New forces in the eyes of component suppliers: there are not a few grains of rice in their pots

Revolution: It means replacing the traditional car-controlled CD player with the 998-yuan super flat plate.

Mass production: refers to the production of cars at a rate of less than one per day.

Autopilot: A new Internet name for a driver-driver system that has long been popular in traditional cars.

Partner: Pay a huge amount of development and licensing fees to traditional automotive industry suppliers to write their name on the PPT.

Suspended roof: a design innovation with a tape-bonding process as the core technology.

......

These ridiculous interpretations of the new forces of the car can not help but let the car practitioners laugh, but after careful taste and bring out all kinds of questions, is it really so unreliable to build a new force?

Unsubscribing and delayed delivery are the most interesting issues in the recent development of new vehicles. "A delivery will die," "There is no ability to mass-produce." The sound of such a pessimistic attitude toward the new forces of the car is endless. Some new car-building forces have refuted the doubts, while others have ignored them. But is there any mass production capability in the new power of the car? The reporter believes that the parts suppliers have the most say. Energy production, the supply of parts suppliers is large; without the ability to mass production, spare parts support can not be discussed.

For the new forces of the car, well-known parts suppliers can not only provide reliable parts and components, but also provide endorsements. For component suppliers, the new force for car making is a “stinged rose” that has both hope for profit and high commercial risks.

Recently, the reporter interviewed a number of parts suppliers and new forces in the car, trying to find out the true nature of the car-making new forces through the matching of parts and components. Who really wants to build a car, who is just a "running dragon", the parts and components contract can be seen.

It’s just the internal delivery of “friendship”

“The new forces that have entered the automobile industry have been in the automobile industry for a long time, and there are also five or six years. The objective laws of the development of the automobile industry should also be understood.” Zhao Ying, director of the Industrial Development Office of the Institute of Industrial Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that "Whether the new force of building a car is to take the light asset line or build a factory, after three or four years of establishment, there should be products appearing in the terminal market."

In the interview, some insiders pointed out that the car and family C round of financing is underway, has identified a number of potential investors, and the amount is huge, the industrialization process and travel business development will accelerate.

Indeed, after experiencing various strategic launches and multiple rounds of financing, some new car-building forces are no longer obsessed with PPT, but are committed to bringing products to market. However, from the time of product launch to formal delivery, the new forces of the car have experienced many twists and turns. For example, the repeated delay in delivery of the ES8 has caused the market to question the Weilai car. However, this did not affect the new forces of other vehicles to go to the "examination room".

According to statistics, in 2018, a number of new vehicles have started to deliver delivery plans, including Weilai Automobile, Weimar Automobile, Xiaopeng Automobile, Future Motors and Singular Automobile.

On May 31, after repeated “jumping”, Weilai Auto ES8 finally delivered 10 new cars to the first batch of users. However, the first 10 users were all employees of Weilai Auto, including Weilai Automobile founder, Chairman Li Bin and co-founder Qin Lihong. Earlier, Li Bin had resolutely stated that in any case, this year, Weilai will definitely deliver 10,000 original ES8s.

At almost the same time, Xiaopeng Automobile, which opened its reservation on April 26, also completed the large-scale internal delivery of G3 for the first time. Xia Wei, co-founder and president of Xiaopeng Automobile, said that official bulk delivery is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Another noteworthy news is that Junhui has issued an announcement stating that it has received the fixed-point and mold-opening instructions for the capping project of Xiaopeng Automobile Battery Box. It will enter the project opening stage in the later stage and is expected to gradually enter in 2020. Mass production will achieve revenues of 103.6 million yuan in the cooperation cycle from 2020 to 2024.

Junhui Co., Ltd. is a company specializing in the production of brake pad steel backs. The battery box cover project is to expand the lightweight business of new energy vehicles. An analysis of a component company said that the average cost of a car battery cover is about 300 yuan, and the sales of 100 million yuan is about 200,000 sets. However, can Xiaopeng Automobile have such a large sales volume to support this project?

At the same time, the Weima Automobile, which is also a new force in the car, has begun the “dark” mode. Shen Hui, founder, chairman and CEO of Weimar Automobile, spoke at the 2018 China Automotive Innovation Summit: “The biggest challenge in creating a new force is the delivery in the true sense, not just to internal employees or individual acquaintances, but to ordinary people. Offline users."

Obviously, Shen Hui does not recognize the sale of "friendship".

Compared with the “ambiguity” in the delivery time of Weilai Automobile and Xiaopeng Automobile, Weimar Motor clearly stated that EX5 will be officially delivered before September 30 this year, and the delivery plan for 2018 is more than 10,000 vehicles. As a model that was launched in April this year, this delivery cycle is obviously relatively short in the new power of the car, but it remains to be seen whether it will be delivered on schedule.

