In the past week, two brands in the automotive industry have brought hot topics, the first is Apple's complete abandonment of the car business, and secondly, Mercedes-Benz's decision to abandon the all-electric plan and once again put the update of internal combustion engine vehicle technology on the agenda; It seems that the enthusiasm of European and American car companies for the electrification of vehicles is declining, and now only a few companies are left with full enthusiasm for the Chinese auto industry.
Why is there a 180-degree change in attitude?
Most car enthusiasts believe that the reason is that they can't do anything in China's auto industry, and they have fallen significantly behind in the construction of the electric vehicle industry. No, China's electric vehicle industry is indeed more perfect, and the size of the industry is the key to determining the cost of vehicle manufacturing, and the ability to control costs is the way for enterprises to win; Therefore, whether it is Mercedes-Benz or Volkswagen, it is objectively difficult to compete with independent new energy vehicle brands. At this time, what should be done is to accelerate the construction of new industries and the research and development of new technologies, and we should catch up. So the truth is definitely not so simple, and the real reason may be waiting for the right time.
Strengthen the advantages and weaken the shortcomings.
This is what Mercedes-Benz and a number of European and American car companies need to do, since it is impossible to compete with Chinese enterprises in the new energy vehicle camp in the short term, it is better to strengthen their advantages first; The advantage of Mercedes-Benz is internal combustion engine vehicles, which are commonly known as fuel vehicles, although the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is growing rapidly, but fuel vehicles are still the cornerstone of the current automobile market.
Therefore, the right thing to do is to further optimize the internal combustion engine vehicle, even in the final stage, because the value it can create in this stage will still be higher than that of new energy vehicles.
Accumulate steadily, and go far.
Mercedes-Benz has only abandoned the "all-electric plan" rather than abandoning electric vehicles entirely, so what Mercedes is doing is "going both ways", including Germany and a range of European and American countries. In layman's terms, it is to strengthen the advantages of internal combustion engine vehicles in the necessary stage to stabilize the market, and increase investment in the construction of the new energy vehicle industry behind the scenes; The fundamental reason why it is necessary to "quietly" promote the research and development of three-electric technology is obviously to avoid the impact of this concept on users in the automobile market. To put it bluntly, it is necessary to avoid a series of concepts of new energy vehicles that cause cognitive biases in the automobile market users, otherwise, the follow-up will definitely be the first battle between new energy vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles, just like the problems we are facing now.
Empathy, if I were a Mercedes Benz, I wouldn't be in a hurry.
The reason is very simple, because the degree of "involution" of China's new energy automobile industry is really amazing, whether it is the first commercial enterprises or vehicle manufacturers are in fierce competition, the intensity of competition is quite exaggerated. However, the electric drive technology has brought about a serious homogenization of the comprehensive performance of the car, and the level of new energy vehicle products in the same belt is basically the same, and even the vehicle design is highly convergent at this stage! So how do these car companies compete? In the face of the mature new energy vehicle industry chain, in the stage of equivalent cost control ability, the competition of car companies has appeared a "war of words".
At the same time, there is also a war, which is already the financing ability of the enterprise, and the Matthew effect staged in the process may really be able to eliminate the vast majority of car companies; Of course, the likelihood of such an outcome is not very high, because measures will be taken before that level is reached.
However, the war will not stop in the short term, and some car companies will inevitably face financial pressure in the process, just like Gaohe Automobile; Therefore, these car companies need to inject funds, and this is an excellent opportunity for foreign companies. Rather than developing a complete set of architecture from scratch, it is better to cooperate with these Chinese new energy vehicle companies, although these car companies seem to be at a disadvantage in the competition, but the level and value of their complete solutions are not inferior to those of first-tier brands. So when these car companies need funds the most, they throw an olive branch, and these foreign companies can take a lot of detours.
Therefore, the current "involution" is creating opportunities for some foreign companies, and Mercedes-Benz does not need to worry.
Apple's decision to abandon the car business should be the right one, as it is preparing to carry a fully self-driving car; And fully autonomous driving is not a goal that can be achieved in ten or twenty years, at least for individual market users. Because fully autonomous driving is not only a test of the vehicle's software and hardware platform, but also a test of the foundation of the intelligent transportation system, and the investment in building a set of three-dimensional intelligent transportation is huge, and there are only a handful of cities in the world that can bear this cost. The point is that after the construction of such a three-dimensional intelligent transportation system, the cycle of "realization" of the city through the system is bound to be very long, and it is difficult to see whether there will be such an infrastructure.
At present, fully autonomous driving seems to be more of a concept created for the electrification of cars, and it can even be said that it is "a piece of cake", so it is not wrong for Apple to choose to give up for the time being; After the car first completes the full electrification and the highly intelligent cockpit domain, then consider driving intelligently, and this process will be very long, the car companies that are already making cars can hang a "cake" to slowly transition, and Apple Inc., which has not made a car, cannot afford to survive, and the only choice is to give up.
That's it.
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