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With the intensification of competition in the automobile market, the strong are stronger and the weak are eliminated at an accelerated pace. For China automobile market, this year is destined to be an unsettled year full of variables and challenges.
01
Xiaomi car is coming.
Recently, a number of media visited Beijing Yizhuang Xiaomi Automobile Factory and found that it has started, and mass production is on the line.
According to the interface news report, an insider close to Xiaomi Automobile revealed that Xiaomi Automobile is now in the trial production stage, and this work has been carried out for less than one month. At present, Xiaomi produces about 50 prototype cars every week, and there are few workers at night. The above-mentioned insiders said, "Xiaomi Auto is expected to get the approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in the last two months, and it will be approved before the end of the year at the latest, and then mass production can begin."
In March 2021, Xiaomi officially announced the construction of a car, saying that it will invest 10 billion US dollars to enter the automobile industry in the next 10 years, and invest 10 billion yuan in the first phase; In July 2021, Xiaomi Auto Autopilot Department started recruitment. In September, Xiaomi Auto Co., Ltd. was incorporated with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan. On November 27, Beijing Economic Development Zone Management Committee signed a cooperation agreement with Xiaomi, announcing that Xiaomi Auto settled in Beijing Economic Development Zone; At the beginning of 2022, the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress issued the Work Report of the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, which mentioned that Xiaomi Automobile would be promoted to start construction. In March 2023, Xiaomi announced the first production car, which will be officially mass-produced in the first half of 2024.
Founder and Chairman of XiaomiLei Jun’s dream of building a car is not far from realization?
According to shanghai securities news, the photos of the road test of Xiaomi’s new car show that the first model of Xiaomi will be a coupe with a sliding back design. The front of the car is long, which is obviously different from people’s impression of pure electric vehicles. The new car is expected to have a closed front end design to further optimize its aerodynamic performance. In addition, although the car body is covered with thick camouflage, it can still be seen that the car is equipped with lidar equipment. In terms of vehicle parameters, previously, some bloggers exposed the battery pack information suspected of Xiaomi car nameplate on the platform.
From the exposure information, it is suspected that the battery pack parameters of the nameplate of Xiaomi automobile have a rated voltage of 726.7V, a rated capacity of 139Ah, a battery pack capacity of 101kWh, and a weight of 642kg. It is inferred that the first model of Xiaomi is likely to support 800V high-voltage fast charging.
Judging from the current price of vehicles with batteries with a capacity of more than 100kWh, for example, the price of the 100kWh version of Weilai ES6 is close to 400,000 yuan, and the price of the 100kWh version of Krypton 001 is 300,000 yuan.Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368)Above.
From the perspective of battery cost, it also determines that the pricing of Xiaomi car will not be too low.
According to the interface news quoted from Leopard Change, the models of Xiaomi coupe to be listed next year are divided into high-end version and low-end version. The high-end version is tentatively priced at 299,000 yuan and the low-end version is tentatively priced at 199,000 yuan.
However, according to the interface news report, Xiaomi insiders said that Xiaomi may make corresponding price adjustments according to market conditions next year, and this price may not be the final pricing.
02
Production is just around the corner, and more than 100 people apply for a single day.
According to the previous plan, Xiaomi Automobile Factory will be built in two phases. The first phase covers an area of nearly 720,000 square meters. It will be started in April 2022 and completed in June 2023. The second phase is planned to start in 2024 and be completed in 2025. Among them, the first phase includes four factories with an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles.
Among them, the No.1 workshop, which is divided into punching, welding and coating power batteries, to No.4 workshop and test building, has an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles, and the relevant workshops have passed the acceptance on June 12. According to the observation of the First Financial Reporter, the factories marked with serial numbers from 1 to 4 are patchy, and employees near the factory told reporters that the internal automobile factory has been in operation for a long time.
On August 23rd, the bidding and tendering trading system of Beijing’s engineering construction showed that the bidding announcement of Huanjing Road (Nanjie-Xinsi Road in Xinnan District) and municipal engineering (survey) supporting Xiaomi Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Base Project (Phase I) in Beijing Yizhuang New Town was released. The start of bidding for supporting roads indicates that the first phase of Xiaomi Factory has entered the final stage of completion.
With the approach of the overall completion of the first phase of the factory, the recruitment of Xiaomi Automobile and related R&D facilities have been carried out simultaneously.
According to the interface news report, at present, the Yizhuang factory of Xiaomi Automobile is recruiting workshop workers on a large scale, with a recruitment scale of about 100 people, with an average salary of 6,000 yuan to 7,000 yuan, and the working hours are 8 hours a day, with weekends off and ready to join.
The supplier who provides recruitment services for Xiaomi Automobile Factory revealed to the interface news that Xiaomi Automobile Factory has very strict recruitment standards for regular employees and has no relevant experience. The probability of successful application is very small, and even some workers who have worked in Mercedes-Benz, Tesla and other manufacturers will be eliminated because of insufficient preparation during the interview.
In addition, the age of most positions is limited to under 28 years old, and the minimum education requirement is secondary school or above, and the requirements can be relaxed appropriately for those with strong ability.
