On February 16, the signing and groundbreaking ceremony of the new energy automobile parts strategic base of Anqing Welling Auto Parts Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Anqing Welling"), a subsidiary of Midea Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Midea Group", 000333.SZ), was held in Anhui. According to the Voice of Anqing, Midea Group's total investment in this project is about 11 billion yuan.
Cross-border investment in new energy and car manufacturing by enterprises is not a new thing. Midea Group spent 11 billion yuan to expand its strategic territory, which is one of the few large investments in the field of new energy vehicles, and it is also the largest total investment project in the history of Midea Group.
This is also another major strategic layout of Midea Group in the field of auto parts and even new energy vehicles after investing in the establishment of Anhui Welling Auto Parts Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Anhui Welling").
The "Welling system" of beauty adds another son
Of the total investment of about 11 billion yuan in the new energy automobile parts base built by Midea Group in Anqing City, the fixed asset investment is about 6.5 billion yuan, and the planned land for the first phase of the project is 458 mu.
Midea Group said that after its completion, it can form an annual output capacity of 60 million sets and achieve an annual output value of 40 billion yuan. The project mainly produces power steering motors, electric compressors for new energy vehicles, new energy vehicle drive motors and other categories of products, and has built three major system research and development centers and national laboratories for thermal management, main drive, auxiliary/intelligent driving.
According to the information of the enterprise investigation, Anqing Welling was established on January 12, 2022, with a registered capital of 200 million yuan and the legal representative Chen Jintao.
Anqing Welling belongs to Midea Welling AutoMotive Parts Company (hereinafter referred to as "Midea Welling"). Midea Welling was established in 2018, and in 2018 and 2019, it established subsidiaries Guangdong Welling Auto Parts Co., Ltd. and Anhui Welling Auto Parts Company.
Since then, midea group's strategic move to rely on the "Welling system" to break into the field of new energy vehicles has gradually become clear. According to Midea Group's 2020 financial report, it is currently divided into five major divisions, and Midea Welling is a product company under the Industrial Technology Division, mainly responsible for automotive components.
Midea Group Business Unit Structure Branch Diagram
In fact, it was not until May 18, 2021 that Midea Welling officially announced the start of mass production of its products. Chen Jintao, general manager of Midea Welling, said, "Since May 18 last year, the three major product lines have been tested on the train for more than half a year to verify the reliability of the product. In 2022 we have reached a relatively mature stage. Customers in the automotive industry are project-based, and as customers begin to mass-produce, Midea's auto parts have also begun to be listed in large quantities. ”
According to wind data, Midea Welling's automotive parts layout is mainly based on motors, electronic controls and compressors as the core of automotive component products, and the product line involves three major systems: motor drive system, thermal management system and auxiliary/automatic driving system. According to the official website of mid-term group, there are five parts that have been put into production: drive motors, electronic water pumps, electronic oil pumps, electric compressors and EPS motors.
Midea's car manufacturing business product categories
From this point of view, the Anqing Welling new energy automobile parts base built this time has not deviated from the strategic layout of the Welling system, and is still the main core of the production and research and development of thermal management, electric drive and intelligent driving.
White electricity and black electricity marched together
In fact, this is not the first time that Midea Group has tried to invest in the automotive field, and its involvement in the automobile industry can be traced back to 2003. In that year, Midea Group became Sanxiangmei Bus Co., Ltd. in the form of investment and mergers and acquisitions, and according to the Changsha Evening News that year, Midea Group expected that the total investment in the project would exceed 1.5 billion yuan in the next three years. If the first phase of the project is completed, the subsequent vehicle production capacity will reach 5,000 units. Subsequently, Midea Group integrated the yunnan three bus factories and built two new production bases in Kunming and Changsha, realizing the manufacturing capacity of 10,000 buses and special chassis.
However, the good times did not last long, and at the end of 2008, Midea announced the suspension of car-making projects. Subsequently, its Hunan Midea Bus Co., Ltd. was acquired by BYD Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "BYD", 01211.HK), which was still listed on the Hong Kong stock market that year. According to BYD's announcement on July 24, 2009, BYD finally acquired all the shares of Hunan Midea Sanxiang Bus for a cash acquisition of 60 million yuan.
Coincidentally, as the "old rival" of midea group, another leader in the white electricity industry, Gree Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gree Electric Appliance", 000651.SZ) also began to deploy new energy vehicles early, but the investment road is also turbulent.
On August 31, 2021, Gree Electric Appliances issued an announcement that it sold 30.47% of the equity of Yinlong New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yinlong New Energy") for 1.828 billion yuan. At the same time, Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric Appliances, entrusted the voting rights corresponding to the 17.46% equity of Yinlong New Energy to the company. As a result, Gree Electric Controls 47.93% of the voting rights of Yinlong New Energy, making it its own subsidiary. In November 2021, Yinlong New Energy Co., Ltd. changed its name to "Gree Titanium New Energy Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Gree Titanium New Energy").
However, from the 2021 new energy bus data, the market share of Gree titanium new energy in the new energy bus market is not high. In the whole year of 2021, the cumulative sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China reached 3.33 million units, an increase of 181% year-on-year, and the market penetration rate increased significantly to 14.8%. However, in contrast, the development of the new energy bus market is not satisfactory, and the cumulative sales of large and medium-sized new energy buses (including 7 meters and above) in the whole year are 44,953, down 20.8% year-on-year. Gree Titanium New Energy under Gree Electric Appliances has sold a total of 1854 buses, accounting for no more than 5% of the market.
In addition to the white electricity industry has settled in the field of new energy, the black electricity industry of traditional home appliances is also eager to try. Skyworth Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Skyworth Group", 00751.HK) on April 27, 2021, Skyworth Group held an auto brand meeting to officially release the "Skyworth Auto" brand. Skyworth Auto is a smart car brand created by Skyworth Group.
In addition, Hisense Home Appliances Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hisense Home Appliances" 000921.SZ) said on May 31, 2021 that it has completed a strategic investment in the holding of Japan's Sandian with RMB1.302 billion. Hisense Home Appliances said that it will expand the automotive air conditioning compressor and automotive air conditioning industry with Sanden Holdings as the core company, and will also lay out the automotive electronics industry in the fields of intelligent transportation and display technology in the future.
Why is the home appliance industry entering the field of new energy vehicles? The answer may lie in the current development trend of the home appliance industry.
According to the relevant research report of the home appliance industry of Capital Securities, in 2021, the weak domestic market demand of mainland white electricity superimposes the channel reform of leading enterprises, and the annual sales growth rate of household air conditioners and refrigerators is lower than expected; Under the dual pressure of rising panel prices and saturated demand, the mainland color TV market is in a downturn as a whole, and production and sales have declined to a certain extent compared with the previous two years.
It can be seen that the home appliance industry has now entered the stage of stock competition, and the overall growth rate of the industry is on the verge of maintaining stability or declining. Under this premise, cross-border participation in the new energy automobile industry seems to have become the only choice for home appliance giants. However, there are many players in the field of new energy vehicles today, and the "cross-border" players do not have advantages in terms of OEM resources, technical strength and brand building in the automotive field, and it only takes a certain amount of time to establish customer recognition.
However, as Fu Yongjun, vice president of Midea Group and president of Midea's industrial technology, said, "China is actually ahead of the development of new energy vehicles in the world." However, many key core components do not yet have Chinese players, which requires us to use the accumulation in the home appliance industry to do horizontal expansion, not only for their own development, but also for the industry to create a better quality, responsive, and better supply chain. ”
Whether Midea Group can overcome the challenges brought by cross-border enterprises and find new business growth points remains to be seen.