AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)06/14 Report--

Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said at the 2021 China Automobile Chongqing Forum on June 13, "I think the old habit of Chinese people looking down on independent brands should be changed, because we have really changed now, and we have no objection. People buy joint venture brands, but before buying them, they hope to have a look at the stores of their own brands, open them and compare them again. We are working hard and changing. We hope that domestic consumers will take a closer look at our own brands and drive more of our cars. "

Wang Chuanfu said that Chinese brands have achieved comprehensive transcendence at the technical level, whether it is styling technology, or the core technology of new energy vehicles such as batteries, motors and electric controls, as well as intelligent technologies such as intelligent Internet connection and intelligent cockpit. it has surpassed the technical level of the joint venture brand and led the development of new energy vehicles around the world.

Take BYD as an example, BYD launched two major technologies, blade battery and DM-i hybrid, to solve the safety pain points that the market is most concerned about through blade battery, and to accelerate the replacement of new energy vehicles to fuel vehicles through super hybrid DM-i. Data show that BYD's cumulative car sales from January to May were 195674, an increase of 56.66% over the same period last year, of which sales of new energy vehicles were 113213, up 143.41% from a year earlier. New energy vehicles are expected to account for 70% of the Chinese market in 2030, and Chinese car brands are expected to account for 60% of the market, Wang Chuanfu said at the forum.

What Wang Chuanfu said is not without reason! From the perspective of automobile development history, although China's automobile industry has developed for a short time, it has developed rapidly, and it has become the largest automobile market in the world by 2009. Many independent brands such as BYD, Geely, Changan and so on have developed rapidly during this period.

It should be noted that although China has become the largest automobile market in the world, joint venture brands account for nearly half of the market share in China, while a large number of independent brands can only be divided into the low-end automobile market of less than 100000 yuan. coupled with the lack of core technology in the early manufacturing of Chinese car brands, by imitating overseas brand models, it has left a "shoddy" image to the Chinese people over time. Of course, it is precisely because Chinese brand cars are cheap, so independent brands have a higher market share in the domestic market than joint venture brands, and it also allows consumers to buy cars at a lower threshold.

However, the low sense of existence of independent brands is constantly changing. with the improvement of the technology and brands of independent brands, more and more consumers begin to pay attention to their own brands and begin to buy Chinese-branded cars. Take the Shanghai auto show held on April 19 as an example. As the first A-class auto show in China in 2021, it attracted domestic and foreign auto brands to participate in the exhibition with "embracing change". The three major changes most directly reflected in the Shanghai auto show: the replacement of traditional internal combustion engines by new energy has become more and more obvious, and nearly 40 new energy models are on display at the Shanghai auto show. Traditional luxury brands began to fight back against the new power of car building, such as Mercedes-Benz launched pure electric models such as EQA, EQB, EQS, etc.; the popularity of independent brands is increasing, and the popularity of joint venture brands is relatively deserted.

These three changes in the Shanghai Auto Show can reflect that independent brands do have enough weight to compete with joint venture brands. Of course, at present, it is better to be able to compete with mainstream joint venture brands, with car brands that have accumulated core technology, including first-tier independent brands such as Geely, Great Wall, BYD, Changan, and so on. Second-and third-tier independent brands may face elimination if they do not keep up with the market development in the past two years.

According to the market share data of major categories of brands released by the Federation of passengers, the cumulative sales of Chinese automobile brands from January to May were 3.1678 million, with a market share of 37.9%, while the cumulative sales of mainstream joint venture brands were 3.968 million, with a market share of 47.4%. In terms of specific departments, the market share of German, Japanese and Korean systems all declined in the first five months of this year, reaching 25.1%, 22.9% and 2.9% respectively. In contrast, independent brands had a market share of 37.9% in the first five months, an increase of 2.1% compared with 2020. The decline of mainstream joint ventures is in sharp contrast to the growth of independent brands, reflecting that independent brands are constantly eroding the market of joint venture brands.

The competitiveness of Chinese brand new energy products is being strengthened, and its share in the domestic market is increasing, but at the same time, it is also faced with the problem that brand recognition is lower than that of joint venture brands and consumer concept has not completely changed. Continuous technological innovation is needed to change consumers' perception of Chinese automobile brands. Of course, independent brands want to be recognized by consumers, not only in technology, but also in brands, services and other aspects, to get rid of consumers' inherent concept of independent brands.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat