Author |?Zhao Wenhua
Any era of disintegration and change is a soul torture for various industries, especially enterprises in the process of seeking "turnaround".
BAIC, a car company with deep heritage and continuous innovation, an automobile group that has gone through 65 years of history, and a large state-owned enterprise that has been on the Fortune 500 list for ten consecutive years, is also facing the change of the old and the new. A major transformation test brought about by the oil and electricity game.
Let’s take a look at a set of related information first?
⒈? In 2022, BAIC Group’s vehicle production and sales will reach 1.45 million units, with cumulative revenue of 450 billion yuan, and profit growth of 4.7% year-on-year. %. The top two contributors are Beijing Benz and Beiqi Foton.
⒉ In the first quarter of 2023, BAIC Group achieved vehicle sales of 410,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%. Its high-end pure electric brand, Jihu terminal sales, increased by 61% year-on-year. It is not easy to achieve double-digit year-on-year growth in the context of the fierce competition in the auto market.
⒊? BAIC is one of the earliest car companies to enter the new energy field. As of now, its own brand of pure electric vehicles has exceeded 550,000 in the market. In 2022, BAIC released the "BLUE Plan" and announced that it will comprehensively promote new energy and intelligent connectivity. It plans to achieve carbon peak in 2025, complete product decarbonization and operational carbon neutrality in 2050.
⒋? As one of the earliest Chinese car companies to expand overseas, BAIC's overseas territory has expanded from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other places to Europe. In 2022, BAIC's overseas sales will reach 104,000 vehicles, and its commercial vehicles have maintained the first place in the industry's exports for 12 consecutive years.
Everything in the past has become a prologue. Faced with the strong penetration of new energy, how will BAIC, which has been deeply involved in the field of fuel vehicles for decades, play this offensive and defensive game? The answer is extremely clear: independent efforts, five sons working together, and technological empowerment.
Independent efforts, five sons working together
Among the major automobile groups, BAIC is very unique. Its horizontal development covering passenger and commercial vehicles, independent and joint ventures gives it a strong competitive edge. It has the ability to resist risks, and also has the ability to develop vertically independent-joint-venture-luxury brands, and has hatched a new high-end pure electric brand - Jihu.
BAIC’s ambitions for new energy are hidden in the Jihu brand. Although the sales of its two major car series, Alpha T and Alpha S, still need to be improved, it is undeniable that Alpha T and Alpha S are quite capable: their parent IMC architecture platform is the first commercially equipped with 5G technology in the global new energy vehicle industry. The platform and lightweight body design of upper steel and lower aluminum also give them the qualities of a luxury car. The Alpha S HI version is even more popular. As the first product in the industry to be delivered equipped with Huawei's full-stack smart car solution, its intelligent driving level is first-rate and it is the world's first new energy source to push the urban navigation system throughout the area. This model also has the core advantages of an 800V high-voltage fast charging platform and efficient energy replenishment of 200km in 10 minutes.
It is worth mentioning that Jihu also created a new category of parent-child travel and brought the world's first "smart parent-child car" - Jihu KAOLA. It not only reflects Jihu's innovation at the product level, but the theme release of "New Toyism" also conveys BAIC's breakthrough in marketing, especially in youth marketing.
BAIC Motor can be described as BAIC’s independent trump card. While this old brand with a history of more than 60 years adheres to its hardcore approach, it has also extended its reach to the younger market after the dual-brand integration.
As the "loved child" of the off-road series, the BJ family has the strongest product lineup, covering the most complete power systems of 1.5T, 2.0T, 3.0T/4.0T V6 plus 7DCT and 8AT. The BJ30 is specially designed for young off-road enthusiasts; the BJ40 ring-tower version is called the "folk off-road ceiling"; the BJ60, which adopts a "non-load-bearing body + four-wheel independent suspension" structure for the first time, is known as the "million-level hardcore SUV replacement". It is the favorite of serious off-roaders.
The Rubik's Cube, which is positioned as a "new era trendy fun-seeking SUV", is BAIC Motor's "Cupid" arrow aimed at Generation Z. It has three characteristics: 1. It has outstanding appearance. You can see many popular design elements of new energy; 2. The power is strong enough. The "double top ten" power combination of the Magic Core 1.5T engine + 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission allows it to accelerate from 0 to 100 in 7 seconds; 3. It is extremely intelligent. As the first fuel compact SUV equipped with Hongmeng engine, the Cube is equipped with a dual-core Harmony OS intelligent cockpit, the same 60-inch AR-HUD as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and is equipped with an L2+ Bosch intelligent driving assistance system.
In the most mainstream household compact SUV market, BAIC Motor also has an important chess piece - Beijing X7, this "compact SUV space benchmark" has just been refreshed. The 2023 X7 has greatly evolved in terms of appearance, smart configuration and comfort. It is replaced with the Magic Core 1.5T engine, adds APA automatic parking, tracking reversing and other functions, and is equipped with a queen co-pilot unique to its class. It can be predicted that the Beijing X7, which makes up for its shortcomings, will definitely contribute to the sales of BAIC's independent segment this year.
