Shanghai Today
Racing on New Lane, Shanghai Cars Sped up Going Overseas - August 01, 2022
发力新赛道，上海汽车加速出海引人注目
Change seems to have happened overnight. On the European market where foreign automakers can hardly enter and local brands almost dominate, Chinese cars suddenly emerged. "Some of the most attractive electric vehicles on the European market are either made in China (Tesla) or Chinese brands (SAIC MG)," a British journalist said of his experience in choosing a car.
If personal feelings are not enough to describe the whole picture, statistics are more telling. In 2021, China exported 2,015,000 vehicles, two times the number of the previous year. Among them, the fastest growing export market was Europe, with sales up 300% from the previous year. China has become the world's third largest car exporter after Japan and Germany.
Every day, you can see such a scene at the Haitong International Automobile Dock in Waigaoqiao, Shanghai: Thousands of new cars — MG, Maxus, Haval, Chery, Polestar, BYD... and some covered by white hoods and brand invisible — filed into the docked ro-ro ships, waiting to be shipped overseas, like a roadshow of Chinese car brands.
The surge in China's car exports is the result of a concerted effort by Chinese car brands, with the Shanghai factor particularly striking. There are two sets of statistics: For every three Chinese cars sold overseas, one is made by SAIC (including exported ones and those manufactured in overseas factories); for every two electric vehicles exported by China, one comes from Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai. In fact, all the "most attractive" cars (Tesla and MG) mentioned by the British journalist came from Shanghai. They are all Shanghai cars of the new era.
The surge of China's car exports came all of a sudden. Even some of the car companies involved in it claimed they hadn't expected it. It should be noted that in the past 10 years, China's annual car exports had been hovering around 1 million, until last year when the number surged to more than 2 million. In the first half of this year, although Shanghai and other places in China were severely hit by the pandemic, car exports continued to grow rapidly on the basis of last year. What's behind the mutation? Very rare accidental factors or the long-term evolution law of the global car industry? Has the time of the qualitative change of Chinese and Shanghai cars come?
What do Chinese cars look like?
Fifteen years ago, after watching the lnternational Automobile and Manufacturing Technology Exhibition in Shanghai, an American asked a question worth the Chinese people's pondering: What should Chinese cars look like?
He said, the common language at the Shanghai automobile exhibition was Chinese, but the words describing car design were foreign: Italian interior, German solidity, and American toughness. What was missing? Anything that reflects Chinese car design.
Back then, copinism prevailed in China's car industry, making it difficult for Chinese cars to compete with international counterparts. Overseas, there were only a few exports to less developed markets. Some people said that at the time, China's car exports were "selling iron sheets by weight".
But fifteen years later, China's car industry is a different story. On July 20th this year, the first batch of 1,000 SAIC MG MU-LAN cars (named MG4 ELECTRIC overseas) set out from the Haitong dock and sailed to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. This is a model designed by SAIC for global consumers. Landing in Europe this year, it will enter the markets of key regions in six continents next year, and thus known as the "Global Car".
The main target market for MG's "Global Car" is Europe. It is notoriously difficult for foreign automakers to enter the European market. An MG sales representative recalled that he once approached a German dealer hoping it could distribute the Chinese brand. The dealer was cautious and asked him to hand over the car's key. After a thorough inspection of an MG car, he found that its parts came from well-known suppliers such as Bosch, Valeo and Continental. The dealer concluded: Great.
Later, the dealer agreed to add MG to its showroom, and sold three hybrids before the billboard was put up. "I didn't do any marketing at all," said the dealer.
Up to now, MG's cumulative sales in overseas markets have exceeded 1 million cars, and about 800 sales and service outlets have been set up in the European market with a relatively complete service system. "We hope consumers can see that "Made in China" is serious about long-term development," said Zhao Aimin, Party Secretary of SAIC Motor International.
What's behind two leaps?