At the same time, the supplier also said that this round of recruitment is only for Xiaomi Automobile to prepare for mass production in the early stage. By the end of the year or early next year, Xiaomi Automobile will usher in a larger-scale recruitment. By then, the working hours and rest system of Xiaomi Automobile Factory will also be adjusted accordingly.
According to Cailian News Agency, according to a list of applicants provided by the security guard of "North Gate 1" of Xiaomi Automobile Factory, the positions include operators, repairmen, maintenance workers, logistics engineers and interns, among which interns account for more than 60%, and the number of people in a single day is 124. According to an applicant waiting to enter the factory, there are many people recruiting in the assembly workshop and painting workshop. In addition to the positions on the list, there are also quality-related positions. "Testing, quality inspection and equipment maintenance are also being recruited. Generally, the minimum (education) must be vocational high school or college or above."
An investor in the automobile industry told the First Financial Reporter that although the pattern of the new energy automobile industry is initially set, the market space is large enough, and the arrival time is not a decisive factor. Xiaomi Automobile can follow the advantages in the field of mobile phone supply chain, control the cost of the whole vehicle, focus on innovative technologies, and focus on competitive models with price and technical advantages.
03
New forces build cars to speed up shuffling
According to the data released by China Automobile Industry Association (hereinafter referred to as China Automobile Association), in the first half of the year, IAutomobile production and sales reached 3.788 million and 3.747 million respectively, up by 42.4% and 44.1% respectively, with a market share of 28.3%. On July 13th, Chen Shihua, Deputy Secretary-General of China Automobile Association, said at the theme forum of "Innovation for Innovation and Creating a New Highland for China’s Automobile Modernization Development" that in the first half of this year, new energy vehicles maintained a relatively fast growth rate. Overall, it is estimated that the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China will reach 9 million in the whole year.
However, with the intensification of competition in the automobile market, the strong are stronger and the weak are accelerated to be eliminated. For China automobile market, this year is destined to be an unsettled year full of variables and challenges.
In the first half of the year, a number of new power companies have stopped working. On July 5, Singularity Auto officially declared bankruptcy; On June 29, Freeman Shen, chairman of Weimar Automobile, was listed as a untrustworthy person and was restricted from high consumption; On June 16th, Sky Auto was listed as an executor of dishonesty by Cixi People’s Court for violating the property reporting system. On June 14th, two companies related to Baiteng-Nanjing Zhixing New Energy Vehicle Technology Development Co., Ltd. and Nanjing Zhixing Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. filed for bankruptcy; In addition, Aichi Automobile, Baoneng Automobile and Evergrande Automobile have also been repeatedly exploded, resulting in suspension of production and arrears of wages.
Cao Guangping, an independent researcher of New Energy and Intelligent Network, told China Automotive News that in recent years, China’s new energy automobile industry has experienced recession, epidemic and cruel market competition, especially after the baptism of price war, some automobile enterprises have fallen behind, which is normal.
The reasons are different: one is that it is difficult to get rid of subsidy dependence, the other is the lack of innovation mechanism and technology, or there are problems in the internal and external environment of enterprise operation, and it is difficult to mass-produce products or the lack of strategic resources such as financial and material resources.
At the beginning of this year, Tesla Model 3 and Model Y set off a price war that spread from the new energy vehicle market to the fuel vehicle market with the largest price reduction in history. Now, the price war in the first half of the year has just died down, and the price war in the second half of the year has started again. At present, more than ten car companies have announced new price adjustment strategies. In addition to Tesla, which has repeatedly announced price adjustments, it also includes head car companies such as SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen, and the market competition has once again reached a white-hot stage.
On September 1st, Tesla China announced that the new Model 3 was officially opened for pre-sale. On the same day, Tesla also offered a big price reduction measure. The price of high-end Model S Model S and Model X is lowered, and the price of Tesla Model S and Model X is lowered by 110,000 to 220,000 yuan.
Deng Chenghao, CEO of Deep Blue Auto, said that the current competition stage is no longer relying on one or two explosive cars to survive. Enterprises need continuous cash flow and cash reserves that can be used for market competition, and they are fighting for the overall operational efficiency, quality, scale, system capacity, etc.;Wang Chuanfu, chairman of the board of directors, bluntly said that enterprises must first have core technology to win. The transformation of new energy vehicles is a technological revolution, and enterprises with core technologies can survive. If they are simply assembled, the probability of survival is very small; Li Xiang, CEO of LI, said bluntly: "In the three-year knockout of smart electric vehicles (2023-2025), the three comprehensive capabilities of technical product delivery are rolled into the dead, and the barrel theory is indispensable."
At the moment when smart phones completely replace traditional mobile phones, smart cars are bringing new impacts to traditional cars. Nowadays, traditional automobile enterprises have also made efforts in the fields of intelligence and electrification, and the market competition has become increasingly fierce.
Source | Business School magazine is integrated fromCBN, Cailian, Interface News, shanghai securities news, China Auto News, NBD Auto, China Newsweek.
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