Just started in 2009, the Chinese car has first booked its own position in the history of the car. Shortly after the revitalization plan was announced, car sales in the Chinese market beat the United States in January 2009 and reached the top spot in the world. In China, auto brands have become the few winners on the market with more than 30% share. For Chinese auto elites who have been fighting for years and have just emerged, this may be a year of reshuffling. Everyone expects changes in history.
Wei Jianjun, who has reached the undisputable year, is becoming one of the few characters in this changing history. Prior to this, no one had doubted that Great Wall Motors, led by the chairman of the private company, had a pivotal position in pickup trucks and economic SUVs. But this year, he and his company began to be frequently associated with a high-end field: the core power of the car.
In February 2009, the red dazzling appeared again in front of hundreds of reporters. The protagonist of this time is the all-aluminum 1.5V VT engine independently developed by the Great Wall. On the day of the listing, the red tone of the entire venue has the meaning of “open the doorâ€. This is indeed the case. Unlike the previous elves and dazzling listing, although still low-key, but for the future "in the A-class car market and a joint venture brand to compete," Wei Jianjun this self-confidence from the heart.
This feeling is similar to how Li Shufu and Yin Tongyue were a few years ago.
In October 2005, Chery announced that its new-generation engine, which was simultaneously introduced with leading technology from Europe, was officially named ACTECO and will be installed one after another in November. This is Chery’s official implementation of brand management in core components, marking the birth of the first engine brand that belongs to China.
In the summer of 2002, the MR479Q engine bearing the dream of Geely and the vitality of life and death took off in Ningbo and successfully replaced the Toyota 8A engine. In addition, the CVVT engine was successfully developed in March 2006 four years later.
This is not a simple analogy at different times. However, this comparison means that Wei Jianjun has become one of the few deeper explorers in "Made in China." To be precise, this figure is 7% of all self-owned brands.
"We have to get the engine to get the world." Wei Jianjun himself did not hide his excitement - in an interview with reporters, he said: "The development of China's auto industry for more than 50 years, the domestic engine technology research and development lags have become the national independent brands and multinational companies wrestle If the various manufacturers are only satisfied with the simple assembly of automotive parts, then it is not enough for China’s rapidly developing automotive industry. If there is a lack of the most essential connotation – engine technology that is synchronized with the world, The development of China's auto industry will always be subject to people."
"What must be done"
In an entire year of 1999, Wei Jianjun's brows were uncommon. After Mianyang Xinchen was controlled by Brilliance, the company that had been supplying engines for the Great Wall pickup truck “blocked†the Great Wall. Prior to this, Wei Jianjun had repeatedly rejected the request for reorganization by Brilliance. "The Great Wall must be on its own engine." This is the sentence that Wei Jianjun said most to his staff that year. "Then do we have to pay a higher price?" His staff asked him.
In the following year, Wei Jianjun controlled a relatively underdeveloped and relatively small engine company in Hebei Dingxing to take the first step on its own engine. In June 2001, the company invested 150 million yuan to build a modern engine production base with an annual output of 100,000 units on the basis of the old factory, and launched a 491QE intelligent multi-point EFI engine. In 2005, Wei Jianjun generously invested 700 million yuan to build one of the largest passenger car engine production bases with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units.
In an interesting contrast, an insider at the Great Wall Engine Plant stated that before 2000, the Great Wall had enough money to buy an engine to build an engine plant. Not only to bear high costs, once the engine product quality is complained by customers, it is difficult to coordinate with the manufacturer, and it is impossible to upgrade the engine by itself.
Almost at the same time, Li Shufu, who is far away from Zhejiang, is doing the same difficult choice.
In 2001, Geely gradually increased the scale of its vehicles and demand for engines multiplied. This is undoubtedly a very good momentum for Li Shufu, who is still at a loss. When Li Shufu found Tianjin Toyota Engine Co., Ltd. to negotiate further cooperation, the company that promised to “provide a lower price if Geely’s demand increases in the future†has set higher prices for their 8A engines.
