How should automotive companies adjust their development strategies under new circumstances?
On June 6th, at the 2024 China Automobile Chongqing Forum, focusing on "Long-termism and the Future of the Industry," Zhu Huarong, Chairman and Party Secretary of Chang'an Automobile, Zeng Qinghong, Party Committee Secretary and Chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., Zu Sijie, Vice President and Chief Engineer of Shanghai Automobile Group Co., Ltd., and Duan Jianjun, President and Chief Executive Officer of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd., discussed from various perspectives how automotive companies should adjust their development strategies under new circumstances, and how to practice long-termism and high-quality development in an extremely involutionary environment.
Chang'an Automobile:
Chang'an Automobile's world-first variable new car, Chang'an Qiyuan E07, is currently in mass production.
Deep cooperation with companies such as Huawei and China Unicom, the Chongqing Chang'an Digital Factory has been established.
Guangzhou Automobile Group:
When the proportion of pure electric vehicles in new energy vehicles reaches 50%, relevant departments need to study "equal rights for oil and electricity."
The proportion of pure electric vehicles in new energy vehicles may reach 50% by 2025.SAIC Motor:
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In 2023, SAIC's new energy vehicle sales reached 1.123 million units, with a compound annual growth rate of over 90%.
Solid-state batteries will achieve mass production in 2026, with an energy density exceeding 400 watt-hours per kilogram.
In the next two years, nearly 30 new models will be launched.
Mercedes-Benz:
Refutes the rumor of "abandoning full electrification"
Achieve zero fatal traffic accidents by 2025.
Chang'an Automobile: The world's first variable new car Chang'an Qi Yuan E07 is in mass production.
Chang'an Automobile Chairman and Party Secretary Zhu Huarong revealed that Chang'an Automobile's production and sales volume last year broke through 30 million units.The automotive industry is transforming from providing transportation tools to offering mobility product services and ecosystem services. Cars are evolving into evolvable intelligent car robots with characteristics of mobile multifunctional spaces, intelligent computing terminals, data collection carriers, and mobile energy storage units. Chang'an Qiyuan E07 is the world's first variable new car that Chang'an Automobile is developing. It has the boldness of an SUV, the multifunctionality of an MPV, the comfort of a sedan, and the loading capacity of a pickup truck, making it the world's first mass-produced model.
Zhu Huarong believes that with the breakthrough of a series of technologies such as 5G and AI chips, the automotive industry is rapidly transforming towards digitalization. New energy vehicles have set a good precedent, but they are just the prelude. Digital new cars are the real future.
In terms of digital products, taking Chang'an's sub-brand Avita as an example, the model is equipped with 3 lidar sensors, 6 millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars, and 13 cameras, totaling 34 sensors, with a computing power of 400 TOPs, and has the ability to drive autonomously without maps, known as NCA.
In addition, Chang'an Automobile has deeply cooperated with companies such as Huawei and China Unicom to build the Chang'an Digital Factory in Chongqing, a full-domain 5G digital factory. It widely applies more than 40 advanced technologies such as 5G, AI, digital twin, photovoltaic power generation, and integrated packaging of whole vehicle software. It has more than 400,000 digital data collection points and nearly 1,400 5G checkpoints, improving manufacturing efficiency by 20%, reducing costs by 20%, and reducing energy consumption by 19%.
GAC: When the proportion of pure electric new energy vehicles reaches 50%, relevant departments need to study "same rights for oil and electricity"
Zeng Qinghong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., proposed that when the proportion of pure electric new energy vehicles reaches 50%, relevant departments need to study "same rights for oil and electricity."
In 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Planning (2021-2035)" and set a target of achieving a penetration rate of 20% by 2025 and more than 50% by 2035. Zeng Qinghong said that last year's statistics showed that the penetration rate of new energy vehicles had already reached 31.6%, which is 10 years ahead of the original plan. The rapid development of new energy vehicles has brought this time node of the plan forward. Zeng Qinghong listed data at the forum to predict that the proportion of pure electric new energy vehicles may reach 50% by 2025.
Zeng Qinghong pointed out that the reason for suggesting "same rights for oil and electricity" is China's energy structure, 69.9% of which is coal-fired thermal power. "The development of new energy vehicles is for environmental protection, energy conservation, and energy security, so there should be a multi-energy structure in the future, and it is impossible to cut all at once." He judged that under China's energy structure, hybrid vehicles will still account for a considerable proportion in the future.
