Another "square box" off-road vehicle is coming! The all-new 212 will roll off the assembly line in the second half of this year and will be operated under an independent brand

National Business Daily

2024-05-16 16:22Published on the official account of Sichuan Daily Economic News

Every reporter: Dong Tianyi Every editor: Pei Jianru

The "square box" off-road market is about to usher in a "veteran".

Recently, the "Daily Economic News" reporter learned through the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that the new "212 off-road vehicle" has appeared in the 383rd batch of "Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products Announcement", the new car product trademark is Ruisheng brand, the tail mark can be seen T01 words, the declaration enterprise is Beijing Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as BAIC manufacturing).

Image source: official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

As the "originator" of domestic independent hard-core off-road models, the first model of the 212 off-road vehicle, the BJ212, was independently developed by Beijing Automobile Manufacturing Plant, and was officially finalized in 1966, and its follow-up models have been sold so far.

According to Lu Fujun, president of Weiqiao New Energy Vehicle Management Headquarters and chairman of Beijing Automobile Factory, the new 212 will be upgraded from a model to a brand, and for this reason, Beijing Automobile Manufacturing has established an independent operation of 212 off-road vehicle Co., Ltd., and to carry all the intellectual property rights of 212 series products.

"At present, 212 has two major platforms, off-road vehicle platform and new energy platform, of which the first product of the off-road vehicle platform is WY101, and the follow-up will also launch a three-door version, pickup version and hybrid version of the model." Lu Yunran, general manager of 212 off-road vehicle Co., Ltd., told reporters.

It has changed hands three times, and this "BAIC" is not the other BAIC

It should be noted that although the 212 off-road vehicle has a glorious past with the Beijing Automobile Factory, today's BAIC Manufacturing does not belong to the BAIC Group or is not a Beijing municipal enterprise. From 2015 to 2023, BAIC Manufacturing has changed hands three times and become a private enterprise.

From the perspective of historical continuation, BAIC Manufacturing and BAIC Group can be regarded as the same source. In 1958, Beijing Automobile Factory was officially born, which was renamed from the then Beijing First Automobile Accessories Factory. During the period of 1958~1973, Beijing Automobile Factory and BAIC Group were actually the same enterprise.

In 1973, Beijing Automobile Industry Corporation (the predecessor of BAIC Group) was established, and the relationship between the two became superior-subordinate. Subsequently, after merger and reorganization, in 2001, Beijing Automobile Manufacturing Plant Co., Ltd. was established. After the restructuring, the BAIC manufacturing plant became a subsidiary of BAIC Group.

However, due to the aging of products and the lack of technological innovation, the operating conditions of the restructured BAIC manufacturing plant gradually deteriorated, and the performance continued to decline. In November 2012, BAIC Group spun off the BAIC manufacturing plant from BAIC and directly managed it at the group level, becoming a first-class holding subsidiary of BAIC Group. However, in 2015, BAIC Group listed and transferred its 51% stake in BAIC Manufacturing, and the receiver was another shareholder of BAIC Manufacturing, which holds 49% of the shares, Beijing Automotive Assembly Plant, which is a private enterprise and the actual controller is named Yao Changsheng. After the formal completion of this round of transactions in May 2016, 100% of the shares of BAIC Manufacturing are held by Beijing Automotive Assembly Plant.

Four years later, BAIC Manufacturing ushered in another round of equity changes. In May 2020, Shandong Fulu Group achieved indirect control of BAIC Manufacturing Plant through Qingdao Fulu, and also moved the headquarters of BAIC Manufacturing Plant from Beijing to Qingdao, and Beijing Automobile Assembly Plant completely withdrew its shares. Prior to this, Fulu Group mainly produced three-wheeled motorcycles, and then entered the four-wheeled low-speed electric vehicle industry, and through this acquisition, Fulu Group obtained the production qualification of off-road vehicles (including new energy), cars (including new energy), trucks (including new energy), buses (including new energy), military vehicles, and modified vehicles, and entered the automotive industry.

In April 2023, Weiqiao Venture Group (hereinafter referred to as Weiqiao Group) announced that it would officially become the controlling shareholder of BAIC Manufacturing, the former is the largest private enterprise in Shandong Province, integrating textile, home textiles, thermal power, and aluminum, and has been on the list of the world's top 500 companies for 12 consecutive years. According to public information, in 2023, Weiqiao Venture Group will rank 172nd on the list of the world's top 500 companies with an operating income of more than 74.9 billion US dollars.

