China's Brands Strive for Tech Edge
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19 CHINA DAILY Monday, February 26, 2018 Motoring Rivals race to China’s brands strive for tech edge meet rising Experts: Domestic automakers must grasp opportunities, make most of latest market trends, Hao Yan reports. demand for hinese automotive experts have highlight- car sharing ed the need to react Cquickly and seize mar- ket trends to meet customer By LI FUSHENG demand if domestic automakers [email protected] are to capitalize on opportunities to lead future global develop- China’s booming car-sharing ment in the industry. sector has great potential, with Nine Chinese automakers demand unlikely to be fully met joined hands on Feb 5 in Beijing by current industry players in the to proclaim their brands’ strong short term, according to consul- rise through synergies in inno- tancy fi rm Roland Berger. vation and transformation, to In a recent report, Roland Berger carry their responsibilities for estimated that Chinese people’s the future development of the demand for car rental and ride- industry. hailing would surge to 37 million Attendees at the recently trips a day this year, about 4.5 times held China EV100 2018, a non- the fi gure in 2015. government, non-profit forum That means the market in 2018 is discussing the future of electric a goldmine worth 380 billion yuan vehicles, said that many Chinese ($60 billion), the consultancy fi rm auto brands are embracing the said, and the cake is too large for opportunity to grow via develop- players in the sector to swallow up ing new technology that can help in the near term. revolutionize business models in The vast market potential is the domestic market. attracting new players to jump on “A new technology, bred the bandwagon, with the latest domestically or abroad, is more being Ctrip, a Chinese online travel likely to realize profi tability, and service provider. competitiveness in commer- Ctrip launched its car-sharing cial application in China,” said business ahead of Spring Festival, Liu Shijin, vice-president of the with an initial fl eet of 10,000 cars, China Development Research according to Beijing News news- Foundation, who attended China paper. The service is now available EV100 in January. in megacities, including Beijing, Zhang Baolin, chairman of Shanghai and Guangzhou, and will Chongqing Chang’an Automobile be expanded to more cities soon. Co, shared a similar point of view Wang Yuchen, CEO of Ctrip’s and said that Chinese automak- car-sharing unit, said the company ers are exploiting the advantages Visitors get up close with Chinese electric vehicle startup Nio’s ES8 SUV at an auto show in Guangzhou. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY used to focus on the daily or even of integrating new business mod- long-term car rental business, but els in the current evolutionary demand for car use over shorter market climate. Hefei, capital of Anhui province, ply chain are the key foundations chain, said Liu from the China periods is also huge. “Conventional Chinese car where JAC Motors is headquar- for the Chinese brands to turn Development Research Founda- Earlier this month, Chinese ride- makers and new players who tered. their dreams into reality. tion. “Chinese auto brands are hailing company Didi Chuxing have joined the race are cooper- “We are integrating our Taking advantage of the world’s competing side by side with their announced plans to partner with ating with each other in research resources in our joint ventures,” largest car market has helped Chi- international peers. Despite being automakers, charging network and development and produc- Both parties use said Xiang Xingchu, president nese brand automakers to set a weak in some areas, Chinese car operators and after-sales service tion,” Zhang said earlier this of JAC Motors. “Both parties use blistering pace of development makers are ahead of the world in providers to build an open car-shar- month at the China Automotive their products and their products and technologies and gain a strong foothold. Local other areas,” he added. ing platform. Brands Development Summit in in an equal way to better sup- branded cars accounted for 43.9 Having accurate insights into The 12 carmakers involved Beijing. technologies in an port development and further percent of the domestic market Chinese customer demands is just include leading new energy car Anhui Jianghuai Automobile equal way to better help the upward climb of JAC’s last year, up 0.69 percent. one of the advantages enjoyed producers BAIC BJEV and BYD, as Co, or JAC Motors, is one exam- brands.” More than 10.8 million local- by domestic auto brands, since well as the international Renault- ple of a domestic manufactur- support development The Hefei-based car maker brand vehicles were delivered last