He also emphasized long-termism, rather than rolling up in the short term. "Rolling up is not a solution, the purpose of the enterprise is to make a profit, and to contribute to the country and society in terms of taxes and employment." He also revealed that under the internal roll-up environment of the automotive industry, GAC has also laid off a lot. Therefore, he called on the automotive industry to stand in the overall situation of the country, adhere to long-termism, and focus on long-term development.SAIC: Nearly 30 New Models to be Launched in the Next 2 Years
Zu Sijie, Vice President and Chief Engineer of Shanghai Automotive Group Co., Ltd., stated that SAIC has essentially completed the power switch between the old and new tracks; last year, for every three new energy vehicles sold overseas from China, one was made by SAIC; nearly 30 new models will be launched in the next 2 years.
Zu Sijie said that the sales volume of SAIC's new energy vehicles has maintained rapid growth, with the sales volume of SAIC's new energy vehicles reaching 1.123 million in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of over 90%. In 2022, SAIC proposed a three-year action plan for new energy, aiming to achieve at least more than 45% of SAIC's new energy sales by 2025, and currently SAIC has essentially completed the power switch between the old and new tracks.
In the overseas market, SAIC's overseas sales have been at the top of domestic car companies for eight consecutive years, with products sold in more than 100 countries and regions. SAIC has accumulated more than 4 million users, and last year, for every three new energy vehicles sold overseas from China, one was made by SAIC. In the next two years, SAIC's own brands will collectively launch more than 20 SAIC products, with overseas sales exceeding 25%.
A major obstacle to intelligent connected vehicles is still the battery, which is expensive, heavy, and unsafe. Therefore, in the field of batteries, the automotive industry needs to make a comprehensive breakthrough and break through. SAIC's solid-state batteries will be mass-produced in 2026, with an energy density exceeding 400 watts per kilogram, featuring better safety and low-temperature characteristics.
In terms of the improvement of the level of each degree of electricity, through the energy closed-loop technology (83:41), the industry record of 12 kilometers has been achieved, the power density of the electrical system has been increased to 4.4 kilowatts per kilogram, and the efficiency of the hybrid system has been further improved by 10%, among which the hybrid exclusive engine (84:07) fully supports the mass production of L3 autonomous driving. With the support of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other five ministries, SAIC's Zhiji Automobile and SAIC Hongyan were both selected as joint entities for the admission and road traffic pilot of intelligent connected vehicles, and have carried out the admission and road traffic pilot work of intelligent connected vehicles in an orderly manner.
The central coordination motion controller of the car, the cerebellum of the robot, will bring users a safer and more sensitive driving system. With the comprehensive development and completion of the technical base 2.0, it is fully entering the mass production stage, which will accelerate the comprehensive evolution of future cars, that is, the life form of technology. In the next 2 years, the seven major bases will fully empower each of SAIC Group's car brands, launch nearly 30 new models, and fully help SAIC Group to sprint towards the three-year action plan for new energy, achieving the development replacement of the old and new tracks.
Mercedes-Benz refutes the rumor of "giving up full electrification" and proposes to achieve zero fatal traffic accidents by 2025.Duan Jianjun, President and CEO of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd., refuted the rumor of "Mercedes-Benz giving up on full electrification," stating that the company is steadfastly advancing the process of electrification. "We can proudly say that today, in the safety technology of every car, there is more or less the shadow of Mercedes-Benz," Duan Jianjun said, adding that in addition to safety technology, Mercedes-Benz also adheres to the strictest standards to enhance the reliability of vehicles.
At the Beijing Auto Show in April, the world premiere of the all-electric G-Class underwent 336 climbing tests at the Schöckl Mountain in Graz, Austria, which is a symbol of off-road terrain. Each of these 336 tests had to cross an extreme outdoor test site with an altitude of 1445 meters, a gradient of up to 60%, and a side gradient of up to 40%. Duan Jianjun introduced that the G-Class off-road vehicle has been in production for 45 years, with a total of 500,000 units produced, but to this day, more than 80% of these 500,000 vehicles are still driving on the roads.
Duan Jianjun stated that Mercedes-Benz has put forward the grand vision of zero deaths in car safety. Mercedes-Benz is working with a series of interdisciplinary institutions to reduce the number of traffic accident deaths and seriously injured people by half compared to 2020 by 2030, and to achieve zero fatal traffic accidents by 2025.
Next year, the first mass-produced vehicle using the 800V electrical architecture on the MMA platform will be produced at Beijing Mercedes-Benz. This is also the world's first mass-produced model equipped with Mercedes-Benz's self-developed MB.OS architecture.
"There are rumors that Mercedes-Benz is giving up on full electrification, but in fact, we are steadfastly advancing the process of electrification. The global debut of the all-electric G-Class in Beijing has also allowed us to complete the electrification transformation of the entire brand product matrix under Mercedes-Benz," Duan Jianjun revealed that this year, Mercedes-Benz will also bring customers several major new energy models and pure electric models, continuing to enrich Chinese customers' various choices for electric travel.
