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Wang Chuanfu needs business partners

2024-12-16

Wang Chuanfu needs business partners

Tide Business Review

·2024-12-11 13:51

Are suppliers still willing to support the trend of intelligence?

In November, BYD celebrated its 30th anniversary with the production of its 10 millionth new energy vehicle. In addition, BYD sold approximately 506800 new energy vehicles this month, a year-on-year increase of 67.87%.


BYD is undoubtedly the "king" of China's new energy vehicle market.


This is thanks to a huge decision made by Wang Chuanfu four years ago, "I won't make gasoline cars anymore, only new energy vehicles


He laid out in advance, leading other car companies in everything from three electric technology to factory construction. BYD, which seized the opportunity, achieved standardization, reduced costs, and gained a voice in the industry by integrating the industrial chain, establishing a sound system.


This also led BYD to initiate a price war among car companies.


Most car companies, especially the new forces in car manufacturing, do not have the industrial chain advantages like BYD. If they don't lower their prices, they will die, and if they lower their prices, they will lose money. In order not to be left too far behind by BYD and to survive, we can only grit our teeth and lower our prices.


In this way, while the average price of BYD bicycles decreased, its market share increased, and its revenue and profits also skyrocketed, making real money in the price war. In the first half of this year, BYD's semi annual report showed that its profits were still growing.


However, car companies that follow the trend and lower prices find it difficult to be happy. The vast majority of car companies are losing money, and in the future, more than 80% of Chinese domestic brands will face closure and merger.


Under the impact of the price war, component suppliers have also been greatly affected. They are becoming increasingly afraid to speak loudly in front of their elder brother BYD.


Many people who claim to be suppliers of BYD have revealed on social media that BYD is constantly extending its payment terms, poaching technical talents from suppliers, and using supply chain finance to gain more benefits.


This statement doesn't seem to be groundless.


A supplier who dares to challenge

According to BYD's 2024 semi annual report, its total liabilities reached 535.6 billion yuan, with a debt ratio of 77.47%. It is worth noting that this is not bank loans or other borrowings.


This is the corresponding payable loans from component suppliers due to the increase in production capacity and sales volume, as well as accounts payable for purchasing land to expand production rooms and equipment.


On September 30, 2024, BYD's payable notes and accounts reached 240.5 billion, of which 237.5 billion was payable. In the past three years, its accounts receivable have continued to rise and the increase has not been small.


According to Bloomberg's statistics on the average payment time for mainstream electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers in the Chinese market to their suppliers, BYD's payment time has approached 300 days in 2023, while Tesla's payment time has remained at around 100 days in recent years.


To some extent, the risk of BYD's price war has been transferred to its competitors. It is not difficult to understand why, on the occasion of Wang Chuanfu's 30th anniversary of entrepreneurship, some suppliers stepped forward to add obstacles and refused to continue lowering prices.




Not all friends are soft persimmons, or they all value BYD's sales scale. After all, any large enterprise will have weak areas.


BYD is negotiating with suppliers at the end of the year, hoping to lower prices mainly for electronic control and sensor suppliers, with a quantity of around dozens.


Like traditional automotive parts suppliers, such as tires or glass, holding onto BYD's thigh, they can eat meat or drink soup. Due to the quality of the car body, BYD will not aggressively lower the price. If a component supplier in a certain category dares to challenge, it indirectly indicates that BYD may have weaknesses and limited say in this field.


In fact, it is true.


Friend merchants of roll value promote intelligence

In August of this year, the launch of the 2025 BYD Seal lowered BYD's high-end intelligent driving model to the 200000 yuan range. And Xiaopeng Motors has already established the reputation of "the only high-end intelligent driving under 200000 yuan" with Xiaopeng MONA M03.


Another off-road vehicle, the Leopard 8, is equipped with the Huawei Qiankun Intelligent Driving ADS 3.0 system and has a starting price of 379800 yuan. This also reflects BYD's lack of intelligent driving capabilities, which means that the product cost is extremely high.


