2023 is destined to be recorded in the history of the world's automobiles, setting off a vigorous wave of "involution" in the world's largest automobile consumer market and in China, the main battlefield of global new energy vehicles. In the eyes of the capital market, this is a bloody wind of competition for the thickness of funds and the patience of investors; In the eyes of other industries, this is an unprecedented explosion of technology and market; In the eyes of people in the automotive industry, this is the rolling tide of survival of the fittest; In the eyes of ordinary consumers, there will be more volumes in 2024, so you might as well wait.
Consumers' kind of watching the fire from the other side and holding on to the currency to buy has triggered the collective anxiety of many OEMs such as new car-making forces and old joint venture forces: what else can be done in 2024 besides volume? Who will be able to hold on? How do surviving car companies make money? Manufacturers who have been playing the role of followers in the market are issuing soul questions.
As the saying goes, "there is food in your hands, you don't panic", from the volume architecture and volume configuration a few years ago, to this year's volume plugging and mixing, volume **, roll car machine, and even roll satellite and mobile phone, Geely is taking the lead. What makes Geely so calm and leisurely in the industry? Looking back at Geely's 2023 years, we find that excellent technical reserves, perfect product layout, comprehensive technical routes, and complete industrial chains are all indispensable.
If you want to say who is the most stable in the first echelon of new car-making forces in 2023, it must be the ZEEKR brand, which is backed by the advantages of the whole industry chain of large groups and has the endorsement of the world's leading pure electric architecture such as SEA, which are the weak links that other new forces dare not roll up the most. December 2023 is the craziest period for breaking bones at the end of the year, with a relatively conservative strategy of ZEEKR delivering 13,476 vehicles, setting a new high in a single month, and delivering a total of 118685 vehicles throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 65%, truly relying on core technology to win.
At the product level, in 2023, ZEEKR 001 will become the sales champion of pure electric models with more than 300,000 units from January to November; ZEEKR 009 is the sales champion of all categories of pure electric models with more than 400,000 from January to November; The newly launched Zeekr X became the only Chinese brand in the top 10 luxury compact car sales of more than 200,000 from July to November.
In terms of the performance of other new car-making forces, ZEEKR is also outstanding, and the pure electric hunting supercar ZEEKR 001 FR has broken the performance monopoly of the traditional 10-million-level hyper car; ZEEKR 007, 20With a price of 990,000 yuan, the "king of pure electric cars in the 800V era" deserves its name; In terms of safety, by the end of 2023, ZEEKR has delivered more than 190,000 new vehicles, still maintaining a record of "zero spontaneous combustion".
In terms of channels, ZEEKR has 342 directly-operated stores across the country, which can be called the "offline benchmark for new forces". As the "leader of ultra-fast charging in China", ZEEKR has adhered to self-research, self-construction and self-operation of ultra-fast charging network since the launch of the brand, and has built a total of 432 ultra-fast charging stations by 2023. In 2024, the number of pole charging stations will reach 1,000, and by 2026, the number of pole charging piles will reach 10,000, realizing the grand idea of "thousands of stations and thousands of piles".
Geely's other brand-new brand, Galaxy, has shown the world what "Galaxy Speed" is. The brand launched 3 new products in 7 months after its establishment, and the sales volume exceeded 830,000, and the 150,000-level plug-in hybrid SUV track to which the Galaxy L7 belongs, and the 13-150,000 level plug-in hybrid family car track to which the Galaxy L6 belongs, are all the Red Sea surrounded by strong enemies. The recently unveiled Galaxy E8 is positioned as "China's new generation of pure electric flagship", directly smashing the old nest of Tesla Model 3.
What amazes the whole world is that in addition to the introduction of a popular product from the Galaxy brand, there is also a crazy speed of building stores. From the beginning of June to the end of December 2023, Galaxy stores have achieved the "fastest leap in history" from 0 to 650, and ensure a high standard of "personalized customization, transparency of the whole process" car purchase and use of the "Galaxy" experience.
2023 is the first year of plug-in hybrid in China's new energy vehicle market, and it is also the year of Geely's "general trend" of hybrids, with Geely Group selling 334598 pure electric vehicles and 152863 plug-in hybrid vehicles throughout the year. In Geely Group's "Family Bucket", Lynk & Co sold 220,250 vehicles throughout the year, becoming the fastest Chinese high-end car brand to break one million sales.
Lynk & Co sold 25,695 vehicles in December 2023, of which hybrid models accounted for more than half. With the continuous expansion of the EM-P family, the "world's strongest hybrid", Lynk & Co is expected to achieve the goal of electrification of all products in 2025 ahead of schedule: the Lynk & Co 08EM-P, 09EM-P and 06EM-P based on the EM-P super extended range electric solution continue to output, driving the Lynk & Co brand to fully electrification.
Although the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the Chinese market will exceed 40% in 2023, the traditional fuel vehicle sector is still a foundation that cannot be ignored. Under the concept of "building everyone's smart boutique car", the Geely brand has promoted the evolution of its classic models to intelligence, electrification and energy saving, and launched the China Star Intelligent Shuangqing, which has exceeded 870,000 units since its launch, becoming the "best value benchmark" for fuel vehicles in China.
