At the beginning of reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping put forward: “Science and technology are primary productive forces.†In recent years, the Party Central Committee has also proposed the grand goal of building an innovative country.
Then, in the past 30 years of reform and opening up, what achievements have China's auto industry made in terms of scientific and technological progress? A few days ago, the reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Mr. Fu Yuwu, executive vice chairman of the China Automotive Engineering Society.
Reporter: The Automotive Engineering Society is the home of automotive engineers. You should know the most about the progress of China's automotive science and technology. Do you think that China's automobile industry has made remarkable advances in science and technology in its 30 years of reform and opening up?
Fu Yuwu: In the past 30 years of reform and opening up, China's auto industry has made considerable progress, and has made tremendous achievements in scientific and technological advancement, which has played a prominent role in improving the competitiveness of China's auto industry. I think that 30 years of reform and opening up can be summarized as ten
Our technical regulations have achieved full integration with the international community. This year, the country implemented three national emission standards, and Beijing took the lead in implementing the National IV standard, which indicates that the emission standards between us and Europe are already very close. Since 1990, the state began to control exhaust emissions, and by the year 2008, it will fully implement the National III Standard. China has spent 17 years, while Europe has spent 27 years. Our country is very fast in bringing laws and regulations into line with international standards, and perhaps it will be synchronized with international standards by 2012.
Energy conservation, safety, and environmental protection are the three major themes of automobiles. China’s regulatory system has basically approached European technical regulations. At present, there are 97 mandatory regulations in China, of which 26 are active safety, 24 are passive safety, 25 are general safety, and 22 are energy saving and environmental protection. . This progress is often overlooked, and it is the rapid development of the regulatory system that has laid the foundation for China's entire vehicle exports. To go global, we must first implement regulations and standards in line with international standards.
China's auto technology is already part of the global automotive technology market. It is basically the same as that of developed countries, and its development direction is the same. For example, when I attended the Automotive Engineering Council in the Czech Republic, a question raised by the General Assembly was: What is the technical direction and technical line of the global automotive industry? The vast majority of participants believe that it is new energy. In terms of new energy, China has made great progress. For example, the Beijing Olympic Games and the use of new energy vehicles in the surrounding areas are all of our own production, which was previously unimaginable. China’s new energy vehicles have been partially commercialized and will soon be marketized. In 2010, the World Electric Vehicle Conference will be held in Shenzhen. There will be 1,000 large buses using new energy and several thousand electric and hybrid taxis driving in Shenzhen. This is a market-oriented behavior.
Another example is lightweight technology. From the industry perspective, China’s prior emphasis on lightweighting is not enough, and now lightweight technology has been accepted by the Chinese auto industry. For example, new design methods, new processes, and application of new materials all involve lighter weight issues. Among them, the high-pressure molding technology and the large-scale application of aluminum-magnesium alloys are the same in China and abroad.
For the active and passive safety technologies, China lacked understanding of this in the past. With the development of automotive electronics technology, these technologies have converged with foreign countries. If ABS has become market-oriented, ESP research and development based on ABS is moving toward industrialization.
In terms of industrial structure adjustment, in the past, the situation of “weakness, no light, no cars†has been fundamentally improved in China. Today, the output of heavy vehicles in China occupies a considerable proportion in the international market, and the upgrading of industrialization provides the development of the industry. The basic motivation.
With respect to the upgrading of product technology, the original car was a blank in China, there was no market for products, and there was no product upgrade. Today, China's own-brand manufacturing companies and joint ventures launch dozens of products each year. The technologies that support these products are technological upgrades, and technological upgrades have brought tremendous vitality to the automotive industry in China.
In the past 30 years of reform and opening up, there has been a tremendous shift in the growth model of enterprises and the transformation from the "olives" to the "dumb-bells" of the largest link in production, sales and research has been realized.
