped with C-V2X on-board terminals and vehicle digital identity certificate carriers.
2) Integrated development of the intelligent driving industry. In the future, it may be led by some enterprises with advanced technology, R&D investment and leading advantages, and many "allies" will join.
For example, in April 2023, Huawei released ADS2.0, which uses the Transformer algorithm architecture in the software, and Ascend 610 provides the computing power support of the MDC810 self-driving platform, representing the first echelon of computing power algorithms of domestic independent car companies. At present, Huawei's Tier1.0 and Tier0.5 ecosystems provide intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving, and intelligent vehicle control solutions for independent car companies such as Great Wall, BYD, Changan, GAC Aion, and Chery.
3) Break through the "lack of core and soul" and further remove the restrictions of intelligent driving AI chips.
In the future, one of the development priorities of intelligent driving of car companies will still be semiconductor autonomy. Intelligent driving is to realize high-level artificial intelligence in the car, and the bottom layer must be supported by algorithms and chips. From the "Chips Act" in 2020 to a number of policies introduced overseas in 2023, the development of the mainland auto industry has been restricted. From 2020 to 2022, the global shortage of MCU chips led to a reduction in China's automobile production by about 2 million units, and the comprehensive cost of the industry increased by 17 billion yuan per year. In 2023, the supply and demand of automotive-grade MCUs will tend to be balanced, and the delivery time of manufacturers such as Infineon in the fourth quarter will turn from tight to alleviated, but the upstream supply chain pattern has not changed significantly.
The R&D and design of global automotive chips are still dominated by European and American companies. There are still breakthroughs in automotive chip IP, wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing, and China needs to cultivate its own NVIDIA.
Mobile phone chips have been stuck in the neck, but the perception, decision-making, and execution chips of intelligent driving cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. For example, Hesai Technology's latest LiDAR AT512 is equipped with a self-developed fourth-generation chip, which is one of the representatives of the breakthrough of perception chips.
New energy vehicles are in the midst of a big explosion, and the ranking of new energy vehicle companies is changing year by year, and the reshuffle of auto brands in 2024 will be more intense and dynamic than in 2023. Car companies that break through quickly, achieve scale effects, and embrace intelligence have entered the fast lane of growth, and those that cannot achieve brand breakthroughs and get out of the profit dilemma will be out, and the market will enter the second half of the knockout round. The golden fifteenth year of China's new energy vehicles is coming, come on, heroes!