The past March 18 has a special significance for Chery people. On this day, they ushered in Chery's 25th birthday.
25 years of wind and rain in the same boat, more than 9,000 days hand in hand, this moment, looking back at Chery's growth all the way, can't help but sigh.
Fast forward to the day of March 18, 1997, when the workers sweated and shoveled the first pile firmly into the dirt of a wasteland north of Wuhu City, and since that day, the news has gradually spread that a car factory can be built in the north of the city.
Judging whether a company can become a big tool depends on its focus. The focus is the core driving force of the enterprise, and it is also the key to whether the enterprise can stand in the industry competition and survive for a long time.
Perhaps technology research and development is not the first element that Chery paid attention to when it first entered the market, but after the first few years of exploration, temptation and stumbling, Chery people began to be more and more convinced that technology can stand.
Firm and hardworking, taking the road of technical self-improvement and self-reliance, has since become Chery's creed.
This is determined, Chery is not wrong. In the past 25 years, in the process of groping forward, technology has given Chery a distinct identity, and it has also become its hard core strength to later rank among the forefront of excellent domestic automobile independent brands and stride forward.
On the special occasion of Chery's 25th anniversary, it is timely to review Chery's progress on the road of technology.
First gnaw down the engine's "hard bones."
In 1993, after laying the first pile of the factory in the north of Wuhu City, the car factory that was rumored by word of mouth began to advance into the automobile market in the exploration, and four years later it became Chery Automobile Co., Ltd.
In 1998, Chery employees who were ready to do a big job first made a mistake and were angry at the problem of engine production line: because they did not master the engine research and development technology, Chery had to purchase a second-hand engine production line from a foreign automobile brand, but the other party only wanted to "sell it to fish", did not want to "teach it to fish", did not talk about the details of research and development, and even did not let Chery procurement personnel look at it, and dragged the construction period for a long time.
Unable to bear it, Chery decided to do it himself. It was also since then that Chery has opened the road of independent research and development of automobile engines.
Industry insiders used "newborn calves are not afraid of tigers" to evaluate Chery's original move, but it was precisely that fearlessness that pushed Chery employees to solve one technical constraint after another like a cocoon. We were not involved in the process, but the difficulty can be imagined. In the middle, there is also a sincere sincerity that belongs to that era.
Chery's development log reads: "Chery started from gnawing the hardest bones, invested all its wealth at that time, and developed engines for cars."
"Total wealth" means either success or failure. In the text, we can more or less feel the "persistence" of Chery people at that time to the field of independent research and development.
Chery people who "crossed the river by feeling the stones" firmly believed and persisted in moving forward, and gradually, the research and development results began to appear:
On May 18, 1999, the first engine developed by Chery was ignited off the production line, and at that moment, the factory cheered, and its birth meant that Chery already had the ability to develop its own engine. The anxiety about the unknowability and unobtainability of engine technology was all left behind, and after hundreds of days and nights of perseverance, there was finally a result.
On December 18, 1999, Chery's first car, the 00001 "Fengyun", slowly drove off the production line, and Chery had its first self-built car, which was an absolute case among China's independent car companies at that time.
Pulling aside the clouds and seeing the bright moon, several successful attempts to make Chery people more and more clear about the engine manufacturing technology, at this time, their ideas began to gradually advance from "built" to "made better", and in the sixth year of Chery's establishment - 2003, the first generation of THE ACTECO series engines with independent intellectual property rights was officially launched.
In 2018, the third generation of the ACTECO series of engines that have undergone several transformations was officially launched, and 1.6TGDI, 1.5TGDI, 1.2TGDI and other models became its masterpieces.
At that time, Chery people were proud of the birth of the ACTECO series engine because the efficiency it could achieve had reached a high value in the industry, taking 1.6TGDI as an example, its maximum power reached 145 kilowatts, the peak torque could reach 290N·m, the thermal efficiency was 37.1%, and it was integrated into the five core technologies of Chery Intelligent Combustion System, Rapid Heating Thermal Management System, Rapid Response Boosting System, Friction Reduction and Lightweighting. Such results have made Chery Engine a leader in the industry. In 2019, the 1.6TGDI model won the title of "Top Ten Engines of the Year".
Never understand the familiar, from familiar to in-depth, years of intensive research so that engine development has become Chery is good at. With the passage of time, Chery's pace in engine development has been bigger and faster.
At the same time, a force of disruptive innovation is brewing, on April 20, 2021, the "Chery 4.0 Era Global Power Architecture" officially appeared on the historical stage of Chery, and the fuel and hybrid solutions under its architecture were named "Kunpeng Power CHERYPOWER". The reason why it is called "subversive" is because the architecture covers almost all mainstream power at present and in the future, achieving "full clearance" of fuel, hybrid, pure electric, and hydrogen power.
On May 18, 2021, Chery's full-featured hybrid Kunpeng DHT officially rolled off the production line, which is driven by dual motors and can achieve 9 working modes, bringing a smooth driving experience to the driver. Its advent means that Chery's engine functions have been further advanced.
