With innovation as the main line, with the goal of improving quality and efficiency, transformation and upgrading, and high-quality development, the vivid practice of accelerating the cultivation and development of new quality productivity is being rolled out in the automobile industry.
On April 18, Changan Automobile released its 2023 financial report. In 2023, Changan Automobile sold 2.553 million units, a record high in the past six years, 474,000 self-owned brand new energy vehicles, up 74.8% year-on-year, and 236,000 own-brand overseas vehicles, up 39.2% year-on-year. In terms of financial indicators, last year's annual operating income was 151.298 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to the parent company was 11.327 billion yuan. In the first quarter of this year, Changan Automobile's own brand new energy vehicles and overseas sales of its own brands both achieved steady year-on-year growth.
With its consistent spirit of innovation and tireless innovation practice, Changan Automobile is entering a virtuous cycle of high-quality development driven by scientific and technological innovation of "scale + efficiency + value creation". And this is precisely the core and true meaning of developing new quality productive forces.
One has been in the ring for 40 years
Three ventures have been at the forefront
40 years of turbulence, 40 years of competition.
As far as China's auto industry is concerned, the past 40 years have been 40 years from fledgling to fledgling, 40 years in which the scale of production and sales has grown from small to large, and the R&D force has grown from weak to strong, from obscurity to gradually achieving leadership, 40 years of openness, cooperation and independent innovation have gone hand in hand and have yielded fruitful results, and it has also been 40 years in which China's auto industry has fully demonstrated and conveyed the advantages of "Chinese brand", "Chinese intelligent manufacturing", "Chinese innovation" and "Chinese solutions" to the world. Over the past 40 years, China's automobile industry has risen strongly, contributing to the economic development of China and the world, and has also become an important support for China's modernization and the best footnote for the development of new quality productivity.
40 years ago, Changan Automobile officially entered the automotive field. Under the tide of vigorous development of the automobile industry, after three ventures, it has become a leader in China's own brand automobiles active on the global stage. In 1984, Changan Automobile produced the first batch of small cars in China and officially entered the automotive field, in 2003, Changan Automobile established an Italian design center to start the global R&D layout, in 2009, Changan Automobile became one of the four major automobile groups in China, in 2010, the cumulative sales of Changan Chinese brand vehicles exceeded 5 million, in 2014, the cumulative sales of Changan Chinese brand vehicles exceeded 10 million, and in 2021, the cumulative sales of Changan Chinese brand cars exceeded 2,000 In 2023, Changan Automobile will gain the trust and recognition of 25 million users.
The fruits of 40 years have not come easily. As Wang Xiaofei, vice president of Changan Automobile, said in an interview with a reporter from China Automotive News: "Looking back on the 40 years of Changan Automobile's car manufacturing, in the process of sticking to the original intention of innovation, every strategic planning and every entrepreneurship reflect Changan Automobile's forward-looking pattern and accurate judgment and grasp of industrial development trends and market trends." ”
At present, Changan Automobile is in the critical implementation stage of the third venture. New energy has become the core of China's own brand of automobiles, intelligence is an important element of differentiated competitiveness, overseas markets have become the future of the certainty of increment, China's own brand cars are ushering in a historic opportunity, to build a global brand, grow into a world-class brand has also become the "collective vision" of China's own brand car companies, including Changan Automobile.
In order to implement the third entrepreneurship well, Changan Automobile has formulated the third entrepreneurship - innovation and entrepreneurship plan, which has been updated to version 7.0. The goal is to transform into a smart and low-carbon travel technology company and move towards a world-class automotive brand. Through the '215' partnership action, that is, adhere to the dual promotion of new energy and traditional fuel vehicles and adhere to the domestic market and the international market double promotion of the 'two major improvements', upgrade the partnership of dealers, suppliers and users, realize the strategic transformation and upgrading, brand development, technology leadership, industrial ecological development win-win and service experience 'five new leaps' to enhance product competitiveness and brand awareness, deepen strategic cooperation, and work with strategic partners to create sustainable and leading intelligent point technology, accelerate the expansion of overseas markets, and promote' 1+5+2' global layout. Wang Xiaofei said.
