Auto & Transportation

On September 13, 10,000 MGMULAN new energy vehicles of SAIC Group were shipped in Shanghai for export to the European market. This is the largest batch of pure electric vehicles exported from China to Europe so far. Chinese power battery companies such as CATL and Funeng Technology have recently accelerated the process of building factories overseas. With the rise of China's new energy vehicle industry chain, a new wave of "going to the sea" for the output of advantageous production capacity is emerging.

The largest batch of pure electric vehicles in China is sold to Europe

On September 13, Shanghai Haitong Wharf was full of wind and rain, but the 10,000 MGMULAN pure electric vehicles of SAIC Group's MG brand were still loaded and ready for shipment on time and in an orderly manner. The overseas market name displayed on the body of these hatchback versions is "MG4ELECTRIC", and SAIC intends to highlight the attributes of its pure electric new energy vehicles.

"The opening of 10,000 MGMULAN new cars to Europe is an important milestone for SAIC and a major moment for China's auto industry." said Wang Xiaoqiu, president of SAIC Group, facing the major challenges of "electrification, intelligent networking, sharing, and internationalization" in the auto industry With the transformation, Chinese auto industry companies such as SAIC Group are bravely standing at the forefront, accelerating to catch up with traditional auto giants such as Europe, America and Japan.

According to the latest statistics, in terms of market development, SAIC Group has established more than 1,800 overseas marketing and service outlets, and its products and services are distributed in more than 90 countries and regions, forming 6 major international trade markets in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas. The cumulative sales exceeded 3 million units.

"SAIC Group will continue to improve the overseas new energy vehicle model spectrum, build global models with leading technology, accelerate the launch of electric intelligent innovative products, form a larger regional market, and strengthen product competitiveness and brand influence in the international trade market. 'Made in China' will make greater and more positive contributions to the world." Wang Xiaoqiu said.

Guo Shougang, deputy director of the First Division of Equipment Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the "10,000-vehicle MGMULAN, the first global car in China's auto industry, to go to Europe" marks a new breakthrough in the development of China's auto industry in international trade, and China's new energy vehicle exports have entered a stage of rapid development. , while driving the electrification transformation of the global automotive industry.

The latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that since 2022, China's new energy vehicle exports have continued to grow. From January to August 2022, China's new energy vehicle exports have reached 341,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 97.4%, and the contribution rate to vehicle exports has reached 26.7%. Among them, China exported 83,000 new energy vehicles in August, a month-on-month increase of 53.6% and a year-on-year increase of 82.3%.

Industrial chain companies such as power batteries are deployed overseas

In addition to enabling the export of new energy vehicles, China's new energy international trade companies, represented by core component power battery manufacturers, are also increasing their business "going overseas" recently, investing directly in Europe and other regions with developed traditional auto industries. Factory, new production capacity.

Honeycomb Energy, the power battery company of Great Wall Motors, announced on September 9 that it will build a battery cell factory for the European market in the Rauchhammer region of the German state of Brandenburg. The location of the new factory was previously the wind turbine factory of Vestas, a world-renowned wind power giant. Honeycomb Energy will upgrade the factory according to battery enterprise standards. Honeycomb Energy has also started construction of a battery pack factory in Hausweiler, Saarland, Germany.

"The trend of vehicle electrification and related policies are driving the rapid development of the electric vehicle industry, and the demand for battery systems in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region has grown significantly." Yang Hongxin, chairman of Honeycomb Energy, said that according to the company's plan, the brandenburg plant produced The battery cells will be processed in the Saarland plant and equipped with complete vehicles. The location advantage of the new plant will help Honeycomb Energy to serve customer projects and expand its production capacity in Europe more quickly.

According to the statistics of the China Power Battery Alliance, in the first eight months of 2022, the installed capacity of Honeycomb Energy’s power batteries is 3.86GWh, ranking sixth among domestic power battery companies. Zhang Junyi, managing partner of Oliver Wyman, said that China's power battery companies currently lead the world in technology and production capacity. If there is a rigid need to set up factories overseas, they can use the local industrial chain to get closer to overseas vehicle customers, reduce costs and enhance international competitiveness.

As the power battery company currently ranked first in domestic vehicle loading, CATL announced in August that it plans to invest in the construction of a battery industry base in Debrecen, Hungary, with a total investment of no more than 7.34 billion euros (about 50.8 billion yuan). ). The planned battery capacity of the project is 100GWh, and construction will start in 2022. The total construction period is expected to be no more than 64 months.

The European new energy vehicle market has attracted a number of Chinese industrial chain companies. In addition to CATL and Honeycomb Energy, power battery companies such as Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Yiwei Lithium Energy, and Funeng Technology are also accelerating the pace of overseas factory construction. The relevant person in charge of Guoxuan Hi-Tech revealed that the company's Göttingen base in Germany will be put into operation by the end of 2022.

New energy vehicles "going overseas" face new challenges

Regarding the prospect of China's new energy vehicle industry "going overseas", CITIC Securities Research Report believes that at present, countries around the world are actively introducing new energy vehicle guidance policies, providing a golden window period for China's new energy vehicles to "go overseas". It is estimated that by 2030, overseas sales of Chinese electric vehicles are expected to reach 2.5 million. More and more Chinese companies attach importance to developing the international trade market.

But what cannot be ignored is that there are still many difficulties and hidden worries in "going to sea". Norway has now become the first stop for many Chinese new energy vehicle companies to land in Europe. Car companies generally report that the Norwegian market is friendly to new energy vehicles, has a high penetration rate, and is exempt from import tariffs on new energy vehicles. However, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in Norway is already the first in the world. On average, every 10 people in Norway owns one new energy vehicle. The market space is limited, which is also a problem in many countries.

In terms of power battery companies setting up factories overseas, the environmental protection and regulatory standards of the locations of the factories are different, and some have stricter requirements on the battery production process.

In this regard, Zhang Junyi said that Chinese companies need to carefully study local policies and business environment in advance to avoid unnecessary losses.