Although there are still at least five years of gaps in automotive technology with foreign countries, the Chinese automotive industry, which has undergone a smooth transition in the 2008 financial crisis, has ushered in its own "great investment era."

The recent draft of the "Auto and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan" (2011-2020) led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology suggests that the central government will use more than 100 billion yuan in funds to support the energy-saving and new energy automotive industry chain in the next decade. development of. At the same time, the goal of the “Central Electric Vehicle Industry Alliance” set up by the SASAC last week was to “enable the alliance to increase investment in new energy vehicles to 100 billion yuan by 2012.”

The huge investment of “100 billion RMB” at the same time provided Chinese autos with financial support in the era of electric vehicles and surpassed their counterparts in foreign countries. However, the huge industrial chain has caused a lot of controversy due to the distribution of huge benefits.

"Alliance" blossoms everywhere

According to the draft plan for the “Auto and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan” (2011-2020), 100 billion yuan of central government investment will be used for key technology R&D and industrialization, demonstration and promotion, core component R&D, and pilot urban infrastructure construction. And other fields. At the same time, the central government will set up special subsidy funds. In the future, consumers will buy pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Vehicle purchase tax, vehicle and boat taxes will be exempted and exempted.

At the same time, the “Central Electric Vehicle Industry Alliance” with the goal of integrating superior resources, avoiding waste of resources, and overcapacity was also established in Beijing last week. The 16 central SOEs are sponsors. From the perspective of the initial composition of the alliance members, FAW Group, Dongfeng Group and Changan Group of the four largest automaker groups were selected for the background of central SOEs in terms of automobile manufacturers.

According to the previously disclosed coalition goal, the alliance will increase its investment in new energy vehicles to 100 billion yuan by 2012, which does not rule out the inclusion of new energy assets of some central enterprises.

In the face of this coalition with state-owned assets, some of the privately-owned new energy auto companies and the failed SAIC Group have all voiced doubts. Prior to this, local governments and enterprises that have already “looked at” national support policies and funds have also formed different forms of local alliances. At present, Beijing, Chongqing, Jilin, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces all have their own new energy industry alliances. In addition, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers took the lead in organizing the "T10 Electric Vehicle Alliance" with the participation of 10 automakers. The "national team", "local team" and "industry team" have been blooming.

Joint force or containment

The stakeholders involved in the establishment of the official coalition said that the new energy vehicle is an industrial system that requires high input and high innovation. When it comes to the original intention of forming a coalition, the establishment of the coalition is to integrate superior resources and form a joint force, and they should avoid fighting each other.

However, there have been reports recently that the existing auto group has raised objections to the establishment of the “National New Energy Auto Industry Technology Innovation Alliance” and believes that companies vary in size, have different research and development directions, and have different standards. Form a check. At present, the new energy R&D of automaker groups such as FAW, SAIC, Dongfeng, Chang'an, and Beiqi has formed their respective long-term plans and directions.

Industry insiders also pointed out that the World Automobile Manufacturers Organization has published a document that the government should “maintain neutrality” in the selection of technology lines at the current stage, allowing companies to explore. As far as China is concerned, the phenomenon that the alliance between the government and the car industry level will promote the investment of new energy, but it will inevitably cause confusion in the direction of R&D and industrial standards.

“What the SASAC is doing is a coalition of central enterprises. From our perspective, in the future, engaging in new energy vehicles in China cannot be just a central enterprise, but all companies should come to participate,” said Shanghai Automotive Chairman Hu Maoyuan. Private auto companies believe that it is possible that central SOEs may control the flow of funds from relevant scientific research institutions in the electric vehicle industry. This is unfair to private enterprises and even local SOEs that are disadvantaged in terms of policy resources but have a larger market. "State-owned enterprises with a monopoly will intervene in the formulation of relevant standards. By then, other enterprises will only be passively accepted." A person in charge of an unnamed private company spoke out about the concerns of many vehicle manufacturers.

"Cooperation across industries is not an easy task. Therefore, the operating system of the alliance is highly demanded to avoid the situation of joint and discord," said Fu Yuwu, executive vice chairman and secretary general of the Chinese Engineering Society. If we really want to achieve the sharing technology, coordination of division of labor, and product supporting functions envisaged by the alliance, we must use a market-oriented approach at the capital level and at the corporate governance structure to link them to each other and form an effective benefit-sharing and power balance mechanism, such as Nissan. An alliance with Renault's two companies.