Nevertheless, the recovery of the China market has given foreign-funded enterprises enough confidence. For Continental, on the one hand, the reform will be deepened, and the scale of global layoffs will be expanded to 30,000; On the other hand, the China market will not be affected and investment plans will increase. On September 8th, Weipai Technology held the foundation stone laying ceremony of Asia-Pacific R&D Center in Tianjin. This "start-up" enterprise is making a deep impression in China market with a brand-new name.
■ Split and more flexible organizational structure
Emerging trends such as electrification and intelligence have brought unprecedented excitement, agitation and anxiety to the automobile industry in the past century. Weipai Technology is the new brand name of Continental Power Assembly Division, which has been operating independently since 2065438+April 2009.
Although the original listing plan of Weipai Technology in 2020 was postponed due to the epidemic, this did not affect the determination of the mainland group to split it independently. Gu Ruihua, president of Weipai Technology in China, said: "The listing plan will be implemented again from 202 1, provided that the market is suitable."
Continental predicts that the trend of electrification will spread around the world at different speeds. Therefore, Continental Group pays more attention to the structure and organizational model, and it has become the knowledge of many car companies and parts companies to seize this historic opportunity that cannot be missed.
In fact, for the split listing of auto parts enterprises, Weipai Technology is not a case. In 20 16, johnson controls split the car seat and interior business and listed it independently, named Andoto20 17, and Delphi split it into Ambofo and Delphi Technology, both of which were listed independently. Ambofo is committed to new technologies such as safety systems and self-driving in-vehicle software, and Delphi Technology focuses on automotive powertrain business; In 20 18, Autoliv Electronics Division was split and listed independently, and the new company Weininger focused on active safety and intelligent driving. As for the sale of Honeywell's turbocharger division, the sale of Harman and Ma Ruili is essentially similar to a "split".
From these split cases, we can see a * * * essence. Many enterprises split up the businesses that need a lot of investment in electrification or intelligence, and go public independently. The biggest advantage of this is that it can provide more funds, resources and docking channels for subsidiaries, thus gaining more exploration space. In addition, splitting into independent subsidiaries also helps management and reduces overstaffing caused by excessive company size.
Yesterday's organization and capital structure design may not meet today's development requirements. "Now, we are an independent supplier, and we can respond to customers' needs more quickly." Gu Ruihua said.
Gu Ruihua, President of Weipai Technology China.
■ Electrification, gradually withdrawing from the traditional fuel business.
For Weipai Technology, its strategy is clear-electrification. The company will adjust in two major directions: first, after 2030, products with limited market prospects will no longer be listed as the company's core business; Second, the company will gradually and eventually completely withdraw from the fuel injection parts business.
Although the brand of Weipai Technology was born soon, it has a technical reserve of 25 years. In its product portfolio, almost two-thirds of its business is related to electronic products, including 48 volt technology and key components suitable for hybrid to pure electric systems. It is reported that Crying Technology has accumulated 5.3 billion euros of electrification orders worldwide.
In addition, Weipai Technology has three factories in China, namely Changchun, Tianjin and Wuhu, and has set up six R&D bases in China. The newly-built R&D center is expected to be completed in 20021year, which will become the R&D base of the hybrid and electrified powertrain technology of Weipai Technology, and meet the rapidly growing demand of the electric vehicle market in China.
"The specific amount of R&D investment does not depend on the investment proportion of the traditional part. As long as there are corresponding opportunities, we will increase investment. The current staffing plan is that the number of R&D personnel will reach 400 in the next three years, of which 60% are software talents. " Li Zhiwen, head of Tianjin Weiwei Technology New Energy Technology Division, said.
According to reports, the new R&D center has a total construction area of about 9,000 square meters, including system engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering and testing engineering. In Weipai Technology's view, the shrinking market share of pure diesel and pure gasoline-powered vehicles will become a foregone conclusion, and there is no way to revive the internal combustion engine market in any form, but hybrid technology will remain the mainstream for a long time.
In fact, a recent research report released by McKinsey shows that different markets have different views on electrification:
As far as the American market is concerned, the development of electrification is mainly driven by consumers with strong environmental awareness, and the growth curve may be relatively flat; The situation in European market is different. 48V technology is expected to become a "popular hybrid", mainly because it helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and is cost-effective.
In China, in addition to a large number of hybrid vehicles equipped with 48V hybrid technology, the share of pure electric vehicles will also increase. It is estimated that by 2025, about 25% of all newly listed cars in China will be pure electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Weipai Technology just saw such an opportunity. "China is the fastest growing and most potential market in the field of electrification, and China is also the strategic market of Weiwei Technology. We will find a place to use it here." Gu Ruihua said this.
■ Bet on "three in one" electric drive products
Electrification, including Bosch, Continental and most Tier? 1 The enterprise gave up the manufacture of power battery cells, and all of them were mainly driven by electricity.
Weipai Technology believes that although electrification trends in different regions are different, there are two things in common. First, reduce the overall cost through integrated electric drive system, such as the "three-in-one" integrated electric drive system provided by Weipai Technology; Second, improve the efficiency of electric drive and increase the mileage. For example, the cooperation between Weipai Technology and Rome Company in adopting silicon carbide (SiC) power devices is a good proof, and it is planned to start mass production of the first SiC inverter from 2025.
For foreign suppliers who are pursuing scale and standardization, it seems logical to start with "three in one" electric drive (integration of motor, gearbox and inverter).
In fact, the concept of "three-in-one" electric drive system was first put forward by Continental Group, but due to the disorderly market competition and high development cost at that time, it failed to open the China market quickly. But now, we see that the electric drive market is becoming more rational. Recently, Weipai Technology will put the "three-in-one" electric drive system (EMR3) suitable for Dongfeng Yi Xuan electric vehicle into the market.
This is after the end of 20 19, Weipai Technology became Peugeot e-208 and Opel Corsa. E and other compact pure electric vehicles are another important order after EMR3 products are put into production. At the same time, Dongfeng passenger car is also the first customer of Weipai Technology's "three-in-one" electric drive products in China market.
"This change is just around the corner. Since 20 19, we have received a large number of orders, and the market prospect of' three-in-one' electric drive system is very good. " Gu Ruihua told car home, "It's too one-sided to evaluate success only by sales volume and orders, and it's an all-round increase based on the achievements we have made in a short period of time in the past year. Integrated drive system is the future development direction. As for the trend of' three in one' or' all in one' electric drive technology, we will provide different solutions according to market demand. "
From the product parameters, the weight of EMR3 is less than 80kg, and the power can be flexibly changed at 100- 150kW to meet the needs of different customers. "Compared with a single component, the whole EMR3 system can reduce the cost of OEM by 40%." Li Zhiwen said.
Since 20 19, many foreign-funded parts manufacturers have smelled this market opportunity and are rapidly laying out "three-in-one" electric drive products. For example, NEC currently has two customers, GAC and Geely. By the end of 20021,the production capacity of its "three-in-one" electric drive system in China will reach more than 4.6 million sets; ZF obtained the order for the "three-in-one" electric drive system of Mercedes-Benz EQC electric vehicle, and so on.
In China's electric drive market, it can be said that no enterprise has emerged as the absolute ruler of this market, but Continental Group is tearing a hole in the basically localized market and planting its own banner with brand effect, scale advantage and years of technical accumulation. (Text/car home? Peng Fei)