From：Internet Info Agency 2018-08-21 09:29:33
In the IAA Cars Frankfurt/Main of last year, Daimler announced that Smart would transfer to a brand specializing in EV and it would realize the project of all models being electrified in all the markets in 2020. Recently, INA learnt from overseas medias that Daimler is planning to manufacture Smart EV in China. It is said that Daimler is negotiating with BAIC BJEV, owned by BAIC, to build a joint-venture company for the production of Smart EV. By far, both of them have not replied anything yet. And a rumor of Daimler X BAIC BJEV is still going on, whether it is true or not.
In the trend of global electrification, Daimler also shows its resolution to transfer into electrification. As an original luxury distinctive brand owned by Daimler, Smart plans to only supply EV after 2020 and become a brand specializing in EV. The positioning of Smart will be turned into the Pioneer of Daimler New Travelling way.
According to the planning, from 2020, Smart will realize the electrification of all models first in Europe and North America. Hubertus Troska, chairman and CEO of Daimler Greater China, said, “Following with North America and Europe, Smart will realize the electrification in China soon.” However, we still don’t know the specific timeline.
“Chinese market is the key.” - In the new energy area, it works too.
Currently, Chinese EV industry has taken ahead of the world. Whether the trend of the industry or the support of policies, it can be seen that new energy area would become another undeveloped market with a lot of potential in China. The Chinese market is the key to the clean energy transformation in the future.
In addition, from 2019 on, the credit accounting of new energy – “double credit” will be added in the evaluation. Foreign enterprises in China will encounter more pressure. The accelerated local distribution of new energy becomes trendy without any doubt.
Among the three big German automotive groups, BMW and Volkswagen have found new partners in EV. In terms of the distribution of Volkswagen electrification strategy, Besides developing new energy market with current partners together, Volkswagen also built a joint-venture company with JAC MOTORS to manufacture economical EV. Coincidentally, this year BMW signed a joint-venture agreement with GWM to found Spotlight Auto Co, Ltd. Spotlight Auto will develop and manufacture EV in China. And Chinese pure electric MINI is going to be put into production soon
The Benz EV manufacturing base will be built in China. Smart made-in-China version isn’t impossible.
In the area of electrification, Daimler also made a clear development strategic goal in China. Right now Benz is speeding up the progress of EQ EV localization. In May, BAIC signed an agreement with Daimler to invest 11.9 billion together. A new Beijing Benz production base will be built based in the Shunyi factory of BAIC MOTOR and it will manufacture various Benz models including EV models. The models of EQ family based in MEA platform will be expected to realize made-in-China around 2020.
Smart Vision EQ FORTWO which was launched earlier is a pure electric concept car in EQ Family. It represents the Smart concept of intelligent sharing mobility. Smart as a part of Daimler electrification strategy, its success in Chinese market is the most crucial certainly. To improve the product’s competitiveness and achieve the policy benefits, entering the Chinese market with the domestic production is the best choice. If Smart continues to work with BAIC and relies on the EV manufacturing base which Beijing Benz has already worked on it, the overall electrification of Smart in the Chinese market will be accelerated.
What’s more, during 13 years of the cooperation, Benz and BAIC have made a great team, and the joint-venture brand, BBAC, has broken the sales record over and over again in recent years and made Benz localization successfully. The first half of this year, Benz and Smart sold 348k units, up 14% over the same period of last year, making Benz ranked the first in the Chinese luxury vehicles market. At last most of the well-developed independent companies have already chose their partners. Rather than seek the new joy, continue the sweet love is better.
BAIC BJEV shows its strength. Daimler sees it in a positive way.
As one of the top new energy companies in China, BAIC BJEV is the leading independent brand of BAIC. According to the latest news, BAIC BJEV has get asset replacement done and will be listing in A-share in August, becoming the first listed new energy company in China.
After some financial operations such as financing and shareholding, BAIC BJEV not only boasted a large amount of capital, but also bounded those partners of the industrial chains, including batteries, motors, electronic controlling and core auto parts suppliers, and established a complete system capability.
Meanwhile, BAIC BJEV established 5 global R&D centres in Beijing, Silicon Valley, Aachen, Detroit and Barcelona, and will increase to 7 centres in the future, covering all the processes from basic development to product marketing. The development system with the global distribution will help BAIC BJEV become a worldwide technology and innovation centre and the top new energy automotive company.
In the end: EV mobility is one of the pillars in Daimler Future Mobility Strategy. For being the biggest new energy market in the world, China is one of the target markets which Daimler always puts efforts on. In March, Daimler and BAIC announced that they would enhance the strategic cooperation in the area of new energy and Daimler purchased 3.93% stake of BAIC BJEV, at a value of 0.63 billion yuan. Certainly its potential in the new energy area is the main reason to invest BAIC BJEV. If this investment cooperation is completed, it will help Daimler know more about the demands of Chinese consumers, especially in the new energy area And it will drive the success of the strategy of Smart electrification transformation.
