Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

Gold nine and silver ten!

September 2010 is definitely a very memorable month for various car companies in China.

Sales of almost all major car companies set new records this month.

Xingchen Motors and Jaguar Land Rover are no exception.

However, Cao Yang did not have so much time to pay attention to Xingchen Motors and Jaguar Land Rover at this time.

The future car, which has placed Cao Yang's deep expectations in the electric vehicle market, is finally about to have his first car on the market.

Due to the policy influence of ministries and commissions, there are not many companies engaged in electric vehicles in China.

However, most electric vehicles simply replace the engine with a battery based on the original gasoline vehicle, and there is no essential difference in the various configurations.

In this case, the advantages of electric vehicles are still not fully realized for ordinary consumers.

Except for taxis and taxi drivers who will consider electric vehicles to save fuel, ordinary consumers will basically not consider them due to range anxiety and charging anxiety.

The new models of cars in the future will definitely be different.

"Mr. Cao, this is the first part of our promotion. We are going to come up with the most controversial content to increase the popularity."

"Then it's a matter of arranging media test drives and market launches."

"In order to focus on consumers for this new model marketing, we have built some special experience stores in various major shopping malls."

"Building a centralized car delivery shop in major cities will break the current car sales pattern."

Zeng Tingting is the deputy general manager of Future Auto and is also responsible for all marketing activities.

If Future Auto develops well in the future and Zeng Tingting performs well, then he will be the next general manager of Future Auto.

In fact, Cao Yang is often just a boss in name only.

He is not responsible for much of the actual work on future cars.

As a brand new car brand under Nanshan Group, Future Car's approach must be different from that of Xingchen Motors and Jaguar Land Rover.

Otherwise, there would be no need to establish a new brand separately.

Whether it is Xingchen Motors or Jaguar Land Rover, in the future environment of electric vehicle development, they will definitely launch their own electric vehicles.

So how future cars will compete with their predecessors is something that must be considered.

Some bold attempts can also be considered for future cars.

"Are you going to bring up the topic of integrated die-casting?"

As soon as Zeng Tingting mentioned the controversial topic, Cao Yang immediately thought of integrated die-casting.

This process is indeed very attractive to OEMs.

For example, the W9, the first large-scale 7-seater electric car launched by Future Auto, has an integrated die-casting front wheel cover.

Under normal circumstances, the front wheel cover is a relatively complex assembly part welded by steel plate stamping parts.

In this assembly part, there are dozens of components of different sizes.

There are several processes involved in processing each component, involving the preparation of molds, fixtures, and inspection tools.

After these component parts are stamped out, they must be welded together through various welding processes.

Finally, the welded assembly like this is sent to the welding workshop of the OEM and becomes part of the body in white.

However, after using integrated die-casting, many processes are saved.

You only need to make a set of molds, put the set of molds into the die-casting machine, then inject molten aluminum, and after proper pressure holding, a part will come out.

In this way, the number of parts and processes saved is very scary.

If a front wheel cover made of ordinary steel costs 500 yuan, then the cost after integrated die-casting is less than 300 yuan.

This is still a difference when the production quantity is relatively large.

If the number of production units is not large, then the cost of a steel front wheel cover can be several thousand yuan due to mold sharing and other reasons.

The cost of using integrated die-casting can directly save more than half.

A part looks like this. If all the parts in the lower half of the body use an integrated die-casting process, then the production cost of the entire body in white can be saved a lot.

The most important thing is that the production efficiency has been improved a lot, and the number of workers needed in the welding workshop has been greatly reduced.

It can be said that this is an all-round production advantage.

Of course, if there are advantages, there must be disadvantages.

The ductility of cast aluminum parts is definitely not as good as that of steel stampings.

When a car accident requires repairs, many steel stamping parts can be repaired through the sheet metal process, and they may be repaired after a few knocks, and parts may not necessarily need to be replaced.

But the same cannot be said for cast aluminum parts. As long as they are broken, you can only replace the parts, and there is basically no way to repair them.

And because it is integrated die-casting, the parts that need to be replaced must be replaced as a whole die-casting part. There is no way to say that only a small part is replaced.

This impact is relatively large for insurance companies.

After all, if there is no change in the car insurance premium, the amount of compensation they will receive in the event of a car accident may indeed be larger.

This is certainly not a situation that insurance companies want to see.

Naturally, this is not a good thing for consumers.

