In the context of the continuous expansion of oil and gas price differences, the gas heavy truck market has become the backbone of the recovery of the domestic heavy truck market. According to industry forecasts, in the next two or three years, natural gas heavy trucks will continue to sell well, and the total market is expected to exceed 1.5 million.
However, under the good situation, some false information appeared on the Internet, which misled users, wronged dealers, and made many brands in the industry unbearable. In order to set the record straight, Foton Motor held a media briefing and appealed to the whole industry: enterprises should focus more on technological innovation and model innovation, and work together to make China's commercial vehicles go to a broader global stage, so that China can redefine global commercial vehicles.
After the media briefing, the reporter of "China Automotive News" conducted an exclusive interview with Qin Zhidong, deputy general manager of Foton Motor, Liu Xuguang, vice president and spokesman of Foton Motor, Feng Jing, an expert with special allowance from the State Council, a doctor of engineering, a professor-level senior engineer, and vice president of Foton Motor Power Transmission, and Wang Zhaoqian, vice president of commodity planning of Foton Daimler Auman Division, and other senior executives to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the current commercial vehicle industry. Foton Motor not only responded strongly to the doubts of the outside world, but also more clearly demonstrated its forward-looking vision and solid steps in technological innovation, market layout and new energy strategy, showing the responsibility and vision of the industry leader.
01
Promote China's commercial vehicles to the global stage
In the current media environment, the commercial vehicle industry faces challenges posed by misinformation and misreporting. As a leader in the commercial vehicle industry, Foton Motor has not been spared. Liu Xuguang mentioned in an exclusive interview that since the beginning of the year, Foton Motor has suffered a series of false remarks and malicious guidance attacks, which not only misled customers, but also brought a lot of trouble to dealers.
As we all know, false reports not only damage the brand image of the company, make customers doubt the product, but also may lead to the loss of the sales performance of the dealer, which in turn affects the stability of the entire supply chain. In addition, false reports may also attract the attention of regulators and increase the compliance costs of enterprises.
Liu Xuguang said that although Foton has always adhered to the principle of "those who are clean are self-purifying", in the current environment, this principle is not enough to eliminate all doubts. Therefore, Foton Motor decided to hold a media briefing to clear up the source of Internet rumors. Liu Xuguang said, "First, we must issue a statement to clarify the facts to the public and the media; Second, starting from ourselves, we will resolutely fight against false information, unfair competition and malicious guidance, actively respond to the call of the country's 'Clear Action', and launch industry initiatives to resolutely resist such behavior. ”
Liu Xuguang emphasized that it is the meaning of Foton Motor's existence to let truck drivers enjoy the best products and services, alleviate their labor intensity, and provide a comfortable car environment, as well as the responsibility and mission of the main engine factory. As a leading enterprise in the industry, Foton Motor has the responsibility and obligation to build a clear public opinion environment and work together to promote China's commercial vehicles to a broader global stage.
02
Real gold is not afraid of fire
Dark clouds can't cover the sun, and real gold is not afraid of fire.
Foton Motor has been adhering to the concept of user-centric, each product has been rigorously developed and verified before being put on the market, and has passed various tests of relevant departments of the national government, including icing test, crankcase pressure test, PEMS test, respectively, in different temperatures, different working conditions repeatedly carried out several engine bench tests, and even passed the non-standard test in extreme environments, and has achieved a perfect national product announcement.
In the interview, Feng Jing once again made an authoritative interpretation of the product characteristics of Foton gas machine: first, the use of integrated and optimized air intake system, pulse exhaust pipe and EGR system, double channel/double bypass water-cooled supercharger, Miller cycle and other technical means, the application of these technologies effectively improves the filling efficiency, reduces pump gas loss, and improves the uniformity of each cylinder, thereby improving combustion efficiency, reducing gas consumption, and improving gas economy.
The second is the use of high-energy ignition system and adaptive knock control technology, which can effectively reduce the incidence of fire and knocking common in natural gas engines, and further improve and reduce gas consumption.
Third, according to the characteristics of the gas engine, Foton Motor has carried out a special structural design, which is very effective in reducing the fuel consumption of the gas engine, especially for the wear and tear improvement of the valve and seat ring, which solves the "stubborn disease" of the gas engine in the industry.
Fourth, the Foton gas machine adopts a tightly coupled three-way catalytic converter, which can greatly reduce the temperature of the catalyst for rapid ignition, which can effectively reduce exhaust emissions and reduce gas consumption, which is an industry-leading technology at this stage.
Fifth, there is a large amount of water in the exhaust gas of the gas engine and the diesel engine, and the risk of freezing may occur through the EGR pipeline or CCV pipeline under extreme working conditions, and Foton Motor has adopted thermal insulation and heating measures to reduce the risk during the development process.
"At the same time, for the characteristics of the gas engine, including its high temperature, water content and other issues, Foton Motor has done a very full reliable durability verification for these differences, in addition to the same conventional functional test verification as the diesel engine, Foton Motor lasted three years, and completed a total of 15,000 hours of reliable durability of the engine bench, more than 10 million kilometers of vehicle reliable durability verification, which can only be completed by enterprises that have both engine business and vehicle business." Feng Jing emphasized.
