Producer | He Xi typesetting | Ye Yuan
The era of Chinese cars has come!
On July 26, the world's automobile company Volkswagen announced that it will invest 700 million US dollars in the domestic new power car manufacturer Xiaopeng Motors, and jointly develop Volkswagen brand electric models for China with the latter; at the same time, Volkswagen's Audi brand It also announced that it has signed a strategic memorandum with its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC, and the two parties will jointly develop and launch new electric models to better serve the Chinese market.
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Volkswagen invests USD 700 million in Xpeng Motors
As soon as the news of Volkswagen's shareholding in Xiaopeng was announced, it immediately became the focus of heated discussions covering the entire Internet. The public opinion in the industry generally compares this strategic cooperation with the large-scale "market for technology" foreign cooperation initiated by the Chinese auto industry 30 years ago. Many opinions believe that foreign joint ventures and cooperation in the auto industry back then were more characterized by the dominance of foreign brands, while domestic auto companies looked up to foreign parties in marketing and relied on foreign guidance in technology paths. The strategic cooperation that Xiaopeng and SAIC participated in this time clearly shows a new atmosphere of "self-centered", which is quite in contrast with the situation 30 years ago. It is understood that Volkswagen Group owns Volkswagen, Jetta, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati brands, etc., with strong strength. Among them, the two major brands Volkswagen and Audi, which play a pillar role in market sales, have all participated in strategic cooperation with Chinese car companies.
It is understood that the strategic cooperation between the two parties has four main points: 1. The Volkswagen brand has reached a technical cooperation framework agreement with Xiaopeng Motors. 2. Volkswagen Group will increase the capital of Xiaopeng Motors by about 700 million US dollars, and hold about 4.99% of the shares of Xiaopeng Motors after the transaction is completed. 3. Audi signed a memorandum of understanding with SAIC to deepen the existing cooperation. Both cooperations will jointly develop electric energy-connected vehicles (ICV) exclusively for the Chinese market. The new models will complement the existing product portfolio, while opening up more segments and customer groups in the fast-growing Chinese electric mobility market. 4. The new strategic cooperation will further enhance the Group's local research and development capabilities and enable the Group to better meet the needs of Chinese customers.
As one of the Chinese partners of the strategic cooperation, He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, also shared the cooperation on social media. On July 26, He Xiaopeng posted on social media: "This photo has been taken for a long time, and it has not been released. Today's official announcement, thanks to Ralf and all the friends of the public for their trust. When it comes to hard work is the most basic quality, I look forward to joining hands with the big and the small to bring the best technology, the best products, and the best brands to the world." Obviously, He Xiaopeng's statement that "the photos have been taken for a long time" is actually expressing the "long-standing" cooperation between Xiaopeng and Volkswagen. It is understood that the negotiation between Volkswagen and Xiaopeng Motors started in the fourth quarter of last year, and the official announcement is a matter of course.
The capital market has also responded positively to this cooperation. The share price of Xiaopeng Motors in the US stock market has soared 26.69% since the news was announced, to 19.46 US dollars per share. The latest total market value is 16.848 billion US dollars (about 120.1 billion yuan). As of noon on July 27, SAIC Motor has risen slightly by 1.94%, with a latest market value of 171.63 billion yuan.
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Behind Volkswagen's investment in Xiaopeng
Judging from the content of the agreement, the cooperation between Xiaopeng and the international giant Volkswagen this time no longer adopts the old model of foreign technology and Chinese production capacity, which is commonly used in Sino-foreign joint ventures, but instead uses the technology platform independently developed by Xiaopeng. , intelligent driving system as the basis, and jointly launch new models. This shows that under the impact of the tide of new energy technology, the rise of domestic brands and the power balance with the world's auto giants have also shown an unprecedented new situation. First of all, the foreign Volkswagen brand has shown unprecedented "humility" in this cooperation. This is because Volkswagen is facing dual pressure from the auto market and the capital market under the new normal. As an international car company that has been actively involved in the Chinese market since 1978, Volkswagen has long been in a leading position in the domestic market. However, as the impact of new energy technologies continues to spread, Volkswagen's market position has faced a severe test in recent years.
According to statistics from the Passenger Passenger Association, the total annual sales of the domestic auto market will reach more than 26 million by 2022, ranking first in the world. At the same time, the penetration rate of new energy in the automobile market has reached more than 35% by June 2023. Obviously, under the leadership of China, the world's largest market, new energy technology has become an unavoidable way for all car companies to face the future. However, what worries the European business community and the capital market is that Volkswagen Group has fallen behind in this new field in recent years. In the first half of 2021, Volkswagen Group's pure electric vehicle deliveries in China were only 62,400, a year-on-year decrease of 2%, accounting for only 3.3% of the total deliveries, far lower than the 19.5% in the European market and the United States. 12.4% of the market. In contrast, Chinese new energy vehicle brands such as BYD, GAC Aian, and Great Wall Euler have shown strong growth momentum, grabbing more market share by virtue of being closer to local consumer needs and faster innovation capabilities . Facing the status quo, the Volkswagen Group must speed up the adjustment of its strategic layout in an all-round way. To this end, Volkswagen has announced that it will launch 15 MEB platforms in China before 2025, and plans to achieve more than 50% of new energy vehicles sold in the Chinese market by 2030. The important cooperation with Xiaopeng this time is obviously regarded by the public as a key step in realizing the future strategic layout.