But relatively speaking, most consumers may not care that much.

After all, there is an insurance company to repair the car.

As for whether premiums will be affected, no one has thought that much yet.

"Yes, we are going to introduce to you the integrated technology of future automobiles and take out our 12,000-ton die-casting machine to promote it."

"At that time, we may be able to bring unexpected orders to Nanshan Equipment."

There are many die-casting machine manufacturers in China, but Nanshan Equipment is the only one that can achieve high-precision 12,000-ton level die-casting equipment.

The larger the integrated die-casting parts are, the larger the tonnage of the die-casting machine required.

For parts such as the front wheel cover that are relatively large and have complex shapes, if the die-casting machine you use is not high-tonnage, the parts produced will not meet the quality requirements.

Even the accuracy of directly connected parts will have a very large gap.

Therefore, as long as you follow the trend of launching integrated die-casting technology for future automobiles, it is basically inevitable to buy a 12,000-ton die-casting machine from Nanshan Equipment.

Such a large die-casting machine is naturally not cheap.

If we sell a few more units, the influence of Nanshan Equipment in the die-casting field will increase.

"Okay, this topic will explode sooner or later anyway."

"Instead of waiting for our competitors to criticize us, we should use it to publicize it ourselves and make the best use of it."

Cao Yang does not expect future cars to dominate the Chinese electric vehicle market in the future.

With so many companies beginning to enter the electric vehicle market, competition is bound to become increasingly fierce.

At that time, in order to survive and develop, the work style of some OEMs will definitely become more and more extreme.

Following this conversation between Cao Yang and Zeng Tingting, mainstream automotive media such as Autohome and NetEase Auto Channel immediately received soft articles from the Future Auto Marketing Department.

Being in Autohome and NetEase Auto Channel in Yangcheng, I had the opportunity to go directly to the production site of Future Car to take a few photos.

In this way, it seems that their reports are more authentic and not so strong in nature as advertising.

As soon as this report came out, Zeng Tingting had already arranged for the navy to start criticizing the integrated die-casting process of future cars on various forums before her competitors could take action.

That’s right!

Now it is Zeng Tingting who is taking the initiative to arrange people to criticize the integrated die-casting process of future cars.

This approach is definitely not something that traditional OEMs can do.

They don't even dare to think about such a thing.

"This is a new process that subverts traditional manufacturing. As the most representative technology in my country's new energy field, it has successfully squeezed into the supply chain."

"Driven by this new technology, global automobile manufacturing may achieve large-scale lightweight, low-cost, high-mileage in the future, and the complexity of automobile assembly will also be greatly reduced."

"This should be a commendable technological breakthrough, but the truth behind it makes people clearly feel that their wallets are trembling? It can only be said that the pursuit of profits by capital will never stop."

"Some people say it's a blessing for businesses, but I think it's a nightmare for car owners."

"Future cars will use it to turn cars into disposable consumables like mobile phones. If they break, they can only be replaced but not repaired. This is too much."

"We all know that the traditional automobile manufacturing process is divided into four steps, namely stamping, welding, painting and final assembly."

"Future cars will adopt an integrated die-casting process to massively reduce the proportion of metal parts used, thereby reducing the overall weight of the car body. This is a good thing for the company, but it is very embarrassing for consumers."

"The integrated die-casting process refers to the use of large-scale highly integrated multiple separate, dispersed aluminum alloy parts, and die-casting into 1-2 large castings at one time."

"The biggest difference from the stamping process is that the entire large component can be obtained in one die casting, and the integration rate is dozens of times that of the stamping process."

"Its biggest advantage is its high timeliness, which allows it to quickly and efficiently apply new technologies and processes to the actual production of products, significantly reducing manufacturing costs."

"But we can't just see its advantages, we should also see its disadvantages."

“First of all, although the integrated die-casting process can greatly streamline the production process, the quality problems still exist.”

"Because there is a large amount of air in the die-casting mold, it may not be drained cleanly during the process of filling the mold with the metal liquid, causing pores inside the die-casting part, thus affecting the overall strength of the part."

"Secondly, the integrated die-casting machine also has a fatal shortcoming, that is, its repairability is extremely poor. If it breaks, it can only be replaced in whole or in part. Therefore, once a collision occurs, the repair cost is very high."

"In other words, although the application of this technology has brought about huge changes and disruption, which is very tempting for enterprises, it is very unfriendly to consumers."