these companies have devoted Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. er that has shifted its business has also worked with Nio Auto, a year, 3 percent more than in 2016, themselves for a long term to the Ogi Redzic, senior vice-president model towards the future and is and further help Shanghai-based developer of high- similar to the overall market’s market patterns and consumer of Connected Vehicles and Mobil- developing into the new automo- performance electric vehicles. The annual growth rate of 3 percent, preferences, according to Zhang ity Services at Renault-Nissan-Mit- tive business environment. the upward climb of two companies have built a pro- according to the China Associa- at Chang’an. subishi, said the potential business JAC Motors joined hands with duction plant to manufacture the tion of Automobile Manufactur- “We seize the market trends bet- and technology opportunities the German automaker Volkswa- JAC’s brands.” electric sports utility vehicle, Nio ers. ter, so Chinese brands are well- alliance will explore with Didi were gen AG in November last year ES8, which is set to roll off the Chinese automobile brands equipped to meet the demands of “quite promising”. Xiang Xingchu, president of JAC to develop and sell commercial production line in the first half are developing right here in the Chinese customers,” Zhang said. In December, Mobike, a major Motors vehicles powered by both com- this year. world’s largest auto market, and Chinese bike-sharing operator, set bustion and new energy power Chairman of Nio, William Li, that has helped bolster the already Contact the writer at haoyan@ up a car-sharing business with reg- trains in a 50-50 joint venture in said the domestic market and sup- robust local automotive supply chinadaily.com.cn istered capital of 20 million yuan in Southwest China’s Guizhou prov- ince. It said that users will be able to unlock, lock and park cars and make payments by using the same Nissan’s Easy Ride to go head-to-head against Uber app they use to rent shared bikes. In January, Meituan-Dianping, YOKOHAMA — Facing a future times the current size of the taxi China’s largest online platform in which self-driving cars may market. Nissan has embraced for ordering food, buying movie curb vehicle ownership, Nissan new technologies, launching tickets, and booking restaurants, Motor is taking its fi rst steps to the Leaf, the world’s fi rst mass- announced that it would soon becoming an operator of auton- market electric car, in 2010. The launch its own car-hailing service omous transportation services, company was an early proponent in seven Chinese cities after testing hoping to break into a segment of self-driving cars, pledging in its related app in Nanjing, Jiangsu set to be dominated by Uber 2013 that it would market fully province, for about 10 months. Technologies and other technol- autonomous cars in 2020. Investors are bullish about the ogy fi rms. Although it has been rolling sector as well. In January, Chinese In partnership with Japanese out automated highway driving automaker Geely announced its mobile gaming platform operator functions and self-parking capa- ride-hailing brand Cao Cao had DeNA, the automaker will begin bilities in a growing number of fi nished its fi rst round of funding, public fi eld tests of its Easy Ride its models, rivals ranging from raising 1 billion yuan. service in Yokohama next month, Tesla to Subaru have installed “The completion of the Series A becoming among the fi rst major increasingly advanced self-driv- round of funding represents the automakers anywhere to test ing features in their cars. market’s confi dence in us,” said Liu ride-hailing software developed GM and Daimler are building Jinliang, Cao Cao’s chairman. in-house, using its own fl eet of and expanding car-sharing ser- The ride-hailing platform is the self-driving electric cars. vices, and GM has said it plans to fi rst of its kind to be invested in and Easy Ride, which Nissan plans launch a self-driving taxi service operated by a Chinese automotive to launch in Japan in the early next year. company. 2020s, is meant to feel more like Nissan also has its own car- It now offers services in nearly a concierge service on wheels, sharing service using its ultra- 20 cities and plans to expand into making — for example — restau- compact battery electric models, more this year. rant recommendations while the but after years of trials, the ser- Cinese customers are enthusi- car is on the move. vice is available only in Yoko- astic about such services as well, The announcement follows hama, home to the automaker’s as shown by a Roland Berger sur- an agreement by Nissan and its A self-driving vehicle using the Easy Ride service based on the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle developed by Nissan and headquarters.