Auto & Transportation

In the car body workshop with an area equivalent to 16 football fields, more than 800 robots can work cooperatively to conduct flexible production of six models at the same time... After more than a year of overall construction, Volkswagen Anhui MEB Factory in Hefei, Anhui Province is about to be completed. In the future, green and intelligent pure electric vehicles will be produced in batches here. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Ten thousand miles away, Weilai, a Chinese new energy vehicle company with Volkswagen Group headquarters in Germany, held a press conference in Berlin last month and announced that it would establish a complete operation system consisting of products and services in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.

In 2020, China proposed to accelerate the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic big cycle as the main body and the domestic and international double cycle promoting each other. The new energy automobile industry has now become one of the most representative industries in the open Chinese market and the world. Huacheng's import and export data observation reports.

Opening up dividends to attract foreign auto enterprises

"China is the largest single market for electric vehicles in the world, and also an important part of Volkswagen Group's global business that cannot be ignored." Ge Wandi, CEO of Volkswagen (Anhui) Co., Ltd., said in an exclusive interview with reporters a few days ago, "We plan to officially launch the first new energy model of Volkswagen Anhui in China by the end of 2023."

In the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, when talking about promoting high-level opening up, it was proposed to rely on China's super large market advantage, "attract global resource elements with domestic circulation, enhance the linkage effect of domestic and international markets and resources, and improve the quality and level of trade and investment cooperation."

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, since 2015, China's new energy vehicle production and sales have ranked first in the world for seven consecutive years. In 2018, China lifted the foreign equity ratio limit on new energy vehicles. Tesla, the first wholly foreign-owned vehicle manufacturing enterprise in China, has completed factory building, production and delivery in Shanghai in just one year, and has deeply invested in China's domestic demand market with huge potential.

The super large market scale superimposes dividends such as institutional opening, attracting more and more foreign auto enterprises to accelerate their capital increase and production expansion in China.

In June this year, BMW Brilliance BMW Lida Factory, the third complete vehicle factory of BMW Group in Shenyang, officially opened. In the same month, the Audi FAW new energy vehicle project with a planned investment of more than 30 billion yuan officially started in Changchun.

Adjacent to Volkswagen Anhui MEB Factory, a supplier park including a battery system factory is under construction. At present, 17 Volkswagen Anhui cooperative enterprises have settled in. Among the 260 production suppliers that Volkswagen has put in place in Anhui, 16 are local enterprises in Anhui, and another 37 suppliers have come to Anhui with Volkswagen and invested here.

"We have established a firm partnership with the stamping workshop suppliers in Hefei. At the same time, Volkswagen Group has also invested in Guoxuan Gaoke, a battery manufacturer in Hefei, and integrated local suppliers in Anhui into the global supply network of Volkswagen Group." Ge Wandysprosium said.

In September this year, Ningde Times and BMW Group announced that they had reached a long-term agreement. From 2025, Ningde Times will supply cylindrical batteries for pure electric vehicles of BMW Group's "new generation" model architecture. Previously, BMW Group and Hegang Group signed a memorandum of cooperation. From the middle of 2023, BMW Shenyang production base will gradually use the low-carbon automobile steel of Hegang Group for mass production models.

China's new energy vehicles accelerate "going to sea"

While foreign-funded enterprises are deep-rooted in the Chinese market, Chinese new energy vehicles are also speeding up their entry into overseas markets.

According to the observation report on the import and export data of Huacheng, on November 10, the data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that from January to October, automobile enterprises exported 2.456 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 54.1%. Among them, in October, the export of auto enterprises hit a new record high, reaching 337000 vehicles, with a month on month growth of 12.3% and a year-on-year growth of 46%. The export of new energy vehicles grew significantly, reaching 109000 units, 1.2 times the month on month growth and 81.2% year-on-year growth.

In Hungary, the first overseas factory invested by Weilai was announced to be put into operation in September. This 10000 square meter European factory of Weilai Energy will mainly produce the battery replacement power station for electric vehicles. Weilai plans to build 20 power exchange stations in Europe by the end of 2022, and this number is expected to reach 120 by the end of 2023.

In Thailand, according to the relevant agreements signed by BYD and local companies in Thailand, the first overseas passenger vehicle factory invested by BYD will be put into operation in 2024, with an annual output of 150,000 electric passenger vehicles, which will be mainly sold to the local market of Thailand, while radiating to surrounding ASEAN countries and other regions.

At the same time, BYD also announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the car rental company SIXT to provide new energy car rental services for the European market, jointly promote the electric transformation of the car rental market and help reduce global carbon emissions. According to the agreement of both parties, SIXT will purchase at least 100000 new energy vehicles from BYD in the next six years, and BYD will help SIXT achieve the green goal of 70% to 90% of the electric fleet by 2030.

"BYD has provided an overall solution of new energy from energy acquisition, storage to application, which helps the world to control air pollution and achieve carbon neutrality, and at the same time, it has blazed a path of independent innovation and comprehensive open innovation." At the 2022 World Manufacturing Conference held in Hefei, Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD, said. At present, BYD's electric vehicles have entered more than 70 countries and regions, including Norway, Brazil and Australia.

China is becoming a global automotive innovation center

Tang En, president and CEO of Continental China, said: "At present, the automotive industry is facing unprecedented changes. Intelligent network connected new energy vehicles have become the direction of the automotive industry. These changes have brought challenges as well as important opportunities."

Volkswagen's companies have invested heavily in chip design and other cooperation with Chinese enterprises in the field of automatic driving to drive business transformation in China; The automotive wireless solutions of Qualcomm, an American chip company, have supported more than 150 million vehicles worldwide... With the continuous upgrading of the Chinese automotive market, more and more international automotive brands regard China as the most important market in the world. New energy, intelligence and networking, which represent the future development direction of the automobile industry, are developing rapidly in China, attracting international automobile industry giants to increase innovation and research and development. China is becoming the innovation center of the global automobile industry, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.

Meng Pu, chairman of Qualcomm in China, said that Chinese enterprises and consumers have always shown a strong interest in emerging technologies. He believed that Qualcomm would enable more Chinese related enterprises to innovate in the era of intelligent connected vehicles and help them enter the international market.

Investing in China, being optimistic about China, and growing together with China's auto partners for mutual benefit and win-win results have become a firm consensus among global auto enterprises. "We are constantly expanding our R&D team, rapidly adjusting our R&D strategy, and carrying out innovative R&D specifically for Chinese consumers." Ge Wandysprosium said.

Gao Le, President and CEO of BMW Group in Greater China, said at the China New Energy Vehicle Development Forum (2022) that BMW Group, as a world leading high-end automobile manufacturer, "is confident in the strength and resilience of China's supply chain."