High End New Energy Transformation Is Imminent: Self Owned Brand Collective "Sword" Shanghai Auto Show

The 2021 Shanghai auto show is full of wind and clouds.

Multinational enterprises are coming with electricity, independent brands are developing high-end products, and technology giants are going to build cars

More importantly, with the advancement of the "new four modernizations", the automobile industry, which has experienced more than 100 years of development, is at the crossroads of transformation.

"Whether it is the definition of the automobile itself, the business model of the industry, the upstream supply chain and the downstream service providers, the whole automobile industry is undergoing earth shaking changes, and has come to a very meaningful era, or a great change era after the invention of the automobile." On April 22, Li jianteng, managing partner of Aowei consulting, said in an interview with the reporter of 21st century economic report.

On the one hand, the development of intelligent and networked automobile industry promotes the arrival of high-level automatic driving technology, and the progress of technology is liberating people's hands, feet and eyes.

On the other hand, as one of the development trends of the global automobile industry in the past decade, new energy vehicles finally ushered in the outbreak in 2021.

"The sales volume of new energy vehicles in the first quarter is very high, continuing the growth trend since the second half of last year. If you multiply this number by four, the overall sales volume of new energy vehicles this year will be 2 million." Recently, Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of China Automobile Industry Association, said in an interview with reporters, "on the one hand, consumers' willingness to buy new energy products is increasing; on the other hand, it also shows that products can meet the needs of consumers, and relevant enterprises are constantly following up the market demand."

There is no doubt that new energy vehicles are ushering in the best era. At the same time, "contestants" are also increasing.

In the past, Baidu and Xiaomi officially publicized the production of cars, and then didi and Dajiang made cars. The sales of the three brothers in car making kept rising, and foreign-funded automobile enterprises increased their electric vehicles. For a time, the market of car making was surging, and China's independent brands were facing the test of survival again.

"We are facing competition in two directions, one is the competition of joint venture products, the other is the competition between new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles after the emergence of new technology elements and new product forms." On April 19, the opening day of the Shanghai auto show, ye Pei, executive vice president of Chang'an Automobile, said frankly in an interview with reporters, "from today on, we are still facing the competition of cross-border vehicle manufacturing."

However, in the face of challenges, many independent automobile enterprises have shown their determination in the aspects of automobile electrification, intellectualization and high-end, and even have a clear understanding of how to transform.

April 22, 2021, Shanghai, 2021 Shanghai auto show continues. Visual China

Transformation is imminent

In recent years, new energy vehicles have become the outlet. In 2020, the capital market showed a fanatical attitude towards new energy vehicles, which directly sent Tesla to the position of the world's first automobile company with market value.

At the same time, after the high-end breakthrough of new forces such as Weilai and ideal has achieved good results, the confidence in the high-end development of independent new energy has been continuously strengthened. Especially after the breakthrough of FAW Hongqi brand high-end, the traditional car enterprises are also continuing to make efforts.

On the other hand, under the carbon neutral target, traditional automobile enterprises are facing the pressure of transformation to new energy.

On June 15, 2020, the Ministry of industry and information technology announced the decision on Revising the measures for parallel management of average fuel consumption of passenger car enterprises and new energy vehicle points, which made it clear that the integral proportion of new energy vehicles from 2021 to 2023 was 14%, 16% and 18%, and the proportion was further increased. At the same time, the new energy points of single vehicle will be reduced by 20% - 40%.

The new energy points policy requires the company to produce more new energy vehicles, otherwise, the company needs to purchase credits to meet the integral requirements, both of which will cause greater financial pressure on the company and affect the company's current profit level.

As early as January 16 this year, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Chang'an Automobile, said at the forum of 100 people's meeting of China electric vehicles (2021), affected by the new double point policy, the double points generated by the six major automobile groups in 2020 are all negative, and the price of new energy points is constantly rising, which leads to the common phenomenon of increasing losses for automobile enterprises. Taking Chang'an group as an example, in 2020, the single vehicle profit reduction caused by double points is about 4000 yuan.

The transition to new energy is imminent.

"Krypton not only undertakes the mission of Geely to attack the high-end, but also carries a change." On April 16, an Conghui, CEO of polar krypton company, pointed out in an interview with the reporter of 21st century economic report. And "transformation" and "change" are the most repeated words in the interview, behind which is the huge pressure of Geely as a traditional automobile enterprise.