Founded in 2014, Xiaopeng Motors is one of the earliest start-up companies in China to set foot in the field of smart electric vehicles. Compared with other new car-making forces, the biggest technical feature of Xiaopeng Motors is that it insists on independent research and development of intelligent assisted driving software and core hardware in the whole stack, so as to bring users an excellent intelligent driving experience. With the support of technological advantages and product strength, Xpeng officially landed on the New York Stock Exchange on August 27, 2020. The scale of fundraising broke the IPO record of the global new energy vehicle industry at that time, and the stock code was "NYSE:XPEV". As of July 7, 2021, Xiaopeng Motors will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the stock code "9868.HK", becoming the first new Chinese automaker to be listed on both Hong Kong, China and New York, the United States.
For a long time, Xiaopeng has been regarded as a practical enterprise with a strong technical foundation in new energy "three electric" and intelligent driving. Today, the technical level of Xpeng Automobile's intelligent driving system XNGP has firmly ranked first in the domestic intelligent driving echelon; in terms of battery life, the 800V silicon carbide high-voltage platform launched by Xiaopeng can charge for 5 minutes and has a battery life of 200 kilometers. The SEPA 2.0 Swing Architecture, which integrates front and rear integrated aluminum die-casting and CIB battery body integration technology, will open up a broad space for the iterative development of future models. At present, Xpeng Motors has launched three mass-produced models, namely Xpeng G3, Xpeng P7 and Xpeng G6. Among them, Xpeng P7 is the first in China to have both XNGP full-scenario intelligent driving capabilities and 800V silicon carbide high-voltage The future of the car with charging capacity is limitless. Cooperating with such a car company is indeed a good choice for the Volkswagen All in new energy track to achieve future-oriented transformation and upgrading.
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The era of Chinese cars has come
Both parties are quite satisfied with this strategic cooperation, no matter from He Xiaopeng’s “taken a long time” photos or from Volkswagen Group’s grand attitude towards the cooperation agreement. From the perspective of the public, Xiaopeng, as a new car company with extremely advanced innovation capabilities and car-making concepts, will bring advanced technologies to the cooperation. In the strategic agreement, the G9 model, which both parties attach great importance to, will serve as a development platform for Volkswagen and Xpeng to jointly launch new models in the future. G9 is Xiaopeng's first product to realize the popularization of 800V, and it is also the first product to mass-produce 4C ultra-fast charging battery. Agility, while urban areas can achieve 700 kilometers of battery life.
More importantly, through the evolution from the G6 to the G9 platform, Xiaopeng has also achieved a world-class level of high-level assisted driving. On the G6 model that has been launched on the market, Xiaopeng's smart driving technology can bring users the greatest convenience and intelligent experience in scenarios such as highways, urban roads, and parking lots. In the rigorous evaluation by professional organizations and the trials of many experienced users, this system's support for functions such as automatic steering and U-turn, lane change and overtaking, bypassing obstacles, and avoiding pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles is impressive. The G9 with more advanced technology will definitely bring a huge impetus to Volkswagen's new energy intelligent layout. Conversely, from Xiaopeng’s point of view, after cooperating with Volkswagen Group, the other party has covered Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 supply chain systems across the country, which will inevitably have a stabilizing effect on Xiaopeng’s future component supply reimbursement. The world-renowned brand status of Volkswagen and the sales channel system that has been inherited for a hundred years and spread across more than 100 countries and regions around the world will bring unprecedented support for the Xiaopeng brand to go global and achieve a higher market positioning. The strategic cooperation between the two parties is a joint progress for each to achieve growth and enhance competitiveness.
In fact, judging from the situation of the entire industry, the cooperation between Xiaopeng and Volkswagen this time is not an isolated incident. Not long before Volkswagen announced the strategic cooperation agreement, its sub-brand Audi also simultaneously launched a comprehensive cooperation with SAIC's Zhiji brand in the three-electric system and intelligent driving system. Going back two weeks, Weilai, another "new force" car manufacturer, also announced that a company in the Middle East named CYVN Investments RSC Ltd would acquire Weilai from an affiliate of Tencent for a total price of US$350 million. Class A common stock (“Secondary Share Transfer”). In fact, the company has previously invested in Weilai. After the completion of the second share transfer, CYVN investments RSC Ltd beneficially owns about 7.0% of Weilai's total issued and tradable shares. It is understood that this company is actually an investment institution with a majority stake held by the Abu Dhabi government, and it can be described as a typical "Middle Eastern local tyrant". This cooperation aims to expand its layout in new technological fields such as new energy vehicles.
So, what expectations do international giants have for cooperation with Chinese new energy car companies? This can be seen from the posting of Volkswagen China Chairman and CEO Bai Ruide on Weibo. He said: The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the Chinese market has exceeded 30%, and this figure is expected to reach 50% by 2025. The Volkswagen Group must quickly seize the huge potential of market growth and meet the expectations of Chinese users for high-quality products. Obviously, from the "old energy" giants of oil in the Middle East, to the old "old car" forces of European fuel vehicles, the financial and entity giants all over the world have turned their attention to China's new energy industry, and they have regarded Chinese auto companies as technological and technological innovations. The exporter of innovation hopes to achieve future-oriented industrial upgrading through strategic cooperation with China's emerging car companies. Xiaopeng and Weilai are just the beginning. I believe that in the future we will see more cooperation between international car companies and domestic car companies.
Under the wave of new energy, the era of Chinese car companies has arrived.