In the pillar industry of automobiles, China has long been in the position of catching up. Although in the domestic market, independent brands have finally broken through the encirclement through brutal fighting; But overseas, Chinese brands are still stretched, and even in Africa, which is considered a "backward" market, Chinese tractors are far inferior to their Indian counterparts.
However, just when the Chinese automakers were camping, the "reassuring pill" of new energy vehicles quietly appeared. Its advent has greatly changed the pattern of the entire automobile industry, and those high-flying Western car companies are all panicked and shocked.
For example, the sensational BYD Seagull, which is only one-third of the price of its American counterpart, has a performance that is not inferior, which makes foreign professional reviewers exclaim that it is "too perfect". Indeed, China's new energy vehicles have blossomed everywhere in an instant with their highly competitive "cost performance" and swept many markets around the world.
In the face of the menacing Chinese electric car front, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo openly said that if 300,000 Chinese electric vehicles enter the United States at the same time, millions of Americans will lose their jobs. Despite the exaggeration, these words have expressed the unprecedented fear and anxiety of the United States about China's new energy vehicles.
This anxiety is not without reason. As the world's second largest economy and the largest automobile market, China has an absolute advantage in the entire industry chain of new energy vehicles with the help of scale advantages and favorable policies:
upstream stockpiling and mining of metal materials;
midstream battery manufacturing system;
Downstream vehicle manufacturing and intelligent network technology integration...
The leading position of a series of industrial chains has given China the trump card of "subverting" the entire traditional automobile industry.
It is based on these solid foundations that China's new energy vehicles are not only far ahead in the domestic market, but also break through in the global market and occupy strategic locations. Taking Thailand as an example, the local government attaches great importance to the development of tourism, and in order to attract tourists, it has made great efforts to promote the popularization of new energy vehicles. Chinese automakers have managed to break out of the encirclement by virtue of their price and performance advantages, and see Thailand as a bridgehead to enter Southeast Asia.
In other emerging markets such as Russia, India, and Brazil, Chinese automakers have also had a promising start.
In the face of the fierce car formation from the East, Western car companies fell into an unprecedented crisis, which triggered a new confrontation and a tragic wrestling on a narrow road...
The West's painstaking efforts and its own predicament
In the face of huge competitive pressure from China, Western countries are also desperately trying to regain the initiative. However, their approach is like a dead end, and it is difficult to curb the general trend.
The most straightforward way to do this is to impose punitive tariffs. Not only did the U.S. veto GM's plan to produce electric pickups in Mexico, but it also imposed a 25 percent tariff on electric pickup imports from Mexico.
A similar approach is playing out in Europe, where automotive powerhouses like Germany have had to delay the EU's plan to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles from 2035. The postponement of commitments again and again is a big surprise, but the Europeans have no choice.
It is difficult to change the overall situation if you are still breathing. Not only because the concept of environmental protection has been deeply rooted, but also because the West is lagging behind in the new energy vehicle industry chain, so they have no way to do it.
Take battery production as an example, the mainstream ternary lithium batteries in the current market are mainly dominated by Chinese, South Korean and Japanese companies. In the downstream vehicle manufacturing process, Volkswagen's ID series electric vehicles are equipped with CATL batteries from China.
Western car companies want to strangle the "lifeline" of batteries to achieve independent control, and also set off a battle for the industrial chain. General Motors, Ford and other car companies are aiming at the battery field to invest heavily, but the goal of the first round of tackling is only to improve the self-sufficiency rate.
Seeing that Europe and the United States are losing ground in both upstream and downstream, Russia is working hard. Due to the huge size of the energy industry, Russia has an advantage in the reserves of battery raw materials such as lithium, nickel, and aluminum. Earlier, Russian officials criticized the electric vehicle industry for being highly monopolistic, believing that there was a risk of a "new colony". At present, Russia is making every effort to develop its own new energy vehicle industry.
Not only that, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Chile and other resource countries are also actively deploying upstream resources and battery production, intending to get a piece of the pie.
In this ubiquitous battle for the industrial chain, Western car companies have obviously fallen into a situation of passive beating, and flaws have also been exposed in a hurry: vigorously developing batteries will inevitably increase the demand for upstream raw materials; However, the total amount of global resources is limited, and the escalation of the contradiction between the two will only put each other in a difficult situation.
This dilemma is much more than it seems. The West will not only have to face head-on competitive pressure from Eastern car companies, but also have to deal with the tearing and destruction of emerging economies around the world. It was a three-front battle and an arduous expedition with no choice.
In this way, the West has been forced to embark on an adventurous journey that it is unwilling to do, and it will take time to see whether the road ahead will be tortuous and rugged or rebuilt to glory.
However, from China's point of view, this passive counterattack may only be a stopgap measure, and it will not curb the general trend of the new energy vehicle revolution. Because instead of wasting resources and making a desperate bet, it is better to explore win-win cooperation with China, which is the best policy...