It is not only Geely, but how to transform to high-end new energy is an important topic for almost all Chinese independent brands.

In fact, under the downward pressure of the auto market, the only way for independent brands to expand market share is to impact the high-end market. In the past year, the "national team" has laid out high-end new energy tracks: Dongfeng and BAIC respectively settled in lantu and arcfox; When SAIC launched r brand, it also cooperated with Ali to build Zhiji brand; Chang'an plans to join hands with Huawei and Ningde times to create a new high-end intelligent car brand.

And the results of a series of layout of the above enterprises have also been displayed at this Shanghai auto show.

On the eve of the auto show, the alpha s of arcfox, a high-end brand of BAIC new energy, was listed on the market. Among them, the hi version of Alfa s Huawei will carry Huawei's automatic driving technology and Hongmeng OS, and use three lidars. The official said that the car can realize automatic driving without intervention on 1000 km urban roads. Of course, the price also exceeded 400000.

Coincidentally, the first new car Zhiji L7 of the Zhiji brand jointly built by SAIC and Ali has a pre-sale price of 408800, which is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2022; While bringing the third model Es33, R brand has set a sales target of 20000 vehicles this year.

"Based on ark architecture and CHN architecture, build epa0, epa1 and epa2 platforms, and in the next five years, Chang'an will successively launch 26 new intelligent electric vehicles." At the auto show site, Chang'an Automobile chairman Zhu Huarong disclosed.

However, as one of the enterprises with earlier layout in the field of high-end new energy vehicles, compared with BAIC motor and others, Chang'an Automobile seems to be slower.

"Chang'an automobile has been researching or trying to be high-end for a long time, and this road will go on forever. Moreover, high-end development is not a result, but a process, and this is a directional choice for the development of the automobile industry. " On April 19, Wang Jun, President of Chang'an Automobile, pointed out in an interview with reporters that with the entry of new technological elements into the automobile industry and the change of energy mode, the change of automobile to a new physical form is accelerating, and a new brand of "new automobile" will certainly be created.

It is understood that Chang'an will soon launch a future oriented high-end intelligent electric vehicle jointly built with Huawei and Ningde times, but the new high-end brand name has not been announced.

Opportunities and challenges coexist

Behind the collective "sword" of self owned brands, Shanghai auto show is not only facing the passive transformation of the "new four modernizations" of the automobile industry, but also an active breakthrough in the search for incremental market.

"In March this year, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China was 189000, with a year-on-year increase of more than 300%, and it is still growing rapidly, of which 85% are pure electric vehicles. At the same time, the market share of pure electric vehicles with a price of more than 250000 yuan has increased from less than 4% in the past to 35%, which clearly shows that the consumption trend of new energy market is inclining towards high-end and high endurance. " Zhiji Auto Co CEO Liu Tao said in an interview.

In the future, the huge consumer market of high-end new energy vehicles also attracts the attention of independent brands.

"It will take a process from fuel vehicles to intelligent electric vehicles in an all-round way. We believe that in 5-15 years, there is still a lot of space for energy-saving vehicles, and Geely Automobile should have a better performance in this market; At the same time, it is also necessary to develop intelligent pure electric vehicles, and develop and cooperate with each other on the two tracks of pure electric and energy-saving vehicles. "

According to the plan, krypton will launch two new products each year in the next three years, and seven new models will be completed in 2024. In terms of sales targets, the krypton 001, which can only be delivered in October this year, is expected to complete 7000 units. The next products will be developed for different market segments, and try to become a benchmark for market segments.

Of course, opportunities and challenges coexist in the process of the transformation of traditional vehicles to high-end new energy.

"The development of high-end new energy by independent brands, on the one hand, is the law of the development of the manufacturing industry, on the other hand, it benefits from the elimination of technological differences." Li jianteng believes that the "new four modernizations" of automobiles bring opportunities for independent brands to rise again.

On the one hand, Weilai and Tesla are the first to enter the field of electric vehicles with high-end products. On the other hand, the supply chain, talents and design in the field of electric vehicles are globalized, which brings equal opportunities to all brands. Independent brands are no longer subject to the constraints of core components such as traditional automobile engines and gearboxes.

