AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)06/21 Report--

On June 21, Honda announced that GAC Honda's brand-new electric vehicle assembly plant had been officially started. The plant is located in the factory area of Guangzhou Development Zone of GAC Honda, covering an area of 400,000 square meters. After completion in 2024, the annual production capacity will be 120,000 vehicles, with a total investment of 70 billion yen (about 3.49 billion yuan).

According to the data, GAC Honda is jointly invested, constructed and operated by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., Honda Technical Research Industry Co., Ltd. and Honda Technical Research Industry (China) Investment Co., Ltd. according to the share ratio of 50:40:10, with a joint venture period of 30 years. At present, GAC Honda owns Huangpu Factory, Zengcheng Factory and No.3 Factory and Engine Factory in Guangzhou City.

It is worth mentioning that Dongfeng Honda is also building a brand-new electric vehicle factory. It is understood that Dongfeng Honda currently has three vehicle manufacturers. Among them, Dongfeng Honda Plant I was completed and put into operation on April 1,2004, with an annual production capacity of 240,000 vehicles, located in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone; Plant II was completed and put into operation on July 10,2012, with an annual production capacity of 240,000 vehicles, located in Hanyang District of Wuhan City; Plant III was put into operation on April 12,2019, with an annual production capacity of 240,000 units, and reached the production conditions for new energy vehicles, located in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone. In February 2022, Dongfeng Honda took over the second factory of DPCA located in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, and transformed the factory into a brand-new factory specializing in the production of pure electric vehicles after taking over.

On October 13,2021, Honda China released its electrification strategy, launching a brand-new pure electric brand "e:N" and a brand-new intelligent and efficient pure electric architecture "e:N Architecture". At this conference, Honda China brought two brand-new pure electric vehicles, one from Dongfeng Honda e: NS1 and the other from Guangzhou Automobile Honda e: NP1. The two models are sister models to each other. Honda China announced at the launch conference that it will launch 10 pure electric vehicles in the Chinese market in the next five years, and will sell only pure electric and hybrid models in China from 2030, and will no longer launch new fuel vehicles.

At present, Dongfeng Honda e: NS1 and Guangzhou Automobile Honda e: NP1 have been listed for six consecutive years. On April 26, Dongfeng Honda e: NS1 was officially launched. Four new models were launched. The price range after subsidy was 175,000 - 218,000 yuan. On June 20, GAC Honda e:NP1 was officially launched. Four new models were launched. The price range after subsidy was 175,000 - 218,000 yuan. According to the automobile industry attention report, the two models are sister models to each other, positioning small pure electric vehicles, based on Honda e:N Architecture F platform, adopting front-end motor layout, the two models are basically the same in appearance, interior, power and other aspects.

In addition to Honda cars, Toyota and Nissan, which have always been unfriendly to new energy vehicles, are also accelerating the layout of electric vehicles. On April 28, FAW Toyota bZ4X and GAC Toyota bZ4X opened pre-sale simultaneously, and the pre-sale price range was 220,000 - 300,000 yuan. It is understood that bZ4X is the first pure electric SUV strategically launched by Toyota Motor Corporation. The new car is made by FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota. The two models are sister models to each other. The new car is built based on e-TNGA architecture, positioning medium-sized pure electric SUV, providing two power forms of precursor and four-wheel drive. In addition, Dongfeng Nissan Ariya also officially opened reservations on June 18, positioning compact pure electric SUV. At this point, the new electric vehicles of the "Japanese Top Three" in the Chinese market have been assembled.

When the transformation of traditional fuel vehicles into new energy vehicles has become an inevitable trend, more and more brands have announced the timetable for stopping selling fuel vehicles for six consecutive years. Volvo, for example, will be fully electric by 2025, with pure electric models accounting for 50% of total sales, selling only pure electric cars by 2030, and selling all models online only by 2040. Jaguar previously announced that it will transform into a pure electric vehicle brand in 2025, among which Jaguar XJ replacement models will be electric, while developing new entry pure electric to replace Jaguar Xe, Jaguar XE and XF models will also be replaced by new pure electric by 2023, E-PACE and F-PACE fuel versions will exit the historical stage.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Association, believes that it is the general trend for Japanese automobile enterprises to accelerate to catch up with the electric wave, but they are also generally faced with the problems of insufficient accumulation of pure electric vehicle experience and weak industrial chain. How to renew ideas and actively transform is a topic that needs to be considered.

However, in the context of the continued popularity of new energy vehicles, the performance of mainstream joint venture brands is not objective. According to the data of the Association, the market share of mainstream joint-venture pure electric vehicles from January to May 2022 was only 5.2%, while the market share of self-owned brand pure electric vehicles was 84.6%.

At present, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and other international automobile brands still take traditional fuel vehicles as the main development force, and it seems difficult to let go of major events under the wave of new energy vehicles. Take Mercedes-Benz as an example, its EQA, EQB, EQC and other pure electric vehicles appear in the form of oil-to-electricity. Although the brand image of Mercedes-Benz for one hundred years endows electric vehicles with a proud attitude, this way is really difficult to be recognized in the current market. Take Volkswagen as an example, among which three brand-new electric vehicles will be launched in 2021, including ID.4, ID.6 and ID.3, which is regarded as winning a place in the joint venture pure electric model market. According to the data, FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen entered TOP 15 sales volume of new energy manufacturers in 2021.

According to Honda's plan, with the launch of brand-new electric vehicle products such as e:N series, after 2030, all new models launched in China will be electric vehicles such as pure electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, and no new fuel vehicles will be launched. In this context, can e: NP1 and e: NS1 achieve a "good start" for the e:N series? We will continue to pay attention.

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