Ali issued an announcement stating that the autonomous driving team of Dharma Institute will be merged into Cainiao Group. Although it did not say to close the autonomous driving business, the autonomous driving business is no longer a business that Ali values. The result is the major changes in the current automotive industry. .
1. Traditional cars begin to exert force
According to the sales ranking data of new energy auto companies in April this year, six traditional auto companies including GAC, SAIC, Geely, Changan, Great Wall, and SAIC Volkswagen have been squeezed into the top 10 domestic new energy auto companies. After making efforts, it quickly rose in the new energy vehicle market.
If you add a few strong new energy vehicle companies such as BYD and Tesla, there are only two Internet car manufacturers left, namely Ideal Auto and Nezha Auto, and several other well-known Internet companies. Car manufacturers have disappeared from the TOP10.
This shows that Internet car manufacturing is beginning to show signs of defeat under the offensive of traditional auto companies with profound technology accumulation. They have begun to find it difficult to cope with the competition of traditional auto companies. Time is running out for them.
After all, a car is a high-tech product, and it is much more complicated than consumer electronics. There are nearly 10,000 accessories for a car, but only about 100 for a mobile phone. The huge difference in technology makes many Internet-based cars start to show up after entering the deep water area. Signs of lack of follow-up, in contrast, traditional auto companies with deep accumulation began to launch a fierce offensive after reacting, squeezing the Internet to build cars.
2. Consumers’ attitude towards cars has changed
In the early stage of the rise of new energy, consumers were fooled by the dazzling new technologies of Internet-based car-building, and they were full of freshness in Internet-based car-building. Some consumers favored Internet-based car-building, which provided opportunities for Internet-based car-building.
However, with the popularity of new energy vehicles, consumers gradually realize that no matter what kind of car, the car itself is the foundation of the car, and durability, safety, and reliability are important considerations for buying a car. After all, the service life of a car exceeds In the past ten years, automobiles are related to the life safety of consumers, and these are precisely the advantages of traditional automobile companies.
The difference between automobiles and consumer electronic products such as mobile phones is also reflected in the after-sales service. After 5,000 to 10,000 kilometers, you have to go to a 4S shop for maintenance, while traditional automobile companies have formed a complete service system after decades of construction. The Internet builds cars by burning money. To build a sales and after-sales service system, it is difficult to compare with traditional auto companies.
Changes in consumers' attitudes towards cars have resulted in traditional car companies regaining favor from consumers, and even sales growth of new energy vehicles has begun to slow down significantly, with some consumers turning to fuel vehicles. The data for April showed that the sales of domestic passenger cars increased by 2.5% month-on-month, while the sales of new energy vehicles fell by 3.6% month-on-month, which proves that fuel vehicles have regained the favor of consumers.
3. Opportunities for technology companies are slim
Ali’s research and development of autonomous driving technology is a strategy for many technology companies to enter the automotive industry. However, several auto companies such as SAIC, GAC, and Geely have stated that they need to lead autonomous driving technology and do not want to become a vassal of technology companies. There is really little chance for third-party autonomous driving companies.
Other technology companies hold a lot of technology and then cut into the automotive industry. However, just as the above-mentioned Internet car manufacturing has stepped up efforts to enter the new energy vehicle market, Internet car manufacturing is being squeezed by traditional auto companies. It seems that this The road is gradually being blocked by traditional automobile companies.
Back to LeTV, LeTV rose in the TV industry that year and once ranked fourth in the domestic TV market; it also showed a rapid upward trend in the mobile phone industry. However, as it entered the automotive industry, the speed of burning money in the automotive business quickly dragged down LeTV. At that time, the new energy vehicle market was just emerging, and LeTV had no chance. Now, under the pressure of traditional auto companies, the opportunities left to these Internet-based vehicles are even smaller.
It can be said that Ali chose to reduce the investment in the research and development of autonomous driving technology at this time, and the investment in the automobile business should be reduced. A LeTV.