Tuyere Or Red Sea? Chuandidi Plans To Build Cars

Didi may have to make a car.

On the evening of April 6, according to late latepost, Didi began to start the car building project, with Yang Jun, vice president of didi and general manager of Xiaoju car service, who was also the chief product officer of the customized online car Hailing D1 jointly released by didi and BYD.

At present, the team has begun to dig people from the car factory. It is reported that Zhu Jiang, who once served as vice president of automobile user development, may also join Didi. Zhu Jiang has many years of experience in automobile enterprises, and has worked in BMW Brilliance, Lexus, Weilai, Ford China, etc.

In this regard, Didi did not give a response to the 21st century economic reporter.

"Considering the performance of new forces of car making in the capital market, many Internet enterprises are eager to make cars at present. No matter from the perspective of market prospect or from the perspective of market value promotion, these enterprises have the motivation to do it." In an interview with the 21st century economic reporter, Zhang Qian, an industry person who has focused on the field of automobile investment for many years, said, "from the point of time, it can be said that at present, it is the wind outlet for car making."

Didi makes cars

The cooperation between didi and traditional automobile enterprises has already existed, which has laid a certain foundation for didi to build cars.

In 2015, didi and BYD established didi new energy company; in May 2018, didi and ideal automobile established orange electric travel; in December of the same year, didi and BAIC new energy established Jingju new energy. In 2018, Didi even launched the "torrent alliance" with 31 automobile industry chain companies. However, at that time, Didi's positioning remained more on the travel service platform.

It is not until 2020 that didi shows a trace of ambition to build cars. According to qixinbao data, in November 2019, BYD and Xiaoju Intelligent Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Didi, jointly established beautiful travel (Hangzhou) Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., in which BYD holds 65% and didi holds 35%. One year later, the two sides jointly launched customized online car Hailing D1.

In addition, Didi woya (didi automatic driving), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Didi, announced its cooperation with BAIC in 2020. The two sides will jointly develop high-level customized automatic driving models for robotaxi operation.

This also means that the appearance of Didi's car building rumors may not be groundless. So, why at this point in time?

Many industry insiders pointed out to the 21st century economic reporter that Didi's car making is likely to pave the way for listing and valuation. Recently, Didi has been listed continuously. The rumored listing valuation ranges from $60 billion to $100 billion. This also reflects that there is still uncertainty in the valuation of Didi's existing formats.

From $60 billion to $100 billion, where is the imaginary space for Didi's valuation? Making cars may be one of the answers. In 2020, the new forces of car manufacturing enterprises can be described as the favorite of the capital market. As of the end of December, the shares of Tesla and Weilai automobile have increased by 690.97% and 1038.56% respectively compared with the beginning of the year. In 2020, the shares of Xiaopeng automobile and ideal automobile, which went to the U.S. stock market, rose by 179.13% and 154.96% compared with the issuance price at the end of the year.

"At the current stage of development, Didi needs to find new growth points on the basis of traditional online car Hailing business. At the same time, considering the high popularity of car making in the current market, it is easier for didi to obtain financing. Therefore, it may be a logical thing for didi to build a car." Zhang Qian said.

At the same time, Zhang Qian pointed out that Didi's car making also has its own scene advantages. "At present, the technical threshold of automatic driving is still relatively high, but the more important thing is the closed-loop data brought by the scene. For Didi, its advantage is the large number of user and vehicle data accumulated by the online car Hailing platform operated all day."

According to the data, at present, the number of didi users has exceeded 100 million, and the average daily order has exceeded 2 million. As of 2016, Didi's cumulative mileage has reached 12.8 billion kilometers. "2020 didi platform green white paper" shows that in 2019, Didi platform pure electric vehicle mileage will reach 7.09 billion km. "From this point of view, the current market technology is beginning to mature, and more and more employees are employed. Adding the advantages of Didi's scene, these are all favorable conditions for didi to choose to build a car at this time." Zhang Qian said.

Another person in the automobile industry, who did not want to be named, pointed out to the reporter of the 21st century economic report that the rumors about Didi's car building were not unexpected. "Didi needs to have something to keep telling stories, and what the capital market sees is increment and expectation. The current news is that didi has decided to build his own car, and we need to see how it can make the story more reasonable. "

Tuyere or red sea?