It cannot be denied that under multiple cost controls, BYD's sales have continuously reached new highs and are expected to exceed the sales target of 4 million vehicles for the whole year of 2024.


But car companies such as Xiaopeng and Huawei have shifted their focus to the field of intelligence, seeking their own voice.




At the 2024 Future Automotive Pioneer Conference, Yu Chengdong stated that BYD should be the world's number one car manufacturer due to its ultra-low cost. He emphasized that Hongmeng Zhixing should focus on value, especially in terms of intelligence.


On November 30th, GAC Group and Huawei signed a strategic cooperation agreement for intelligent vehicles, and the two sides signed a deepening cooperation agreement. At present, Huawei's advanced intelligent driving technology has been installed in 11 car brands and over 15 models.


Xiaopeng has also regained his confidence by leveraging the advantages of intelligence. New car manufacturers such as NIO and Ideal, as well as established car companies such as Great Wall Motors and Changan, have successively entered the urban NOA field battle, each with their own expertise in technology.


However, BYD does not have an advantage in the field of advanced driving and lags behind its competitors in urban NOA.


This is also due to Wang Chuanfu's directional mistake in intelligence, which even affected the process of high-end development.


Advanced intelligent driving that is one step behind

At BYD's financial report exchange conference in early 2023, Wang Chuanfu bluntly stated, "Autonomous driving is nonsense. Making a fool of oneself is all deception. It's the emperor's new outfit


Half a year later, Wang Chuanfu felt a sense of urgency brought about by the industry trend. He changed his mind during an internal meeting and explicitly upgraded "smart driving" to BYD's core strategy.


Subsequently, BYD launched its independently developed "Eye of the Sky" advanced intelligent driving assistance system, which was installed on the Tengshi N7. But in terms of sales, both N7 and N8 have average performance. The main reason is that vehicles of the same price range are equipped with higher-level intelligent driving systems, which perform better in terms of intelligence.


In early 2024, BYD proposed vehicle intelligence and developed the intelligent architecture "Xuanji" that integrates intelligence and electricity, as well as the first dual cycle multimodal AI Xuanji large model.




This architecture integrates multiple technologies in the direction of electrification and intelligence, including EasyFour, Yunlian, body systems, intelligent cockpit, and intelligent driving. However, compared with Huawei's automated ecosystem, it is still not comprehensive enough, and there is also a gap with car companies such as Xiaopeng and Ideal.


Last year, companies such as Ideal Auto and NIO launched advanced intelligent driving features, reducing reliance on high-precision maps and achieving the implementation of NOA in more cities.


In early November, the newly launched Xiaopeng P7+comes standard with advanced intelligent functions across the entire range, which not only eliminates high-precision maps, but also can handle complex road conditions. As long as you purchase a car, you can use the highway and city NOA functions.


BYD only has high-end models equipped with advanced intelligent driving functions. To some extent, top tier manufacturers of advanced intelligent driving technology such as Xiaopeng and Huawei will take away some of BYD's users.


This may be something that troubles Wang Chuanfu. He later said, "Cars were electrified in the first half and intelligent in the second half


According to iResearch Consulting's prediction, the penetration rate of advanced intelligent driving is expected to exceed 25% by 2025. Currently, the market is in the blue ocean stage and is a battleground for manufacturers.


Nowadays, intelligent technology is rapidly penetrating into mid to low price models, and entry-level electric vehicles priced around 100000 yuan are also equipped with autonomous driving functions. Intelligence is no longer exclusive to high-end models.


For example, models such as Xiaopeng G3i, GAC Aion Y, and Chery QQ Ice Cream have lowered their profile on basic intelligent driving functions and quickly entered the mass market, equipped with high-speed navigation, automatic parking, and other functions.