"This will exacerbate Geely's losses, and even lead to the company's stop. Geely had to buy the other's engine at a high price. This situation is full." But this is still not the worst case. Because the other party refused to allow enough for more than six months. Until Tianjin Toyota suddenly made a suspension of the supply contract, this move will undoubtedly give Geely a head start in the ascendant stage.
Now talking about this, An Geinhui, Vice President of Geely Holding Group and General Manager of Zhejiang Geely Automobile Co., Ltd., looks quite calm: “Toyota taught us a lesson. Surprisingly? But without their termination contract, I don’t know when to go to Geely. Can have its own engine."
Although extremely difficult, Geely's first engine was finally successfully developed. In the summer of 2002, the MR479Q engine bearing the dream of Geely and the vitality of life and death was off the assembly line in Ningbo, and Geely, which was on the verge of being cut off, was finally obscured.
Previously, Geely's 8A engine purchased from Tianjin Toyota had a price of 18,000 yuan to 19,000 yuan, while Geely's independently developed engine internal matching price was only one-third of the 8A engine. It is not difficult to find that around the year 2000 was a critical period of our story.
For Yin Tongyao, what he remembered that year was Chery’s shed more than 2,000 sedan cars with 1.6-liter engines, which were the same grade as Santana, Jetta and Beverly, but the price was the same. However, the challenge has been reduced by 1/3, and the appearance in the market has been enthusiastic. [This kind of love makes Wei Jianjun aware of the great risks and still seek new breakthroughs in new areas.
"Chery realized the importance of the engine when it started to make cars." Jin Yibo, one of the eight gold masters Chery founds, recalled that at that time there was no suitable 1.6-liter engine in the country, while the foreign Mitsubishi engine had only 2 liters, 2.4 In order to solve this problem as quickly as possible, Chery purchased British Ford’s engine product technology and a second-hand production line at a high price of US$25 million. On the one hand, the production line is incomplete. On the other hand, Chery also requires the production line of the 1980s to make products of the 1990s and upgrade them. More than 30 British experts arrived in the 20th century but could not meet the requirements. In desperation, Chery himself began to assemble this production line.
After the listing of the 2000 trolleys, Chery launched an ambitious “Cheery Power†strategy, targeting engine research and development standards to the international advanced level in the next five years. Sounds like this is the beginning of three ordinary stories. It now appears that if at the beginning of the story our heroes can anticipate the hardships of the process, will they still have enough courage to take this step?
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Into the "forbidden zone"
The Great Wall Power Division within the Great Wall Automotive Park in Baoding, Hebei, is far from stylish. The office of General Manager Wang Ruiping is simple and clean. This often reminds her of the days in Montreal, Canada, three years ago.
Fluent English and extensive work experience allow Wang Ruiping to spend countless difficulties with many domestic and foreign experts in the business department. But she knew that the hardest days were over.
For those difficult memories, even the refreshing Wei Jianjun would not like to talk about it. In the bookcases of his office, there is a long-standing Japanese publication. The evolution of the old Japanese car with the characteristics of a distinctive British American car is one of the motivations that he has come through. He is always reminded that imitation and innovation is domestic. The initial stage of innovation in manufacturing is an insurmountable stage, and reverse engineering has become a recognized method of technological progress in the world.
"Wei always has a strategic vision, a majestic goal, and the power to fight for success." His subordinates told reporters.
Although he was once called "China's richest man in the car" in the future, Wei Jianjun's birth was not remarkable. After graduating from high school, he joined the Beijing Tongxian Micromotor Factory as a worker and at the age of 22 he became the director of the Baoding Pump Plant. In 1990, Great Wall Industrial Co., a collective-ownership company in Nan Da Yuan Township, Baoding City, was in trouble, with 2 million liabilities and only 60 employees.