The export surge of Chinese cars and Shanghai cars appeared in 2021, but the foreshadow has already been laid. Looking back at the history of China's automobile industry, we see that two landmark events are often mentioned: 1. The first domestically assembled Santana car rolled off the assembly line in Shanghai in 1983, and later SAIC and Volkswagen of Germany established a joint venture. 2. Tesla’s Gigafactory was built and put into production in Shanghai in 2019.
At the beginning of the joint venture, Santana's localization rate of parts and components was less than 4%, so Shanghai took the lead in setting up the localization horizontal coordination office and localization community. After more than a decade of efforts, Santana's localization rate had reached 90% by the 1990s. In this process, SAIC Volkswagen not only established a modern automobile industrial structure, but also promoted the development of China's modern car industry.
Today, Shanghai has become the national industrial base of automotive parts and components, gathered a large number of corporate headquarters and logistics centers, and has the most complete automobile industrial chain and supply chain. Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the Chinese Passenger Car Market Information Association, said, "SAIC has been cultivating the entire automobile industrial chain since the 1980s. It can be said that without SAIC, the present automobile supply chain in the Yangtze River Delta wouldn't have existed."
In 2019, Tesla built its factory and started production in Shanghai, bringing a second leap of the Shanghai car industry. Tesla has pushed local suppliers to raise their levels to meet international standards. At present, more than 90% of Tesla's parts come from local sources, driving the entire industrial chain of China's new energy vehicles. These world-leading suppliers have become the core competitiveness for China's car industry to "change lane and overtake".
"The marriage between SAIC and Volkswagen has created a Sino-foreign joint venture with 50% shares in each company, while Tesla has created the precedent of wholly foreign-owned whole vehicle manufacturing in China. Both are iconic in the history of China's Reform and Opening-up and reflect Shanghai's boldness and vision." Tang Yunyi, Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said, "Co-located in the same city, Tesla and SAIC have formed a situation of mutual catch-up, healthy competition and two-way advancement."
What has brought the new lane?
Shanghai cars' accelerated pace of going overseas also benefits from the fact that the global new energy vehicle market is getting increasingly mature. Tang Yunyi said, "Given the constraints of all countries on carbon emissions, the world's major automakers have proposed to fully shift to new energy vehicles in the next 20 years. By 2040, new energy vehicles will form a huge market size of 160 million vehicles per year."
Taking advantage of the opportunity of new energy vehicles replacing traditional gas cars, Chinese car companies have leapfrogged the backward internal combustion engine technology. On the new lane, China's car industry, including Shanghai's car industry, has advantages in battery, the application end and other aspects." In addition, the European new energy vehicles industry started relatively late and the prices are high, while China's new energy vehicles are more cost-effective," said Liu Mingyu, Associate Professor of applied economics at Fudan University School of Management.
Tang Yunyi said, "In the European high-end car market, Tesla and SAIC have demonstrated the overall competitiveness of Shanghai cars, leveraging each other's forces." In the first half of this year, Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai exported 97,000 vehicles, more than twice the exports of the same period last year; MG sold 45,000 vehicles in Europe, ranking top 10 in the pure electric vehicle markets in Sweden, Norway and other countries.
"Selling the car is just the first step. How to consolidate the market and maintain an excellent brand image requires substantial, continuous efforts," said Liu mingyu. "The real test is yet to come."
Source: Jiefang Daily
Application Status
| 04-16 | 21315227 | Processing |
| 03-12 | 21315226 | Processing |
| 09-26 | 21315225 | Processing |
Inquiry Status
| 02-29 | 02131558 | Received |
| 03-06 | 02131557 | Received |
| 11-14 | 02131556 | Received |
FAQ
Q: Q: Is there a place where I can get...
A: A: Log on to http://touch.shio.gov....
A: A: Log on to http://touch.shio.gov....
Q: Q: What is the easiest way to set u...
A: A: 1. Log on to http://touch.shio.g...
A: A: 1. Log on to http://touch.shio.g...
Q: Where can I get an English map of S...
A: English maps of Shanghai are availa...
A: English maps of Shanghai are availa...