03
Accelerating in the Wave of Industry Change
The current market environment is unpredictable and industry competition is further intensified, but Foton Motor has maintained a strong growth trend. On April 26 this year, Foton Motor released its 2023 annual report and the first quarter report of 2024, which showed that Foton Motor's operating income in 2023 would be 56.097 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.78%, and its net profit would be about 909 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1262.27%. Entering the first quarter of 2024, Foton's performance continued to maintain a strong growth trend, the announcement showed that the net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses in the first quarter was about 207 million yuan, an increase of 19.04% year-on-year, which not only continued the good momentum of last year, but also fully demonstrated the strong competitiveness of Foton Motor in the current market environment.
Foton's outstanding performance is the result of comprehensive efforts such as technology accumulation, strategic layout, ecological chain integration, and customer insight. Especially in the heavy truck market, in the face of changes in the environment, the development trend of technology diversification and changes in industry trends, Foton Motor once again achieved "accelerated running" in the wave of industry change.
"In the future, Foton Auman will also make full efforts on the product side, business side and operation side, quickly respond to market demand, continuously enrich and optimize the product portfolio, effectively tap new market potential, and inject momentum into the overall business growth." Wang Zhaoqian said. For example, in the domestic market, Foton Auman will further strengthen its existing advantages, firmly promote the implementation of the southern market strategy and special vehicle strategy, and contribute to the market increment. In terms of international business, we will conduct in-depth research on the market segments of various countries and regions, accurately customize products that meet local characteristics and regulatory requirements, and actively encourage and support domestic distributors to expand overseas markets. At the same time, it strengthens localized operation and management, deepens the integration with overseas markets, ensures the effective coordination of the whole value chain from product research and development, manufacturing to after-sales service, and accelerates the improvement of competitiveness in the international market. In addition, in the core module, especially the engine and gearbox, Foton Motor is also planning the next generation of products.
In the energy route, in addition to continuing to consolidate the advantages of traditional power, Foton Auman will also vigorously invest in the research and development of diversified energy products such as NG, hybrid, pure electric and hydrogen energy, aiming to achieve full coverage of various working conditions, so as to seize the opportunity in the new round of market competition and maintain a leading position.
In terms of operation, Foton Auman will also achieve quality and cost two-wheel drive, through the construction of strategic supplier system, the improvement of resource autonomy rate, and constantly improve production efficiency, while actively promoting model innovation, to meet the differentiated needs of users, through the development of integrated and customized logistics solutions, to achieve the co-creation and win-win situation of production enterprises, partners and end customers, and finally realize the leap from local leadership to comprehensive leadership in the heavy truck business.
04
Comprehensively help the transformation and upgrading of the industry
In recent years, with the promotion of the "double carbon" goal and the continuous upgrading of environmental protection requirements, the commercial vehicle industry is in a critical period of technological transformation and demand upgrading. Under the dual role of policy and market, new energy commercial vehicles have entered a stage of rapid growth.
In view of the strategic layout of new energy for commercial vehicles, Qin Zhidong said that with the vision of "becoming a green technology and market-leading international enterprise" and the mission of providing green solutions for the energy revolution, Foton Motor has formulated the strategic goal of Foton Motor's new energy 30•50 to achieve a new energy proportion of more than 50% in 2030, become a world-class new energy commercial vehicle company, achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, and become a global leader in green transportation ecology.
According to reports, as early as 2003, Foton Motor has begun to lay out new energy technology research and development. At present, Foton Motor has realized the technical route of "pure electric + hybrid + hydrogen fuel", and launched a diversified product portfolio of new energy transportation solutions on the basis of "oil to electricity/hydrogen + new platform". At the end of 2023, Foton Motor will release the hybrid technology brand FHS, relying on the self-developed technology platforms such as the dedicated hybrid engine DHE, the dedicated transmission DHT, and the hybrid system DHP, to complete the product layout of the whole series of hybrids. Similarly, in terms of hydrogen energy, Foton Motor has also been conducting technology research and development of hydrogen fuel products since 2006, completed the announcement of the first fuel cell bus and truck in China, won a number of domestic and global firsts, and launched the development of a new platform in 2023.
In terms of intelligence, in the face of the rapid development of intelligent networking of commercial vehicles, Foton Motor has built a "3+2+1+N" intelligent driving technology platform, that is, 3 wire-controlled chassis platforms + 2 intelligent driving basic platforms + 1 intelligent driving algorithm platform + N scenario solutions.
From a market benchmark to an industry leader, Foton Motor adheres to independent innovation, continuously improves new energy logistics and transportation solutions with continuously iterated leading technologies and diversified product portfolios, accelerates the green transformation of the commercial vehicle industry, and contributes to the achievement of the "double carbon" goal of the automotive industry. Qin Zhidong emphasized that in the future, Foton Motor will further accelerate the layout of new energy technology and intelligent technology, adhere to the guidance of technological innovation, seize market opportunities, actively promote the layout of overseas markets, accelerate ecological and energy transformation, and create a global commercial vehicle corporate image with leading technology and quality.
Text: Yao Huifa Editor: Zhao Fangting Layout: Wang Kun
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