Experts Talk About The Second Rush Of Independent Brand

Since the beginning of this year, with the introduction of the national top-level documents and the soaring share prices of Tesla and the "Three Musketeers" of the new force of car making, news of domestic new energy automobile plate has been constantly on the rise.

From the launch of BAIC new energy's arcfox products, Dongfeng's lantu brand, to the new high-end brand projects of SAIC Zhiji and Chang'an established by the automobile enterprise united technology company, and to the SL project of Great Wall Motor recently. A upsurge of traditional electric vehicle brands has been set off in China.

Before that, Guanzhi, Lingke and wey sounded the first wave of Chinese independent brands breaking through the brand ceiling and facing the same market segment competition with joint venture brands. Over the past few years, the results have been mixed.

This time, independent brands are facing a more high-end market for the second time. They aim at the luxury car market of Tesla, Weilai and even Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi.

However, what are the advantages and challenges faced by the local traditional automobile enterprises in building high-end brands in competition with Tesla, Weilai and other new car manufacturers, and even with traditional giants such as Benz and BMW? Can China's auto market accommodate so many high-end new energy brands? This time, can the combination of automobile enterprises and technology companies make a breakthrough? A series of problems, once again triggered a heated discussion in the industry.

On December 13, in response to the above problems, the 21st century economic reporter talked to Wang Binggang, director of the technical committee of national electric passenger vehicle technology innovation alliance, an Qingheng, director of China Automotive Industry Advisory Committee and former director of BAIC group, Zuo Yan'an, former chairman of Jianghuai Automobile, and Zhao Ying, researcher of Industrial Economy Research Institute, Chinese Academy of social sciences Opportunities and challenges for independent auto enterprises to rush higher again.

The following is the content of the interview.

21st century: Why are there so many high-end intelligent electric vehicle platforms? What is the background and premise behind it?

Wang Binggang: first, the progress of electric vehicle technology is the most important background. In recent years, the development of electric vehicle technology is much faster than we expected, especially in battery technology, the energy density increases rapidly, and the cost decreases rapidly. At the same time, manufacturing electric vehicles in the field of high-end vehicles has more advantages than fuel vehicles.

Second, from the current consumer market, high-end electric vehicles also have many advantages. At present, in the field of new energy vehicles, the development momentum of high-end models and mini cars is good, but Chinese independent car enterprises want to be brands, and high-end new energy vehicles are just a starting point. Through the development in recent years, China's automobile enterprises have accumulated a certain amount from technology research and development to automobile quality control. Therefore, the opportunity of electrification and intellectualization is an opportunity that everyone will seize.

An Qingheng: first, electric vehicles have been generally accepted by consumers. The development of electric vehicles has become the consensus of enterprises. Enterprises need to make choices on what and how to develop in the next step. The medium and low-end electric vehicles are all in the process. To continue to develop, naturally some enterprises will choose to develop high-end electric vehicles.

Second, Tesla's rapid growth shows that the electric vehicle market has a good prospect. Tesla's rapid development also exceeded the auto industry's expectations. Now the total market value of Tesla exceeds the market value of three Toyota cars, which will naturally stimulate enterprises to follow suit.

Third, the success of Weilai and Xiaopeng has proved that Chinese enterprises can make good high-end electric vehicles that consumers like. Moreover, Weilai, Xiaopeng and ideality have been listed in the United States one after another. The market value of Weilai and Xiaopeng has surpassed that of SAIC. The cumulative sales volume of new vehicle making forces in 2020 will be close to 150000, and the sales proportion of the whole new energy vehicle market will reach about 14%. Facts have proved that building high-end electric vehicles is a feasible way.

Fourth, the competition between domestic automobile enterprises and foreign enterprises has been passive for a long time. The development of the situation shows that it is not sustainable to win only by low price and cost performance. It is necessary to develop some high-end products, accumulate stamina and strive for breakthroughs.

Fifthly, there are also some domestic enterprises that are not going smoothly in the development of electric vehicles. Some enterprises are even in trouble. They hope to improve their own level and encourage the morale of employees by developing high-end electric vehicles. Some enterprises even want to help themselves out of the predicament.

Zuo Yan'an: Recently, some automobile enterprises have successively launched high-end intelligent electric vehicle products, which shows that the enterprises have made phased achievements in the process of electrification and intellectualization, and have mastered the relevant technologies of high-end electric vehicles to a certain extent, which is worthy of recognition.

The reasons for car companies to launch high-end intelligent electric vehicles are: firstly, the demonstration effect of Tesla and Weilai automobile; secondly, the actual demand of middle end electric vehicles for public travel and ordinary private cars is insufficient in recent years, which leads to the cold market, and the competition in the middle end market is relatively fierce; thirdly, considering the brand upward, high-end cutting in and establishing a good brand shape As for high-end products, there is no lack of logic for high-end products and low-end products.

Zhao Ying: it can't be said to be "sudden". After all, it has been going on for some time. In addition, the development of electric vehicles is showing a natural scale growth. In the first few years, it was not very high-end. With the formation of electric vehicle market, these enterprises began to make efforts.

21st century: does China need so many new high-end brands?

As Wang Binggang has several brands in the market, it is inevitable that there will be competition in the new energy market. In addition, from the perspective of high-end cars, there will still be some segmentation, some products may be more inclined to young people, and some may be more suitable for business type.

An Qingheng: it is impossible to need so many high-end brands.

Zuo Yan'an: China's automobile consumption is in the upgrading stage. Intelligent electric vehicles with high cost performance ratio have a large market space. More brands will have more choices. The survival of the fittest through full competition also conforms to the law of market economy.

