Two days ago, the China Automobile Association released the latest automobile production and sales data, from January to March 2022, car sales of 6.509 million units, an increase of only 0.2% year-on-year. Domestic vehicle sales in March were 2.234 million units, down 11.7% year-on-year.
The market is sluggish, but the performance of Chinese brands is eye-catching, from January to March, the cumulative sales of Chinese brand passenger cars were 2.547 million units, an increase of 21% year-on-year, accounting for 45.9% of the market share, up 4.6 percentage points over the same period last year. Good results are actually due to the obvious increase in the new energy market.
Among many car companies, Changan Automobile ushered in a milestone moment. In the ranking of Passenger Car Sales of Chinese brands from January to March this year, Changan Automobile ranked second with 375,000 units, of which sales of new energy vehicles were 15,233 units, an increase of 3.4% year-on-year.
What is even more valuable is that while maintaining high sales, Changan Automobile's product structure is also constantly optimizing, accounting for 70% of products above 100,000 yuan, constantly breaking the "ceiling" of 150,000 yuan.
"Volume and price rise" is very rare, for Changan Automobile, this is the real brand upward. The rising Chinese brand will eventually change the pattern of the automobile market.
With an investment of more than 80 billion yuan, Changan Automobile has launched more than 30 new products in three years
The reason why Changan maintains the steady growth of sales is inseparable from the help of products and technologies.
On April 13, the 2022 Changan Automobile Global Partner Conference was held in Chongqing, focusing on the field of new energy, and Changan Automobile released the latest corporate development strategy to the outside world.
Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, officially released the digital pure electric brand "Changan Deep Blue" at the conference; at the same time, it was also announced that by 2025, Changan Automobile is expected to invest more than 80 billion yuan in key areas such as new energy, intelligence, scientific and technological innovation, and digital transformation; by 2025, more than 30 new products will be launched, from entry to high-end, with full coverage of products.
Zhu Huarong also said that by 2025, the total number of R& D personnel in Chang'an will be about 20,000, including more than 6,000 intelligent and software R & D personnel, more than 5,000 new energy R & D personnel, and about 1/4 of R & D personnel.
As soon as the content of the conference was announced, the industry was in an uproar, and some people thought that Changan Automobile was gambling heavily. However, I believe that Changan Automobile is "moving the real thing" and the determination and intensity of transformation into an intelligent low-carbon travel technology company is unprecedented!
EPA architecture, seven-in-one super collector drive, APA6.0... Dry goods one after another
Chang'an's global partnership conference was full of dry goods.
At present, the mainstream domestic car companies basically have their own modular architecture, but it is rare for Changan Automobile to have more than three architectures.
First, let's look at the MPA architecture (also known as the Ark architecture), compatible with ICE and its electrification products, and is a smart architecture that integrates multiple forms, multiple energy sources, and multiple scenarios, and has been launched with UNI-V.
UNI-V
The second is the EPA architecture, which is a platform architecture for the mainstream electric vehicle market, and the pure electric series product C385 is the first model of this platform, which will be launched in the second quarter of this year.
C385
The third is the CHN platform, which is the world's leading intelligent electric vehicle technology platform jointly created by Changan, Huawei and CATL, and will be equipped with models under the Avita brand.
Avita E11
In addition, Zhu Huarong revealed that Changan is building an intelligent electric super digital platform architecture SDA, and the E0 three-body "new car" project under the architecture is accelerating.
Some people may ask, Changan Automobile already has an MPA architecture, why should it specially build a pure electric platform EPA architecture and CHN platform?
A common architecture is of course best, which can save a lot of costs, but we can't ignore market factors.
Nowadays, the automobile industry has developed to a new stage, consumers are more and more demanding, and are not willing to easily make compromises, especially electric vehicle users, relative to fuel vehicles, they regard electric vehicles as a consumption upgrade, the pursuit of a better experience, not just durability.
Architecture is the core force of car manufacturing, which directly affects the performance and experience of the car, and lays the depth of car intelligence, which also determines the freedom of modeling design.
It is difficult for the oil-powered shared platform to achieve the extreme of the exclusive platform for pure electricity. Therefore, Changan actively adapts to market requirements and provides users with an EPA architecture with extreme performance and experience.
In the same way, although the CHN platform and the EPA architecture are pure electric dedicated platforms, Avita is a brand co-created by Changan and Huawei and NINGDE Times, and its biggest highlight is the fusion of different DNA, if you directly use the EPA architecture, it belongs to the "turnkey" project.
