Are you trembling with "electric catfish"?
China EV competition Beyond that is October 30, 17:14
"In China, catfish are now dominating the market."
At that time, I was interviewing the story of the automobile industry, so I was struck by the words I heard from the interviewee.
What exactly is a "catfish" for China?
And, under the influence of that, I covered the current state of the Chinese automobile market, which is approaching a major turning point.
(China General Bureau Reporter, Ryoto Iga / Guangzhou Bureau Chief, Hiroshi Takashima)
The true identity of the catfish
Do you know the word "catfish effect"?
When a foreign entity is added to a group, it stimulates the vitality of the entire group.
Originally a word born from the Nordic fishery.
If you leave a flock of sardines in the aquarium, they will weaken and die, but if you put catfish inside, the sardines will continue to swim tensely and keep their freshness.
"Catfish" for the Chinese automobile market.
It is the world's largest EV (electric vehicle) "Tesla".
Top in the world's largest market at once
Tesla has begun selling EVs produced at its Shanghai plant, which will be its first production base outside the United States.
Immediately, it took the top spot in China's EV market share of 20% in the first half of the year.
The reason for its popularity is its brand power and price.
Since it is produced in China, tariffs are not applied, and it is sold from about 250,000 yuan, less than 4 million yen in Japanese yen, and it is sold as a "luxury car within reach".
Tesla is rapidly increasing its presence in China, the world's largest EV market.
What is the reason for the unusual treatment of the Chinese government?
The history of Tesla's construction of the Shanghai factory was unusual.
This is because the Chinese government originally did not allow foreign automakers to enter the market unless it was a joint venture with a domestic automaker.
However, when this regulation was lifted in 2018, the factory was to be built as the first foreign-owned factory.
In addition, production was achieved at an exceptional speed of only 11 months since the construction started in January last year, which is also believed to have been strongly supported by the local government.
What is the reason why the Chinese side expects so much?
That is the "catfish effect".
China's EV market has grown rapidly by 60 times over the last six years with the active support of the government, while more than 50 manufacturers of EVs are in a state of turmoil.
Therefore, by introducing a "catfish" called Tesla as a stimulus measure, we will promote competition and select excellent manufacturers.
In addition, it seems that there is a desire to help develop related parts manufacturers such as batteries and motors.
The Chinese market is on the rise
It is also pointed out that the Chinese EV market is at a turning point.
China has achieved rapid growth as a result of nationwide training of "new energy vehicles" such as EVs, but this time it fell into a situation where overproduction was a concern, so the government decided to reduce subsidies last year. I did.
The effects of the new coronavirus are also catching up, and some emerging manufacturers are being forced into financial difficulties.
In addition, with the presence of Tesla, Mizuho Bank's senior researcher Yushin, who is familiar with the Chinese automobile market, says, "Only three or four emerging EV makers will survive."
The key to survival is a "smart car"
In order to win the competition, Chinese manufacturers are focusing on the development of "smart cars".
It is said that the global automobile industry is in a period of change once every 100 years, and each company is competing with the development of advanced technologies such as electrification, connected to connect cars to the Internet, and autonomous driving.
This move is called "smart" in China, and the Chinese government has set a goal of increasing the proportion of "smart cars" in new car sales to 30% by 2025, five years later.
Automation and connected technologies are especially key to survival.
One of the emerging EV makers, Weimer, is affiliated with IT giant Baidu.
Baidu is heavily supported by the Chinese government in the area of autonomous driving.
Weimer has developed a model equipped with an unmanned automatic parking function by making the best use of its technological capabilities.
Just tap the dedicated app from outside the car to find an empty space in the multi-storey car park and park automatically.
In consideration of safety, it is said that the cameras and sensors installed in the car can grasp the surrounding situation and detect pedestrians and obstacles.
We plan to put it on the market next year.
Is automatic driving near practical use?
Demonstration tests of autonomous driving technology are underway not only in limited places such as parking lots, but also on public roads throughout China.
One of the companies that attracts attention is Guangzhou startup We Ride.
In November of last year, we started an EV dispatch service by automatic driving.
Even if you do not register in advance, you can get on the bus by making a reservation at 200 points in the city using the map app on your smartphone.
It operates 100 vehicles and has a total of nearly 100,000 passengers so far.
AI (= artificial intelligence) learns the huge amount of driving data of 2.9 million kilometers, which is equivalent to 72 laps of the earth, and uses it for development.
Furthermore, in July, we started a demonstration experiment of completely unmanned driving on public roads for the first time in China.
In an emergency, such as when the automatic driving function stops, we will utilize the new high-speed, large-capacity communication standard "5G" to operate remotely.
We Ride is only 3 years old.
We have acquired human resources from major rivals and acquired technology to digitize maps, which are indispensable for autonomous driving, with high accuracy.
Three years later, by 2023, we are about to put fully autonomous driving technology to practical use.
The Tension COO says:
Tension COO
"The core of autonomous driving technology is the development of AI that guides the car to recognize and judge the road conditions and what kind of driving operation to do. There are many things such as interruptions from the front and the scene of traffic accidents. We have accumulated data. The challenge will be to be able to quickly develop AI for every situation. "
Where is China, the “smart car powerhouse”, heading?
China's automobile industry groups often describe the aim of fostering a new energy vehicle industry such as EV as "overtaking on a curve."
Japanese and Western manufacturers already occupy an overwhelming share of gasoline-powered vehicles, so we will hone our strengths in undeveloped fields and compare them to racing to overtake them all at once on a curve.
However, of the 25 million new car sales in China, including gasoline cars, EVs account for only 1 million.
Achieving the Chinese government's goal of raising the proportion of new energy vehicles to 25% of the total by 2025 is not easy.
However, Mizuho Bank's senior researcher Yu said, "China is aiming to become a smart car powerhouse in 2035. The world's largest automobile market," while Chinese manufacturers are currently in a position to follow American companies. 5G maintenance, existence of a major IT company. China has prepared the conditions. "
As an economic measure for the new coronavirus, the Chinese government is trying to accelerate development by focusing on investment related to smart cars such as charging stations as one of the "new infrastructure" to replace the conventional infrastructure such as roads and bridges. I will.
As the US-China conflict deepens, we will continue to keep an eye on China's strategy to grow the EV market by incorporating even the American company Tesla.
Ryoto Iga,
Directorate General of China
Joined in 2006
Sendai Bureau Okinawa Bureau After working at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, he is
currently affiliated from August.
Hiroshi Takashima,
Director of Guangzhou Bureau
Joined in
2012
After working in the Political Department of the International Department of the Niigata Bureau
, he is
currently affiliated from August.