Weekly Ratings
Note: Data is obtained from Dianka and Tianji’s accumulated statistics.
Weekly News
CheHeJia acquires Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co.,Ltd. for 650 million yuan and obtains production qualification
On December 17, the fourth session of the seventeenth board of directors of Lifan Industrial Co., Ltd. deliberated and approved the “Proposal on Lifan Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd. to sell all the equity of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd.”, agreeing to transfer its Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd. 100% equity to Chongqing Xin Fan Mechanical Equipment Co.,Ltd. at a price of RMB 650 million.
Beijing Heartwave Intelligent Technology Co.,Ltd. holds 100% equity of Chongqing Xin Fan Mechanical Equipment Co.,Ltd., and CheHeJia holds 100% equity of Beijing Heartwave Intelligent Technology Co.,Ltd.
Lifan Group holds two qualifications for Lifan Automobile and Lifan Passenger Cars. Through the acquisition of Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd., CheHeJia will solve the problem of production qualifications.
Quick Comment: Car and Home has always advertised outside that consumers do not have to worry about qualifications. Ideal ONE will be built in Ideal Manufacturing’s own factory by their own employees. It now seems that this issue has been basically confirmed. With the support of qualifications, Li Xiang’s dream of making cars is closer, and the mass production of Ideal ONE will be more stable.
JAC Volkswagen’s new energy vehicle project R&D center officially started
On December 10, JAC Volkswagen’s new energy vehicle project R&D center located in Hefei, Anhui, officially started.
The R&D center plans to be completed in 2021. After completion, JAC Automobile Group, Volkswagen Group and Seat Automobile (Volkswagen’s wholly-owned subsidiary) will jointly develop a pure electric vehicle platform and develop products for the Chinese and overseas markets based on the platform.
JAC Volkswagen plans to introduce the Seat brand in 2021 or earlier and jointly develop electrification based on Seat products.
The three parties will provide the necessary investment and technical support to the R&D center to develop connected cars, autonomous driving and other strategic new car technologies for use by all parties in the future.
Quick Comment: China’s new energy vehicle market is booming, and Volkswagen plans to bring its subsidiary Seat into China under the trend of electrification. The ideal is full, but whether consumers buy it or not depends on the product.
China and US reached consensus on economic and trade issues, Tesla lowered its prices again
During the G20 Summit of Leaders in Buenos Aires, China and the United States reached an important consensus on China-US economic and trade issues. The State Council’s Customs Tariff Commission decided to suspend the additional tariffs on automobiles and parts originating in the United States for 3 months from January 1, 2019.
Upon the announcement, Tesla silently adjusted the prices of Model S and Model X on its official website. Among them, the prices of Model S P100D, Model X 100D, and Model X P100D remained unchanged from the November adjustment. The prices of the other three models have decreased by 40,000 to 100,000 yuan. At the same time, the price of Model 3 has also been slightly lowered.
Quick Comment: Tesla’s prices have fluctuated significantly under the influence of the trade war. This time, the challenger’s price should have reached the bottom. I wonder if the price reduction of Model 3 has impressed some consumers who wanted to buy but were limited by the price?### ZERO S01 Configuration Table Revealed
On December 12th, Vice President of ZER0 Automotive, Zhao Gang, released the configuration table for the ZERO S01 in advance on Weibo. The S01 comes in two battery versions, 380km and 460km, with NEDC ranges of 300km and 380km, respectively. Each version has two configuration types: standard and Pro. The hardware configuration for intelligent driving is very rich, and can be upgraded through OTA in the future to achieve level 3 assisted driving.
The ZERO S01 is expected to be officially launched in January 2019, with prices expected to be between 100,000 and 150,000 yuan under the 2019 Beijing subsidy policy.
Quick Review: As a member of the new force in car manufacturing, ZERO S01 rarely takes the initiative to catch people’s attention. The S01 is positioned as a large toy for young people, and it will be interesting to see how it performs under intelligent capabilities. Let’s wait and see in January next year!
MIIT Announces the 315th Batch of New Car Declarations: BYD Qin EV600 is Approved
On December 14th, MIIT released the public announcement of new road vehicle products for the 315th batch of “Road Motor Vehicle Enterprise and Product Announcement” list, including BYD’s Qin EV600, Yuan EV500, and Honda’s Odyssey hybrid.
Quick Review: With the improvement of the range of electric vehicles on the market, BYD has also put a larger battery on the pure electric Qin and Yuan models, successively increasing the comprehensive range. BYD’s battery technology leads the industry, but it is not a good habit to name the vehicle according to the constant-speed range.
BMW Plans to Deploy 200 5 Series Vehicles in Chengdu to Create High-End Ride-Hailing ServiceOn December 14, 2018, BMW Group announced the further expansion of its ReachNow instant mobility™ business in China, which will be operated by its wholly-owned subsidiary, BMW Mobility Services China, established in Chengdu in April of this year.
In December of last year, BMW Group’s mobility service brand ReachNow partnered with EVCard to launch an electric car-sharing service with 100 BMW i3s in Chengdu. Over the past year, the number of service stations has grown from 25 to 1,000. This marks the first official launch of a high-end ride-hailing service by BMW ReachNow in China, with 200 BMW 5 Series vehicles driven by dedicated drivers to be introduced in Chengdu.
Comment: Many automakers are also engaged in mobility services. As a high-end brand, what is BMW’s plan? What changes will there be in the industry in the future? This is a question worth thinking about.
CATL’s US subsidiary officially established
On December 6th local time, lithium-ion battery manufacturer CATL’s US subsidiary was officially established in Detroit. As the first local office in the United States, CATL’s US subsidiary will strengthen its connections with local car manufacturers and develop customized products and services to meet their needs, providing more localized services. This is CATL’s fourth global subsidiary, following Germany, France and Japan.
Comment: As the world’s second-largest electric vehicle market, CATL sees the potential of the US market. As a domestic giant, CATL is confident and capable of participating in the US market and hopes to continue its rapid development and reduce the cost of battery manufacturing with the help of the US market.
* Aiways unveils new design for U5; NIO ES6 to be released next month | Weekly News
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.