As a famous German automobile manufacturer, Daimler-Benz enjoys a world-renowned reputation, and it is almost impossible for someone not to know it. But its China story should not be known by many people.
1883 In March, karl friedrich benz, the originator of automobile invention, founded Mercedes-Benz Company and Rhine Gas Engine Factory. At the same time, gottlieb daimler successfully invented the world's first high compression ratio internal combustion engine, which can be said to be the originator of modern automobile engines.
Perhaps due to the situation and competitive pressure at that time, 1926, the two major automobile companies chose to overcome difficulties together and merged into Daimler-Benz.
Here, my brother also briefly said that Mercedes-Benz is one of Daimler's brands, not a different company.
Mercedes originated from an Austrian local tyrant. After visiting Daimler-Benz's factory, he directly placed an order for 36 cars, which was equivalent to Daimler-Benz's annual sales in that year. But the local tyrant's additional condition is that Daimler-Benz must give him exclusive agency in France, the United States and other countries, and these cars should be named after his daughter. Unable to resist the temptation, Daimler finally agreed to the demands of local tyrants, so Mercedes-Benz was born.
Daimler-Benz's Road to China
65438+In the 1980s of 2009, in order to speed up development, China began to learn and introduce foreign advanced technology. During this period, China sent delegations to Europe, the United States, Japan and other advanced countries to visit and inspect the heavy truck technology.
1978 in April, the domestic delegation came to Germany, the birthplace of the automobile industry, and visited the technical centers and automobile production lines of Daimler-Benz and Mann successively. Until June, the delegation mentioned in the research report submitted to the Central Committee that the First Machinery Department proposed to introduce NG80 series heavy trucks developed by Daimler-Benz.
Later, during the negotiation, Daimler-Benz Company proposed that the whole project needed foreign exchange of 654.38+0 billion dollars and domestic investment of 2.5 billion yuan (that is, a large number of Daimler-Benz vehicles were purchased). China, which was recovering at that time, balked, and then the negotiations with Daimler-Benz also reached a deadlock.
The deadlock in the negotiations did not prevent the emergence of "domestic" Mercedes-Benz. Chongqing 256 Factory continued the old road of domestic automobile development-copy and paste, and successfully developed a "domestic" Mercedes-Benz NG732026A truck, which was highly recognized by the military and made this car shine in the military field. This is Chongqing Iron Horse.
Perhaps it was shocked by China's "copy-and-paste" technology, or perhaps it was because other brands entered the China market one after another. Daimler-Benz also began to adjust its strategy, change its previous arrogance and seek opportunities to expand its market share.
A competitor's partner
At that time, the domestic high-end heavy trucks were blank, and Durham-Benz, who discovered the new continent, immediately took action, investing 654.38 billion RMB, and established the North Benz Company (now North Benz Heavy Duty Truck) in cooperation with Inner Mongolia No.1 Machinery Factory. Transfer the manufacturing technology of Mercedes-Benz NG80 series heavy trucks. The cooperation period is 10 year, during which it is planned to produce 6,000 cars annually.
1In September, 1988, China Ordnance Industry Company, Inner Mongolia No.1 Machinery Factory and Daimler-Benz Automobile Company of Germany signed an agreement on "Introducing German Mercedes-Benz Heavy Truck Technology" in Beijing. A year later, the first batch of "North Benz" was assembled and rolled off the assembly line by SKD provided by Durham Company.
Durham-Benz, who only wanted to make money and didn't think it through, finally met with setbacks. Because the domestic economy is still recovering, the demand for high-end heavy trucks is limited. On the other hand, the price of fully imported Mercedes-Benz parts is too high, which leads to the high price of Mercedes-Benz assembled in the north, and no one cares after it is put on the market.
10 years passed quickly. Because it was far from the original market expectation, Daimler-Benz no longer cooperated with the North, and the two sides broke up peacefully.
After breaking up with Daimler-Benz, Beifang Benz made a series of adjustments, which changed the situation that it only made high-end products in the past. Subsequently, the North Mercedes-Benz developed at a high speed and achieved considerable results. But such a rapid rise makes Daimler-Benz feel bad.