For BYD, if it cannot achieve intelligent popularization in the main price range of 100000 to 200000 yuan, it will be difficult to maintain a leading advantage in the future market.


High end intelligent driving is difficult to equip with mid to low end models

At the shareholders' meeting in June this year, Wang Chuanfu stated that BYD has invested nearly 5000 R&D personnel and plans to invest 100 billion yuan in cutting-edge technologies such as generative AI and end-to-end big models in the future, in order to maintain competitiveness in the wave of intelligence.


At the 30th anniversary press conference, Wang Chuanfu expressed his emphasis on BYD's intelligent driving technology.


BYD has partnered with Nvidia, Huawei, and other companies, and has recruited Liu Yi, the former head of parking regulation business at Xiaopeng Motors, to join the team responsible for the self-developed intelligent driving regulation business.


BYD has also established a forward-looking department to focus on end-to-end technology implementation. At the same time, two self-developed intelligent driving teams, the "Tianlang" R&D department and the "Tianxuan" development department, will be merged into one.


According to Interface News, the core focus of the self-developed team is currently on the mass production and landing of advanced intelligent driving on low-end platforms, with the latest goal of adapting 50 models by March next year. Zhang Zhuo, General Manager of BYD Ocean Network Sales Division, revealed to the public that he hopes to install an intelligent driving system on Seagull to truly achieve equal rights between technology and intelligence.


Wang Chuanfu said in public that only by popularizing intelligence to a wider price range can we further consolidate our market share.


However, BYD's transformation journey is not so easy.




Rich intelligent driving data can drive algorithm progress, and AI computing power has become the key driving force determining algorithm iteration speed. In addition, the high cost of LiDAR and light map technology makes it necessary to overcome the challenge of relying solely on visual networks, and BYD also needs time to overcome these technical difficulties.


The core consumer group of entry-level car models is extremely price sensitive, and even a few thousand yuan extra can affect purchasing decisions, which may not be easy.


The success or failure of this strategy lies not only in the adaptation and cost compression capabilities of intelligent driving technology, but also in BYD's ability to quickly adapt to the needs of the mid to low end market and find a balance between intelligent experience and cost control.


The market position of BYD's high-end models is also not reliable.


Now, BYD's high-end price range of over 200000 yuan is being blocked by intelligent terminal host manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi, while the price range of 150000 to 250000 yuan in the hinterland cannot stop new forces such as Zero Run and Xiaopeng from penetrating deeper.




If BYD cannot maintain the sales of high-end models above 200000, it may be difficult to support the scale of solid-state battery installation, and it will also be difficult to achieve rapid cost reduction and technological iteration optimization of solid-state batteries.


Solid state batteries are regarded as the next generation battery technology due to their high energy density, long lifespan, fast charging capability, and higher safety. This new type of battery has high research costs and high construction costs, requiring the sales scale of high-end car models to diversify costs.


Nowadays, domestic and foreign car companies are accelerating the research and development of solid-state batteries. Foreign car companies such as Toyota and Nissan have entered the trial stage of solid-state batteries, and domestic companies such as Huawei and CATL have announced relevant patents to the public. Almost all car companies have high hopes for solid-state batteries.


At present, mainstream battery companies in China have successively announced the mass production schedule of solid-state batteries, most of which are concentrated between 2026 and 2030.


BYD is also slower than other car companies.


Take care of the suppliers more

The current new energy vehicle industry has faster technological iteration. Whoever leads in technology, uses it properly, and has a high cost performance ratio can seize the limelight for a while. Even with BYD's size and position in the industry chain today, Wang Chuanfu has not reached the time to sleep soundly.


Value creation and upgrading products may be the only choice for car companies to survive.


But when Wang Chuanfu catches up with the wave of intelligence, are suppliers still willing to support him?


BYD can occupy supplier accounts and prolong payment cycles. The management teams of various departments may have already immersed themselves in this "privilege", and may even cultivate a management atmosphere that is satisfied with the status quo. There may also be corruption and a situation of unity and supremacy.


