When I went to Tsinghua University to teach, the automobile industry in China was trudging in a fast-flowing river, and the debate about whether cars could enter the family was the most intense. Song Jian, who is from a technical background, knows that no matter which stage China's automobile development enters, technology research and development is crucial to the development of the automobile industry. In the following years, he integrated production and learning: on the one hand, he taught students the theory of automobile engineering, on the other hand, he developed major automobile parts such as engines and automatic gearboxes locally.
In 2006, Song Jian was named the best chief designer of the year by domestic authoritative media because he realized the industrialization of automatic gearbox in China.
"People in China are very strange," Song Jian told Southern Weekend. "We can't do what we can buy well. Atomic bombs and satellites are not for you, and China is not weak in development. This is the characteristic of China people. "
Catfish effect of independent brands
Southern Weekend: As an expert in automobile technology, why do you think China built his own car? What role does independent brand play in China automobile industry?
Song Jian: Because of the existence of independent brand enterprises, China has really entered the automobile era.
For example, when China's automobile industry was just opened, a Jetta and an ordinary Santana cost about 100,000 to 200,000. After the Chery Fengyun car came out, it only sold 80 thousand at that time, and the configuration was the same as that of Jetta, which lowered the price. Now Fengyun sells more than 40 thousand, and Jetta has become more than 60 thousand Without these independent brands, I estimate that the current price of Jetta is 1.2 million yuan, 1.3 million yuan.
Although cars are more expensive than home appliances, and the usage fees are also expensive, at least people with middle income or above can afford them, which makes China truly become the second largest car market in the world.
Nowadays, foreign manufacturers bring all the more advanced cars to China for production, and even launch their new cars in China, which was unimaginable in the past. For example, Santana was a product of Germany1980s, which was ten years behind. Today, it is estimated that no one will buy a car that is more than ten years behind the world.
Southern Weekend: What are the problems of independent brand enterprises?
Song Jian: On the other hand, there is still a big gap between China and advanced countries in automobile research and development. Most of the owners of domestic independent brands are reverse-developed, that is, if people have it, they will copy it, and then they will not infringe it with a little change. Backward countries may have to take this road, which is the fastest way.
As a country with backward technology, it is understandable as long as it does not infringe others' patents.
Nowadays, the technology of the invisible parts of the car is similar, and the visible parts will be changed.
Southern Weekend: On the surface, it seems that all the cars are similar. How to judge what a good car is?
Song Jian: For the whole vehicle, it depends on the vibration and noise. Noise is invisible, and no one knows how others make it. This is a delicate job and it costs a lot of money. Now look at the level of the car, noise is a very important indicator, and the noise of cars at all levels is different. For example, if you buy a car of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan, you can accept the noise.
The noise sources are engine, transmission system and tires. What a good car hears at high speed is the sound of tires, even the sound of the engine is not obvious. How to shield these three sounds requires high technology.
Another criterion is the safety of collision. Ordinary cars can meet national or European standards, but some cars are exported to Europe and tested in NCAP (European five-star safety standard). They were rated as one star and two stars, which was embarrassing. In foreign countries, people who are lower than Samsung will not buy it at all.
When some independent manufacturers build cars, they may cut corners because they don't know how to meet these standards, or they may not do well, and sometimes they may lose their safety.
What you can buy is not willing to develop.
Southern Weekend: How to treat plagiarism in backward countries?
Song Jian: Some Japanese car companies copied from America and Europe in the early days, but only in the first stage of development. At the same time, they made an in-depth analysis, copied all the data, and studied why people do this. If this is made clear, it may be possible to develop semi-reversely and semi-positively in the next generation of development, and it will all become forward development in the third generation.
Now China is still in the first step, moving towards the second step, but I feel the pace is very slow. I don't see much positive.
Southern Weekend: Technology development needs money and time. If you buy technology, you can develop by leaps and bounds.
Song Jian: Some people want to take shortcuts, such as one-sided pursuit of leap-forward development. This is purely irresponsible for mastering technology, and technology cannot be leapfrogged. Of course, if someone tries ten roads and the last one passes, we may not necessarily take nine roads. From this perspective, the leap is correct. But if you don't even learn this road, how can you succeed?
For example, most internal combustion engines and automatic gearboxes rely on foreign countries, and one reason is that we don't develop them ourselves. We didn't invest enough.
It costs more than one billion dollars to build a car chassis system abroad, which is a complicated thing. For example, the replacement of a car is almost the change of the body, and the performance improvement of the chassis is gradual. For example, Toyota's Corolla has sold more than 20 million vehicles. At least 30 years ago, this kind of chassis platform was used. You see, it has not undergone revolutionary changes. It has changed a lot over the years, but it is not like the shape of a car.