Compared with Durham-Benz, North Benz is not only superior to Durham-Benz in demand, but also crushes Durham-Benz in price. Even as a special vehicle that Durham-Benz is proud of, North Benz is gradually replacing Durham-Benz.
In 2006, Durham-Benz sued North Mercedes-Benz, pointing out that North Mercedes-Benz continued to use the word "Mercedes-Benz" as its name after the technology transfer agreement expired, which violated the exclusive right to use a trademark. In the end, the two sides reached an agreement that North Benz no longer used the word "Mercedes-Benz" and changed its name to the current North Benz heavy truck.
Daimler-Benz joins hands with Futian
After experiencing setbacks, Daimler-Benz has no intention to give up the China market and continue to seek cooperation in China. Until Daimler-Benz remembered his little brother who had worked with him, Foton Motor introduced a heavy truck named Ou Man on 200 1, and its first generation products adopted the cab of North Benz and Steyr's chassis.
In 20 12, after eight years of negotiations and efforts, the two sides finally signed an agreement to set up a medium and heavy truck joint venture company-Beijing Futian Daimler Automobile Co., Ltd., with a total investment of 6.3 billion yuan.
Unlike previous Sino-foreign joint ventures, Foton will invest in physical assets related to its business in Ou Man, while Daimler will invest in cash. The joint venture will last for 50 years and will produce "Ou Man" brand medium and heavy trucks equipped with domestic Mercedes-Benz engines.
Maybe I have had the experience of cooperating with China manufacturers, and I know the idea of domestic manufacturers exchanging market for technology. The cooperation between Daimler-Benz and Futian is particularly harmonious.
The cooperation between Foton and Daimler-Benz not only created a new model of Sino-foreign joint venture, but also became? "European standard, made in China" is the benchmark of high-end heavy trucks.
After several years of cooperation, Futian not only retained the ownership of intangible assets such as technology and patents of Ou Man Heavy Truck, but also obtained technical support from Daimler-Benz, further enhancing Futian's influence.
With the support of Daimler-Benz, a powerful backup group, in 20 16, Ou Man EST super truck appeared on the same stage as Daimler's Mercedes-Benz truck, which also showed the powerful strength of Foton Daimler. On 20 18, Ou Man ESTA went on the market again, equipped with Mercedes-Benz engine, bringing users the upgrade experience of brand-new super trucks.
In the past few years of cooperation, the achievements of Foton Daimler are dazzling among all joint ventures, and this achievement continues to grow, further expanding the competitiveness and market share of both products.
Many card friends who know Ou Man will definitely have questions. The engine that Ou Man is using now is not Mercedes-Benz, but Futian Cummins. Why?
In 20 12, when Fukuda cooperated with Daimler-Benz, it was planned to produce 490 horsepower Daimler OM457 engine in 20 14. Both parties agree that the Ou Man truck produced by Foton Daimler will be equipped with OM457 engine, and Daimler-Benz will provide technical support. It is estimated that the annual production capacity of engines will be 45,000 units.
However, contrary to expectations, the plan will never keep up with the change. Subsequently, the Secretary-General's Office of Futian revealed to the media that the plan had changed.
Perhaps Fukuda had a hunch that the engine production in cooperation with Daimler-Benz would not be so smooth. On April 8, 20 14, Ou Man GTL released and exposed the Futian Cummins ISG engine, which met the national emission standards of four countries and five countries. When the news came out, it was unexpected.
Futian Cummins was founded on March 26th, 2008, before Futian cooperated with Daimler-Benz. Since then, it has been mainly developing small horsepower engines, mainly providing engines for Futian light trucks. The appearance of Isg engine also means that Fukuda has got rid of the situation of relying on Wei Chai's high-powered engine.
Since then, Ou Man is mainly equipped with Cummins engines, and there has been no new news about the domestic Mercedes-Benz engines planned by Futian and Daimler-Benz.
postscript
Jia Ge believes that in the current truck market, the high sales volume is high cost performance or good quality, and Ou Man occupies these two points. In the future, the development of Foton Daimler will definitely be in by going up one flight of stairs. Futian focuses on providing customers with logistics and mobile travel solutions, while Daimler-Benz is the leading brand of commercial vehicles in the world. The cooperation between the two parties will bring better products to the domestic truck market.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.