In 2014-2016, new energy vehicles are gaining momentum, and many unknown car companies have gained profits and development prospects through this east wind. However, the Great Wall has lost a few degrees with new energy. Now it just happened to catch up with its last bus, which seems to be inconsistent with the response of a first-line brand. Why did it only announce the deployment of new energy sources until recently? What is the situation that the Great Wall is carrying out new energy? The Great Wall has invested heavily in new energy, and there are still many questions to answer.

Seeking change under pressure

On February 21, Great Wall Motor held the “2017 Haval SUV Brand Festival”. There are two important informations at the event that are particularly eye-catching: First, in 2020, Haval plans to break the annual sales of 2 million vehicles and become the world's largest professional SUV. Second, the Great Wall will invest 30 billion yuan in new energy, intelligent projects and other projects, and strive to form a leading edge in active safety, intelligent interconnection, and automatic driving.

The person in charge of the new energy department of Great Wall Motor told the Times Weekly reporter that the only goal of new energy and intelligence was to promote sales and build a brand. The implication is that the investment of 30 billion yuan will lay the foundation for Harvard to break through 2 million years of sales in 2020.

The Great Wall has not had a big move in new energy, but under pressure the Great Wall is seeking change. From the sales data in January, the sales of Great Wall Harvard have declined. The "God Car" H6 only sold about 46,000 units, which is nearly half of the sales in December last year. In addition to the year-on-year sales of the H6 and H2 models, other models are on the decline. Among them, Haval H1 was the most "tough", with 10,463 vehicles sold in the same period last year. This year, it only sold 1,035 vehicles, a sharp drop of 90.11%.

The Great Wall has attracted many consumers with cost-effectiveness, but this road does not seem to translate into core competitiveness. Changan, Geely, Chery, Chuanqi and other independent brands are accelerating the layout of SUVs, and the position of the Great Wall boss is in jeopardy.

In addition, the SUV war will be even more heated in the future. According to incomplete statistics, there will be at least 10 major joint ventures or imported SUVs listed in 2017, and the SUVs of local brands are too numerous to list. Dozens of new cars are in the period of rising sales, and the market is filled with a bloody smell. From the product level, the original "high premium" capability of the SUV began to weaken. According to industry insiders, the brutal competition will make the "bubble" less and less, and consumption will return to the rational norm. In the past few years, the era of high prices and profitable SUV products will gradually drift away, and the overall market price diving is a general trend.

On the other hand, how can the Great Wall of "walking on one leg" ensure the fluctuation of SUV sales and not affect the sales and profits of the entire car?

In the speech of Chairman Wei Jianjun, he did not intend to use self-help to diversify. He said: "The SUV is not the world's number one, and does not consider launching a car product. After the launch of the WEY brand, Harvard will further focus on the market below 150,000 yuan and become an absolute leader." His plan is to make a fine SUV, and cut into The point is intelligent and motorized.

The indissoluble bond between the Great Wall and new energy

New energy is no longer a new word. Many car companies have launched a number of new energy vehicles and used these models to start to make a profit in the market. Great Wall Motor has so far announced its entry into the new energy field, and the action seems to be somewhat "slow." The head of the Great Wall New Energy Department also said to the Times Weekly reporter that from the perspective of market development, the development of new energy sources is indeed lagging behind.

In fact, it is not too late for the Great Wall to get involved in new energy. As early as the 2010 Beijing Auto Show, the Great Wall has taken the lead in launching a hybrid four-wheel drive platform model. The rear axle of the model uses a motor drive and boldly abandons the drive shaft and transfer case of the traditional four-wheel drive, which caused Not a small sensation.

After a year, Great Wall exhibited the new energy concept car Haval E at the Beijing Auto Show. The car uses a technologically sensitive scissor door design and is equipped with a new generation of hybrid system from the Great Wall. It is also reported that solar cells are also installed in the skylight to collect solar energy for extended cruising range.

Although it is always good, but there is a new problem inside the Great Wall: the future of the new energy market is still unclear, is it worth investing a lot of money and energy to expand?