Southern Weekend: Where is the weakest link of automobile technology in China? What other things need to be solved urgently?
Song Jian: The part with electronic control function is the weakest in our country at present. It's just a chip embedded in a car, which can't be read or copied.
Southern Weekend: Don't they register patents?
Song Jian: Like Coca-Cola, people don't register patents. Once they register, the core things must be made public. If not, how can they apply? Moreover, an invention patent is valid for 20 years, even if it is applied, it will expire.
Now the electronic control technology takes the route of Coca-Cola. No application, no reference. What is visible is easy to do, but what is invisible is difficult to do. It depends entirely on your understanding of its function to develop it. Our level is at least ten years behind that of foreign countries. Like the automatic gearbox, this may be worse. If you don't invest, the gap will get bigger and bigger.
China people are reluctant to develop what they can buy, but we can always make what we can't buy. Atomic bombs and satellites are not for you, and China's development ability is not weak at all, which is the characteristic of China people.
Has the independent brand missed the development period?
Southern Weekend: Is it the best time to develop self-owned brand cars?
Song Jian: Actually, the best time is over. Domestic independent brands beat the car price so low, only selling a little manufacturing cost, and there is no development potential in the long run. Without capital accumulation, how can you complete technology research and development?
But now we have to lower the price to grab the market with the joint venture company, otherwise there will be no other advantages. The current industrial environment is no longer Japan in the11950s and South Korea in the11970s. In addition, these two countries have well protected the domestic market, so their automobile enterprises have developed rapidly. And our country has joined the WTO, and it can no longer protect the market. Our national spirit is different from that of Japanese and Korean nationals. We are close to the United States and belong to the culture of mainland countries-whoever is good and cheap will buy it, lacking a sense of crisis. This culture sometimes doesn't particularly protect its own things.
Southern Weekend: When is the best time for China to develop its own brand cars?
Song Jian: In the 1980s and 1990s, several major automobile companies were able to complete the accumulation, such as SAIC. At that time, Santana could sell for that price. At that time, the exchange rate between RMB and USD was only 1:4, and RMB was more valuable, so a lot of funds were accumulated for research and development. It is difficult for enterprises to do business in R&D now. For example, it is more difficult for Brilliance to be a high-end independent brand car. Because R&D's booth cost per car is relatively high, its cars hardly make money. It turned out that the money earned by Jinbei van subsidized the car.
Southern Weekend: Now, BYD and JAC are making cars. Since it is not the best time, why are there so many companies pouring in?
Song Jian: Local governments welcome enterprises to build cars. 20 billion sales (for example, 20,000 cars with a price of 65.438+10,000 yuan are sold every year) plus 654.38+ 07% value-added tax, and the local government tax revenue is 3.4 billion. As in the past, many local governments are impulsive. Because it has high sales, high output value and high tax.
Southern Weekend: With such a poor industrial environment, what are the prospects of so many independent brand factories?
Song Jian: The living environment of cars is not very optimistic now. Many enterprises switch to cars, and I think its overall profit will drop. For example, when Jinbei is not a car, the profit is more than one billion. After building the car, it seems that it has been losing money for several years, and Chery has not seen much profit. When Jianghuai built the car, even the stock price fell. The investment in cars is very large, and it is a question mark whether there is any profit.
Without the support of local governments, it is not easy for them to compete with companies as big as the world.
Southern Weekend: Is the prospect of independent brands quite pessimistic?
Song Jian: Not really. Fortunately, there is a gap between us and foreign countries. We dissect a new foreign car, turn it into our own three years later, and then sell it. But it won't work in the long run.
And some companies have embarked on their own path. For example, Chery said that it exported 1 10000 vehicles last year, and the export vehicles sold more than domestic vehicles 1500-2000 dollars. This is its profit, which may be a better way.
Southern Weekend: How do you evaluate the contribution of your brand?
Song Jian: Independent brands are in a difficult situation, and their main contribution is social benefits. If there is no self-owned brand car, the joint venture brand car is at least 50% more expensive. Without it, I'm afraid most people in China can't afford cars, and it can't bring convenience to the whole people, and the growth of national GDP will be greatly affected.
It is also a good thing to make social contributions. Automobile is an efficient and high-speed means of transportation, which brings about the improvement of social efficiency. If the efficiency is improved, the society will progress easily.
A society without cars is by no means a modern society, nor will it be an efficient society.