The singularity car and the future car, which are similar to the establishment time of Weilai Automobile, have already made their debut in the first product, but they have not promoted the listing. At the Asian Consumer Electronics Show in 2018, the Singularity iS6 finally opened up the user experience and test drive appointments, and the listing also entered a countdown. According to Shen Haijun, CEO of Singular Auto, the new car will be delivered at the end of this year. The new car has the L2 autopilot capability and will be launched in 2019 with the L3 autopilot system. In the future, the first new double-door pure electric sports car K50 will be officially launched this year, but the specific delivery plan has not been announced. Lu Qun, chairman of the future car, said: "The delivery will be delivered."

In addition, the new forces that have announced the delivery time in the near future include Hezhong New Energy, Ai Chi, Bai Teng, Car and Home. Among them, the new car launched by Hezhong New Energy will be delivered in the third quarter of this year; Ai Chi custom-made electric sports car RGNathalie will be delivered by the end of the year; BYTONM-ByteConcept will complete the mass production target in 2019, it is expected Delivered at the end of 2019; the car and home pure electric SUV will be officially released this year, the first batch of products will be delivered in 2019.

It is difficult for suppliers to cooperate in conservative batch matching.

The promise of new power delivery is one after another, but there is another scene in the supplier market.

It is reported that Weilai’s inquiry letter to the supplier is guaranteed by the sales volume of ES8.1 million vehicles, but this has caused doubts from the personnel of the parts and components: “Now, in the highly competitive Chinese automobile market, even the traditional car companies I dare not give such a promise to suppliers on a brand new model."

Obviously, the parts suppliers are rational about the “temptation” of the new forces of the car. In fact, the cooperation between many suppliers and the new forces of the car is still in the stage of communication and matching, and there is still a long way to go from the bulk supply. It is undeniable that the current new power of new vehicles is strong, and the procurement is more generous. They are willing to bear higher prices to purchase high-quality auto parts and find mature suppliers and internationally renowned parts brands.

Shi Zhengtang, deputy general manager of Zhejiang Asia-Pacific Mechanical & Electrical Co., Ltd. told reporters: "We have communicated and communicated with more than a dozen new vehicle forces such as Weimar, Electric Coffee, and Hezhong. At present, they are basically in the stage of matching verification, giving them The supporting products are mainly traditional car brake systems, ESC control systems, etc."

Somick Auto Parts Co., Ltd. is a major supplier of chassis components such as automobile steering rods and suspension swing arm ball head assemblies. Its internal staff told reporters that there are two new forces for making substantial cooperation with Somic. Thirty, but only provide hand-made samples, only a few can enter the road test stage.

“Hangsheng is very cautious in cooperating with the new forces of the car, and pays close attention to the well-known new car-making forces in the industry. However, among all the companies that contact, Hangsheng is limited to the communication design or sample development stage, and has not achieved mass production with it. Yang Hong, general manager of Shenzhen Hangsheng Electronics Co., Ltd. told reporters, "There are indeed new forces in the car to put forward specific mass production targets, but the time of implementation is still under negotiation. Some enterprises think of building cars in advance. It’s too simple, it’s really hard to do it, and I have to delay the mass production plan.”

It is not only China's auto parts suppliers that are cautious, but many international big names are also positive and cooperative.

Perzier is the world's leading NVH and interior system component company, and also a major supplier of Tesla, so Persie has become a favorite parts supplier for many new car manufacturers in China.

Chen Fu, vice president of Perez Automotive Interior Systems China, told reporters: "We are very conservative in supporting the new forces of the car. At present, only the Weilai, the car and the home have made substantial progress, and the cooperation process is relatively smooth. He said, "Pelzer and the new forces of the car will fully consider each other's financial strength, product design capabilities, etc., the conditions of cooperation are relatively harsh."

At present, the new power of the main electric vehicle is no longer "troubled" for complex power transmission assembly products such as engines and transmissions, thereby saving a lot of capital, manpower and R&D resources, and using this part of capital resources for development based on Innovative features of the Internet and automation needs. However, from the interview, many of the first mass-produced cars with new car powers may not be as intelligent as they have described.

Shi Zhengtang pointed out that from the perspective of matching products and matching progress, the first products launched by the new forces of the car will not be equipped with very advanced intelligent driving technology, mainly to make the basic functions and quality of the car. It is possible for their second-generation models to be equipped with the ADAS Advanced Intelligent Driver Assistance System.

“The first product highlights of the new forces of the car are concentrated on the design of interior and exterior decoration, the creation of technology and the realization of basic Internet and entertainment functions.” Yang Hong said, “As for advanced auxiliary systems, automatic driving and other technologies, such as more advanced Lidar, etc., will not appear in the mass production of new vehicles for the time being."