In the past, China's production plant was a processing plant, and now it has strengthened its research and development capabilities. In the past, the production line had to look at the production line. Now that China has the most advanced production line in the world, it is no longer the case for companies to look at the production line, but also the R&D center. Companies such as FAW, SAIC, Geely and Chery have all established R&D centers. The investment in R&D has fundamentally changed the original structural model. If the establishment of R&D centers is a watch, then these factories have established a product development process that is in line with Chinese characteristics. Some people say that in 1994 Chinese auto companies had a development process, but that process and the current process are not a concept. In the past, it was a counterfeit process. It was a process from parts to drawings. It was a process of reverse development. Now it is a positive development, from market research to R&D to product flow. China already has an independent R&D system, and companies without processes and R&D systems cannot develop.
Another is experimental means. Now companies pay much attention to experiments. Many companies have several wheel test stands, collision labs, temperature labs, and styling rooms. In the past, multinational corporations showed off their laboratories to China. Now China has caught up with (usually) foreign standards in many aspects: advanced development tools such as CAD/CAE have been widely adopted, and the level of research and development has progressed greatly. Many multinational corporations are China's auto industry is surprised by the progress made in research and development.
A new generation of automotive researchers can access many models. This is incomparable to the older generation of R&D personnel. They have a wide reach, new knowledge, and have made tremendous contributions to the development of new generations of products. President of General Motors once said that the company is the first product, the second is the product, and the third is the product. Today, some companies in China also have a product development platform and started to implement a product platform strategy.
The acceleration of independent innovation and obvious technological progress are the new features that China's auto industry has emerged today.
At the beginning of the year, Feng Fei, Minister of Production and Economics of the Development Research Center of the State Council, asked me how to evaluate the Chinese auto industry in 2007. My answer is: independent innovation. How to evaluate the level of a technology center construction, see the experimental conditions, see the level of product development, and see the quality of winning projects. Under the guidance of the Party Central Committee's spirit of building an innovative country, enterprises must build innovative companies and engage in independent innovation is by no means an expedient measure but a strategic requirement. Through independent innovation, we have developed a batch of good products. Foreign counterparts all said that they did not expect that China’s technological innovation will be so fast.
No market talk about products? No product innovation? Without innovation, talk about competitiveness? The 30 years of reform and opening up, especially in recent years, has accelerated the independent innovation capability of China's auto industry and is inseparable from the rapid development of the national economy.
The advancement of automotive technology has stimulated the development of related industries and promoted the technological progress of related industries. The most obvious is the equipment manufacturing industry. 70% of China's machine tools are purchased by the automotive industry. Now, the four processes of stamping, welding, painting and final assembly are four-line equipment that is basically manufactured in China. In the past, China could not produce large presses. Now a large domestic press line has been established at the auto factory.
The automobile's pull on the steel industry is also very obvious. When Baosteel built the plant, it never thought that it would provide so many high-quality steels and sheets for the automotive industry. The increase in demand from the automotive industry has led to technological advances in the steel industry. The large-scale adoption of aluminum alloys and aluminum-magnesium alloys raises high technical requirements for technological advancements in different industries.
The technical level of China's automobile manufacturing industry has greatly increased. Over the past 30 years of reform and opening up, China’s residents’ spending power has increased substantially, and demand for cars has soared.
The market demand has led to a significant increase in car production capacity and production technology. The best production lines have reached China. Today, China can not only produce the most common cars, but also produce the most upscale cars; in addition, China's trucks and passenger cars have the highest production capacity in the world.
The huge market and fierce competition have given birth to a batch of the latest models. The continuous development of new models has trained a large number of highly motivated, qualified and capable technology teams. China has its own automotive technology team.
A few years ago, I went to the United States to participate in the SAE annual meeting. In the multinational companies there, I met a group of young Chinese scientists and technicians. Now these people have mostly returned to China, which has greatly promoted the scientific and technological progress of the Chinese automobile industry. . At the same time, a large number of domestically trained scientific and technical personnel also grew up and formed a local R&D team. These innovative talents have modernized development and design capabilities, understand the latest technological trends, and are familiar with the characteristics of the automotive industry. This is a great asset that supports the forward development of our automotive industry.
After 30 years of reform and opening up, China's auto industry's manufacturing capabilities and R&D capabilities have all improved by leaps and bounds, and companies have become increasingly sophisticated in market competition. Under this backdrop, the trend of going global has already taken shape.
