Although the car market is very volatile, the real business war may really be far more than what is "watering the other party's fortune tree".
At the beginning of July, BYD ushered in two happy events: on the 4th, BYD held a ceremony for the completion of the Thai factory and the 8 million new energy vehicles off the assembly line in Rayong, Thailand, marking the opening of a new chapter in BYD's globalization and the acceleration of its overseas strategy. In June, BYD's monthly sales exceeded 340,000 units.
As we all know, the competition in China's auto market in 2024 has escalated again, and at the recent 2024 China Auto Chongqing Forum, many brands have their own opinions, some say that continuous volume is not the way, and some say that simple and crude means are not compliant, and at this forum, Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said: competition benefits consumers. This thinking from the perspective of users naturally collided fiercely with many car companies that looked at the problem from the perspective of their own enterprise development.
In the face of some people's verbal criticism, is BYD really "guilty"? On the other hand, when the joint venture brand monopolized the Chinese market in the past, it did not see such a phenomenon, and this situation can't help but make people think, whose "cake" did BYD move?
Rumors and malicious trampling are the obstacles in the industry
The so-called "popular right and wrong", from 2021 BYD for the first time among the top 15 manufacturers of the annual sales list of the passenger association, to about 3 years now, BYD has quickly jumped to the first place in the industry, and continues to expand its advantages, leapfrogging to the new energy era, BYD's progress is too fast, it may be like watching their neighbors jump from a similar family background to an unattainable "upstart" in just a few years, and it is inevitable that they will be red-eyed.
From 2023 to 2024, BYD, as a top-level new energy vehicle brand, will continue to lead the two major trends of "the same price of oil and electricity" and "lower oil than electricity". Especially at the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, Qin PLUS/Destroyer 05 Glory Edition took the lead, Han / Tang Glory Edition and many other models followed, and recently there were Qin L DM-i / Seal 06DM-i two models to increase the size, as a B-class car with a measured comprehensive range of more than 2000km, bringing the starting price to below 100,000, consumers "really fragrant" at the same time, but also made many competitors feel a sense of crisis.
During this period, BYD led the wave after wave of price cuts in the car circle, although there were brands in the short term, but gradually most of them felt "powerless", and now almost only BYD persisted, perhaps some "friends" could not keep up, and began to play some "private" means, which were belittled, trampled and maliciously slandered.
For some behaviors that are not "legitimate", BYD naturally cannot sit still.
Not long ago, BYD officially issued an announcement to collect effective clues and evidence from the majority of netizens and all walks of life, including but not limited to chat records, audio and video recordings, emails, contracts, fee payments and other information, as long as it can clearly point to relevant individuals, black public relations advertising companies or relevant car companies, BYD will provide rewards. After verifying that it is true, the provider of effective clues and evidence will be rewarded with 200,000-5 million yuan, and the personal information of the provider will be kept strictly confidential while safeguarding its own rights and interests.
Nowadays, the Internet is extensive, and everyone can express their opinions and remarks as they like, if you want to know about a certain car or a certain brand, it is just a matter of fingers.
But unfortunately, even if there are many unconfirmed, even if there are many unconfirmed, even arbitrarily fabricated statements are believed to be true, therefore, this convenience is also used as an improper weapon for some people with ulterior motives, however, this kind of behavior of suppressing others by means of controlling public opinion and rumors rather than their own strength is the real obstacle to the development of China's automobile industry.
With the strength of the "volume", the industry is speeding up
"Iron also needs its own hardness", this is a saying widely spread in China's automobile circle.
As early as 2007, when the rise of fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles were generally "unknown", the chairman of BYD publicly said that the future would be the world of new energy vehicles, so BYD began to take precautions early.
It is reported that from 2015 to 2023, BYD's R&D investment has doubled from 3.7 billion to about 40 billion, of which the investment in 2023 is about 4% higher than Tesla.
It is reported that BYD currently has more than 100,000 engineers around the world, and has applied for more than 48,000 patents, including more than 30,000 authorized patents, with an average of 32 patents applied for and 15 authorized patents per day.
Based on this, BYD won the second prize of three national science and technology progress awards in the previous 2023 National Science and Technology Award, including "Independent R&D and large-scale industrialization of key components and vehicle platforms for new generation electric vehicles", "core technology and equipment for precision manufacturing of large-capacity lithium-ion batteries" and "key technologies and industrialization of digital and intelligent testing and control of large-capacity battery energy storage systems".
On the advancement, it can realize the deep integration of the vehicle horizontal-vertical-vertical and vertical control Yun Yuan, the subversive four-wheel independent drive Yi Sifang two major technologies have been implemented in the mass production car, car control has always been a difficult field for Chinese car companies to overcome, and BYD has done it. In the field of intelligence, the Xuanji architecture developed by BYD can realize the integration of one brain, two ends, three networks and four chains, open up the full functional attributes of the car, and make intelligent driving and interaction safer and more efficient.
At the same time, looking at the world, most car companies rely on domestic and foreign suppliers for many core parts of automobiles, and sometimes it is difficult to coordinate resources, which can easily lead to manufacturing costs and time costs. BYD is almost the only car company that can independently produce 7% of the core components of automobiles, and not only produces it itself, but BYD itself is also an important global new energy vehicle supplier.