More than 70% of the new forces in the car can not get the parts design drawings

In the view of many parts and components companies, the lack of technological accumulation of new car-building forces is far less powerful than traditional car companies.

"In the new power of the car, less than 30% of the production and procurement system control capabilities, and even some of the company's process requirements are abnormally outrageous. As a component supplier, there is a great risk for these companies." The supplier bluntly told reporters. He also pointed out that even companies like Weilai, which are generally optimistic in the industry, are facing many technical problems. The reason for delaying delivery is also based on the original design. The supplier supporting responsibility is secondary. Whether the design ability and integration ability of the new power of the vehicle are qualified is the key to its mass production.

At the end of last year, Li Bin once admitted to this reporter that when the new forces of automobile construction cooperated with parts and components enterprises, they faced many difficulties, and the new forces of building cars were also questioned, but these problems can be solved in different levels. "At present, most of the first-class parts and components companies at home and abroad are willing to give us the best resources and parts. We adopt a predetermined model and carry out in-depth strategic cooperation with parts suppliers." Li Bin said.

Shi Zhengtang believes: "The new forces of building a car are brand new auto companies. Their understanding of the car making and supply procurement system is far less than that of the traditional car companies. There is definitely a big gap." This gap is reflected in the cooperation between the two parties. very obvious. Traditional car companies will provide reference targets and suggestions to suppliers. Each new function and new product will be promoted under the cooperation of both parties, and the new forces of the car will require a strong supplier. Design capabilities, they can not provide design drawings of parts and components, and are more dependent on Tier 1 suppliers.

Chen Fufu told reporters: "It is not a matter of time to build a car. It must have sufficient accumulation. The new forces of building a car can rely on strong financial strength to recruit talents from the 'high-level', but the enterprise can not form a system for R&D and manufacturing. Execution, there will be a lot of problems inside people who are 'crazy'."

When talking about supporting risks, Shi Zhengtang said bluntly: "There are risks. At present, we plan to provide a new difference between the braking system and the traditional products. There is no need for a large amount of R&D investment and another production line. In the development of advanced driver assistance and autonomous driving technology, we have to share the risk of new forces in the car, so as to gain experience in the improvement of the technology level of the Asia-Pacific shares."

Unlike brake products, the chassis, interior and exterior key components need to be redesigned. Somick's internal staff stressed: "The chassis parts need to be re-developed, do molds, do trials, and invest heavily in the early stage. They will not reach the matching amount of 30,000 yuan and 50,000 yuan, and will not have considerable profits. Therefore, to control investment risks. We will charge these companies a certain amount of development costs."

“Receiving a certain amount of development costs is a cooperative way of sharing risks between component companies and vehicle companies.” Chen Welfare said, “To further reduce risks, Pelzer chose to supply a systematic full set of products for the new forces of the car. Rather than a single component. This is also an effective way to enhance the relationship between the two parties. I hope that both parties can rise to the strategic level."

Continued evaluation of the strength of new vehicles has become one of the major tasks of supporting parts companies. Yang Hong pointed out that the current parts suppliers are unable to determine whether they can rely on the future sales of new vehicles to share the development costs of parts, because many new vehicles will not be determined in the future. "Only if we are willing to carry out risk-sharing new forces with us, we will cooperate with them." Yang Hong said.

Holding a group to warm up and have a large scale to have a future

In the face of the increasingly fierce market competition environment, the group heating is constantly being mentioned by the whole vehicle and parts companies. Is the establishment of alliances between traditional car companies and the new forces of car manufacturing?

Earlier, some media reported that singularity cars, cars and homes, Hongxing Auto, Ai Chi and Wei Ma Automobile have a willingness to “align” with new forces, hoping to reduce new energy vehicles by building a joint R&D and procurement platform. The development and production costs, to warm up in order to seek a brighter future, but the current alliance has not really established, some of them are holding a wait-and-see state, and even new car-making forces have been blunt, and are unlikely to become a member of the alliance. . However, Shen Haijun said on behalf of Singular Auto that the Singular Auto is currently exploring this alliance and plans to develop a universal electric vehicle platform to share innovative technologies within the alliance.

At the same time that the internal alliance of new vehicles is blocked, the cooperation between new vehicles and traditional car companies is relatively smooth. On the one hand, it is to accelerate the industrialization for the needs of foundry; on the other hand, it also facilitates the sharing of upstream resources and reduces the procurement cost.