BYD may take more care of its suppliers in the development of intelligence and solid-state batteries. Learn from Toyota and establish long-term stable cooperative relationships with suppliers. This relationship is based on risk sharing and benefit sharing, which can motivate suppliers to invest in research and development and process optimization, and consolidate their industry position.


reference material:


1. BYD exerts extreme pressure on suppliers, may become a major international concern for Fortune Chinese website


2. Changan President: Out of 71 passenger car brands, only 3 are profitable. In the future, over 80% of Chinese brands will face closure. Fast Tech


This article is from the WeChat official account "floriyang01" (ID: daily case). The author: Tim, Editor: Ray, 36Kr is authorized for release.


The viewpoint of this article only represents the author himself, and the 36Kr platform only provides information storage space services.




王传福需要友商

潮汐商业评论·2024-12-11 13:51
追赶智能化浪潮,供应商们还愿意支持吗?

刚过去的11月,比亚迪喜事连连,公司成立30周年,第1000万辆新能源汽车下线。另外,这个月比亚迪新能源汽车销量约50.68万辆,同比增长67.87%。

比亚迪是中国新能源汽车市场当之无愧的“王”。

这得益于4年前,王传福做了一个巨大的决定,“我不做汽油车了,只做新能源车。”

他提前布局,从三电技术到工厂建设,都领先其他车企一步。抢得先机的比亚迪通过整合产业链,建立完善的体系,实现了规范化,降低了成本,获得了业内的话语权。

这也让比亚迪率先开启了车企价格战。

大多数车企,尤其是造车新势力们没有比亚迪那样的产业链优势,不降价就是死,降价就是亏本。为了不被比亚迪甩得太远,也为了活下去,只能硬着头皮降价。

就这样,比亚迪单车均价下降的同时,市场份额变大了,营收和利润也蹭蹭上涨,在价格战中实打实的赚到了钱。今年上半年,比亚迪的半年报出来,其利润依然在增长。

而跟风降价的车企们很难开心起来,绝大多数车企亏钱,未来将会有80%以上的中国自主品牌面临关停并转。

在价格战的冲击下,零部件供应商企业受到的冲击也不小。他们在大哥比亚迪面前,越来越不敢大声说话了。

很多自称是比亚迪供应商的人在社交媒体上透露,比亚迪不断拉长账期、挖走供应商的技术人才、利用供应链金融获取更多利益等问题。

这话似乎也不像是空穴来风。

敢叫板的供应商

根据比亚迪2024年半年报显示,其总负债达到了5356亿元,负债率为77.47%,值得注意的是,这并不是银行借贷或者其它借款。

这是其产能和销量增长导致的对应零部件供应商的应付贷款,还有购买土地扩充产房、购买设备所需的应付账款。

2024年9月30日,比亚迪应付票据及应付账款达到2405亿,其中,应付账款2375亿。过去三年,其应收账款连续上涨且涨幅都不小。

据彭博对中国市场主流电动车(EV)制造商向供应商支付账款平均时间的统计,比亚迪的账款支付时间在2023年已接近300天,而特斯拉的账款支付时间在这几年间一直保持在100天左右。

从某种程度上讲,比亚迪价格战的风险转移给了友商。这就不难理解,为什么在王传福喜迎创业30周年时候,有供应商跳出来添堵,不同意继续降价。

并不是所有的友商都是软柿子,或者都看中比亚迪的销售规模。毕竟任何大企业都会有弱势领域。

这次比亚迪年终找供应商议价,希望降价主要针对的是电控和传感器供应商,数量在几十家左右。

像传统汽车零部件供应商,比如轮胎或者玻璃,抱紧比亚迪这条大腿,能吃肉能喝汤。碍于车身质量,比亚迪也不会狠压价格。如果一个品类的零部件供应商敢叫板,间接说明比亚迪可能存在弱项,在这个领域的话语权有限。