In sustainable innovation
Build a new quality productivity of Changan Automobile
From the transformation into an intelligent low-carbon travel technology company, to the comprehensive reshaping of system capabilities driven by scientific and technological innovation, from the in-depth promotion of the new energy "Shangri-La" plan, to the increasingly clear layout of the three intelligent electric brands of AVATAR, Shenlan and Changan Qiyuan, from the deep cultivation of the core technology of "three electrics" to the new breakthrough of the intelligent "Beidou Tianshu" plan, from the opening of the "Inclusive Rivers" plan to deeply deploy the global market, to the continuous increase in overseas sales...... All of them are the best interpretation of Changan Automobile's innovation as the foundation and the practice of developing new quality productivity.
In Yubei District, Chongqing, Changan Automobile's newly built digital intelligence factory has entered the intense trial production stage. From the start of the construction of the factory to the trial production, it took only 11 months.
This new intelligent, low-carbon and efficient factory fully matches Changan Automobile's transformation and upgrading strategy. It is understood that on the basis of the four traditional automobile manufacturing processes of stamping, welding, painting and final assembly, it has also expanded the digital software packaging and testing process, the new energy battery PACK process, the body integrated die-casting, CTV and other processes, forming seven advanced manufacturing processes.
During the interview, Wang Xiaofei revealed to reporters that Chang'an Digital Intelligence Factory has built advanced technology solutions such as unified digital base + cloud application, laid out 16 types of intelligent manufacturing scenarios such as intelligent production, intelligent scheduling, intelligent logistics, and intelligent warehousing, and applied more than 40 cutting-edge technologies such as integrated packaging and testing of vehicle software. The "black light factory" has been realized, and the automation rate of some key manufacturing processes has reached 100%.
"The 'new' of the new quality productivity is innovation, and the 'quality' is the quality. The development of new quality productivity is to achieve high-quality development of industry enterprises through scientific and technological innovation and application. Wang Xiaofei said, "In the process of continuous innovation, Changan Automobile will gradually build itself into an enterprise with higher efficiency, stronger system capabilities, better product quality, more prominent cost control advantages, more sustainable development, and new quality productivity characteristics." ”
Innovation is the distinctive background color of the development of China's automobile industry, and sustainable innovation is also the spirit of "100 years of Chang'an". In the current step-by-step technological innovation, Changan Automobile has also reaped fruitful results. New energy and intelligence are the direction and trend of the current global automotive industry transformation, and in 2023, Changan Automobile's technological innovation strategy focusing on new energy and intelligence will also be implemented efficiently.
In the field of new energy and electrification, the "Shangri-La" plan has jumped to a new level, and the brand has further moved to a new level, building and forming the layout of the three major intelligent electric brands of AVATAR, Deep Blue and Changan Qiyuan, based on the positioning of the three major global brands in the world, laying a solid global competition pattern in the future
He has mastered more than 400 core technologies. In the field of batteries, Changan Automobile has mastered more than 180 core technologies, released the battery brand "Golden Bell Jar", created the iBC digital battery butler, and launched industry-leading technologies such as micro-nucleus high-frequency pulse heating, a new generation of battery integration, and new high-efficiency thermal management. Changan Automobile's new military-standard thermal insulation materials used in batteries have 30% higher thermal insulation performance than the industry level, and the operating temperature is more than 200°C higher than that of conventional materials, bringing customers the experience of "long life", "true safety", "ultra-high efficiency" and "fast energy replenishment".
In the field of intelligence, Changan Automobile adheres to the principle of "no intelligence, no Chang'an, no technology, no Chang'an", makes full use of the global collaborative R&D resources of "six countries and ten places", and the "Beidou Tianshu" plan has made new breakthroughs and technological achievements continue to emerge, and more than 30 key technologies such as APA7.0 have been independently mastered and released in the industry. Up to now, Changan Automobile has mastered more than 1,500 core technologies. In the 2023 National Enterprise Technology Center evaluation, Changan Automobile's R&D strength score once again ranked first in the industry, ranking first in the industry for a total of 7 sessions and 14 years, and in 2023, a total of 5,739 new patents were added, with an average of 16 new patents per day, ranking first in the industry in the number of patent disclosures in the field of intelligence, and it led the release of 55 external standards, completed 3 international standard projects, and became the first Chinese car company to lead the formulation of ITU series international standards.
At the level of actively optimizing the industrial layout with innovative ideas, Changan Automobile and CATL jointly established Times Changan Power Battery Company, and rolled off the production line of the first standardized battery cell, with a world-leading manufacturing process and cell performance. At the same time, the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with Ganfeng Lithium is an important measure for Changan Automobile to achieve the world's leading position in the next generation of power batteries.
