As a veteran central enterprise, is Dongfeng ready for a new era? 10 June 19, the 5th "Science and Technology Innovation Week" of Dongfeng Technology Center opened in Wuhan. Dongfeng Motor's technical reserves have been intensively reviewed.
◆? 16 research and development achievements
This Science and Technology Week showcased the scientific and technological achievements of Dongfeng Motor during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, including the first independent intelligent networked car system Windlink, the first L4 class long-distance self-driving car Dongfeng Sharing -VAN, etc. 16, covering the fields of engines, pure electric vehicles, hydrogen energy, intelligent networked cars and military vehicles.
Three technological achievements were released at the event site: a new generation of high-performance supercharged direct injection engine C 15TDR, Sharing-VAN technology architecture platform 2.0, and My@ADAS autopilot system. Among them, C 15TDR is known as the "strongest autonomous engine" in China. The high-efficiency version has a thermal efficiency of 4 1.07%, a maximum power of 125kW and a peak torque of 260n·m, which meets the national six emission standards. Its thermal efficiency exceeds that of Toyota Power? Force? 2.5L hybrid (4 1%) and Honda Earth Dream 2.0L hybrid (40.6%).
【C 15TDR】
Autopilot is another key point. At the opening ceremony, Dongfeng held a signing ceremony for the "pilot project" of autonomous driving, and formally reached cooperation with 1 1 institutions such as Qi Hang and Tsinghua University in Rong Yuan. According to the plan, Dongfeng will invest no less than 200 self-driving cars in Wuhan for demonstration operation from 2020 to 2022.
What is the main R&D idea behind these technologies? In 20 17, Dongfeng put forward the goal of "lightweight" besides "electrification, intelligence, networking and enjoyment" These "five modernizations" constitute the main line of Dongfeng's scientific and technological development.
In the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" stage, Dongfeng has improved in the five modernizations. For example, lightweight, mastering the hot forming technology of 1800MPa high-strength steel and extrusion casting technology of high-performance aluminum alloy; Electrification, realize the synchronous development of EV, HEV, PHEV and FCV technical routes.
According to Tan Minqiang, director of Dongfeng Technology Center, Dongfeng will continue to carry out research and development according to the idea of "five modernizations" during the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period. The key points of "five modernizations" are: lightweight, considering the balance between cost and performance; Electrification realizes 800V high-voltage application technology and realizes the demonstration operation of hydrogen fuel cells; Intelligently realize L3+ mass production; Networking expands the application ecology around Windlink; * * * Enjoy the data * * *.
『Windlink』
The five modernizations reflect the "big and comprehensive" characteristics of Dongfeng technology research and development, from hot fields such as fuel vehicles, new energy, intelligent network connection, to niche technologies such as hub motors, which are almost all-encompassing. At the opening ceremony, Dongfeng power exchange technology was also made public for the first time. According to the staff, it is expected that the first batch of power stations will be officially put into use in May 20021. The first is to serve Dongfeng travel and T3 travel to operate vehicles.
◆? 30 billion R&D investment
Being able to make achievements in every field stems from Dongfeng's strong investment in independent research and development. In 2007, Dongfeng Motor began to develop its brand passenger cars. In the following ten years, a total of 95.7 billion yuan was invested in research and development, and 982 invention patents were obtained.
According to the European Union's industrial R&D investment scoreboard in 20 18, Dongfeng invested 547 million euros (4.3 billion RMB) in R&D in 20 18, ranking third among China car companies, second only to SAIC and BYD.
During the tenth five-year plan period, this trend of high investment will continue. 1June13rd, Dongfeng Group formally submitted the prospectus for the Growth Enterprise Market, intending to raise 2 10 billion yuan in A shares, and finally invest 30 billion yuan in R&D for Lan Tu brand high-end new energy vehicle projects, new generation vehicles and forward-looking technology development projects, as well as to supplement liquidity. Among them, the investment quota of Danlantu project reached 1 1 100 million yuan.
Although the total amount is not small, from the perspective of market competition, these inputs are not "more" but "less". In 20 19, Dongfeng Group sold 2.932 million vehicles, ranking third among automobile enterprises in China. However, the main sources of sales are two joint ventures, Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Honda, and the commercial vehicle sector. China brand passenger car business, the current performance is difficult to meet the expectations of Dongfeng Group.
From June 20438 to September 2020, Dongfeng Shen Feng sold 45,000 vehicles, ranking 16 among China brand passenger cars, far behind Geely, Wuling and Changan. Zhu Yanfeng, Chairman and Party Secretary of Dongfeng Group, pointed out that "at present, the domestic automobile market has entered a slight growth, and the stock competition situation is becoming more and more severe". This cognition reflects Dongfeng's crisis consciousness in the face of the current situation.
Further increasing technology research and development to enhance product competitiveness has therefore become the only way for Dongfeng during the "14 th Five-Year Plan" period. Especially in the fields of new energy and intelligent networking, Dongfeng is facing completely different technical requirements and competitive pressure from traditional fuel vehicles. It is an inevitable choice for Dongfeng to face the future to enhance its strength around the "five modernizations" on the basis of the research and development achievements in the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan".
◆? market-oriented
It should be noted that technology research and development is not a purely technical issue. As Zhu Yanfeng said, it is necessary to "originate from the market and ultimately from the market" and pay attention to the combination of technological achievements and market demand, rather than the innovation on paper.
How to combine technology and market organically? For Dongfeng, the primary problem is to cultivate "longboard". The results of 16 R&D show that Dongfeng has basically completed the technical system construction during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, and has the ability of positive R&D and modular and platform-based R&D, which makes up for the "short board" of independent research and development in the past.
"Dongfeng changing power station"
But in the market competition, no short board is only the foundation, and long board is the advantage. Learn from the experience of other car companies: Toyota's TNGA architecture and hybrid technology, Volkswagen's turbocharging and powertrain, Tesla's intelligence and three-electricity technology. Any head company wins the favor of consumers by its unique "housekeeping skills".
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, if Dongfeng wants to make a difference in the technical field, it undoubtedly needs to identify a subdivision and cultivate its comparative advantage.
In March, Dongfeng Shen Feng changed its bid, and the new letter label "Fengshen" replaced the Shuangfeiyan used by Dongfeng. The rebranding is not only to differentiate from Dongfeng's existing product system, but also to differentiate from the past. At the brand level, Dongfeng Shen Feng is reshaping.
【 Dongfeng Shen Feng AX7 】
Brand remodeling is inseparable from technology and product support. Among the existing technological achievements, which one to choose as the focus and give Fengshen a unique brand value may be the key to the success of the new Fengshen.
Besides Fengshen, Lan Tu also faces the same problem. In the current high-end electric vehicle market, new power brands such as Tesla and Weilai have gained a lot of fans, and traditional giants such as Volkswagen and BMW are also planning to make a comeback. Only by bringing users a special experience of three-electricity system and intelligence can the road to high-end Lan Tu go smoothly.
◆? label
Judging from this "Science and Technology Innovation Week", Dongfeng, as a veteran central enterprise, has no shortage of technology and R&D strength, and can quickly complete the layout in the frontier fields such as hub motors, domain controllers and hydrogen energy. However, there is still a long way to go for technological advantages and market recognition. In addition to ability, more is thinking. How to achieve "less but better" on the basis of "big and complete", Dongfeng needs more thinking. (Text/car home? Jiang)