Relevant data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, BYD became the world's second largest battery manufacturer with an installed capacity of 22.7GWh. Tesla, Toyota, Gaohe and many other domestic and foreign brands have models equipped with batteries provided by BYD.
It is worth mentioning that BYD not only has many automobile factories, but also makes mobile phones and electronic components for Huawei, Apple and Xiaomi. When it comes to the market, the annual sales scale of millions of new cars, as well as the good reputation of end users, have verified that BYD's product quality has sufficient guarantees.
It can be said that everything BYD has achieved today is the result of its own efforts.
Therefore, the so-called "involution" is supported by strength. And most of the other car companies that are really powerful are engaged in research and development, in order to make achievements in the new energy market as soon as possible, and are not afraid of "volume", some people who use bad competition methods, can not be better than you, you can blame others for studying too hard, right?
Moreover, whether the "involution" is good or not depends on what consumers say.
In the past, independent brands have repeatedly put forward a concept to "end the joint venture premium". But combing the situation of market development in recent years can be found that this concept is essentially to set a bright halo for the impact of independent brands on the high-end market, even if some independent high-end brands are doing well, but the mainstream joint venture brands are still selling well in the case of high premiums, until this year BYD launched the call of "oil is lower than electricity", only in the real sense that the joint venture messed up, began to reduce prices sharply, and consumers really benefited from it.
At the same time, this year, from joint ventures to independent brands, whether it is new cars, new technologies are significantly more than in previous years, it can be seen that China has ushered in the acceleration and advancement of automobile electrification under the benefit of "volume", it can be seen that BYD's "volume" is positive for China's automobile industry, for the market, and for consumers, and there is no so-called "disaster to China's automobile industry".
To meet the challenges, we should unite as one
Going to the future and the world has always been the ideal that Chinese auto car companies look forward to. In recent years, many car companies, including BYD, have been working hard for it. But in fact, BYD is one of the few brands that has really opened its façade and opened its voice in overseas markets.
Taking stock, BYD has recently had a lot of "circle-breaking history" overseas.
On July 4, BYD held a ceremony for the completion of its Thai plant and the roll-off ceremony of its 8 million new energy vehicles in Rayong, Thailand. In just over three years, BYD has reached a new height of 8 million vehicles from 1 million vehicles, achieving leapfrog growth of new energy, which is rare in the history of the global automobile industry. In addition, BYD also has passenger car production bases in Brazil, Hungary, Uzbekistan and other countries, vigorously expanding overseas markets, in the development of China's automobile industry for decades, Chinese car companies rarely have such a move, but BYD has done it, which is not only an important milestone for BYD, but also a new milestone for Chinese cars to expand overseas markets.
People who pay attention to the automotive circle have basically heard that this year, BYD squeezed out the "resident" Volkswagen and became the official partner of the 2024 European Cup, which will become a breakthrough for BYD to strongly occupy the minds of more overseas users.
Last year, the Nikkei news agency from Japan dismantled the BYD seal and published the detailed analysis into a book priced at up to 110,000 yen, and said that it would help Japanese engineers to develop electrification technology. Last year, UBS also dismantled the BYD seal.
At present, the media in many countries around the world are also paying close attention to BYD's every move, whether it is surpassing Tesla in sales in 2023 to become the world's No. 1, or BYD's pace of entering the overseas market, which has attracted the attention of overseas media including the New York Times, Reuters, and The Wall Street Journal.
Recently, BYD was also selected as one of the top 50 global brands in China in 2024.
Previously, according to Bloomberg, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 passed by the United States prohibits the Pentagon from purchasing batteries provided by a number of Chinese companies, including BYD. In addition, not long ago, on the day of the launch of BYD's first pickup truck, the BYD SHARK in Mexico, the United States announced that it would increase the tariff on Chinese electric vehicles from 25% to 100%.
To a certain extent, BYD's entry into the "White House Preferred" target scope also proves the increase of BYD's overseas influence. On the other hand, in the Chinese market, except for some brands that have been acquired by Chinese car companies and have a certain foundation in overseas markets, most car companies are in the initial stage of slowly paving the way and have not yet been able to break out of some "fame".
In addition to the United States, many countries in Europe and North America are also imposing tariffs on Chinese trams. This can't help but remind people of Huawei in 2019, as at that time, today's Chinese trams are also facing a target and challenge from overseas, but this is the only way for Chinese cars to go to the world, at this moment, the car brands that belong to China and the Chinese nation should unite and use their minds on how to improve themselves and how to contribute to the development of China's automobile industry, rather than using some mean means to discredit those who are walking in the future.
When you have enough strength and confidence, the strength of others is just a "chess opponent", rather than a sense of crisis that seems to have reached the boundary of "life and death".
Finally: With the Paris Olympics just around the corner, most people may only remember the gold medalists who won the gold medals. But the automobile market and the quadrennial Olympic Games, the results and rankings are floating, not immutable, BYD has strengthened its strength through its own efforts, firmly sitting on the championship throne, the road to the era of electrification is so broad, it can accommodate the common development of many car companies at home and abroad, and the road is under the feet, the way to drag people into the water does not determine whether they can reach the other side of success, the most important thing is how to go.
Tips: Please indicate Cheshi Express for reprinting. The picture source is the network, which belongs to the original author. Interesting, material and hot, interpreting the domestic auto market from subtle changes. For more exciting content, please check out the more influential new media in the automotive industry: Auto Market Express