The innovation of the cooperation model is also the key to helping Changan Automobile unleash the characteristics of new quality productivity. For example, in the field of energy replenishment, Changan Automobile has adopted a multi-path and three-dimensional expansion of the "charging and replenishment" approach, actively promoted the application of new technologies such as high-power charging, strengthened cooperation with NIO in the battery swap business, and built a sustainable industrial ecology of co-creation, sharing, mutual benefit and reciprocity. In the field of intelligence, with the goal of building the world's leading full-stack controllable intelligent core capabilities, Changan Automobile has joined hands with Horizon Robotics to establish Long-term Intelligence, and has joined forces with Huawei to build a new company that provides intelligent system and component solutions. At the same time, we will continue to strengthen cross-border cooperation, carry out strategic collaboration with more than 30 advantageous enterprises around the world, focus on high-value technology research, and make every effort to build core competitiveness in the three major fields of intelligent driving, intelligent networking, and intelligent interaction.
The development of new quality productive forces, the demand for innovative talents is becoming more and more vigorous. In this regard, Changan Automobile has built a distinctive team of innovative talents with a global mindset: it has introduced more than 50 world-class celebrities such as the world's top styling design master and former vice president of Volkswagen Group, such as Klaus, to create an international styling design team of 835 people from 25 countries around the world, and has built 17 technology companies such as Changan Technology and 16 technology research and product development centers such as Changan Technology and 16 technology research and product development centers such as Advanced Battery Research Institute around the core fields of intelligence and new energy, and has formed 1.8 technology companies from 30 countries and regions around the world More than 10,000 people technology research and development team.
Driven by innovation, Changan Automobile has created a new quality productivity "Changan Model", which not only injects abundant impetus into its own high-quality development, but also makes outstanding contributions to the coordinated development of the industrial chain and the co-development of regional industrial clusters.
In 2023, Changan Automobile will form a production capacity layout with new quality productivity characteristics of 850,000 new energy vehicles, 450,000 sets of electric drive systems, and 300,000 sets of electronic control systems, with the annual procurement amount exceeding 130 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28%, achieving positive growth for five consecutive years, driving the employment of more than 1 million people in the whole industry chain, and contributing a total of 17.6 billion yuan in tax revenue.
In the process of accelerating the construction of a trillion-level industrial cluster of world-class intelligent networked new energy vehicles in Chongqing, Changan Automobile plays an important leading role as a chain leader and makes every effort to promote the transformation and upgrading of the industrial chain with new quality productivity. At the level of infrastructure construction and pilot demonstration, the number of new energy charging stations in Chongqing has reached nearly 3,000, 220,000 charging piles have been built, 139 charging stations in expressway service areas, and 561 public fast charging piles have basically covered the rapid energy replenishment scenarios in expressway service areas. Chongqing National Internet of Vehicles Pilot Zone has transformed more than 730 kilometers of two-way vehicle-road coordination roads, realized more than 5,000 directly connected vehicles, and Changan Automobile and other enterprises have accumulated more than 2.5 million kilometers of test mileage in Chongqing, providing a solid foundation for the development of the industry.
Gather momentum and accumulate energy to take advantage of the momentum
Forging an innovative and efficient value chain
As the first year of deployment and implementation of the development of new quality productivity, it is the last word in the new era to continue to expand and develop new momentum and new advantages, forge innovative and efficient innovation chains and value chains, and adhere to high-quality development.
To this end, in 2024, Changan Automobile will focus on the "Five New Leaps" to strengthen the competitiveness of the value chain and ecological chain in terms of strategic promotion, product layout, technological innovation, industrial ecology, and customer operation.