The "turnkey" thing is completely different from the three-way joint development at the beginning, the former is equivalent to grafting, after the model is done, and then the system is "grafted"; the latter is in the development stage on the whole process of participation, jointly cultivate new species, "grafting" technology is good, it is impossible to adapt in all directions. Only by developing them together can the BUG be eliminated at the genetic level and the optimal solution can be achieved.
Scientific and technological innovation is inseparable from the support of scientific research funds. Looking at Changan's financial reports in recent years, the author found that the MPA architecture, EPA architecture and CHN platform are only one of the many scientific research achievements of Changan Automobile, and the company will invest 5% of its sales revenue in research and development every year.
In terms of intelligence, Changan Automobile has mastered more than 200 core technologies such as visual perception and multi-mode integration, including 26 technologies such as integrated adaptive cruise (IACC), remote control parking (APA5.0), and remote intelligent parking (APA6.0).
In terms of new energy, it has won more than 20 provincial and ministerial awards, mastered more than 400 key technologies, and applied for more than 800 core patents. It has a complete forward development capability of new energy "big three electricity". The new platform battery adopts 590 modules, which can cover 400-700km endurance requirements by adjusting the number of modules, the system energy density ≥ 180wh/kg, and the assembly has zero fire; the deeply integrated seven-in-one electric drive system can meet the needs of front-drive, rear-drive and four-wheel drive applications, and the deep-sea-level silent effect (1 meter sound pressure level NVH≤78dB), which is planned to achieve mass production in 2022; the seven-in-one SVDC "Chang'an Smart Core" based on the domain control architecture, with a performance increase of 70%, is suitable for all new energy models.
Zhu Huarong also revealed at the Global Partnership Conference that Chang'an is currently accelerating the pace of hydrogen fuel technology research and industrialization. Establish and improve the hydrogen energy R&D and manufacturing and testing system covering "parts-system-vehicle", independently master system integration and control technology, and strive to create fuel cell technology and products with "zero pollution, low hydrogen consumption, high efficiency and high safety".
Insist on paying, there will be a return.
In February 2022, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission announced the "2021 Evaluation Results of the National Enterprise Technology Center", and Changan Automobile ranked second in the country and first in the industry with 97.1 points!
This series of facts shows that Changan Automobile's technical strength has been elevated to a new height.
Behind the new brand is a new system
In the past, the digital transformation of many car companies basically only stayed at the model level, but Changan Automobile was deliberate. The release of a new brand "Changan Deep Blue" is not just a name, but behind it is a complete set of independent systems including production, operation, sales, service, etc.
Market practice has shown that if only a number of electric vehicle models are introduced into the existing production system, product positioning and user relationship maintenance are all copied from the old routine of the fuel vehicle era, and such a transformation cannot be successful.
Therefore, if you want to truly implement the transformation of new energy, you must create a complete new system. This is a huge challenge for a mature car company!
Zhu Huarong said that in terms of products, it will continue to provide smart experience and digital services throughout the life cycle of vehicles. Flexibly combine vehicle control capabilities, digital products, services and content to provide a butler-style car experience. Such as automatically perceive the weather, timely automatically open the wiper, rearview mirror heating, seat heating and other functions, so that users have a caring and worry-free intelligent travel experience.
At the marketing level, we will promote the transformation of offline channels, deeply integrate online and offline, build new capabilities for smart marketing, and transform into customers who operate products and services. Open up the bridge of direct connection with consumers, promote accurate matching of orders, reduce terminal inventory pressure and capital pressure, optimize operating costs, improve operational efficiency, enhance customer experience, and promote the transformation of manufacturer relationships from traditional wholesale relationships to win-win relationships.
In terms of manufacturing, Changan Automobile will build a user-centered intelligent, agile and collaborative manufacturing system. Accelerate the digital transformation of their own enterprises, build a collaborative manufacturing ecosystem, and improve the quality, cost and efficiency of the automotive industry chain.
The new energy track is booming, not only Chang'an, SAIC has launched Feifan and Zhiji in the past two years, GAC has launched Eian, the Great Wall has Euler and Salon, and Geely is more exaggerated, creating geometry, polar star and extreme krypton in one go. Major car companies have launched new brands, which is conducive to establishing a new user cognition, re-cultivating user reputation, and improving the anti-risk ability of enterprises.
Therefore, I am more looking forward to seeing the new changes brought about by Chang'an deep blue.