The Nandayuan Township Government has maintained its position as a top performer and has offered favorable conditions for contracting. The only person who has shown his name is Wei Jianjun, who was only 26 years old. After earnestly studying the market segment, he made Great Wall Motor become the king of pickup trucks in 8 years. In 2002, Great Wall Motor firstly launched the concept of economic SUV, and in 2003, became the first Chinese company to list its H shares in Hong Kong. Private auto vehicle companies.
Behind the legend is often the difficulty of speaking hard and the perseverance of extraordinary people. After a well-known intellectual property lawsuit, Wei Jianjun strengthened his belief in "Being a self-owned brand must have its own core motivation."
Chery cars with stronger technical and strength support are regarded as the most powerful local players. After spending a lot of money, they also need to face solid technical barriers.
On November 20, 2002, Chery cooperated with AVL, a European engine design company, to establish the AVL project headquarters. However, joint development does not go well. The primary issue of joint development is to look at how many independent research and development components an engine has, that is, the level of participation of the Chinese side. This is related to the mass production of products, quality control and upgrading of future technologies.
Initially, AVL did not want Chery’s employees to participate in R&D, and even locked Chery’s people in a room to prevent technology from being stolen. However, Chery adhered to the principle of "mainly based on me" and eventually persuaded the other party to participate in the design and development with various methods, and strived to transfer the testing and debugging process to the domestic market. Chery’s R&D personnel participated in the development of new products throughout the entire process, and all intellectual property rights of the products also belonged to Chery.
An engine has more than 300 parts. Despite the support of computer software, designing the engine is still a difficult task. Chery engineers first contacted the design drawings of the engine for one week. Each person assigned different tasks, designed drawings for different parts, and then AVL company conducted tests. After the test, an overall assessment was given. The results were basically around 60 minutes. Some of them even failed. The foreign technical person was not satisfied. Chery engineers improved their methods and worked hard. Two months later, AVL conducted a second test of Chery’s 15 engineers, and they were very satisfied with the design results of their Great Wall Power Division core team.
This also allows Chery to pay an expensive design fee, and also pays a large amount of technology transfer fees, in order to cultivate a group of outstanding designers and have the ability to develop their own engines.
In October 2005, ACCECO, the first Chinese engine brand, was born.
In the interview, Kim Yu-poo said that if Chery does not have his own high-end power system, he will be bound by the product. One evidence is that originally the BMW MINI-Cooper engine was introduced from Brazil into the Cowin model. In order to ensure the after-sales quality, Chery has had to purchase a large number of spare parts and parts for storage.
Although taking a completely different path of self-development and research and development, to some extent, Geely's fate is not entirely in his own hands.
In the initial stage of R&D, due to the lack of experience of R&D personnel, there are few references available, and the parameters of many parts and components have been explored through countless experiments conducted day and night. But what has left Geely suffering is the technical control and market control from foreign auto giants that are constantly encountered during development.
At that time, an important part of the engine had always been imported from a country. However, when demand increases, the other party suddenly loses stock, causing Geely's engines to pile up and fail to load the car. At that time, the domestic supplier's product quality was not high, and Geely took the trouble to find a domestic engine authority expert and asked him to help transform the performance of similar domestic products. Unexpectedly, experts are helpless. No way, only yourself.
The R&D staff heads into the lab and searches for information while exploring and experimenting. After months and nights of hard work, they finally took down the "hard bones" and made the remanufactured products meet the requirements.
One of the same characteristics of companies with three different paths is that they are deeply engrossed in the dedication of the leader.
Wei Jianjun always has a special enthusiasm for cars, especially experiencing more pressure and challenges in car stunts. This love made him aware that the great risks still seek breakthroughs in new areas.
Yin Tongyue, who is a technical background, has the utmost pursuit of technology. This makes him often show in the research and development investment and Confucianism temperament does not match the courage and vision.