Not long ago, Baiteng completed a $500 million Series B financing, of which FAW Group was its main investor. Some insiders believe that in the initial stage of production, the new R&D procurement costs of parts and components will far exceed expectations, and there is also a lack of game capital when working with component manufacturers. Therefore, Baiteng accepts the strategic investment of FAW, or uses the FAW mass procurement system to reduce its own procurement cost. Since Xu Buping, the chairman of the company, has been transferred to the company in 2017, he has publicly requested FAW Group to reduce the supplier's purchase price by 20%. The new forces of making cars do not have such bargaining power at all. Joining with traditional car companies may be an effective way to solve new problems in the process of cooperation with parts suppliers.

The purpose of cooperation between car companies is to share resources, and the in-depth cooperation between car companies and suppliers is to achieve a win-win situation. For suppliers, Wei Lai has always been a proactive player. Wei Rui, Director of Weilai Automotive Communications, told reporters that the well-known parts manufacturers and the new forces of the car will have some scruples at the beginning of the exchange. Whether the cooperation between the two sides can make substantial progress depends on the new car-building process.

At the 2017 Weilai Partner Conference held in March this year, Weilai has locked in all the important partners.

Wan Rui stressed: "We don't think that parts companies are suppliers. Our relationship with parts companies is a partnership, and the purpose is to achieve a win-win situation." At present, Weier's relatively large suppliers include the mainland, Bosch, and Novo. Belize and others, 71% of them are international brands, and 29% are domestic brands. Among 71% of international brands, 90% of companies have already established factories in China.

An engineer from Singular Auto said in an interview with the Consumer Electronics Show in Asia in 2018: "There are hundreds of singular auto parts suppliers, and there are many ways to cooperate. For example, the smart cabin system is developed by us. Production. And companies like Bosch are in-depth cooperation and joint debugging products."

The engineer said: "Singularity cars respect the tradition of building cars and dare to innovate boldly. They are very eager to develop with the mature auto parts suppliers, and continue to help us improve our products."

At present, the new forces for building cars have reached about 100, but the overall level is weak. In the Chinese auto market where the market competition pattern has been relatively stable, the new power-building forces want to tear a crack and get a piece of it. The combination of vertical and horizontal, the development of the group, and the reduction of cost by scale effect are the best strategies for speeding up the mass production process. .

Strong parts and new forces

In the reporter's interview, the industry's negative views on the new forces of the car are quite a lot.

In the past few years, the new propaganda of the new car has been in full swing, and the late products have not been delivered. Without market-tested products, thunder and heavy rain are small, which makes people wonder whether the new forces of car construction really want to build a car. What are they doing in the past few years?

Some parts suppliers believe that the new power of the new car is strong, and they dare to burn money. As long as the money is in place, what kind of parts and components can be bought. But the parts can be bought, the brand influence can't be bought, the consumer's approval can't be bought, and the trust of suppliers and dealers can't be bought.

In the eyes of traditional car companies, it takes at least five years to build a qualified new model with basic conditions for listing. It may take only 2 years to build an electric car that does not require an engine or a transmission. In terms of the new forces of building a car, it is not difficult to form a team, brand strategy release, and production line construction. It is difficult to deliver in batches. But the heat can be held for a while, but can not hold the world, the patience of consumers is limited. If the delivery is delayed, the new forces of a large number of vehicles will eventually become "over-the-top."

Why is the market's expectation and pursuit of some new forces in the car gradually become questionable and ridiculous? Some of the new forces in building cars are to make the car look very simple, and blindly rely on the concept of technology to circle money. A variety of fresh concepts are scattered, but they are really hidden. The core of the new power of the car is to build a car, not to break away from the manufacturing itself, otherwise it is a passive water, no wood.

As an automobile manufacturing enterprise, the new force of car construction needs to have a deep understanding of automobile culture, regulations and automobile R&D, testing and manufacturing systems. It also needs to cooperate with suppliers to achieve a win-win attitude and awe in the automobile industry. . If these basic conditions are not met, the products created by the new forces of the car will be separated from the basic demands of consumers, and the luxury quality, innovative functions and travel modes of their efforts will not be discussed.

It is estimated that a typical car is assembled from more than 10,000 non-removable independent parts. The importance of component suppliers in the new forces of making cars is self-evident. The author believes that in the face of the challenge of parts suppliers, the new forces of the car should be explained in a timely and reasonable manner; when the development is in trouble, the new forces of the car should be realistic, rather than let the parts suppliers be "back pots" Injury and gas can not convince the public; on projects with high commercial risks, new vehicles can try a more in-depth joint venture and cooperation, and share risks with parts suppliers; in research and development design, new vehicles When the forces are more urgent to upgrade their basic technology research and development, they cannot rely solely on component suppliers.

The general consensus of China's auto industry is that "the parts are strong, then the Chinese cars are strong." In this group of new forces, the importance of parts and components is even higher. The author believes that if the parts are strong, the new forces will be built.