Original title: Stop fuel and bet on pure electric Honda to change lanes and overtake in China
Japanese auto companies that are considered to be “half of the time” and “look again” are watching the new energy auto market growing bigger and bigger, and no longer wait and see. The focus is undoubtedly on the Chinese market, which is expected to occupy 30% of the global new energy vehicle sales this year. . On the evening of October 13, Honda’s electrification strategy in China surfaced, with independent brand names, new car launch schedules, exclusive plant investment and construction plans… the overall plan was put on the agenda.
Since the beginning of this year, traditional car companies such as Volkswagen, Volvo, Jaguar, BMW, and GM have intensively released timetables for electrification transformation. Among them, Volkswagen wants to regain the lost time and market space, and within one year, it has issued three pure electric cards ID.4, ID.6, and ID.3. Faced with the speeding up of competitors, Honda Motor must maintain its market share in China, and it is imperative to increase its electrification. According to industry insiders, Honda has advantages in terms of technology, and a new round of competition will surely be launched after the implementation of the electrification strategy. However, Honda Motor’s opponents in China are not only multinational auto companies, but will also encounter obstacles from new automakers and independent brands that have first-mover advantages in the domestic market.
Exploring the “Two-Car Strategy”
After years of testing the waters with the “Siming” and “Concept” brands, Honda’s pure electric brand finally landed in the Chinese market. According to Honda’s plan, all new models launched in the Chinese market after 2030 will be pure electric and hybrid electric models, and no new fuel models will be introduced. To achieve this goal, Honda Motor officially released a new pure electric vehicle brand-“e:N”.
In fact, as early as 2018, Honda Motor started the first year of electrification in China. In addition to continuing to launch hybrid models, it also launched the pure electric model concept VE-1 and the Guangqi Honda X-NV and M-NV with the Siming logo. , And plug-in hybrid models. At present, the two joint ventures of Dongfeng Honda and Guangqi Honda have completed the full matrix product layout of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric models. Although the layout is complete, it has mostly focused on “oil-to-electricity” models before. It can be said that the models built on Honda’s pure electric platform have not yet landed. As the number of pure electric vehicles in the Chinese market continues to grow, when to launch “real” Honda pure electric models has become the focus of attention.
While launching the pure electric brand this time, the relevant person in charge of Honda China said: “Honda has also developed a new intelligent and efficient pure electric architecture’e:N Architecture’. This architecture integrates high-efficiency and high-power drive motors, large-capacity and high-density batteries, The exclusive frame and chassis platform for pure electric vehicles, and according to the positioning and characteristics of the model, provide a variety of driving methods such as front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive.”
It is worth mentioning that under the new electrification system, Honda released five “e:N” brand models in one go. Among them, as the first mass-produced model of the “e:N” series, Honda launched the “Double Car” brand, and launched the e: NS1 special edition and e: NP1 special edition respectively in Dongfeng Honda and Guangqi Honda. The two models will be separately It will be officially unveiled at the Wuhan and Guangzhou Auto Shows to be held this year, and will be launched in the spring of 2022. The production versions of three concept cars e:NCoupeconcept, e:N SUV concept, and e:NGT concept will be launched successively within five years.
The above-mentioned person in charge of Honda China said: “In the next five years, Honda will launch 10 pure electric models in the Chinese market.”
Meet the opponent
Behind Honda Motor’s launch of 5 new cars in China is not only the high incremental space for new energy vehicles in the Chinese market, but also pressure from competitors.
It is reported that the current stock of electric vehicles in China has surpassed that of the United States and the European Union combined. At the same time, according to statistics, China once again surpassed Europe in the first half of this year to become the world‘s largest new energy vehicle market. The competitive environment in China’s electric vehicle market has also become more intense. Not only has Tesla accelerated its sales, but new domestic car manufacturers such as Xiaopeng and Weilai, as well as traditional car companies such as BYD and GAC, have also continued to increase their market share. At the same time, in the face of the speed-up deployment of old rivals Volkswagen, Toyota and other multinational car companies, Honda chose to give it a go in China.
At present, Volkswagen has started the production of pure electric vehicles at two plants in China, with a combined annual production capacity of 600,000 vehicles. At the same time, Volkswagen put ID.4 and ID.6 into the “North and South” Volkswagen in a “two-car” way. In order to increase competitiveness, the price of Volkswagen’s ID.4 model after subsidy directly hit less than 250,000 yuan.
Toyota, also a Japanese brand, continues to expand its new energy vehicle production capacity in China. Among them, GAC Toyota currently has 3 production lines and is expanding the fourth and fifth production lines. The expanded production lines are all new energy vehicle capacity expansion projects, with a total annual production capacity of 400,000 vehicles. It is planned to be completed and put into production next year. At the same time, according to Toyota’s plan, by 2025, it will introduce more than 10 pure electric vehicles in China and achieve the goal of global sales of 5.5 million electric vehicles.
In addition to expanding production capacity and introducing products, Toyota is also actively seeking to expand existing technological paths. In June 2019, Toyota Motor announced that BYD has become its new energy vehicle power battery supplier. In July, Toyota and BYD reached a cooperation to jointly develop pure electric cars and SUV models. The new cars will use the Toyota brand logo and are planned to be put on the Chinese market by 2025. Industry insiders said that as multinational car companies, Volkswagen and Toyota have focused their pure electric strategy on the Chinese market. Although Toyota’s pure electric models are still based on the development of existing models, they are ready for electric transformation.
It is understood that in the face of competitive pressure, Honda’s strategy in China this time did not stop at the product level, but put forward specific plans from manufacturing to marketing. It is understood that Honda will strengthen its pure electric vehicle production system in China, and will build new pure electric vehicle plants in Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda respectively, and plans to start production one after another from 2024. At the same time, the “e:N” series produced by the Chinese factory will also be exported to overseas markets.
In addition, regarding how to sell Honda’s pure electric models, according to Honda’s plan, in addition to relying on 1,200 special stores nationwide for pure electric vehicle sales, it will also create an exclusive “e:N” space and set it up in key cities. “E:N” franchise stores, and carry out diversified offline experience activities.
“Faced with the accelerating deployment of competitors in China, Honda began to’change lanes and overtake’.” Yan Jinghui, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that Honda has its own pace in the deployment of pure electric vehicles. At present, consumers in the domestic market are accepting new energy vehicles. The general increase in the degree is good news for Honda, which has entered the game at this time. With Honda’s pure electric models entering China, competition in the domestic pure electric vehicle market may heat up again.Beijing Commercial Daily reporter Liu Yang Liu Xiaomeng