Tech giants build cars?
Isn't it simple OEM for traditional car companies?
Not reconciled
Text/Picture Deng Li, All Media Reporter, Guangzhou Daily
Groundless, not without cause, the "rumors" of the technology giants have been confirmed one by one.
At the end of last year, Alibaba and SAIC jointly built a high-end electric car. At the beginning of this year, Baidu and Geely cooperated to build the car in person as a vehicle manufacturer... The recent exposure of Xiaomi’s car manufacturing has "has not yet established a project," but admitted "Always evaluate and research the situation of the electric vehicle industry."
Car-making projects such as Apple and Amazon overseas are also actively being promoted.
Undoubtedly, technology companies hand in hand with traditional car companies are the highlight of this round of car manufacturing.
So, what changes will this "hand in hand" bring to the automotive industry?
Technology company and car frequency group "CP"
They are the "new force" for making cars
With the advent of the "software-defined car" era of smart car manufacturing, technology companies and others are entering the track in various ways.
In the past six months, a number of CPs between technology companies and car companies have been formed: "Didi + BYD", "Baidu + Geely", "Huawei + Chang'an + CATL", "Ali + SAIC", "Xiaopeng + Desay SV + NVIDIA "Foxconn + Byton", "Qualcomm + Great Wall"... have created a hot atmosphere for the new car market.
Moreover, technology giants such as BAT are not satisfied with only competing for the traffic entrance of the Internet of Vehicles. They have officially moved from the role of "suppliers" to the stage and entered the stage of joint vehicle manufacturing.
Even Apple tried to throw "hydrangea" at Hyundai Motors years ago, suggesting that the two parties divide labor and cooperate to produce electric cars.
Xiaomi, which "has not yet reached the formal project stage", did not deny or admit it, but it is an indisputable fact that Lei Jun has made advance plans in the automotive field.
Public information shows that Xiaomi's layout in the automotive field has been launched as early as 2013. At present, "invention patents" account for more than 96% of the related patents of Xiaomi cars.
In addition, Xiaomi has also accumulated a certain amount of involvement in the automotive industry, and has launched in-depth cooperation with BYD, Xiaopeng, Weilai, FAW Car and other car companies in the development of smart car technology.
For technology companies such as Xiaomi that have "always paid attention to" and "continuously evaluate and research", what is lacking now is the right time.
People in the auto industry said that Xiaomi’s industrial chain resources are not complete enough, and it definitely needs to cooperate with OEMs to improve it. This is a common demand of many technology companies that are ready to enter the game after measuring costs and risks.
This means an interesting trend in the automotive industry: in the combination of technology giants and traditional car companies, traditional car companies have gradually become the best "foundry"?
Car companies are unwilling to "foundry"
While gaining new business opportunities
Jobs said, "Those who really take software seriously should make their own hardware." Since Tesla, the traditional car-making logic has been subverted.
Software-defined cars will become a trend to increase the penetration rate of smart driving and smart driving capabilities. Traditional OEMs have found it difficult to "dominate" the era of smart cars only with factories, assembly lines, and car manufacturing qualifications.
At the same time, if technology companies want to quickly build cars, they can only "leverage" traditional car companies.
Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Passenger Association, said that technology companies do not have ready-made vehicle-building capabilities, and it takes time and effort to rebuild a vehicle platform.
Therefore, the fastest and safest way for a technology company to build a car is to work with traditional car manufacturers.
From the perspective of the automotive industry, we are not willing to be just a "foundry."
The reporter noticed that before Weilai, Xiaopeng, etc., Jianghuai, Haima were "pure OEM" car manufacturing, now Baidu is looking for Geely cooperation, although the most basic demand is OEM, but the content of cooperation between the two sides is obviously deeper.
Yang Xueliang, vice president of Geely Holding Group, explained: “Geely is OEM for Baidu to a certain extent, but it is not simply manufacturing... It is actually a support concept of engineering technology.” This reflects that the current strong OEMs We will not just be a "foundry" without the right to speak.
The binding of technology companies such as Ali and Baidu with traditional OEMs not only integrates production lines and industrial chain resources, but also has in-depth cooperation in intelligent R&D and ecosystems.
Tech giants are responsible for the research and development of software and intelligent driving, while traditional car companies provide professional support in vehicle manufacturing, supply chain, and quality control.
Cooperating with new car-making forces and technology giants to conduct "foundry" at the same time, traditional car companies are not passive. They can not only revitalize idle production capacity, but also obtain benefits from OEM cooperation and obtain new business opportunities.
According to incomplete statistics, the capacity utilization rate of most Chinese automakers is between 60% and 80%.
According to the "Regulations on the Investment Management of the Automobile Industry", the elimination of backward production capacity is a general trend, and the consumption of excess capacity is one of exports.
Cui Dongshu said that it is good for the industry to realize the division of labor between front-end work such as research and development and production.
When automobiles are the next most promising intelligent terminal equipment, more and more traditional OEMs will do "foundry".
The intention of technology companies is not in the car
While seizing the right to speak in the next generation of Internet
In the global new energy vehicle industry, although Tesla is the best, but China's Weilai, Ideal, and Xiaopeng also have their own places. This has made Ali, Baidu and others confident to enter the game.
"Building cars is not a particularly profitable business." Mr. Li, an analyst from CITIC Securities' Automotive Industry Research Department, told reporters, but "everyone is striving to monetize traffic." He believes that cars are a carrier, and when intelligent network technology is reshaping In the industrial chain, there is more room for imagination in car-making profits.
Investors have high expectations for the joint vehicle manufacturing of technology companies and traditional OEMs.
At that time, as soon as the car building rumors came out, the stock price of Xiaomi Group rose by more than 6%; on the day when Baidu's car building news was released, the stock price rose by more than 15%.
The best time for new energy smart cars to enter the game may be "seizing the day."
Last year, the "Smart Car Innovation Development Strategy" jointly issued by 11 ministries and commissions proposed that by 2025, China's standard smart car technology innovation, industrial ecology, infrastructure, regulations and standards, product supervision and network security systems will be basically formed by 2035. , China's standard smart car system is fully completed.
This means that there may not be much time left for technology companies to make car-building decisions; those who have already entered the field are more anxious to start on the track.
Robin Li recently revealed that Baidu may launch mass production models within three years.
"The competition for autonomous driving is actually the focus of data competition." A Baidu employee told reporters that it is necessary for technology companies like Baidu to build cars because smart electric vehicles are the most important field of artificial intelligence applications. "There is no one." This is the key to competing for the strategic commanding heights of the next-generation Internet.