Text | Guo Wenjing
Figure | Source Network
The battle of electrification transformation among Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz has intensified.
On October 6th, 65438/KLOC-0, Chinese people were still immersed in the National Day holiday, and Mercedes-Benz added another fire to its electrification transformation battle thousands of miles away. At the online investor and analyst conference with the theme of "Mercedes-Benz strategic upgrade", Mercedes-Benz re-combed the strategic upgrade target in the next stage, in which electrification transformation is still the focus.
According to the new strategic plan, in terms of technology and products, Mercedes-Benz will launch two exclusive platforms for electric vehicles to support the electrification popularization of all products, including large-scale pure electric vehicle platform EVA and compact and medium-sized pure electric vehicle platform MMA. Among them, EQS, the first new car based on EVA platform, will be launched on 202 1, and the cruising range of WLTP will exceed 700 kilometers, followed by EQE and EQS? Off-road vehicles and EQE? Three SUV models will also be listed one after another; Starting from 2025, MMA platform models will be listed one after another.
In addition, AMG, Maibakh and G-class cars will also provide electrified products in the future. In addition to the exclusive electrified product platform, Mercedes-Benz also released the "EQXX Vision" technical project, aiming at rapidly applying more and better research and development achievements of innovative technologies of electrified vehicles to production vehicles. The way to achieve this is to achieve cross-functional and cross-disciplinary cooperation among automotive engineering teams internally, and deepen cooperation with industry-related experts and upstream and downstream partners in the industrial chain externally.
It can be said that in order to realize the electric transformation, Mercedes-Benz is prepared to "unite all forces that can be United", which is also the choice of almost all traditional car companies, but when to start the transformation, what kind of technical route to choose, what kind of transformation pace to maintain, and who to cooperate with all test the judgment of enterprises. As the leading brand of luxury brands, every decision made by BBA in this transformation campaign may affect the ultimate success or failure.
Whether to take the pure electric route or the hybrid route is the first question that car companies need to answer when they start the electric transformation, and it is also a topic that the whole automobile industry has been debating. Of course, the company actually understands that the best way may be to have both. At this stage, hybrid power is a transition and gradually develops into a pure electric route, but the reality may not allow it.
On the one hand, developing multiple technical routes at the same time means higher R&D cost, and as we all know, electrification transformation is a huge investment. If a large amount of investment in R&D can't get the corresponding income, then any enterprise can't afford such a high cost. On the other hand, the China government's strong support for the pure electric route and Tesla's sweeping in the global electric vehicle market have forced car companies to consider taking out corresponding products as soon as possible to avoid being eliminated by the market and rivals.
This can be clearly seen in the transformation process of BBA. From hybrid electric vehicle to pure electric vehicle, from oil-electric vehicle to exclusive pure electric platform, the highlight of electrification transformation is pure electric vehicle, and the competition of pure electric vehicle is on the exclusive platform.
Mercedes-Benz has prepared two exclusive platforms, EVA and MMA, covering medium and large to compact cars. Audi's thinking is basically the same. It has prepared two platforms, PPE and MEB. The former was jointly developed with Porsche, and the latter is familiar to everyone. It is an important weapon for the electrification transformation of Volkswagen Group. At present, Audi has mass-produced the e-tron pure electric SUV, and also made its debut at the Beijing Auto Show. Sportback、Q4？ E-tron concept car.
As for BMW, which started in the field of electrification transformation, it seems that the pace is slow on the exclusive platform. At present, the exclusive platform has not been launched, and the corresponding research and development plan has not been announced.
In mid-September, BMW iX3 completed its first listing in China. This car is the first pure electric SUV in BMW Group's mainstream car series, the first product equipped with the fifth-generation eDrive electric drive system, and the first model with China as its sole production base and supplied to the global market. It is considered to be a strategic model in the new stage of BMW's electrification transformation.
At the same time, this car is developed on the same platform as BMW X3, and adopts the same chassis and body structure. In BMW's words, iX3 has the same luxury quality as X3, but in the eyes of the outside world, it will inevitably be labeled as "oil to electricity".