Looking at the trajectory of the export of automotive products, a small number of passenger cars began, followed by commercial vehicles, high-volume passenger cars, and special-purpose vehicles. Now that there are quite a few cars, the export structure has gradually changed along with advances in science and technology, and the level of exports has increased. This year, China’s auto exports are expected to exceed one million vehicles, and the export momentum is very strong.
Although foreign countries have imposed many obstacles on China’s exports, the momentum of exports is unstoppable. China’s autos have become a part of the world’s auto market.
The Chinese enterprises have accumulated utmost care and accumulated great attention, including the accumulation of product technology, the construction of databases, and the construction of teams. These are the accumulations of our country becoming a car power. Research and development need to have a database first, now companies have their own database, have established a unique product development process with Chinese characteristics.
Reporter: In your opinion, what events can be regarded as key points with influence in the past 30 years of reform and opening up?
Fu Yuwu: I think there are three key points.
The first one is the reform and opening up, which has opened the door to the country. Although there are many controversies over the "market-for-technology change," it is impossible to contact foreign advanced technology without opening the country, so the direction of joint ventures and cooperation is correct.
At the beginning of the reform and opening up, the first bus to enter China was Hino's bus, square head and square brain. We think that passenger cars should be like this; afterwards, European passenger cars came in. Europe was streamlined and we gradually accepted it. The car was also Japanese at the beginning. We thought it was too good and advanced. It was later that the United States and Germany came. Our vision has also widened, and our understanding of the car has become more comprehensive.
The previous auto companies were all state-owned enterprises. If there was no reform, how could there be private economy? The private enterprises such as Geely and BYD brought vitality to the Chinese auto industry and fully competitive the market. This is also a major feature of the transition from a planned economy to a market economy. It is also a major result of reform and opening up.
The second is how to understand the problem of cars entering the family. In the past, excessive restraint on the entry of cars into the market has stifled the technological advancement of cars. It now appears that reform and opening up have brought cars into the homes of ordinary people. The needs of the people have promoted technological progress, and technological advances have enabled Chinese consumers to use good and cheap cars.
The third is self-innovation. The Party Central Committee proposes the construction of an innovative country and promotes the rapid development of the scientific and technological progress of the automotive industry. The CEO of a multinational company in the United States once said to me: You can't innovate when your (annual output) is 2 million to 3 million. If you don't pay attention to independent innovation, you will make a strategic mistake.
I agree with this view point. China must have its own ability to innovate, and it cannot develop without its own ability to innovate.
Reporter: Now that there are many types of enterprises in China, each company has its own development model. Do you think that the development model of China's auto industry depends on the foreign partners of the joint venture company? Do you do it yourself? Or do industry collaboration work together?
Fu Yuwu: China National Steam Research Center is now studying the development model of China's auto industry. Because the diversity of China's economy leads to differences in consumer demand, this determines that the development model of China's auto industry is different from other countries. From the market level, China wants to export, but the main feature of domestic demand is the biggest difference from other countries.
Since China's economy is a dual economy, vehicles that serve the three rural areas will develop over a long period of time. The annual demand for cars that farmers can afford and use is between 5 million and 6 million.
In addition, the difference between the first-rich regions and the under-developed regions, and the differences between the eastern and western regions, are particularly prominent in China. Differentiation has produced different needs, and how companies should be positioned, which is what we are facing. China has a market for high-end cars, while Geely, BYD, and Lifan also sell well in second and third-tier cities. In the Beijing market, QQ and Geely also sell well. It is the economic level that determines the diversity of the market. Therefore, when studying the direction of the automotive industry, it is particularly important to understand the market.
In terms of commercial vehicles, China has an absolute comparative advantage. Because the technology is mature and affordable, people buy Chinese cars in the Chinese market. Theoretically solving the problem of the automobile development model is an important issue at present, and an industry must have theoretical guidance. Light research on Brazil and South Korea is incomplete. It is very important to learn from foreign experience to develop into a Chinese model.
The most recent years have been the fastest growing years for China's auto industry. It is very important to study the development theories of the auto industry at this time. After all, a huge automobile industry cannot be separated from theoretical guidance.