Recently, BMW Group, Tesla, Volkswagen and other foreign automobile brands have announced plans to expand production in China's automobile production bases, and at the same time, they have strengthened cooperation with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, Horizon, Hegang Group and other automobile industry chain-related enterprises.
According to industry insiders, with the accelerated integration of the global automobile supply chain, the new energy automobile industry will enter a new round of innovation iteration cycle. China is not only in a leading position in terms of market capacity, but also leads the global trend of technological innovation of new energy vehicles.
Accelerate the expansion of production base.
A few days ago, it was reported that BMW Group will invest another 10 billion yuan to expand its high-voltage battery production center in Shenyang. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of BMW Group said that at present, there is no more information to provide, and the company continues to be optimistic about the development of China's new energy industry and strengthen cooperation with China.
In recent years, BMW Group has been accelerating the construction of its automobile production base in China. According to public information, BMW Group's largest production base in the world is BMW Brilliance Shenyang Production Base, which has two vehicle factories in Dadong and Tiexi, a powertrain factory and a research and development center.
It is understood that the renovation and expansion projects of BMW Brilliance Tiexi New Plant and Dadong Plant are currently underway, and the annual production capacity of the entire production base will gradually increase to 650,000 vehicles after completion and production. The second phase of BMW Brilliance Power Battery Center is about to open, and it will take the lead in mass production of BMW Group's latest fifth-generation BMW eDrive power battery.
In addition, in June this year, the Lida factory, the third complete vehicle factory of BMW Group in Shenyang production base, was officially opened. The total investment of this project reached 15 billion yuan, covering an area of 2.9 million square meters. After completion, it will have four production processes: stamping, car body, painting and final assembly.
China is not only favored by foreign traditional automobile brands, but also 'depended' by Tesla, the 'number one player' of global new energy vehicles. It is the first overseas factory of Tesla Giga Shanghai Tesla. Elon musk, CEO of Tesla, previously said, 'Tesla has produced more than 3 million cars, one third of which are made in China.'
'Shanghai Super Factory is Tesla's main export center, supplying cars to most markets outside North America. The production speed of Shanghai Super Factory in the third quarter exceeded the previous quarter's production record. ' The relevant person in charge of Tesla told the reporter.
Tesla has also recently accelerated the expansion of Shanghai Super Factory to increase production capacity. Tesla disclosed in its financial report for the second quarter of 2022 that after the expansion of Shanghai Super Factory, the annual production capacity will exceed 750,000 units, making it the largest super factory in the world.
According to the information of Shanghai enterprises and institutions' environmental information disclosure platform, the Tesla Giga Shanghai production line optimization project was completed in September this year. This production line optimization is mainly the expansion of stamping workshop, body workshop, painting workshop, assembly workshop and logistics operation center.
Tesla said that the project will increase production capacity by increasing working hours, increasing the number of employees and increasing the frequency of material turnover. It is expected that 4,000 employees will be added after the optimization of production line.
According to industry insiders, China's advantages in human resources, land, raw materials and other resources are one of the important reasons for attracting foreign automobile brands to invest and build factories in the early stage. With the rapid development and maturity of China's automobile industry chain, the formation of several automobile industry clusters represented by Shanghai, and the rise of huge automobile consumption market, the cooperation between major foreign brands and China has become increasingly close and diversified, and China has become an important pole of the world automobile industry.
Carry out industrial chain cooperation
In addition to building factories and cars in China, strengthening cooperation with China's automobile industry chain enterprises is a new trend in the recent development of major foreign automobile brands.
On October 13th, audi ag announced that its software company CARIAD would establish a joint venture with Horizon, so as to speed up the development of advanced driving assistance system and automatic driving system for China market. Audi ag plans to invest about 2.4 billion euros in this cooperation, and the transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, the leader of China's power battery industry, is the object of cooperation among major foreign brands. In August this year, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited announced the construction of the second European factory-Debrecen factory in Hungary, which is close to the automobile manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen.
Xue Fuming, member of the board of directors of Mercedes-Benz Group and chief technology officer in charge of R&D and procurement, said: 'Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited will provide the next generation of electric vehicles produced in Europe with excellent performance and carbon-neutral battery cells, in response to our local procurement strategy. Mercedes-Benz has also become the first and largest customer of the new factory in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited under the initial capacity scale. '
On September 9th, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited and BMW Group announced a long-term agreement. Starting from 2025, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited will supply cylindrical batteries for pure electric vehicles of BMW Group's 'new generation' model structure. It is reported that the above-mentioned battery products will be produced in two battery factories in China and Europe in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, and each factory will supply BMW Group with an annual production capacity of 20GWh.
In August this year, BMW Group also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on Building Green Low-carbon Steel Supply Chain with Hegang Group, announcing that it will gradually use Hegang Group's low-carbon automobile steel in mass production from 2023, and gradually transition to green automobile steel based on hydrogen metallurgy technology in 2026, so as to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in automobile production and realize green low-carbon production.
According to the CITIC Research Report, with the accelerated integration of the global automobile supply chain, the new energy automobile industry will enter a new cycle of innovation iteration, and the new formats and models represented by battery materials, battery structures and innovative models will further drive the industry to accelerate its development. Among them, China's supply chain is globally competitive, with advantages in production capacity, technology, cost and customers. It is expected that it will fully enjoy the growth dividend of the industry, and there is huge room for future growth.
Leading the global innovation trend
After a few decades of development, China has become an important automobile manufacturer and exporter in the world. The data shows that in the first three quarters of this year, China's automobile enterprises exported 2.117 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 55.5%, exceeding the total automobile export volume in 2021. In August, China's automobile exports surpassed Germany, ranking second in the world, second only to Japan.
In recent years, independent brands, represented by BYD, have continued to exert their strength on the new energy vehicle track. The data shows that in the first three quarters of this year, the retail sales of BYD's new energy passenger cars were about 1.153 million, surpassing Tesla's global delivery of 908,600 new energy vehicles in the same period. Since the beginning of this year, independent brands such as BYD and Great Wall Motor have accelerated their 'going out to sea', and new energy vehicles have landed in many overseas markets such as Southeast Asia, South America and Europe.
The rapid growth of automobile export volume is inseparable from China's strong automobile production supply chain system, especially with the acceleration of global automobile electrification transformation, the advantages of China's related industrial chain become more and more prominent.
Power battery is the core component of new energy vehicles. At present, the largest power battery capacity in the world is mainly distributed in China. According to the latest data, nearly two-thirds of the top 20 enterprises in the global power battery market share are China enterprises. Power battery enterprises represented by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited and BYD not only have advantages in production capacity and market share, but also lead the technical development direction of power battery industry.
The Kirin battery launched by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited has a volume utilization rate of up to 72%, which can achieve a battery life of over 1,000 kilometers, thus reducing the battery life anxiety of new energy vehicles. In addition, new battery technologies such as solid-state battery, sodium ion battery and hydrogen fuel cell, and domestic enterprises such as Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, Yiwei Lithium Energy and Honeycomb Energy are also accelerating their research and development.
Chipzer, chairman of BMW Group, said, 'In the past ten years, China has established a strong industrial base of sustainable technology, whether it is solar energy, wind energy or high-voltage power battery. China not only leads the market capacity, but also leads the global innovation trend.'
'If a certain technology takes shape in China, it can be applied on a large scale all over the world. We have witnessed this in the development of new energy automobile industry. China has become the world's largest new energy vehicle market for seven consecutive years and will continue to be the main driving force for sustainable travel. ' Qize said.