In the current many tuyeres, the market prospect of intelligent electric vehicle is undoubtedly the most certain.

According to the new energy vehicle industry development plan (2021-2035) issued by the general office of the State Council at the end of last year, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China will reach about 20% of the total sales volume of new vehicles by 2025. By 2035, pure electric vehicles will become the mainstream of new sales vehicles.

In 2020, China will sell 25.311 million vehicles. This means that the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China is expected to exceed 5 million by 2025, while the production and sales volume in 2020 will be only 1.3 million. The difference of 3.7 million vehicles is the market increment space determined in these five years.

Under the booming prospect, it is not difficult to understand that the technology giants are going to make cars one after another this year. In January this year, baidu announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with Geely to establish a vehicle enterprise. In March, the new company officially appeared, with a registered capital of 2 billion yuan, with Baidu holding 55% and Geely Holding 45%, making cars officially on the agenda.

At the spring launch of new products at the end of March, Xiaomi made a high-profile announcement to invest 10 billion US dollars in 10 years to focus on car manufacturing. In the live studio on the evening of April 6, Lei Jun, the founder and chairman of Xiaomi company, revealed more details: Xiaomi's car positioning is medium and high-end, and the price range may be between 100000 and 300000.

In December 2020, Zhiji automobile, jointly built by SAIC, Zhangjiang High Tech and Alibaba group, completed the registration in Pudong New Area. The registered capital of Zhiji automobile is 10 billion yuan. Among them, SAIC Group invested 5.4 billion yuan, holding 54% of the shares; Zhang Jianggao Ke and Alibaba invested 1.8 billion yuan each, holding 18% equity respectively.

Now didi is also spreading the news of car making. In 2021, the electric intelligent car market may become one of the battlefields for Internet giants to make bayonets. "I feel like I was in a trance when my smartphone first got up." Many industry insiders told reporters of the 21st century economic report.

But compared with smart phones, electric cars are not as easy as they think. The industry personage who did not want to be named pointed out that the whole vehicle is still a product with an extremely long industrial chain. At the same time, with the increase of product line, how to effectively maintain is also a challenge.

Zhang Qian also pointed out that compared with the rapid iteration of smart phones, the iteration cycle of smart electric vehicles is as long as five to eight years, so the war is likely to last longer. "Traditional car companies have seen the changes in the industry and have been exploring the corresponding response methods. But I think this war is just beginning, and the replacement cycle of smart phones is longer than that in those years."

The long-term war also means that massive and sustained capital investment is inevitable. At present, from the perspective of capital investment, Xiaomi is the most dare to invest: 10 billion US dollars in the next 10 years, and 10 billion yuan in the first phase. In addition, Xiaomi also said that its automobile company would be a "wholly-owned form" and set up a wholly-owned subsidiary of intelligent electric vehicles, which also means that Xiaomi automobile company belongs to the extremely heavy mode.

Baidu, on the other hand, chose the "form of holding" to establish a joint venture with Geely, a vehicle manufacturer, with a share of 55%, forming a voice over the joint venture. However, from the absolute value of funds, baidu currently only invests 1.1 billion yuan in the concentration, and the investment amount in the giants is the lowest.

Alibaba's car making model is an ordinary "joint venture mode". At present, Alibaba has invested 1.8 billion yuan in Zhiji automobile, but its equity is only 18%.

Behind the different car making modes are the appeal points of the giants. "Baidu is more willing to implement intelligent technology, while Alibaba is relatively cautious and focuses on cooperation, but it also does not want to miss this outlet. Xiaomi's consideration is more out of its own intelligent hardware ecology, and didi also has its own demands." The aforementioned people pointed out to the 21st century economic reporter.

To some extent, this is also a way to achieve the same goal. In Zhang Qian's view, the relatively reasonable business layout made by the giants according to their demands does not matter whether it is good or not. "But if you do it yourself, you will have more control over car building. If you cooperate with others, there may be repeated risks."

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