"Usually when we go to repair it, if there is a problem with any part, we just need to replace it with a new one and it can run normally on the road, and the price is completely affordable for the car owner."

"But integrated die-casting parts are different. As long as there is slight damage or deformation, which affects driving safety, the die-casting part must be partially replaced."

“What originally cost only a few thousand yuan for replacement parts and repairs ended up costing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands to replace the entire die-casting assembly.”

"In the end, you will find that the money saved in the electricity environment is fully subsidized to the battery and the increasingly huge insurance premiums, plus the sky-high maintenance fees you will face when the integrated die-casting parts are damaged. Do you lose or make a profit? This account You can go home and do the math slowly."

"It can be said that new energy vehicles using integrated die-casting technology are full of pits, and the pits are all different, and each one is bigger than the last..."

As the popularity of future cars rises, such sharp articles quickly spread in various forums.

Some automotive professional media also reproduced the views of this article.

Therefore, future automotive integrated die-casting technology has quickly spread throughout the industry.

Even outside the industry, many people are discussing this topic.

The status of Nanshan Group in China is not what it used to be. As a newly established electric vehicle company of Nanshan Group, Future Automobile will definitely receive a lot of attention for its first car.

In particular, Future Auto has "unashamedly" claimed that it manufactures electric vehicles that represent the development trend of electric vehicles.

This will definitely make many people unconvinced.

You are not the only one producing electric vehicles, so why do you say you represent the future?

Not to mention Nanshan Group's competitors, even Nanshan Group's former partners all have opinions on this.

"Ayang, integrated die-casting technology has been criticized on Weibo hot searches. Should we appropriately suppress this popularity?"

Fang Sisi didn't know Zeng Tingting's specific plan, so she was naturally very concerned when she saw that the group's companies were being scolded on hot searches.

"This is all within our expectations, so don't worry."

"The due date is coming soon, so you don't need to worry about the company's affairs yet."

Cao Yang already knew Zeng Tingting's plan beforehand, so he was not nervous at all now.

As a brand new car company, sometimes we are not afraid of being scolded, but we are worried that no one will even scold us.

That's the most troublesome thing.

Future Auto has not done much publicity in the past two years, so its popularity is naturally not high.

Now that a new car is about to be launched, it will definitely do more good than harm to increase one's popularity.

"Are you deliberately creating this topic?"

Fang Sisi was also very smart and quickly deduced the future car plan from Cao Yang's words.

"That's about right. Let's build up the popularity first, and then when we promote new models next, we can get twice the result with half the effort."

"Otherwise, spending a lot of advertising money will not have any effect."

When Cao Yang said this, Fang Sisi was no longer interested in taking care of future cars.

If everything is under control, that's ok.

However, Fang Sisi is no longer relevant. There are a large number of other companies that are interested in future cars.

"Mr. Cao, you actually used so many integrated die-casting parts on the new model in one go. This is to completely subvert the traditional body-in-white manufacturing process."

BYD's relationship with Nanshan Group is very close, especially with the rise of Honor mobile phones, the cooperation between the two parties has become closer.

So after Wang Fu saw the news about Future Car, he called Cao Yang directly.

Instead of guessing on your own, it's better to ask the real owner directly.

"A complete subversion is unlikely. Places such as A-pillars, B-pillars and ceilings still need to be produced using traditional hot stamping. Otherwise, the strength will not meet the requirements."

"However, parts such as the front and rear longitudinal beams, front and rear wheel covers, and the middle floor can be produced using integrated die-casting."

"In this way, there is hope that the production process of the body-in-white can be simplified by 50% and the production cost can be reduced by more than 30%."

"Of course, the cost of the body-in-white itself is not the most critical cost in a car, so even if the cost of the body-in-white is reduced by 30%, it is less than a 5% cost reduction for the entire vehicle."

Integrated die-casting is the first step in the external promotion of future cars, and a lot of information has been officially released.

So there is nothing to hide.

Even photos of on-site production equipment, production sample information, and the body layout of the future first large SUV W9 have been directly released to the outside world.

It can be said that this is the beginning of publicity for future cars before they are launched on the market.

"5% is very difficult. The key is that your future cars should not only adopt a new technology such as integrated die-casting, right?"

Wang Fu knew Cao Yang relatively well.