事实上,确实如此。

卷价值的友商打响智能化

今年8月, 2025款比亚迪海豹的上市,让比亚迪的高阶智驾车型下探至 20万元区间。而小鹏汽车已凭借小鹏MONA M03打响了 "20万以内唯一高阶智驾" 的名号。

另一款越野车方程豹豹8车型,搭载华为乾崑智驾ADS 3.0系统,起售价37.98万。这也侧面反映出比亚迪的智能驾驶,能力不足,意味着产品成本极高。

不可否认,在多方成本控制之下,比亚迪销量不断创新高,并有望在2024年全年能够突破400万辆的销量目标。

但是小鹏、华为等车企转移战场,在智能化领域寻找自己的话语权。

在2024未来汽车先行者大会上,余承东表示,全世界第一的卷王应该是比亚迪,因为比亚迪有超低的成本。他强调鸿蒙智行要卷价值,尤其是要在智能化上卷。

11月30日,广汽集团与华为举行智能汽车战略合作签约,双方签署深化合作协议。目前,华为高阶智驾技术已搭载11个汽车品牌、超过15款车型。

小鹏也利用智能化上的优势找回了自信。蔚来、理想等造车新势力以及长城、长安老牌车企已经相继投入城市NOA领域大战,并且各自都有拿手的技术。

然而比亚迪在高阶驾驶领域不占优势,在城市NOA上落后竞争对手。

这也是源于王传福在智能化上出现了方向性失误,甚至还影响了高端化的进程。

落后一步的高阶智驾

2023年初,王传福在比亚迪的财报交流会上直言“无人驾驶是扯淡,弄个虚头巴脑的东西,那都是忽悠,它就是皇帝的新装。”

半年后,王传福感受到了行业趋势倒逼带来的紧迫感。他在内部会议上改口,明确将“智驾” 升级为比亚迪的核心战略。

随后,比亚迪推出自主研发的“天神之眼”高阶智能驾驶辅助系统,搭载在腾势N7上。但在销量上,不论是N7还是N8表现都一般。主要原因还是同等价位的车型都搭配了更高阶的智驾系统,智能化表现更好。

2024年初,比亚迪才提出整车智能化,发了智电融合的智能化架构“璇玑”架构及首创双循环多模态AI璇玑大模型。

这套架构集合了包括易四方、云辇、车身系统、智能座舱和智能驾驶等电动化和智能化方向的多项技术。但与华为的自动生态系统相比,依然不够全面,和小鹏、理想等车企也存在差距。

去年,理想汽车、蔚来汽车等就推出了高阶智驾功能,降低了对高精度地图的依赖,实现了更多城市NOA的落地。

11月初,小鹏新上市的小鹏P7+全系标配高阶智能功能,不仅摆脱了高精度地图,而且能应对复杂路况,只要购车就可以使用高速和城市NOA功能。

而比亚迪只有高端车型配备了高阶智驾功能。在一定程度上讲,小鹏、华为等高阶智能驾驶技术第一梯队的厂商会抢走比亚迪的部分用户。

这或许是王传福比较烦恼的事情。他后来说,“汽车‘上半场是电动化,下半场是智能化’。”

据艾瑞咨询预测,2025年高阶智驾渗透率有望突破25%,目前市场处于蓝海阶段,是厂商们必争之地。

现在智能化技术正快速向中低价位车型渗透,10万元左右的入门级电动车也在配备自动驾驶功能,智能化不再是高端车型的独享。

例如,小鹏G3i、广汽埃安Aion Y、奇瑞QQ冰淇淋等车型在基础的智驾功能上“放低身段”,迅速切入大众市场,配备高速领航、自动泊车等功能。

对于比亚迪来说,如果不能在10万至20万元的主力价位车型上实现智能化普及,将很难在未来市场中持续保持领先优势。

高阶智驾难配备中低端车型

今年6月的股东大会上,王传福表示,比亚迪已经投入了接近五千人的研发团队,未来还规划投入1000亿元,将聚焦于生成式AI、端到端大模型等尖端技术,以期在智能化浪潮中保持竞争力。