"This year, we will focus on the 'five new leaps' and comprehensively shape the 'new quality productivity of Changan Automobile' with differentiated competitive advantages. Wang Xiaofei said. According to him, the "five new jumps" are as follows: first, take the strategy as the traction, realize the new leap of transformation and upgrading, vigorously promote the "new car and new ecology" strategy, plan to invest a total of 200 billion yuan by 2030, add more than 10,000 people to the scientific and technological innovation team, and launch the SDA platform architecture product based on software-defined vehicles built by Changan Automobile - Changan Qiyuan E07, and work with global partners to become a provider of new automotive technology products and services. A win-win technology ecosystem. Second, optimize the product layout and achieve a new leap in brand promotion. With products as the main line, we will promote the five major business brands of Changan Gravity, Changan Qiyuan, Deep Blue Automobile, AVATR and Changan Kaicheng to work together to build differentiated brand value and meet the personalized needs of different segments of the population with different positioning. Third, strengthen scientific and technological innovation and realize a new leap in technology leadership. Adhere to the annual R&D investment accounting for no less than 5% of revenue, and promote continuous breakthroughs in key core technologies. Among them, in the field of new power, we will build three core competitiveness of cost leadership, safety and reliability, low carbon and high efficiency, quickly break through technical difficulties such as low-temperature battery cells and fast charging and energy supplement, and create longboard labels with ultra-low energy consumption, ultra-high environmental adaptability and ultra-fast energy replenishment. At the same time, we will focus on the fields of high value and strong user perception, build four intelligent core competitiveness of intelligent driving, intelligent interaction, intelligent vehicle control and digital ecology, and strive to achieve a world-leading intelligent experience in three years. Use technology, process and other scientific tools and methods to define the design, and establish a collaborative mechanism of definition, design and engineering, so that the user needs and the design concept are directly connected and more compatible. Fourth, build an industrial ecology and achieve a new leap in win-win development. Focus on the layout of the next generation of power batteries, adhere to the independent research and development of technology and capital cooperation in the same direction, integrate global resources, and achieve global leadership; in the field of intelligence, adhere to the two ends of autonomy and cooperation, further play the role of Chang'an technology, long-term intelligence, software technology and other innovation subjects, accelerate the breakthrough of core capabilities such as operating systems and controllers, and master full-stack controllable capabilities; in the forward-looking field, continue to carry out the research and development and application of Chang'an AI large models, quickly iterate algorithm models, improve AI computing power, and create new competitive advantages. Fifth, promote customer management and achieve a new leap in service experience. Adhere to the "No. 1 project" of customers, build customer management into a differentiated competitive advantage of Chang'an's brands, and build a "global, full brand, full value chain" customer service capabilities. From efficient problem solving to proactive customer value creation and experience improvement. At the same time, it adheres to the principle of "Chang'an goes to sea, service first", rapidly expands the overseas "No. 1 project", and provides consistent service standards and levels for global customers.
Based on the high-quality and efficient innovation chain and value chain, Changan Automobile's product lineup will be more in line with the characteristics of new quality productivity in the future. Wang Xiaofei revealed that in the first quarter of this year, the world's first extended-range pickup truck - Changan Hunter began to be delivered; in the second quarter, the dark blue hard SUV G318 will be officially launched; in the third quarter, AVATAR's second SUV E15, dark blue C857 (codename), and Changan Kaicheng G393 will meet you; in the fourth quarter, the mass-produced variable digital intelligent new car Changan Qiyuan E07, AVATR mid-size coupe E16, and Changan Qiyuan C798 (codename) will join the product camp. By 2028, Changan Automobile will launch more than 30 blockbuster new energy products around the world, such as E15, Changan Qiyuan E07, C857, G318, J90A, and P866. At the same time, we will continue to focus on the global market, make overall plans from marketing, channels, power types, etc., and create large-scale core products.
According to the plan, Changan Automobile's overall sales target will reach 2.8 million units in 2024, an increase of 9.7% year-on-year. Among them, the sales volume of the independent segment was 2.204 million units, an increase of 14.6% year-on-year, the sales volume of new energy vehicles was 750,000 units, an increase of 55.9% year-on-year, and the overseas sales volume was 480,000 units, an increase of 33.2% year-on-year. At the same time, the target of 5% cost reduction will be achieved.
In 2025, Changan Automobile's overall sales target is planned to be increased to 3.5 million ~ 4 million units, an increase of 32% ~ 51% year-on-year. Among them, the sales volume of the independent segment was 2.8 million ~ 3 million units, an increase of 35.7%~45.3% year-on-year, the sales volume of new energy vehicles was 1.2 million units, an increase of 71.4% year-on-year, and the overseas sales volume was 700,000 units, an increase of 66.7% year-on-year. By 2030, the overall sales volume is expected to reach 5 million units, including 4 million units in the independent segment, 3 million ~ 3.5 million units of new energy vehicles, and 1.2 million units of overseas sales, moving towards the world's leading automobile brand.