In February this year, BMW reiterated its position that it would continue the original electrification layout and would not follow the strategies of Mercedes-Benz and Audi. Qi Pu, the chairman of BMW Group, once stressed the need to give customers "the right to choose". By building a modular and extensible smart car platform, each car has different power choices, so that consumers can sincerely choose electric travel, instead of artificially dividing the industry into electric vehicles and diesel locomotives, which hinders consumers' choice.
Behind this different choice, there are judgments on market demand and different tendencies on technical routes. Perhaps more important is the consideration of cost and enterprise profit. It is a huge cost challenge for any single brand, especially for Mercedes-Benz and BMW, whose annual sales are not large. Audi's advantage lies in the Volkswagen Group with annual sales of tens of millions.
In recent years, BBA has announced that it will increase its investment in the "new four modernizations" transformation, and there will always be a corresponding "cost reduction and efficiency increase" plan, which shows that car companies are facing the cost pressure of this industrial transformation.
In the latest strategy of Mercedes-Benz, in 2030, electric vehicles will account for more than half of new car sales, and the investment of enterprises in internal combustion engine models will decrease rapidly, and the number of traditional internal combustion engine models will decrease by 70%. Mercedes-Benz also announced the expansion of its cost reduction plan to reduce unnecessary capital expenditure, R&D and fixed absolute costs.
According to Audi's corporate strategic restructuring plan released last year, it is estimated that by 2025, Audi's electric vehicle sales will account for about 40% of its total global sales. To this end, Audi will invest about 654.38+0.4 billion euros in electric travel, digitalization and advanced autonomous driving. At the same time, Audi is expected to lay off 9,500 people by 2025, which is expected to save the company 6 billion euros in labor costs to promote electrification transformation.
In May of this year, BMW also stated at the shareholders' meeting that by the end of 2022, it is necessary to realize the efficiency improvement potential worth more than 654.38+0.2 billion euros, and there are also news of layoffs.
Under such huge cost pressure, even BBA has to "tighten its belt", and at this time, the role of China's allies is highlighted. As the largest single market of these three brands and the largest pure electric market in the world, there is no doubt that the China market plays an important role in the electrification transformation of BBA. Whoever can draw more strength from the China market will stay ahead in the future electrification era.
BBA is not slow in this respect. While strengthening cooperation with existing joint ventures, they are also expanding new allies. The cooperation between Daimler and Geely is deepening. In addition to the electrification transformation of our known smart brand, according to industry sources, the vast sea architecture recently released by Geely Group has been authorized to Daimler. For Mercedes-Benz, if there is a ready-made pure electric architecture, the cost pressure will be greatly reduced.
Although the cooperation between BMW and Great Wall Motor has not yet landed, referring to the cooperation between Daimler and Geely, the hand-in-hand between the two parties is also full of imagination, and the recent performance of Great Wall Motor pure electric vehicle brand Euler is very eye-catching, and BMW's "short board" in pure electric platform may be supplemented in a sense through this cooperation.
Not to mention Audi, although FAW Group's performance in the field of new energy is average, SAIC Group, another partner, has a relatively deep accumulation in this respect. With the gradual landing of Volkswagen MEB platform models, Audi's electrification pace will not be too slow.
In terms of batteries, BBA has cooperated with China local battery manufacturers such as Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., BYD, Guo Xuan Hi-Tech and Funeng Technology in various forms. Coupled with the cooperation with Tianqi Lithium Industry, Ganfeng Lithium Industry and other raw material enterprises, "China Allies" have made more and more contributions to BBA electrification transformation.
Write it at the end
Facing the electrification transformation, BBA has different strategies. It is difficult for us to judge which strategy is better at present. Even for the pure electric route that has the absolute "upper hand" in the China market, the industry has always had different opinions. In the latest version of energy-saving and new energy vehicle technology roadmap, it is clearly stated that hybrid power is an effective energy-saving vehicle technology, and pure electric vehicles and energy-saving vehicles should develop simultaneously, which is interpreted by the outside world as China supporting the hybrid power route.
This is undoubtedly good news for BMW, which adheres to the multi-technology route, but no matter which car company, this transformation is by no means easy, and the challenge of BBA has just begun.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.