在30周年发布会上,王传福又表达了对比亚迪智驾技术的重视。

比亚迪与英伟达、华为等展开合作,吸纳了小鹏汽车原泊车规控业务负责人刘懿加入团队,负责自研智能驾驶的规控业务。

比亚迪还成立了前瞻部门,主攻端到端技术落地。同时,内部两个自研智驾团队“天狼”研发部、“天璇”开发部将合二为一。

据界面新闻报道,自研团队目前核心重点是低阶平台的高阶智驾量产落地,最新目标是在明年3月实现50款车型的适配。比亚迪海洋网销售事业部总经理张卓对外透露,希望在海鸥上搭载智驾系统,真正实现科技和智能平权。

王传福在公开场合说,只有让智能化普及至更广泛的价格区间,才能进一步稳固市场份额。

不过,比亚迪的转型之路并非那么轻松。

丰富的智驾数据才能驱动算法进步,AI算力成为决定算法迭代速度的关键驱动力。另外,激光雷达和轻地图技术成本高,纯视觉占用网络成为必须跨越的难关,比亚迪也需要时间来克服这些技术难题。

入门级车型的核心消费群体对价格极为敏感,哪怕多出几千元,都会影响购买决策,这或许并不容易。

这一策略的成败,不仅在于智能驾驶技术的适配和成本压缩能力,还在于比亚迪能否迅速适应中低端市场的需求,在智能体验与成本控制间找到平衡。

比亚迪的高端车型的市场地位也不牢靠。

现在,比亚迪20万以上高端价格带受到华为和小米这些智能终端主机厂的阻击,腹地15~25万价格带又拦不住零跑和小鹏这些新势力深入。

如果比亚迪守不住20万以上高端车型的销量,那么恐怕难以支持固态电池的装车规模,也难以实现固态电池的快速降本和技术迭代优化。

固态电池以其高能量密度、长寿命、快速充电能力和更高的安全性,被视为下一代电池技术。这种新型电池研究成本高、造价高,需要高端车型的销量规模来分散成本。

现在国内外车企都加速研发固态电池,外资车企如丰田、日产的固态电池已经进入到了试制阶段,国内华为、宁德时代等对外公布相关专利。几乎所有车企都对固态电池寄予厚望。

目前国内的主流电池企业已经纷纷公布了固态电池的量产时间表,大多数集中在2026年至2030年这一时间段内。

而比亚迪比其它车企也慢半拍。

多照顾一下供应商

当下的新能源车行业技术迭代更快,谁技术领先且运用得当、性价比高,谁才能占尽一时的风头。即便是以今天比亚迪的体量和产业链地位,王传福也没到睡安稳觉的时候。

卷价值,升级产品,可能才是车企们活下去的唯一选择。

但王传福追赶智能化的浪潮时,供应商们还愿意支持吗?

比亚迪能占用供应商的账款,拖长付款周期。各个部门的管理层可能已经沉浸在这种“特权”中,甚至可能滋养出满于现状的管理氛围,或许还会出现贪腐,一致唯上的局面。

比亚迪或许在智能化和固态电池研发上,可以多照顾一下供应商。学学丰田,与供应商建立了长期稳定的合作关系,这种关系基于风险共担和利益共享,才能激励供应商投入研发和工艺优化,巩固行业地位。

参考资料:

1.比亚迪极限施压供应商,或成国际化一大隐忧财富中文网

2.长安总裁:71个乘用车品牌仅3家盈利 未来80%以上中国品牌面临关停 快科技

本文来自微信公众号“florayang01”(ID:daily-case),作者:Tim,编辑:Ray,36氪经授权发布。


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