In December 2023, the sales volume of the Geely brand (including Geometry) reached 107382 units, and the annual sales volume reached 1309580 units, reaching a new high. Among them, after several years of exploration, the pure electric brand Geometry began to break through the micro pure electric market, with annual sales of 191346 vehicles. The all-new electric mini car Geely Panda has sold 109642 units in 2023, ranking among the top 3 in the A00-level pure electric market, opening up a new situation for Geometry to accelerate the development of the C-end market.
"Going out" is another key word for Chinese car companies in 2023, but the way to go overseas can be called "eight immortals crossing the sea to show their magical powers", there is the "reverse joint venture" of Leap, the global assembly of Great Wall Chery, the overseas OEM of SAIC MG, the external cooperation of Zhiji Automobile, the most trouble-free is for new car-making forces to open stores overseas, and the most comprehensive is Geely's whole industry chain going to sea.
In 2023, Geely Group exported a total of 274101 vehicles and has launched 10 models in 43 countries around the world. At the same time, Geely has 532 sales and service outlets in 70 countries around the world. In 2023, Geely established its fourth subsidiary in the Mexican market to develop the Latin American market with systematic strength.
From the brand point of view, Lynk & Co is accelerating the "European strategy" and "Asia-Pacific strategy", landing in a total of 12 international mainstream markets. By the end of the year, ZEEKR has opened 11 online ** stores in 6 European countries, bringing the ultimate travel experience to global users.
In 2022, Geely exported its technology to the most developed countries for the first time, with a technology licensing revenue of 16600 million yuan. In the first half of 2023, Geely Automobile's technology licensing revenue will be 27100 million yuan, the gradually lit Geely Technology Tree will bring continuous fruitful fruits.
In July 2023, Geely and Renault jointly established a powertrain company with the capacity to produce more than 5 million sets of engines and transmissions per year, covering 80% of the world's gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicle market applications.
2023 is also the seventh year of cooperation between Geely and Proton, and Geely's strategic output of a variety of products, engine technology, management and human resources has helped the "Malaysian FAW" to achieve a magnificent butterfly change of "turning losses into profits", and the "Proton model" is also regarded as a textbook case of the globalization strategy of multinational enterprises in the new era.
As of 2023, Geely has led and participated in the formulation of 407 international, national, industry, local and group standards, and has completed the release of 254 standards, which has created many overseas "firsts" for Chinese enterprises, and truly realized the "Made in China" leap from products to sea, to technology to sea, and then to ecological to sea.
The intelligent level of automobiles has always been a watershed for users to judge new forces and old car companies, and in 2023, more and more traditional car companies have crossed this ridge and begun to roll up intelligence. From car machine to intelligent driving, from laser radar to software ecology, from software and hardware decoupling to global control, although the actions of new forces and traditional car companies can be seen everywhere, most of them are in the volume of single items, and only Geely seems to be able to develop comprehensively and blossom in more points.
In 2023, Geely has achieved major breakthroughs in the fields of operating systems, intelligent cockpits, on-board chips, autonomous driving, connected vehicles, low-orbit satellites, and intelligent computing centers. Industry-leading handcar integration solutions such as Galaxy N OS and Lynk & Co Flyme Auto have been quickly applied to the new cars of Galaxy and Lynk & Co. Geely's full-stack self-developed China's first automotive-grade 7nm cockpit chip "Dragon Eagle No. 1" has also achieved mass production on Lynk & Co and Ruilan.
In addition, in 2023, Geely will successively release the world's first mass-produced 800V lithium iron phosphate ultra-fast charging "golden brick battery", the world's first mass-produced high-performance silicon carbide four-motor drive system, the world's highest-gun charging power of the new generation V3 charging technology, a new generation of Raytheon electric hybrid technology, Aegis battery safety system, EM-P super extended range electric solution, green methanol powered vehicles and other self-developed cutting-edge new energy technologies, leading the same level in performance, energy saving, intelligence, comfort, safety and other dimensions.
The official opening of the Xingrui Intelligent Computing Center has helped Geely to widen the technology generation gap with new EV manufacturers in the fields of intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, and power management. Satellite communication technology has been applied to ZEEKR 001 FR and Geely Galaxy E8, becoming the world's first mass production car. During the Hangzhou Asian Games, Geely also successfully operated the first high-end intelligent driving demonstration line, providing satellite-based high-precision positioning services to make Asian Games travel safer and smarter.
In recent years, Geely has attached great importance to and continued to promote its sustainable development strategy, fully implementing the ESG concept in six strategic directions: climate neutrality, natural benefits, global security, digital and intelligent innovation, co-prosperity development, governance and ethics, and was awarded the title of "Carbon Neutrality Benchmark Enterprise".
The involution of 2023 has become history, and 2024 has no most volume, only more volume, only excellent technology, comprehensive product layout, complete industrial chain, and clear technical route can be invincible. Geely Galaxy Zeekr Lynk & Co has a heavy responsibility on their shoulders, and they cannot relax for a moment in a market full of strong competitors, because they represent the trend of transformation from "Made in China" to "Made in China".
In the Chinese auto market, which is blooming in pure electric, hybrid and intelligent multi-point development, only by making steady progress and concentrating on research and development can we be confident, and only by taking a long-term view and taking precautions can we move forward bravely. For China's manufacturing industry to rise, it cannot rely on blowing data pile configuration, let alone PPT and IPO. Geely's hard work in 2023 has "set an example" for the involuted Chinese car companies and even all Chinese enterprises. In the new year and new journey, Geely Automobile will set off with a new look and full power.