As for Li Shufu, he loves business and enjoys the thrill of chasing wealth. Whether it is riding a bicycle to take pictures of people, or building materials business, until later Geely cars, are so straight to the subject, discerning. In fact, when they decided to extend their business to the engine manufacturing sector, many domestic manufacturers have realized the potential of the automotive market, but few people realize the value of the engine. In spite of this, many rumors such as FAW Pentium being hit by the horse to limit supply during the peak period of sales, and Haima's ambition to fail to meet the national standards of the engine, could not enter the dilemma of Beijing.
When will it bloom?
Whether it is the VVT ​​technology of the Great Wall, or any staged achievements made by Chery and Geely in terms of engines, it is an event for the world to see. This move is not only expected to reshape the pattern of the Chinese auto market, but also marks the arrival of a new era: “Made in China†grown up to a new stage.
Next, people use a magnifying glass to look at every move made by the new generation of “Made in Chinaâ€: People doubt that in the core field where the international giants have absolute initiative, Chinese companies will have the ability to create real competitiveness; while in brand worship Chinese consumers, where Chinese cars with Chinese-made core components will win or lose, will not only have high expectations but also worry about the Chinese people.
There is a rather intriguing conclusion: In the discussion on the Internet about how many years the Chinese automobile engine lags behind European and American countries, many people bluntly proposed that “the gap is at least 30 years.†Wu Donghan, the consulting director of Xijie Yousheng thinks This gap is mainly the design technology and development capabilities, but he still believes that "China's own brands ultimately have their own core technology." This is exactly the original intention of Wang Ruiping who came from Canada to the Great Wall. At the same time, she is facing more people's doubts: "Why must we have the core technology? Do we have to struggle to catch up after 30 years behind?"
In 2008, a speech titled "Chinese National Automakers Facing Turns" attracted the attention of senior leaders of the Great Wall. The lecturer Professor Shizuo Marukawa of the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Tokyo once wrote the book "Modern Chinese Industry - The Power and Fragility of the Rising Chinese Enterprises", a famous person for Japan to study Chinese industries. His famous remarks are that, whether it is home appliances or automobiles, China’s industrial circles have shown a “vertical split†structure that is contrary to vertical integration, that is, various components are not developed or purchased within the company or within the group, but scattered. Purchase from other companies.
In the speech, Marukawa mentioned that since the second half of 2007, the share of China's national car manufacturers began to decline. One of the most direct reasons. It was the Brilliance “Crash Gate†incident that caused the entire Chinese car manufacturer to lose face. This is because the vertically split industrial structure gives all manufacturers the opportunity to easily manufacture, and thus also creates an over-competitive system, causing the existing large-scale ethnic manufacturers to fall into the midst of struggles to compete with the endless stream of low-end products. . According to the investigation by Marukawa, Yin Tongyue has the utmost ideal for the technology itself. This makes him often show in the research and development investment and Confucianism temperament does not match the courage and vision. ] There are 131 car manufacturers in China, including 100 national car manufacturers. Only 7 of these 100 companies purchased engines from the company or the group like Japan and Europe. Thirty-five companies purchased from both inside and outside the company, and 58 companies only purchased outside the company.
At the end of the speech, Marukawa pointed out sharply, "What can't be bought with money." The "turns" faced by China's industries mean that all relying on externalities and the consequences of over-development are the lack of basic qualities.
The Brilliance Jinbei that fell into the “collision door†is also entirely dependent on the outside: the engine was purchased from Shenyang Mitsubishi, the Chinese legal person company of Mitsubishi Motors; the chassis adjustment was assigned to Porsche; the production line design was contracted to Shenck, Germany. It is precisely because of the complete reliance on the outside that Chinese manufacturers lack one of the important elements in car manufacturing - car body design technology. China’s national automobile companies have abandoned the series of natural course of operations that involved conducting collision tests, feeding test results back into the design, and modifying the design.
This speech spread quickly on the Great Wall and everything has returned to the starting point: We must have our own core technology. We must catch up and surpass it in our studies.