Nowadays, excellent strength has become Chery's confidence. On February 22, 2021, Chery announced the implementation of the "Lifetime Warranty for All Models of Engines", after no car company had provided such protection to consumers. This guarantee stems from Chery's confidence in its own strength.
The "Polytechnic Man" who fell in love with the patent
One word can be an apt metaphor for Chery's frequency in technology research and development – polishing, or more precisely, "constant polishing". Chery's continuous exploration and perennial persistence in technology have also made it have the title of technology Chery and "polytechnic man" in the industry.
Evaluate how a science and engineering man is studying, look at his grades; evaluate Chery, the "science and engineering man" in China's automotive industry, and also have a solid measurement standard - look at patents.
On February 7, 2022, Chery ranked first in the "2021 Anhui Top 100 Invention Patents List" jointly released by the Anhui Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, the Anhui Provincial Department of Education, and the Department of Economy and Information Technology of Anhui Province, and Chery ranked first, which is the eighth year that Chery has occupied the top of the list.
With the continuous extension to the technical field, Chery, which focused on engine research and development in the early days, has now achieved "multi-faceted blossoming", and 6 subsidiaries go hand in hand in the technical field, each of which is a good hand in patent research and development, covering many fields such as automotive core technology, key components, new energy, and intelligent network connection.
Some people humorously said: When some car companies are thinking about how to win in the external competition, Chery's 6 subsidiaries have begun to "roll inside", thinking about how not to be left behind in the brother units, so you catch up with me, one after another excellent patent works have been born, unconsciously, has stood out in the peer competition.
At present, Chery has applied for more than 23,000 patents and authorized more than 14,000 patents, of which nearly one-third of the invention patents have been granted. Due to its excellent technology, it has also participated in the research and development of more than 170 national science and technology projects.
Chery, which has been "going to sea" for 20 years, has also applied for more than 500 foreign patents in more than ten overseas countries or regions such as the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Chile, etc., from successful "going out" to striving to "go up", under the new development pattern of domestic and international dual cycles promoting each other, in the eyes of foreign consumers, the technical label of China's local independent brand Chery has become more and more distinct.
A new round of technology research and development points to the "new four modernizations"
"New Four Modernizations" – a buzzword that has been discussed by China's automotive industry over the past year.
Driven by the three revolutions of energy, intelligence and interconnection, the automobile industry is undergoing unprecedented profound changes, electrification, networking, intelligence, and sharing have become a new wave to promote industrial development, which is also known as the "new four modernizations" of the automotive industry.
In the face of the "new four modernizations", Chery has long been prepared. After 25 years of growth and transformation, Chery has a clear understanding of the development trend and prospects of the automotive industry. On the basis of continuous deep cultivation of traditional fuel vehicles, in recent years, Chery has accelerated the layout of new energy, intelligent networking, shared travel, platform and ecology, and carried out multi-party attempts around the "new four modernizations".
On February 26, 2022, the Anhui New Energy Vehicle and Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industry Research Institute led by Chery Group was officially inaugurated. The research institute mainly includes two parts: the automobile research institute and the industry incubation center, and plans to build a series of special original laboratories, focus on revolutionary and original technological breakthroughs, and strive to build Chery's "Bell Lab".
The research institute has a high positioning, and strives to become a provincial new energy and intelligent networked vehicle technology development platform, public service platform, after its establishment, it will focus on the main problems of the current new energy and intelligent networked vehicle "card neck", covering platform development, power system development, Chery "Yaoguang Laboratory", automatic driving test field and other aspects. The inauguration of the research institute has become another important layout for the innovation breakthrough of Chery Technology.
Hand in hand, seek common development. While consolidating its own technical strength, Chery also began to hold hands with more partners, hoping to use each other's advantages to speed up on the road of "new four modernizations": Chery cooperated with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, with the help of the R&D advantages of the Academy of Engineering, to deepen the application of intelligent networked vehicles and big data analysis; signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Zhejiang University and the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to carry out in-depth cooperation in the fields of automotive photoelectric projection technology such as smart headlamps, automotive electronic chips, and automotive open platforms; in addition, It has also become the chairman unit of the Anhui Free Trade Zone Intelligent Networked Vehicle Development Alliance, and cooperated with 45 enterprises, universities and related scientific research institutions.
In February 2021, Chery Intelligent Network Connection "Super One Factory" with a total investment of 13 billion yuan started construction. As a major "new infrastructure" project for Chery to accelerate its intelligent transformation, the Super One Factory is one of the first three high-end smart factories planned by Chery. With its put into operation, Chery Intelligent Manufacturing will stand on a new level.
By the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", Chery plans to fully transform into the "new four modernizations" and realize 100% new energy and intelligent networking. After 25 years of hard work, Chery has become a model of China's independent brand technology exploration, and in this special year, the redeployment of new energy and intelligent networking is enough to show that Chery's next determination of technology has been decided.
25 years ago, the firm technology gave Chery a foothold. Today and in the future 25 years later, Chery, which pursues the ultimate on the road of technology, will continue to carry this persistence, ride the wind and waves, and sing all the way!