January 10, United States, Detroit. The only Chinese brand that participated in the North American Auto Show was Geely, who received the special award Silver Diamond Award presented by the Auto Show Organizing Committee. This is the first international top auto show award ever won by China Auto. Just four months ago, Geely was the same. It represented the Chinese auto companies for the first time at the Frankfurt International Motor Show. He was invited to participate in the world's top auto show twice in six consecutive months. Geely showed the world the wonderfulness of Chinese cars.
Geely's breakthrough in the international auto show is just a microcosm of the growth of domestic auto brands. Last year, Chery and AVL Austria developed a new generation ACTECO engine. This is China's first self-branded engine that is synchronized with the world's technological level; Changan has built an independent development system, process and “black book†that is in line with international standards. , CV6, CV7, CV9 and CV11 four stylish new cars will be listed this year ... ...
According to statistics from the National Association of Passenger Cars, in the first 11 months of last year, China’s own-brand sedan sales exceeded 600,000 units, and the market share has reached 25%, an increase of 5 percentage points over the previous year. Among them, Chery's annual sales reached more than 188,000 units, an increase of about 118% year-on-year. Xiali was the sales champion last year, reaching more than 200,000 vehicles. Geely also recorded a 50% increase in sales over the same period last year, with sales of approximately RMB 6 billion.
External environment supports corporate innovation
Under the background of the country's efforts to cultivate independent innovation capabilities, auto industry independent innovation has received corresponding support. The "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" proposal clearly states that "it is necessary to improve the capability of independent innovation" and "put the enhancement of independent innovation capability as the strategic base point for the development of science and technology, as well as the adjustment of the industrial structure and the transformation of the economic growth mode." Recently, the state's policy of supporting independent innovation in the auto industry has been implemented. On October 18 last year, the Central Government Procurement Center and Chery signed the “Framework Agreement for the Central Purchasing of Official Vehicles and the Comprehensive Purchasing Services for Centralized Purchasing of Vehicle Reformed Vehiclesâ€. Since then, the independent brand cars have officially been listed at the central level. Government procurement list.
At the Guangzhou Huadu Automobile Forum on August 21, last year, the “Horizon dispute†rekindled the industry’s fierce response to the question of whether China should adopt a “self-reliant “Japanese-Korea model†or take the “Brazil model†to gradually develop local cars through joint ventures. Discussions, followed by a series of discussions led to continuous improvements in the environment for independent innovation. At the Guangzhou Automobile Development Forum on November 22, focusing on how to improve China's auto industry's capacity for independent innovation, and how to treat independent brands as the carrier of independent innovation achievements, a consensus emerged: Independent innovation is the only way for China's auto industry to move from a big country to a strong country. Shao Qihui, Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Society of Automotive Engineers, emphasized in the keynote speech entitled "Independent Innovation - The Inevitable Choice for China to Become a Powerful Country in the Automobile Industry," not only to do a good job in technological innovation, but also to seriously carry out institutional and mechanism innovations. Business philosophy and model innovation, management thinking and method innovation, to promote changes in adjustments and growth patterns, and to achieve the purpose of innovative development model."
The market environment has always been a difficult problem that self-owned brand auto companies have to face. Last year, as the consumer's mentality became more mature and consumer demand was diversified, the market share of self-owned brand automobiles has increased, mainly in the economical car market.
The path of independent innovation of enterprises has become wider
At the Shanghai Auto Show in April last year, President Chen Hong of SAIC Motor Co., Ltd. had summarized four ways to build an independent brand: first, relying on its own strength to develop independently; second, acquiring international management teams and technological development forces; and third, deepening strategic cooperation and joint venture production. Chinese brands; Fourth, joint ventures create their own brands.
The self-owned brand enterprises rely on their own strength to develop independently, and have made breakthroughs in the fields of vehicle modelling, core component R&D, and integration of international resources. At the Shanghai Auto Show in April last year, Chery displayed six independently-developed engines and gearboxes with complete intellectual property rights, and launched five new models of cars; of the five new models exhibited by Changan Auto, four were owned by independent brands; Hafei exhibited the Saibao 5 Series debuted at the Geneva Motor Show; Brilliance China launched the new car M2; FAW's self-developed red flag concept car is refreshing...
The joint venture also gradually embarked on a new road of independent development. In the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" of the company, FAW clearly stated that its own brand will achieve a production and sales volume of 1 million units, which is the target of 50% of total production and sales volume. After SAIC acquired Ssangyong, the two parties cooperated to develop their own brands based on Ssangyong Motor's platform. After Nanjing Auto's successful acquisition of Rover, it also said that it will use Rover's technology equipment, R&D center and product design technology to build its own brand and build a production base of 300,000 cars per year. The representative of the third road is Shanghai GM. Through the integration of universal global resources and localized development, Shanghai GM conducts product research and development based on the Pan-Asian Technology Center, which not only improves the product's adaptability to the local market, but also cultivates R&D personnel for SAIC. Shanghai Volkswagen will also launch new models developed independently next year.
Emerging companies also hope to develop their own brands through the market. At the Shanghai Auto Show, JAC, Changfeng Automobile, and BYD launched their own independently researched and developed MPVs, sports car concept cars, and SUV concept cars. Moreover, the launch of these new cars will not only stop at the design and development, many models will soon be put into mass production.
Systematic work still needs to be strengthened
Although the market share of self-owned brands increased slightly last year, the self-owned brand cars still occupy the economical car market. This is the lowest profitable market segment. As joint ventures continue to explore this area, the price advantage of self-owned brands is gradually lost. On the other hand, the performance of self-owned brands in the high-end sedan market has been unsatisfactory. In the first 8 months of the previous year, Hongqi's sales fell by 46% year-on-year, and China's sales dropped by 33%. In the long run, the impact of price factors on consumers will become more and more limited. Product quality, marketing models, and after-sales services will comprehensively determine market share. Therefore, improving product quality, market-oriented operating mechanisms, and strengthening service levels are autonomous. Brand companies need to solve problems that are urgently needed beyond technological innovation.
Second, there is a lack of collaborative working mechanisms that support the development of independent industrial development capabilities. The development of automobile core components such as engines and transmissions places high demands on capital, technology, and human resources. If all independent brand companies are independently developed, it will not only cause duplicate investment, but it will be difficult to form scale advantages. At present, in order to reduce research and development costs, cooperation and sharing programs for key components have been widely carried out among automotive multinationals. Chery, Brilliance, Changan, and Geely have also developed engines separately. FAW, Chery, and Changan have also planned their own hybrids. technology. It can be seen that in order to guide the development of the overall technological level of China's auto industry, it is crucial to establish a mechanism for integrating and coordinating the technical power of independent brands.
In addition, there is a lack of supporting policies for self-development. At present, China’s auto companies have invested huge amounts of R&D funds in their own development, but the mechanisms for companies to resolve their own risk development and supporting tax incentives for independent research and development are still missing. (Reporter Ouyang Jie)
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