AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)11/10 Report--

Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said in a speech at the 12th China Automobile Forum in 2022 that the domestic intelligent new energy vehicle industry is facing many difficulties, and the problem of lack of core and expensive electricity is prominent. As a result, Changan Automobile has lost 606000 vehicles this year. It pointed out that the price of power battery is rising, and the whole car company is suffering. Battery prices account for more than 40% of vehicle costs, causing great disturbance to enterprise costs. In addition, it also said that the lack of core led to an increase in the procurement cost of the mainframe factory, which also led to the failure of new models to be launched on time, and delivery seriously affected the rhythm, sales and brand image of new products on the market. The production order of the whole industry has been seriously disrupted, and semi-finished products form a large inventory.

According to Zhu Huarong, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate has risen tenfold from 53000 yuan / ton in early 2021 to 560000 yuan / ton. As a result, the cost of different models of Changan Automobile has increased by 5000 yuan to 35000 yuan. Zhu Huarong said: "in particular, a series of intelligent and electrified products, such as Avita 11, Deep Blue 03 and UNI-V, which are deeply loved by users, have also been seriously affected this year."

According to relevant data: from January to October 2022, the cumulative total production of Changan Automobile is 1.8614 million vehicles, and the total sales volume is 1.9056 million vehicles. Among them, the total production in October was 229500 vehicles and the total sales volume was 224800 vehicles. In terms of new energy vehicle sales, the cumulative sales of Changan independent brand new energy vehicles from January to September in 2022 was 156400, of which September sales were 30046, an increase of 163.15% over the same period last year. From January to October of 2022, the cumulative sales of independent brand new energy vehicles were 193000, up 133.25% from the same period last year, of which October sales were 36537, up 234.40% from the same period last year.

From this data, it is not difficult to see that the current total sales of Changan Automobile is greater than its total output. In the case of the sharp increase in sales of new energy vehicles, the lack of core is bound to have a certain impact on the output of new energy vehicles. As early as April 15 this year, Changan Automobile announced that due to the recent sharp rise in raw material prices, Changan Automobile will adjust the official guiding price of the new energy model UNI-K iDD by 6000 yuan.

In addition, according to the third quarter report released by Changan Automobile, the operating income of Changan Automobile was 28.778 billion yuan, up 28.39% from the same period last year; the net profit belonging to shareholders of listed companies was 1.042 billion yuan, down 17.47% from the same period last year; the net profit belonging to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 739 million yuan, down 26.07% from the same period last year. In response to the decline in net profit, officials said that in the first three quarters, the company's manpower, material resources and other costs increased significantly, and there was a large gap in terminal delivery. It is understood that from January to September, the average price of batteries rose from 0.68 yuan per kilowatt to 1.20 yuan per kilowatt, an increase of nearly 60 percent, and the cost of batteries alone increased by 650 million to 700 million yuan.

In fact, the automobile industry has been plagued by the lack of cores and the rising cost of battery raw materials in recent years. In the case of hot sales of new energy vehicles, due to the global shortage of chips and parts, as well as the decline of new energy vehicle subsidies and other factors, many new energy vehicle companies are also facing huge cost pressure. earlier, a number of new energy vehicle companies have raised the prices of their vehicles. It is understood that the main reason for the rise in the cost of battery raw materials is the rise in the price of lithium carbonate. One of the raw materials of the power battery, the core component of new energy vehicles, is lithium carbonate. The rapid rise in the price of lithium carbonate is one of the reasons for the increase in the price of new energy vehicles. In addition, nickel and cobalt are also important components of new energy vehicle batteries. New energy vehicle lithium-ion batteries have a total of three layers, among which the lithium cathode is made of lithium mixed with nickel and other minerals such as cobalt, manganese or aluminum. Up to now, the prices of lithium, nickel (ternary cathode) and aluminum (structural parts, parts) for new energy vehicles are all at historic highs, especially lithium carbonate. According to data from Shanghai Steel Federation, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate rose 5000 yuan / ton today, with an average price of 587500 yuan / ton, continuing to reach a record high; the price of battery-grade lithium hydroxide rose 3000 yuan / ton.

The lack of core is especially critical for a car, the lack of any key chip will cause the vehicle can not be produced and delivered normally. Therefore, in the current lack of core environment, many car companies also use reduction and other ways to achieve delivery because of the lack of core. The lack of core also has a great impact on consumers, after all, the shortage of chips and other raw materials makes car prices rise, consumers have to pay for it. Due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, the epidemic situation, logistics and other factors, the price of raw materials continues to rise. According to the incomplete statistics concerned by the automobile industry, nearly 50 new energy models from more than 20 car companies, including BYD, Xiaopeng Automobile, ideal Automobile and Nashi Automobile, have announced price increases since the beginning of this year. At present, the automobile industry is still in a state of shortage of key components, and some people in the industry expect that the problem of chip shortage will continue in the short term and is not expected to be alleviated until the second half of this year or 2023.

In view of the reasons for the shortage of chips, Zhu Huarong believes that first, the key technologies are controlled by people; second, the contradiction between the short-term outbreak of chip market demand and the long cycle of chip production, and the development of new technologies such as intelligent electric vehicles, virtual reality, meta-universe, etc., the demand for chips is growing rapidly, and the market order is generally more than twice the production capacity. Third, structural shortage is becoming the norm, and there is a lack of direct communication and planning between the automobile industry and the chip industry; fourth, because the whole vehicle enterprises and chip enterprises have not built a cooperative relationship of risk-sharing, there is no sense of trust between supply and demand, and the investment risk is also large, so the chip enterprises are not determined to invest. With regard to the pain point of "lack of core", Zhu Huarong proposed that the state, the automobile industry, the semiconductor industry and enterprises should work together to strengthen top-level design, system deployment, division of labor and cooperation, and make rapid breakthroughs.

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