"The narrowing of the gap in key technologies also shows the opportunity for independent brands to break through to high-end products." Li jianteng told reporters that the real gap between high-end new energy products in the future is actually in the software and intelligent parts. In terms of intelligence and software, the starting point of independent brands is not low. At the same time, independent brands are more aware of the needs of Chinese consumers, especially in terms of software usage habits, which is a very big advantage.

Of course, in the process of transformation, independent brands also face many challenges.

"One is the problem of concept. In the past, the relationship between OEMs and customers was not close, and the OEMs did not participate in the process of terminal consumption. With the advent of the era of intelligence, the relationship between consumers and host manufacturers is very close. For traditional enterprises, it is necessary to rethink the value of traditional sales channels. This is why most independent brands choose direct marketing mode when launching high-end new energy products. " Li jianteng believes that the establishment of a more efficient, more in line with the concept of intelligent cars, and truly customer-centered service mode is the problem that independent brands need to solve in the future.

On the other hand, it is not only the independent brands and new forces of car making, but also more cross-border players. However, the market does not need so many brands, and the independent brands still have to face the survival of the fittest in the process of transformation to high-end.

"One of the things that can open up the market is that they are in the lead in some technologies and have first mover advantages, such as more advanced automatic driving technology; In addition, in the future, the subscription service model will certainly be a very important business model in the automobile industry. Whoever can take the customer as the center and quickly establish the customer base with the Internet thinking will win. " Li jianteng said, "under the intelligent new energy vehicle or new business model, the customer-centered organizational structure and corporate gene are very important, but it is actually very difficult for traditional enterprises."

Opening up the third track

When the gap between products and technologies is gradually narrowing, business model and user service will become the moat for the development of independent brands.

Weilai's user service and operation mode has provided excellent learning samples for the operation of independent high-end brands.

On this basis, new brands including Zhiji and jikrypton are also "pushing out the old and bringing forth the new", creating and opening up the "third track" with user service and users.

"The transformation of jikrypton is more thorough than that of traditional automobile enterprises: it has established a separate brand, new products, teams, organizational structure and new business model, operates according to the operation mode and method of Internet technology-based companies, and reconstructs the industrial chain layout with the needs of users in the intelligent electric era as the core; Compared with the new car manufacturing enterprises, we also have more mature and comprehensive high-quality resources to support, which any new car making brand can not have in a short time. " An Conghui said.

In addition, based on the characteristics and requirements of the development of intelligent electric vehicles, polar krypton will try in three main directions: user end, product end and capital end. At the product side level, we need to communicate and co create with users before, during and after delivery; At the user side level, the traditional automobile enterprises face the consumers completely through the agent system, and there is no complete communication between the main engine factory and the users. Therefore, the direct marketing mode will be adopted by the polar krypton.

"User data is very important. It will drive enterprises to move forward slowly and become the core driving force of iterative service experience. Therefore, Zhiji has taken the lead in launching the csop user data equity plan, which allocates 4.9% equity income to repay users' data contribution." In an interview with reporters, Liu Tao said that in the era of intelligence, the data provided by users is the core driving force for the growth of enterprises.

In Liu Tao's opinion, every kilometer that users travel can generate value, and every data provided by users can become the fuel to promote brand progress and product evolution. In symbiosis and co creation with users, it is the essential difference between Zhiji brand and other brands.

However, similar to Zhiji, krypton also announced that it would provide 4.9% equity to support the co creation of users.

"Taking out 4.9% stock rights and interests reflects the determination and attitude of krypton to complete transformation. Our original intention is to really build a user enterprise." However, as for the scale, use rules, distribution and operation of the equity interests, polar krypton has not yet been released, an said.

"Csop is the inevitable logic for Zhiji automobile to lead the times, and it must be recognized and followed by more and more people." Liu Tao pointed out that, however, this innovation needs to invest huge resources, which is not easy to imitate.

On the one hand, it is the compliance barrier, and the operation rules must comply with laws and regulations; On the other hand, there are technical barriers. It needs not only smart contract technology, but also technology to protect user data security and user privacy.

"If any follower wants to do this, he must do his homework well; Hasty imitation and hasty action are irresponsible to users. " Liu Tao finally said.

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