Auto & Transportation

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in 2022, China exported 3.111 million vehicles, surpassing Germany as the second largest automobile exporter. This trend continued in the first quarter of this year, with China's automobile exports exceeding 990000 units, a year-on-year increase of 70.6%. Not only has the number of exports continued to grow, but the "territory" of Chinese automobile exports is also constantly expanding, extending to developed country markets such as Europe. Moreover, in terms of product design and intelligence, it has quickly gained popularity through innovation. Various signs indicate that a "new maritime era" belonging to Chinese automobiles is beginning.

Bidirectional journey towards internationalization entering a new stage

At the just concluded 2023 Shanghai Auto Show, "going to sea" became an important keyword, with Geely Krypton Motors, Gaohe Motors, and others expressing their intention to set sail in Europe and explore the oldest and most mature automotive markets. And some car companies that have already become familiar with overseas markets are constantly increasing their investment overseas. In the past week, China's largest automotive company, SAIC Group, has announced two new investments in a row.

On May 2nd, SAIC Group announced that the SAIC Zhengda New Energy Industrial Park, located in the Hemeile Industrial Zone of Chunburi Province, Thailand, has officially laid the foundation and started construction. This 120000 square meter industrial park will focus on localized production of key components for new energy vehicles. The first phase of the project will be completed within the year, and the overall project will be completed by 2025.

Earlier, on April 30, SAIC Group announced that SAIC GM Wuling, a subsidiary of SAIC Group, and the Indonesian Ocean and Investment Coordination Department officially signed a memorandum of understanding on new energy vehicle new project investment, which will actively expand investment in Indonesia, introduce more new energy models to the local market, and promote the high-quality development of the "the Belt and Road".

At the Shanghai Auto Show, the localization of foreign-funded enterprises and the internationalization of Chinese enterprises have formed a two-way flow. "said Zhou Minhao, President of the Shanghai International Trade Promotion Commission. On the one hand, foreign-funded enterprises are releasing more and more exclusive products and technologies for the Chinese market, which is a sign of the maturity of the Chinese automotive market and also a sign of the increasing maturity of Chinese consumers; On the other hand, Chinese car companies are accelerating their global layout, and their "going abroad" methods are becoming increasingly diverse. They have a certain level of brand competitiveness in all aspects of the product, technology, and value chain, indicating that the internationalization of the Chinese car industry has entered a new stage.

Facing the global market to better meet overseas demand

Seeing the MG MULAN here feels very warm, "said Andreas Kosteletsky, the Austrian General Manager of the MG brand who came specifically to attend the Shanghai Auto Show. After entering Austria, MG cars have quickly gained a group of" fans ", especially the car named MG4 overseas, which was designed with full consideration of European consumer preferences and is also a new car based on SAIC Nebula's exclusive pure electric architecture, European consumers are very fond of China's new technology, and this car will be our 'bestseller'.

Li Zhenkun, Public Relations Manager of MG (Thailand) Sales Co., Ltd., said that Thai consumers can directly interact with the "i-Smart" intelligent networking system on MG cars in Thai, which makes MG cars particularly popular among young consumers in Thailand. "Many young consumers will specifically showcase their interaction with MG cars on social media

As a car designed for the global market, the MG MULAN of "Shanghai bloodline" adopted the "China Europe synchronization" approach when it debuted last year. In addition to being launched domestically, it has also been launched in nearly 20 major European countries such as Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, etc.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in March of this year, MG MULAN's overseas market achieved a monthly sales volume of "over 10000". Zhao Aimin, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Automotive International Trading Co., Ltd., introduced that according to the plan, the MG MULAN will be fully launched in more than 80 countries on six continents this year, with global sales expected to exceed 150000 units. "By the end of this year, we will also have the second pure electric vehicle model specifically designed for the global market to better meet overseas demand

Both business and passenger transportation are taking advantage of the "Nurturing Collection Card" and busy "going out to sea"

Chinese made passenger cars are going global, and commercial vehicles are also busy "going to sea".

At the port of Lanchapang in eastern Thailand, unmanned trucks are busy working. Lanchapang Port is located in the "Eastern Economic Corridor" in the heart of Thailand's economy, and is the largest container deep-sea port and logistics hub in Thailand. The unmanned truck running here adopts a LEGO style modular front end, replacing the traditional driver's cab, with a simple body dragging containers towards the destination.

These unmanned trucks come from Xijing Technology. At the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show, this company also released a new product - the world's first "scalable autonomous driving" intelligent connected new energy heavy-duty truck Qomolo E-Truck, as reported by Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.

Liang Chisheng, Product Director of Qomolo at Xijing Technology, stated that E-Truck is an intelligent commercial vehicle product tailored specifically for customers who are undergoing automation transformation at container logistics nodes. This product not only meets the need for traditional vehicles to upgrade to electrification, but also reduces the threshold for upgrading to unmanned driving by sharing the chassis design of the entire vehicle. If customers have the need for autonomous driving, there is no need to purchase additional vehicles. Simply upgrade on the existing E-Truck vehicles, install sensor modules, OTA remote online upgrades, etc., to achieve flexible switching between 'manned driving and unmanned driving'

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, E-Truck adopts an innovative "car electricity separation" design that can support battery swapping and fast charging. With the support of PowerOnair intelligent energy service independently developed by Xijing Technology, E-Trucks can replace and replenish power in 5 minutes, achieve efficient and fast charging in 1.5 hours, and improve battery life.

It is worth noting that according to Xijing Technology, these "cultivation series cards" all have the ability to quickly deploy and launch products. Only two testing engineers need to be present, and the system scenario adaptation can be completed in 7 days. The new car will enter the site and be put into actual operation 24 hours a day.

Deep embedding of global industrial chains for win-win cooperation

In the eyes of professionals, "going to sea" also means the deep globalization of the industrial chain, which means the deep integration of China and the world's industrial chain.

Going global for Chinese cars not only means the entire vehicle, but also the 'going global' of the entire industry chain, "said Zhou Wenbo, a director of Wuxi Leiden Electronics Co., Ltd. The automotive pressure sensor industry was once monopolized by American companies, but Leiden Electronics has achieved performance and cost advantages through years of research and development, breaking through completely different technological routes, and becoming a strategic supplier of multiple international mainstream vehicle manufacturers, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

In the automotive industry, safety is the primary consideration, so having an advantage in cost alone is not enough, it also requires sufficient stability. Zhou Wenbo said that the enterprise not only independently designs vehicle level signal conditioning chips, but also covers the entire process from manufacturing wafers, sensing components to assembling sensors and providing overall solutions, improving the controllability of the industrial chain, We are moving from a major automotive country to an automotive powerhouse, and we also need to move from a major automotive component country to an automotive component powerhouse

I firmly support open markets, "said Stefan Harton, Chairman of the Bosch Group's Board of Directors. Currently, about 11% of China's automobile production is exported overseas, and a large number of automobile parts are imported to China for production. This is a typical case of win-win market cooperation among various countries.