"With the support of Weiqiao Venture Group, Beijing Automobile Factory will enter the fast lane of development, and the brand revival of 212 will also have a continuous and strong momentum." Lu Fujun told reporters that at present, BAIC Manufacturing has built four major vehicle manufacturing bases in Qingdao, Dezhou, Huanghua and Linyi, with an annual production capacity of 450,000 vehicles, and in the second half of this year, the new 212 will be rolled off the assembly line in Qingdao, competing with many "square box" off-road models.

Image source: official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

However, there is a view that although SUVs focusing on outdoor off-road performance are becoming a new choice favored by consumers, companies such as BYD, Great Wall Motor, and Chery have already laid out in this market segment and created highly competitive models. In the context of the involution of the automobile market, how to open up the popularity, establish sales channels, obtain orders from the target group, and successfully achieve delivery is also the test that the new 212 will face.

Weiqiao makes cars, the advantage is in "aluminum"?

In fact, the new 212 is just a microcosm of Weiqiao Group's accelerated entry into the automotive industry. As early as 2022, Weiqiao Group has successively signed strategic agreements with car companies such as Human Horizons, Lionbridge Group, and Baidu's DeepWay.

Entering 2023, Weiqiao Group's layout in the automotive field has accelerated significantly. In January 2023, Weiqiao Group acquired a 50% stake in Beijing Lanqueling Automobile, and then took a controlling stake in Lingtu Automobile, a new energy vehicle manufacturer in Hebei Province, which once belonged to Great Wall Motors. In July of the same year, Weiqiao Group signed a cooperation agreement with Qingdao Licang District on four projects, including Weiqiao New Energy Vehicle Management Headquarters and New Energy Vehicle Central Research Institute; A month later, Luoke Intelligence, Weiqiao Group and BAIC Manufacturing jointly created Polar Stone Automobile and launched its first model; In the following month, Weiqiao Group invested US$1 billion in Luoke Intelligent for all-aluminum body research and development, integrated die-casting technology and short-process intelligent manufacturing factory project.

Image source: Weiqiao Group's official website

At present, Weiqiao Group's car-making territory mainly revolves around two aspects, on the one hand, it is based on its advantages in the aluminum industry chain to develop auto parts, lightweight, aluminum recycling and other fields; On the other hand, it is to realize the integrated layout of research, production, sales and service of new energy vehicles by investing in vehicle manufacturing enterprises.

Compared with automobile production, Weiqiao Group may have more advantages in R&D and manufacturing capabilities in the field of automotive aluminum, and its subsidiary China Hongqiao (1378. According to the data disclosed in China Hongqiao's 2023 financial report, China Hongqiao's aluminum alloy output was about 6.265 million tons last year, and the aluminum alloy processing output was about 770,000 tons.

In fact, since 2019, Weiqiao Group has accelerated the depth of the automotive lightweight field, and its company's lightweight base after the production of products mainly includes automotive all-aluminum body, automotive aluminum parts production, public information shows that Weiqiao Group is located in Zouping, Binzhou, East China, Central China four major industrial bases, has an annual output of 3 million forgings, 17 million castings, 200,000 tons of profiles, 50,000 tons of plates, 500,000 sets of stamping, 1 million body and assembly parts, 30,000 cubic meters of aluminum foam, Production capacity of bi-material for vehicles.

Relying on the manufacturing capacity of aluminum alloy materials and the ability of dismantling and recycling, Weiqiao Group has formed a closed loop of the industrial chain from aluminum ore to alumina, electrolytic aluminum, aluminum alloy materials, component assembly, all-aluminum body, vehicle manufacturing, and then to grade maintenance and recycling, and has built core advantages around this ability. Taking Weiqiao new energy commercial vehicle as an example, all its products use aluminum alloy materials to varying degrees to improve the lightweight level of the vehicle, and users can also increase the residual value of the vehicle through the official aluminum recycling channel.

However, there is a view that although Weiqiao Group has rich experience in manufacturing, it is still a "newcomer" in the field of new energy vehicles, and the Pole Stone 01 that it participated in the creation of has only sold 2,357 vehicles since it was delivered in November last year. In addition, the current "price war" pressure in the domestic new energy vehicle market has begun to be transmitted to the upstream of the industrial chain, which may mean that Weiqiao Group, which plays the "dual role" of supplier and manufacturer, may face more pressure.

National Business Daily

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