Text | Du Debiao
The last time I saw SAIC R, it was still a new energy sub-brand of SAIC, and now it has become an independent company.
Yesterday, SAIC Motor issued an announcement that it has established Feifan Automobile Technology Company (SAIC R) to carry out market-oriented operations in the form of an independent company. The registered capital is 7 billion yuan, of which SAIC motor invests 6.65 billion yuan and the employee shareholding platform invests 350 million yuan.
At the same time, Feifan Automobile is committed to creating a high-end new energy intelligent mobile space, integrating fashion into the intelligent pure electric driving experience... Cloud.
The number of words is small, but the amount of information is there. This is a collection of several keywords of the current "new car": such as the brand is independent in the form of a company; employee shareholding; asset-light operation; targeting the high-end market and so on.
In terms of organizational structure, R brand (Feifan Automobile) operates independently in the form of a company, just like Zhiji Automobile. Theoretically, the independent R car is "on the same level" as SAIC passenger cars and reports directly to the group.
This reflects the priorities of the business. Similar to Hongqi's independence from FAW Car's business, it shows that "business independence" and "group direct management" have advantages in terms of efficiency and can be directly empowered by the group.
In the background, the structure of the new energy market is evolving from the "dumbbell type" to the "spindle type" structure, that is, the increase in high-end brand products, while the A-class market, where the main region where fuel vehicles are located in the past, shows the characteristics of a small barbarian waist.
With the further acceleration of structural evolution, the competition for high-end models is becoming increasingly fierce, new brands and Internet players have been born to enter, and there are more levels of competition for resources (such as talents) and consumer psychological occupancy; on the other hand, the data shows that the penetration rate of the domestic new energy vehicle market is further enhanced, from 5.8% in the same period last year to 13.7%, the market space is vast, therefore, it is necessary for the R brand to set sail with the trend, with a more optimized organizational structure to fight on the new track and seize the position.
At present, the R series has released four works, Feifan ER6, R-AURA, MARVER R, and ES33, the latter two have not yet been listed, but are expected to compete with Zhiji Automobile at different levels of the market, Zhiji's current first work is priced at 408,800, and the main attack area of the R series is about 200,000.
Logically, high-end smart products need to give the market a new understanding from the brand level, which is already the consensus of the vast majority of players in the industry, such as Extreme Krypton, Aian, etc.; at the same time, a certain degree of concentration is needed in the form of business, and the parent brand is empowered behind the support, at the same time, the halo of the high-end sub-brand can also feed the parent brand.
In terms of resources, Feifan will integrate SAIC's resources and experience in research and development, manufacturing, service and other aspects, provided technical support and solutions by SAIC Motor Technology Center, while the production side will be manufactured by passenger car branches, coordinated operations, can achieve rapid product landing, at this point, SAIC's manufacturing experience, quality control system will ensure quality, while the blood relationship between subsidiaries is conducive to reducing communication costs, which are the advantages of traditional forces to establish new energy subsidiaries.
In addition, the advantage of this kind of asset-light also lies in maximizing operational efficiency, giving full play to the creativity of independent companies, having greater autonomy, and having greater room for exploration in corporate culture and operating models, such as employee shareholding means joint entrepreneurship, and more values of common sense and common interests are generated. At the same time, the attributes of asset light reduce the risk factor.
In terms of key "supporting facilities", as early as last year, the "Zero Bundle Software Branch" funded by SAIC (accounting for 93.24% of the total capital) has been established. According to SAIC's vision, Zero Beam provides "cloud-based integrated full-stack solutions" for smart cars, covering four basic technologies: centralized electronic architecture, SOA software platform, smart car data factory, full-stack OTA and network security.
The organization is independent, specialized in the office, in the operational efficiency and R & D level to provide a reasonable model foundation, at the same time, the parent company to provide basic hardware support, Feifan's independent model is based on risk sharing and collective wisdom, new energy products test the ability to innovate, but also test the foundation, sustainability is the foundation of progress.
SAIC's capital and manufacturing strength is this root, business independence is "new", the new track under the traditional forces, or there is a kind of offensive and defensive integration of color, in the capital investment slowdown, began to look for high-quality IPO investment objects, Feifan is a good goal to attack and defend.
Lan Qingsong, vice president of SAIC Motor, once said (to the effect) that in the past, our thinking belonged to industrial thinking, and now we also use the capital market more. However, the understanding of the capital market is not only about money, but about resources, and SAIC needs external pressure and market-oriented mechanisms.
This is the change of gameplay and ideology, which not only explains the industrial co-creation proposed by SAIC before, but also compares the original intention of Zhiji to introduce external capital, at the same time, Feifan Automobile is independent, and the exploration of the model also reflects saic's original intention of innovation.
Therefore, "Feifan" not only represents the vision of "science and technology to fulfill the imagination" as the official says, but also represents that a community can be extraordinary and achieve extraordinary.
Compared with other independent brands and new forces in the market, the difference between SAIC's gameplay is probably that it is the only player who launches independent brands for different market segments and sets up independent companies in the form of organization, which is actually a bit like applying the marketing success of the original fuel vehicle market to the new intelligent track.
Although the current new energy market structure is judged to be "spindle-shaped", the upper spindle is collectively referred to as the high-end camp, but in fact there is a difference between the consumer groups, so Feifan and Zhiji actually take the initiative to further differentiate the consumer group and adopt targeted needs, to some extent, they may also represent part of the consumption sample, in different levels of "high-end intelligent models", what kind of needs do we have, Feifan and Zhiji have provided channels and references for us to observe the market and consumer groups to find organizations.
The dynamic adjustment and group differentiation promoted by OEMs and consumer groups in the interaction may be the next theme of the new energy market.