According to the statistics of the China Automobile Association, in 2012, China's new energy vehicles produced and sold only 10,000 vehicles, of which the highest-selling Chery QQ pure electric, only 3,138. These data also mean that the new energy vehicle market is not mature, and it may take a long time to get a return.

Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, hesitated. He said in an interview: "We are a very small company. If there is a big investment mistake, no one will save us." In order to be safe, the Great Wall slowed down in the new In the footsteps of the energy sector, the focus is on focusing on the familiar SUV and pickup trucks. The following story is well known, the Great Wall completed a rapid expansion in the field of SUV, and won the throne in the field of independent SUV. But the price is that the dividends brought by the Great Wall and new energy are missing.

In 2014, new energy vehicles completed a leap-forward growth, with a total production of 83,900 units, an increase of nearly 4 times year-on-year. Among them, pure electric passenger cars produced 37,800 units, a three-fold increase over the same period last year, and plug-in hybrid passenger cars produced 16,700 units, a year-on-year increase of nearly 22 times. In the following year, the total amount of new energy production and sales tripled, and new energy became the “sweet” of the automobile industry. Many unscrupulous car companies took advantage of this boom to gain profits and prospects. At this time, the Great Wall could no longer hold it, suspended for three weeks, and proposed a fixed increase of 16.8 billion yuan to build a new energy vehicle business. However, it was too late. After the announcement of the plan, the capital market was not optimistic. Finally, Great Wall Motors terminated the plan to prepare for its own blood production into new energy projects.

The Great Wall mentioned new energy again, which was at the Guangzhou Auto Show last year. The Great Wall released a pure electric sedan C30EV, and at the same time released a new brand WEY. Although it is purely electric, the Great Wall does not use the concept of “new energy” too much, but introduces them with the words “upward” and “high-end impact”.

The sense of science and technology is reflected in safety

This year, the Great Wall finally began to face up to the new energy issue and allocated 30 billion yuan for new energy and intelligent development. But how to use such a large amount of money has become the key to the project.

According to the above-mentioned person in charge, most of the 30 billion yuan will be used for research and development and production of new energy. Specifically, Changan will invest in a new energy vehicle plant and adjust the integrated production of core components. The successor will launch eight pure electric vehicles, which are still dominated by SUVs. In addition, there are other strategic goals for hybrids. This year, the WEY brand plug-in hybrid model W01 and the Great Wall brand pure electric model C30R will be officially launched. In research and development, Great Wall will build R&D centers in Japan, Europe, and North America. At present, 40 international experts have participated in the research and development of new energy, and the number of relevant employees has reached more than 500.

Another part of the money will be used for intelligence, while intelligence will focus on "security." Zhang Yun, general manager of Rees China, who is a brand strategy, mentioned that this is the secret weapon of Haval. He said: "The steel plate in the key parts of Haval products is 7% thicker than the same model, which is equivalent to 50 kg to 150 kg. In strategic choice, Harvard products adopt safety-oriented product development. Strategy, do not hesitate to make some sacrifices in fuel consumption and power." This has caused many media to question.

From the third-party data Great Wall's security performance is not outstanding, in the C-NCAP crash test of the independent brand mainstream SUV, Haval H6 only ranked eighth. Secondly, from the recent sales of Volvo, it seems that “safety” is not a market.

In this regard, the head of the Great Wall New Energy explained to the Times Weekly reporter. Safety is an entry point to promote sales. Safety technology is currently a high-end technology, involving a wide range of aspects, and is related to vehicle performance, quality of various materials, and safety technology. Especially active and safe, the sense of science and technology is very strong, and it is easier to get accepted by the market. At present, there are already early warning devices on the Haval H7 high-end, and the subsequent investment in the WEY brand will increase the use and use of high-tech equipment.

He is not worried about the market reaction after the "safety", and believes that the security and service proposed by Great Wall is based on the fact that the Great Wall has 1 million sales. Although there are Volvo's lessons, the Great Wall has a certain advantage over Volvo.

At present, the competition in the field of SUV is developing in the direction of science and technology. He believes that this is a good thing for the Great Wall. “The Great Wall is not afraid of competition. In the competition, it will definitely eliminate some enterprises, so the space left will be bigger and bigger.”