Future Auto, as an electric vehicle brand independently created by Nanshan Group, directly told me that integrated die-casting is the "first bomb" when promoting it, so there must be other things on this car that subvert tradition.

Wang Fu is very interested in these things.

BYD Auto's sales today are very good, and it is inevitable to refresh the historical record.

But gradually, Wang Fu also began to feel that BYD Auto's growth was a bit weak.

After exceeding the annual sales volume of 600,000 units, continuing to exceed 700,000 units may be the short-term limit. It will be difficult to continue to exceed 800,000 units.

As for breaking through 1 million vehicles, Wang Fu thinks it may take several years.

Even after several years of rapid development in China's automobile industry, Wang Fu feels that there may be a wave of adjustments.

Although there will not be a sharp decline, it is a high probability event that the growth rate will remain in single digits.

Otherwise, at the current rate, it will exceed 30 million in two years and 40 million in five years.

How can this be?

"The R\u0026D team of Future Auto has put many of our group's new concepts on the W9. In addition to integrated die-casting, there are really some other attempts."

"For example, autonomous driving technology and new interior style design are some new attempts."

Cao Yang didn't hide anything from Wang Fu, but he didn't say much in detail either.

Just click here and let Wang Fu know that there will indeed be follow-up actions for future cars.

"Mr. Cao, there is a lot of discussion online about integrated die-casting technology. Many professional media and industry insiders believe that this kind of technology is not really an advancement."

"Not to mention that many car companies began to apply aluminum parts to cars many years ago. Even aluminum die-casting parts are not uncommon in cars."

“The engine’s cylinder block, cylinder head, and aluminum wheels are all aluminum die-casting parts.”

"Future cars are now simply produced with more parts made of aluminum die-casting."

"It's not that other OEMs can't do this kind of production, but they don't do it because it will affect the strength of the vehicle and after-sales maintenance costs."

Wang Fu summarized and refined the opinions on the Internet, which were actually his own thoughts.

"You are right, integrated die-casting does have its shortcomings."

"But in the long run, as intelligent driving becomes more advanced and comprehensive in the future, driving accidents will be greatly reduced, and then the vehicle types may change. Nowadays, the passive safety systems developed by traditional cars, such as airbags, seat belts, etc. Wait, maybe the future won’t be so important.”

"The so-called decrease in the strength of aluminum parts is a false proposition in itself. The overall collision performance of our W9 will not be worse than any other car."

"And we choose integrated die-cast parts, which cannot be damaged by minor collisions. The damage rate of these parts in accidents is low. Generally, only serious rear-end collisions, or extremely low probability of reversing into a wall, will cause Integrated die-cast parts such as the rear floor panel of the vehicle were damaged.”

"If the integrated body technology can be further developed in the future, the production and manufacturing links are continuously transformed and upgraded, and the cost continues to be reduced, perhaps one day in the future, repairing cars can be like repairing digital products, only replacing them without repairing them."

"The entire body-in-white is directly integrated into the die-cast. If there is a problem, it can be directly remanufactured and replaced with a new body. At the same time, the maintenance cost can be lower than repairing an old car."

When Cao Yang said this, Wang Fu opened his mouth and wanted to refute, but he didn't know how to refute.

If the same thing came out of other people's mouths, he would definitely sneer at it.

But since Cao Yang said this, the situation is a little different.

Who knows in a few years, will cars in the future really apply this kind of technology to their new models?

"Mr. Cao, your integrated die-casting equipment is also produced by Nanshan Equipment, right?"

As an industry leader using integrated die-casting, Wang Fu did not hesitate much now and felt that BYD also needed to consider it.

When considering integrated die-casting equipment, a large 12,000-ton die-casting machine must be considered.

It is impossible for BYD to produce a press like this by itself like Nanshan Equipment.

Not to mention that it may not be technically possible, and the production cost is definitely not cost-effective.

It’s not for nothing that there are specialties in the art industry.

"Of course it's for sale!"

"Nanshan Equipment is open for business, and all equipment can be sold to the outside world."

"Mr. Wang, if you are interested in this 12,000-ton large-scale die-casting machine, you can go to our future car die-casting workshop to visit it in person, or you can let the experts from Nanshan Equipment give you a good introduction."

"Looking across the country, no manufacturer can produce a super die-casting machine with better performance and cost than us!"

Cao Yang's words made Wang Fu unable to refute, and at the same time he breathed a sigh of relief.

Take a look first!

You won’t lose anything anyway!