Zhu Huarong of Changan Automobile: Traffic is important, but technology-based is the advantage of traditional car companies

"Recently, I watched the press conference of Mr. Lei (Lei Jun) and Mr. Yu (Yu Chengdong), and I also communicated with Mr. Yu. I asked Mr. Yu what the total traffic password was, and Mr. Yu said that I had to play in person, and this was one of the passwords. Recently, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said in an interview with the first financial and other media.

Driven by Lei Jun and Zhou Hongyi, this year's Beijing Auto Show has become a feast of traffic. Compared with Internet companies, car companies are obviously weak in their ability to "create traffic".

In this regard, Zhu Huarong said that the first thing to look at is short-term traffic and long-term traffic, and short-term traffic can be obtained through personal IP or wonderful press conferences, which is very good for product promotion and brand promotion, but long-term traffic is user-centric, creating product value, service value or other new value, which is the most fundamental.

"Whether it is a traditional car company, a new ICT company entering the industry, and other new forces, they must focus on creating value for customers, create good products and services for a long time, and enhance long-term sustainable traffic, rather than a short-term form and state. Zhu Huarong said.

Zhu Huarong believes that Changan Automobile should adhere to technology-oriented, which is the advantage of traditional car companies. At the same time, the current development of new energy vehicles in this round of technological transformation is only a prologue, digital vehicles are the future, the talent structure of car companies from the original mechanical engineers, to software intelligence and sensors and other fields of rapid change, in order to seize the commanding heights of scientific and technological progress and future competition. According to the plan, Changan Automobile will invest more than 150 billion yuan in the new automotive technology industry chain and build a scientific and technological innovation team of more than 10,000 people.

On the evening of April 1, Changan Automobile released sales data for the first quarter of this year, with its own brand new energy vehicles selling 52,900 units in March, a year-on-year increase of more than 47%, and 128,800 units sold in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of more than 52%.

In order to further expand the sales scale of new energy vehicles, Changan Automobile is carrying out a multi-brand and multi-technology layout. Among them, Deep Blue Automobile launched the G318 model, equipped with Deep Blue Super Range Extension 2.0 technology, the new car is expected to be launched within this year, the price is about 300,000. It is reported that the new car has a pure electric range of 190km, a comprehensive range of more than 1000km, a maximum efficiency of 96.6% of the generator, and 3.63 kWh of electricity can be generated from 1L of oil.

The Changan brand recently launched the UNI-Z model, priced at 117,900 yuan ~ 131,900 yuan. The car is the first mass-produced model after the release of Changan's new Blue Whale power platform, using a series-parallel hybrid system of P1+P3 motors, with a pure electric range of 125km and a fuel consumption of 5.15L/100km under WLTC conditions.

Previously, there was some controversy in the industry about the range-extended hybrid and series-parallel hybrid technology, and Changan Automobile has laid out the above two hybrid systems to respond to products with different positioning with different technologies.

Wang Jun, President of Changan Automobile, said that under the "three vertical and three horizontal" technology research and development layout of the national "863" plan, Changan Automobile is guided by solving user pain points and meeting user needs, abandoning the dispute over technical routes and building the development and practice of R&D capabilities of all technical routes.

According to the plan, Changan also plans to achieve 95 and 40 CVI (new energy vehicle consumer acquisition value index) of the same type of products of Changan new energy vehicles by 2025 through continuous technological iteration and innovation of vehicle and battery systems, and then increase by 5%~10% every two years.

Hybrid vehicle products have become recognized as a "potential market segment" in the industry. According to the data of the China Passenger Car Association, the domestic retail sales of pure electric vehicles in 2023 will be 5.144 million units, a year-on-year increase of 20.8%, and the retail sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles will be 2.592 million units, a year-on-year increase of 82.5%. The huge market capacity and rapid growth trend have attracted many brands to actively enter the market to compete for the market cake of plug-in hybrid vehicles, among which the medium-sized plug-in hybrid SUV is the most competitive market segment.

Analysts in the automotive industry believe that the strategy of "the same price of oil and electricity" for new energy vehicles will accelerate the replacement of traditional fuel vehicles by new energy vehicles, and independent brands will also take advantage of this strategic window period to enter the core territory of joint venture brands.

It is worth mentioning that in view of the extreme involution of the current industry, Wang Jun, President of Changan Automobile, believes that this is inevitable in the process of replacing fuel vehicles with new energy vehicles, and the involution will force new energy vehicles to accelerate the cost and technical advantages of replacing fuel vehicles.

"What is the essence of involution? It is the imbalance between supply and demand. Is competition the best way to resolve the contradiction between supply and demand? The conclusion is yes. As long as there is a contradiction between supply and demand, there will be competition, and the most effective or fastest means of regulation is price. As of today, this contradiction between supply and demand has not ended. Wang Jun said.

Wang Jun said that the current price of compact fuel cars is about 80,000 to 100,000 yuan, and if new energy vehicles cannot reach this price, the chances of winning in the competition will drop significantly. Only through new elements, new technologies and new methods to further improve efficiency and reduce costs, new energy vehicle companies can truly usher in the long-term sustainable competitiveness of new energy vehicles. Only in this way can a competitive advantage be created and finally replaced.

In April this year, Changan Automobile's digital intelligence factory in Chongqing began trial production, which completely created a 5G+wifi6 scenario, with a downlink bandwidth of 1G, which can complete the complete software filling of a car in three to five minutes, which previously took one to two hours. Through digital means and process changes, the factory has increased manufacturing efficiency by 20%, reduced total manufacturing costs by 20%, and reduced carbon emissions by 19%.

Wang Jun believes that the current volume volume and price of the automotive industry are still fundamentally related to technology and efficiency. In addition, he believes that the development trend of new energy will not change from any brand, country or region to any brand. However, different enterprises or regions will have different rhythms and appropriate development methods, which may affect the speed and process of the development of new energy vehicles to a certain extent, but will not affect the general development trend.

"It's still in a stage of uncertainty and a lot of possibilities, and the bottom line is not to let it lead to vicious competition. I am full of confidence in China's auto industry, and through continuous competition and innovation, we can meet the new needs of consumers and achieve a Chinese-style balance between supply and demand. Wang Jun said.

(This article is from Yicai)