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** 007 of the brand world
Author 007 of the brand world
Recently, the story of the three German brothers in the BBA has taken a new turn.
BB and they huddled, and A was left out in the cold.
Yes, on November 30, the BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz officially announced thatThe two companies will establish a joint venture in China to jointly build and operate a supercharging network.
Source: BMW Group.
What kind of drama is this??
A century-old enemy, suddenly fell in love again.
Why do you use the word "again"?
As early as 2019, Mercedes-Benz and BMW successively announced cooperation in the two major fields of automobile mobility services and autonomous driving, in which the two sides jointly developed L3-L4 assisted driving systems and technologies.
However, the two "loved" for more than a year, and the cooperation was "temporarily shelved" indefinitely.
Nowadays, the hand-in-hand in the field of charging can be regarded as the "continuation of the frontier" of switching tracks.
It's just that I don't know if the "lost east" in the field of driving can achieve "harvest" in the field of charging.
It is understood that Mercedes-Benz and BMW are going to make a big move. By the end of 2026, it is planned to build at least 1,000 state-of-the-art supercharging stations and about 7,000 supercharging piles in the Chinese market.
The first batch of super charging stations will start construction and operation in China's key new energy vehicle cities next year, and the subsequent construction of charging stations will also cover other cities and regions across the country.
The joint venture's charging network will be open to the public, while Mercedes-Benz BMW owners will be able to enjoy exclusive and premium services such as plug and charge, online appointment booking and a seamless digital charging experience.
Mercedes-Benz and BMW have tried the layout of charging systems in the past, but the layout is relatively slow due to the lack of maturity of technology.
Looking at the world, Mercedes-Benz has only 4 self-built super charging stations, one each in Chengdu and Foshan in China.
Source: Dong Che Hui.
Therefore, they mainly provide energy replenishment services through cooperation with third-party charging pile operators, but this cooperation is difficult to provide the same smooth and exclusive experience as brand-specific charging stations.
Think about Mercedes-Benz and BMW's valued car owners queuing up with online car owners at third-party supercharging stations, presumably there will be a feeling of being under the fence, and the experience of driving a luxury car will be greatly reduced.
The charging pile is the first power of new energy vehicles, and it is the confidence of the owner to travel. If the brand has a strong exclusive charging network system, it will undoubtedly be more convincing to consumers at the sales end.
For high-end brands, the construction of exclusive charging networks is particularly important, which is an important factor in brand competitiveness and brand premium.
Up to now, Tesla has laid out more than 1,800 super charging stations in Chinese mainland, with more than 10,000 super charging piles. At the end of last year, Tesla opened up the design of charging connectors, and many car companies reached charging agreements with Tesla, and the charging standards in North America have almost been unified by Tesla standards.
Source: Tesla Charging Life.
NIO, which is a new force that is heavily invested in energy replenishment services, currently has more than 2,000 battery swap stations in China, including more than 600 high-speed battery swap stations. Recently, Changan and Geely have also reached battery swap cooperation with NIO to build a shared battery swap network.
The construction of the energy replenishment system is exclusive, the scarcity of core sites such as business districts and transportation hubs, coupled with the limitations of the distribution network, the car companies that built their own energy replenishment networks earlier have a first-mover advantage and can build a moat for energy replenishment.
Li Xiang once said that the role of Tesla and NIO's self-built charging network in promoting sales was underestimated.
Source: Li Xiang.
From these two car companies, it can be seen that the value of the brand to have its own charging station for users is huge.
In addition, Xpeng has also laid out more than 1,000 charging stations, and even the ideal of relying on extended range has also announced the construction of a supercharging network.
New energy brands are building walls non-stop, and the former fuel luxury brands have been relatively backward in terms of charging network layout, but they can't sit still.
As we all know, building new energy vehicles burns money, and the same self-built charging network is also a money-burning job. The investment scale is large and the profit cycle is long. Therefore, in order to reduce costs and improve utilization, opening up to the outside world and group operations have become the choice of many car companies.
Kang Linsong, chairman of the board of directors of Mercedes-Benz, also said: "The cost of electrification transformation is huge, and it is difficult for car companies to cope with it alone, so everyone must join forces." ”
Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which were ridiculed by netizens as a "galloping horse" combination, can be regarded as the best measure to share costs and risks.
First of all, in the field of new energy vehicles, due to the slow transformation process, joint venture car companies have obviously fallen behind in the wave of electrification, so that they have been ridiculed as "miscellaneous cars", and Mercedes-Benz and BMW have not become an exception.
In the case that the volume of "Galloping Horse" new energy vehicles is not large, if the two sides build their own charging networks, they will definitely face an imbalance in the input-output ratio, and the choice of multi-party cooperation can effectively share the pressure of this cost.
Secondly, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have a high degree of fit in terms of brand positioning and grade and target user groups, and the cooperation between them can be regarded as a good match, and they will provide services for both owners in the future, and will not cause a gap in experience.
Source: BMW Group.
There are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies in the mall.
Through the "marriage" of this century-old rival, we can feel the complexity and intensity of the current competition in the new energy vehicle market.
With the rise of China's automobile army, their innovation and subversion in the field of intelligent driving have redefined people's imagination of "luxury", which means that the days of these traditional foreign-funded luxury cars lying down to make money in the era of fuel vehicles will eventually come to an end.
Whether it is in terms of driving experience or charging experience, these two car companies have been left far behind by the new forces, not to mention sales, which have been directly crushed into powder.
At this time, it is necessary to start from the energy replenishment system to find back this sense of dignity for the "distinguished car owner" when charging outside, although it is late, but it is also a step that cannot but be taken.
The former BBA Big Three, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, why don't they play with Audi?Audi was left out in the cold?
Think too much. As early as 2019, CAMS New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a joint venture with China FAW, Jiangqi Group and Wanbang Digital Energy, is one of the first energy supplement companies in the industry to launch a 480kW ultra-fast charging solution.
Some industry insiders said that Audi's goal by the end of this year is to build 600 charging piles. "The construction of Audi brand charging stations is more intended to achieve value-added in terms of service and experience. ”
Source: Dong Che Hui.
In addition, some foreign media reported that Audi will reach a strategic cooperation with Porsche, another luxury brand of the Volkswagen Group, in early 2024, and the two sides will carry out in-depth cooperation in various aspects such as sharing the layout of the charging network, improving the utilization rate of charging piles, and the operation and maintenance of charging stations.
Looking at the entire new energy vehicle market, whether it is BB's group heating or AP's brothers concentric, it can be seen as a counterattack between them and the new forces.
Although the "Galloping Horse" is lagging behind in the new battlefield, don't forget the brand belief and strong capital they have accumulated over the decades.
With money in hand, the new story that BBAP continues to write in the field of new energy vehicles may be reversed.
Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think?Feel free to leave your comments and opinions in the comment area.