Zhao Ying: at present, we can't say whether we need it or not. It depends on the market competition.

21st century: can the experience of Tesla and Weilai brand building be copied?

Wang Binggang: from technology to business operation mode, Tesla and Weilai have many innovations. These innovative experiences and their thinking are of great reference significance to the high-end enterprises. But a simple copy doesn't work either. It's better to be able to innovate on the basis of learning from other people's experience.

An Qingheng: Tesla has gone through 16 years and Weilai has gone through 6 years. Different enterprises, different histories and different backgrounds have different backgrounds. On the whole, I think although some enterprises can succeed, they are not replicable.

Zuo Yan'an: the brand building success of Tesla and Weilai can not be copied obviously, because Tesla has musk and Weilai has Li Bin. There are differences in the background and innovation environment of enterprises, which is the external reason that can not be copied. We expect that there will be those who come from behind!

Zhao Ying: each has its own way of playing. Weilai can not be regarded as a success at present. Its sales volume and market share in domestic electric vehicle sales are not high, but relatively speaking, it has developed better.

21st century: what are the advantages of local traditional automobile enterprises in building high-end brands? What are the shortcomings? What are the challenges?

Wang Binggang: from the perspective of consumers, there is no obvious conceptual boundary between domestic brands and foreign brands. In the future, it depends on who does better and who can make consumers accept them.

Today's competitors are mainly Tesla. In the future, European or Japanese auto companies will also enter this field. If we compete with Tesla, there is still a certain gap between the technical level of independent brands and Tesla in terms of intelligence, and we need to make more efforts in technological innovation. Brands such as Europe and Japan have more experience in quality control, so we should also improve our own quality level.

An Qingheng: the advantages of traditional automobile enterprises lie in the experience in manufacturing, the advantages in sales channels, the ability to uniformly allocate resources and the advantages of funds. They can rely on the old products to support electric vehicles, and mobilize the resources of the whole group to support electric vehicles. The shortcomings of traditional automobile enterprises are that they are inferior to the new forces of car making in terms of concept, talent, capital raising and understanding and mastering of Internet related technologies.

Traditional car companies face many challenges. Foreign large-scale automobile enterprise groups are determined to invest heavily in the development of new energy vehicles and entering the Chinese market, which increases the difficulty of winning the competition and needs to be prepared to meet the difficulties. The level of the new forces of car making is also improving, and their experience will be more and more. It is not easy to defeat them.

Zuo Yan'an: the main advantages of local traditional automobile enterprises in creating high-end brands are strong R & D ability and engineering ability of complete vehicle hardware; well managed enterprises have abundant cash flow and understanding of lean production, as well as mature supply chain related to hardware; they have accumulated certain knowledge and experience for doing a good enterprise.

The deficiencies and challenges are also obvious. Firstly, the system and mechanism of large country enterprises restrict the introduction, utilization and retention of high-end talents. Secondly, the R & D ability of control software and intelligent system software of electric drive system is relatively weak, which can be described as hard enough and soft, and the corresponding R & D and human resource structure also need to be revolutionary optimized; thirdly, it is "unable to afford to lose" Fourth, the ability of overseas financing is relatively weak affected by multiple factors.

In short, there are more opportunities and challenges for local automobile enterprises to build high-end intelligent electric vehicles. The key is to make good products that can withstand the market test.

Zhao Ying: the local traditional automobile enterprises have a better understanding of the needs and consumption characteristics of the local market. In addition, facing the impact of the epidemic, they have a whole industrial chain in China. In addition, the challenges posed by transnational corporations are more severe.

21st century: this year, a new cooperation model has emerged, that is, technology companies are deeply involved in car manufacturing. For example, Huawei cooperates with BAIC and Chang'an, and SAIC and Ali establish joint-venture automobile enterprises. How do you see such a mode? Is this model likely to succeed? What kind of problems will it face?

Wang Binggang: the field of artificial intelligence is now a big trend. The automobile industry should closely embrace artificial intelligence. The combination of Internet and automobile enterprises is a very good thing. However, the success of each project depends on the mechanism formed after their combination. If the efficiency of this mechanism is relatively low, it is hard to say. If an efficient cooperation mechanism can be formed, it will certainly be a good thing. The effect of making cars alone is better than that of an enterprise alone.

An Qingheng: why joint venture with technology companies? It is because of their own lack of strength, which is a reasonable choice. Success is possible, but not easy.

Zuo Yan'an: the deep cooperation between technology companies and traditional automobile enterprises may be an important solution for Chinese electric and intelligent vehicles! The success of this model depends on the sincerity and pattern of both sides, the content and structure of cooperation, the efficiency of cooperation, the rationality and balance of resource input and benefit distribution.

Zhao Ying: each has its own specialty, but it needs cooperation to win-win situation, because these two fields are very complicated. The main problem with this model may be that the requirements or intentions of the partners are different.

21st century: how many independent auto companies can finally come out of the high-end market after the second shock?

Wang Binggang: there are several unpredictable companies in the future, because the scale of China's automobile market is very large, even if it occupies a small market share, the number is quite large.

An Qingheng: it's hard to predict. There should be no more. Now some brands have already encountered difficulties. High end brands should do, need to do, and should persist in doing so. The state should also support it, but do not be too optimistic and do not become popular.

Zuo Yan'an: this wave is high-end, and it is estimated that there will be 3-5 auto companies that can finally come out. The final market is final. We are full of confidence in the local traditional automobile enterprises and are eager for their excellent performance.

Zhao Ying: we can't be sure now. It depends on how the market changes in the future.

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