Beiqi Foton, the “King of Commercial Vehicles”, is an important pillar of BAIC’s high-quality development. Up to now, Foton has delivered a total of 11 million vehicles, once again setting a new sales record of tens of millions of commercial vehicles in China. In addition, BAIC also officially launched Beijing Heavy Truck, a mid-to-high-end commercial vehicle brand, at the beginning of this year. This brand with a new "revival logo" has the most tenacious attitude to break into the high-end market and continue to lead the commercial vehicle market together with Foton.
Beijing Benz is the strongest presence in the joint venture segment and is also the most profitable business segment of BAIC Group. In 2022, Beijing Benz’s cumulative sales reached 582,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%. Its Mercedes-Benz C-Class, E-Class, GLC, and GLB have always dominated the rankings. This year, with the strong entry of the new generation of long-wheelbase GLC, there is no suspense about Beijing Benz taking the next step. Of course, Beijing Hyundai has not yet entered the take-off period, but last year, Beijing Hyundai began to implement the "2025 New Plan", for which China and South Korea jointly increased investment by 6 billion. On the one hand, they promoted the full hybridization of fuel vehicles, and on the other hand Accelerate the introduction of "Ani Krypton", the world's best-selling pure electric brand.
Through the above analysis, we can easily find that BAIC’s independent passenger cars, especially the new energy sector, have huge growth potential. I believe that with the two-way BUFF of new products and new marketing, BAIC Automobile will be able to achieve further high-quality development.
Technological empowerment, technology BAIC
Great changes have brought about great changes in technology. Although BAIC's technical publicity has always been very restrained, in fact, its technical reserves are quite deep. Let's pick a few key points.
As we all know, without an excellent native platform, excellent new energy products cannot be produced. The IMC architecture born in Jihu is the intelligent modular standard architecture independently developed by BAIC. It has high integration and scalability, and can continuously iterate technologies such as three-electricity integration, intelligent network integration, vehicle safety and simulation testing, and is simple Said that the OTA limit of this architecture is relatively high. This is very important, just like when we buy a computer, both hardware and software are indispensable.
Based on the IMC architecture, BAIC launched the "Darwin" new energy technology brand in 2018. As can be seen from the name, this is a technology system that can evolve itself and survive the fittest. After five years of iteration, Darwin has evolved from a concept to a high-end era of "popularizing electric vehicles and entering smart driving". Intelligent safety and ultimate experience have also become the core labels of Jifox Alpha. In the crash test results of the high-end version released by the China Automobile Association not long ago, the Alpha S HI version successfully won five stars. Its active safety score rate reached 93.96%, which is nearly 5 percent higher than the overall score rate.
Smart electric vehicles are also inescapable for off-road use. BAIC's self-developed new "Building Block Platform" is China's first off-road vehicle full value chain system technology platform. It takes into account the power system and vehicle mechanical structure, and can achieve all-terrain, intelligent, and electrified scenario coverage. It is worth mentioning that the ATS all-terrain control system installed on the BJ60 for the first time is also a self-developed product of BAIC. In addition, this off-road expert also added high humidity and high salt corrosion tests based on the industry's unified "high temperature, high cold and plateau" test - the "three highs" became "five highs", and BAIC is also very good.
The Galaxy Technology brand is China’s first commercial vehicle technology brand. It is a huge technology system developed for logistics trunk lines. It has three core advantages: super TCO, super intelligence, and super safety. It also has N key technologies such as super power chain, smart blue electric drive chain, and ant elephant lightweight. It can be said that with the empowerment of "Galaxy", Foton's position in the field of commercial vehicles will be unshakable.
In the single technology field of electric vehicles, BAIC has also frequently achieved good results. Among the top 250 global patent licenses in 2022, BAIC Group ranks first among Chinese car companies with 13,403 patent assets. Among them, BE21's exclusive pure electric architecture platform and electronic and electrical EE architecture are the first core technologies in China to export intellectual property rights overseas; the "Remaining Range Estimation Method, System and Electric Vehicles of Electric Vehicles" proposed by BAIC in 2022 has become BAIC's first The first overseas patent in the field of electric vehicle control.
Technology BAIC, technology empowerment. Facing the rapid evolution of intelligence and electrification, BAIC is using technology to build a moat for itself. Within five years, BAIC will also invest 50 billion in R&D expenses to promote the full implementation of BAIC's technology strategy in terms of R&D systems, innovation mechanisms, and R&D teams.
Finally,
"In the 480 temples of the Southern Dynasty, how many towers were in the mist and rain"? The powerful growth of artificial intelligence makes electric vehicles full of unlimited imagination. It is destroying and building, while creating anxiety for the automobile industry, it also exudes endless charm. Every automobile company involved in it must go through tempering.
For BAIC, it is this major change that has activated every cell in its body and rejuvenated it. Transformation brings challenges, but more importantly, it brings opportunities: the golden age of Chinese brands is an opportunity; the rapid growth of the new energy market is an opportunity; the vertical and horizontal layout and 65 years of precipitation are opportunities; the strong supply chain system and manufacturing system are opportunities. The constantly strengthening new technology group is also an opportunity...all the opportunities are added together, like a steering assist, pushing the big ship of BAIC Group to ride the wind and waves and rush away.
Finally, I would like to send a familiar but heart-warming message to BAIC - I have been away for half my life, and I hope you will still be a teenager when you return.
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