Auto & Transportation

According to the observation report on the import and export data of Huacheng, in recent years, with the growing demand for new energy vehicles in Europe, China's own brand car enterprises have gone abroad. In the fields of power battery, methanol fuel, automatic driving and other fields, the R&D cooperation between Chinese and European enterprises is advancing rapidly.

Excellent quality won the recognition of European consumers

The Chinese new energy vehicle company Weilai recently held a launch event in Berlin, Germany, and began to provide services in the markets of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. Previously, BYD signed a long-term cooperation agreement with the German car rental company Sixter in Berlin to provide new energy car rental services for the European market and jointly promote the electric transformation of the car rental market. According to the statistics of the automotive industry consulting agency Inovev, the number of new cars registered by Chinese manufacturers in Europe in the first half of this year is about 75000, which is expected to reach 150000 by 2023, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.

Taking the German market as an example, according to the data recently released by the All German Automobile Club, Europe's largest automobile association, in the first seven months of this year, about 7000 Chinese manufacturers registered German license plates, accounting for 0.5% of the overall German market share. The agency said that in the German market, where local brands have an absolute advantage, SAIC Group's sales of MG have caught up with or surpassed some old car enterprises. At the beginning of this year, the German Federal Motor Vehicle Driving Administration included Chinese manufacturers in its official statistics for the first time.

At present, the recognition of China's new energy vehicles in the European market is inseparable from the green development trend of the industry, environmental protection and energy conservation and emission reduction goals of various countries. The latest data shows that new energy vehicles now account for 20% of new car sales in Europe. The vast majority of products sold by Chinese auto enterprises in Europe are plug-in hybrid, pure electric and other new energy vehicles, among which SAIC Mingjue ranks among the top 20 new energy vehicle sales. China's new energy vehicles are exported to Norway, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany and other markets, becoming an important driving force for the export growth of Chinese brand vehicles.

It is worth mentioning that this achievement of China's new energy vehicles is not only based on price advantages, but also the stable supply chain, excellent technology and excellent quality are increasingly winning the trust of European consumers. The New York Times of the United States, for example, said that a dealer in Bavaria, Germany, had no confidence in Chinese new energy vehicles at first, but after careful study of the actual vehicle, it gave high praise. Before the dealer put up a billboard, this Chinese hybrid vehicle had achieved good sales results.

All German Automobile Club is one of the most authoritative automobile evaluation institutions in Europe. All models put on the European market by Chinese automobile enterprises have obtained the "excellent" evaluation scores of this institution. Wei Lai Electric Vehicle passed the Euro NCAP crash test in the European Union and obtained the full score five-star certification.

The whole industry chain helps local green transformation

According to the observation report of Huacheng import and export data, there are also supporting marketing and after-sales service networks that enter the European market together with Chinese new energy vehicles. At present, SAIC MG has entered 16 European countries. Its brand sales outlets have expanded rapidly from 65 in 2020 to more than 400, and are expected to reach 650 by the end of this year.

In September 2021, Weilai opened the first direct sale store and power plant in Europe in Oslo, Norway, and plans to expand its products and services to Germany, the Netherlands and other places this year. In February this year, Xiaopeng Auto opened its first European direct store in Stockholm, Sweden, and expanded its stores to the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway in the following six months.

As the new energy vehicle market in Europe continues to expand and the demand for power batteries continues to increase, some Chinese automotive battery suppliers have begun to invest and set up factories in Europe. In June this year, Guoxuan Gaoke launched its German production base. Based on the acquisition of Bosch Group's Gottingen factory in Germany, this production base has transformed the production of traditional auto parts into power battery manufacturing. According to the plan, the annual power battery capacity of the project will reach 18 GWh. Ningde Times invested 1.8 billion euros in the construction of a power battery base in Turingen, Germany, and is expected to achieve an annual capacity of 60 GWh in 2026. The project will provide batteries for BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen and other automobile manufacturers, and create more than 2000 jobs.

Toptas, the person in charge of Guoxuan Gaoke's Gottingen factory, worked in Bosch factory for more than 30 years. After Guoxuan Gaoke acquired the production base, he and more than 300 workers were retained. Toptas introduced to our reporter that the series of transformation and upgrading of Guoxuan High Tech will promote the transformation of Gottingen Factory from traditional machinery manufacturing to efficient and green.

Germany is Europe's leading producer of electric vehicle batteries. The capacity of existing and planned facilities is 485 GWh, of which Chinese battery enterprises have made great contributions. Dudenhoff, director of the Automotive Research Center of Duisburg Essen University in Germany, believes that strengthening cooperation between German and Chinese enterprises can create favorable conditions for better coping with global climate challenges.

China EU Enterprises Cooperate to Embrace Future Transport Reform

According to the observation report of Huacheng import and export data, in addition to pure electric vehicles, methanol vehicles are also regarded by Europe as an effective way to accelerate the realization of carbon neutrality in the transportation field. In May this year, at the Stuttgart Gas Station Facilities and Car Washing Equipment Exhibition in Germany, a car from China was parked in the eye-catching position of Circle K, a chain gas station enterprise. This is a methanol fuel car independently developed by Geely Group. Shure Hogan, the European fuel development director of Circle K, introduced that this is the first time that methanol fueled vehicles have participated in the Stuttgart Gas Station Facilities and Car Washing Equipment Exhibition.

In Stuttgart, Germany, the test vehicle of the Chinese automatic driving technology company Momenta is now tested on the local street every day. Based on the data-driven "flywheel" technology, the company can automatically and cheaply solve the problem of differences in road scenes and driving habits between China and Europe, making the automatic driving algorithm "do as the Romans do" in Europe. Sun Huan, general manager of Momenta Europe, introduced that during the real vehicle test of a European project, the Momenta closed-loop automation tool chain automatically performed data screening, labeling, training and integration in the background, and automatically iterated the original algorithm problems. "We only used one week to solve problems that require a quarter in the regular process." Sun Huan said.

Dudenhoff believes that cars are being redefined by software and chips and become a new product. In order to avoid disconnection with future traffic, it is indispensable for German and even European enterprises to carry out joint projects with China, especially in the field of automatic driving technology. "We are excited about the new automotive technology we saw in China, and it is very important to cooperate with China." Dudenhoff said that Huacheng's import and export data observation report.