Seize the opportunity and meet the challenge
Enhance the global competitiveness of Chinese automobiles
While transformation brings opportunities for development, in the face of increasingly fierce competition, enterprises must also have the confidence and strength to calmly respond to challenges.
Two years ago, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, publicly stated that in the next 2~3 years, it is conservatively expected that 60%~70% of brands will face "shutdown and transfer". Now, two years later, that prediction is being confirmed. "The transition to electrification and new energy is the consensus of the industry, but the transformation of R&D investment, production investment, market investment is huge, at this stage almost every new energy vehicle company (or the new energy business of car companies) is facing high manufacturing costs, high operating costs, scale effect has not appeared, low profits per vehicle dilemma, in the stage of continuous losses. At the same time, with the significant increase in the supply of new energy vehicles, the characteristics of oversupply are more obvious, and the new energy vehicle market has opened a price reduction competition mode, which will accelerate the elimination of brands. Wang Xiaofei said frankly, "In the short term, the development of electric vehicles is still facing challenges such as relatively poor customer experience, difficult corporate profitability, and insufficient supply of raw material resources, especially customer experience problems such as range anxiety, energy replenishment efficiency, safety and reliability, which still need to be further solved." At the same time, the window period of the downstream battery recycling industry has arrived, and car companies need to speed up the layout. ”
In addition to the domestic market, when talking about the opportunities and challenges of a new round of China's own brand cars going overseas, Wang Xiaofei said that it is necessary to face up to the rise of China's own brand cars, especially independent brand new energy vehicles in the global market, is encountering many challenges. Under the general trend of "rising in the east and falling in the west", the global innovation resources of electrification and intelligence in the automobile industry are further focused on the east, so the competition and competition between the East and the West will become more intense, and the long-term game will become inevitable. For example, the European Union's launch of a countervailing investigation into pure electric vehicles made in China and US President Joe Biden's statement that he will take "unprecedented" actions against Chinese vehicles may involve greater risks in terms of forward-looking technologies.
"In the long run, the opportunities for China's own brand cars in overseas markets outweigh the challenges. Wang Xiaofei said, "First of all, with the continuous evolution of the core system technology, and the gradual improvement of the new energy vehicle industry chain, marketing chain, service chain, China's new energy vehicles have embarked on a 'lane change overtaking' transformation road, won the recognition of global users, and gradually shaped a strong global competitiveness." In addition, according to the forecast, the total global automobile production and sales will grow steadily in the future, with a compound growth rate of about 2% in the next five years, the market in emerging countries will continue to recover, with a compound growth rate of 3%~9% in the next five years, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in Europe will be close to 30% in the next five years. The expansion of overseas markets is expected to become an opportunity for the high-quality development of China's new energy vehicles. ”
To comprehensively enhance the global competitiveness of Chinese automobiles, it is necessary for China's auto industry to quickly make up for its shortcomings while leading the way in the global arena in electrification and intelligence. For example, in terms of electrification, problems such as inconsistent power battery standards, prominent overcapacity, and the closed loop of the industrial chain of waste battery recycling and cascade utilization have not yet been opened up urgently need to be solved. In the field of intelligent networked vehicles, OEMs are "fighting their own battles" in the field of chips, and their cognition and standards are not uniform, their core technologies are limited, and they have not yet found a profit model for the sustainable development of the intelligent networked vehicle industry, and the boundaries of non-personal information related to intelligent networked vehicles are blurred and the ownership is unclear, which is not conducive to the protection of personal information. "At the same time, at a time when China's automobiles are entering the peak period of 'collective going overseas', Chinese car companies should integrate resources and strengthen synergy to enhance the overall product strength and brand image of China's own brand automobiles, and reduce the consumption of industrial chain costs in the global market competition. Wang Xiaofei suggested.
In the future, many Chinese independent brand car companies represented by Changan Automobile will work with many partners to interpret more wonderful "car stories" of open cooperation and mutual benefit and win-win results in global competition. From product going overseas to strategic layout, from technology output to standard connectivity, China's auto industry continues to forge the global competitiveness and influence of China's auto industry in the process of developing new quality productivity, and injects more "Chinese innovation vitality" into the global auto industry.
Text: Wang Pu Editor: Li Qing Layout: Liu Xiaoye
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