Turning the advantages of traditional automobile industry into the advantages of new energy automobile cluster; iterative upgrading of Nanjing automobile industry.

□ Nanjing Daily/Zijinshan News reporter Xu Ning

Recently, mass-produced dark blue S7 new energy vehicles have been rolled off the assembly line from the new factory in Chang ‘an, Lishui Economic Development Zone, Nanjing. The first batch of 88 vehicles have been sent to 4S stores all over the country and will be put on sale soon.

Nanjing is one of the important automobile industry bases in China. As one of the "four pillars" industries in Nanjing, the automobile industry has gradually formed a relatively complete industrial system and brand advantages after nearly 70 years of development. In the next few years, Nanjing’s automobile industry structure will be continuously optimized and adjusted, and it will play a more stable role as a "ballast stone" supporting the city’s economic development.

There are more than 500 enterprises in the "chain", and both production and sales are full of vitality.

As the first medium-sized SUV of Deep Blue Auto, Deep Blue S7 has been continuously ordered, which is expected to become another explosion model of Changan Automobile this year.

According to official information, Deep Blue S7 started the pre-sale on May 20th, with the pre-sale price range of 169,900-239,900 yuan. The extended-range CLTC has a pure battery life of 121 kilometers and 200 kilometers, and the pure electric version offers two versions of cruising range of 520 kilometers and 620 kilometers respectively.

Deep Blue S7 was born in the new factory in Chang ‘an, Nanjing, which was just completed and put into use last November.

"It took less than a month from the pre-sale to the off-line delivery of the production car. At present, the hourly output of the production line has been raised to the phased goal of 25 units." The relevant person in charge of Deep Blue Automobile introduced.

With the rapid increase of national demand for RV in recent years, the manufacturing base is located in Nanjing Yingdeli Automobile Co., Ltd. in Liuhe Economic Development Zone, and the RV assembly line is full of horsepower and busy.

Yingdeli Company mainly produces more than 100 kinds of special purpose vehicles, such as touring cars, engineering inspection vehicles, negative pressure ambulances and unmanned aerial vehicle command vehicles, with annual sales of about 200 million yuan.

"There are obvious signs of overall market recovery this year, with urgent orders and large demand. In the first quarter alone, orders increased by more than 30% year-on-year." Jason, deputy general manager of the company, said that it is estimated that the overall sales will rise by about 20% this year.

Nanjing Iveco is located in the new welding workshop of Pukou factory. Stamping, welding, painting, and assembly are all in order, and employees are concentrating on their work. On the automatic production line, rows of robots waving mechanical arms are running at full load, and the factory area is in full swing.

Nanqi Jiangbei New Area Base is one of the important manufacturing bases of SAIC’s own brand cars, which mainly produces Roewe and MG series cars of its own brand, covering traditional fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles. In June last year, the first production car of the brand-new third-generation Roewe RX5 was officially launched at the base. With more luxurious appearance, more advanced technology configuration and more comfortable driving experience, this car has attracted much attention.

Production and sales are booming and full of vitality. As one of the pillar industries in Nanjing, automobile industry plays a very important role in the economic growth and employment increase of the whole city.

At present, there are more than 500 enterprises related to the automobile industry chain in Nanjing, including 7 vehicle manufacturers, including key enterprises such as SAIC Volkswagen, Nanjing Automobile Group, Changan Mazda and SAIC Datong, with a vehicle production capacity of nearly one million vehicles.

In addition, there are more than 300 auto parts enterprises, including production, manufacturing, sales, service, supporting, battery disassembly, automobile exhaust treatment and other links in the whole industry chain. Parts and components in the industrial chain of new energy vehicles are concentrated in key enterprises such as motors, electronic control, electric power steering, electric vehicle air conditioners and compressors.

In 2022, the city’s automobile industry completed an output value of 153.6 billion yuan, accounting for 10% of the city’s total.

Make efforts to be intelligent and electrified, and integrate innovative genes into the blood of the industry.

In the production system of Changan Automobile, Nanjing New Factory will be a "smart, efficient and green" model factory for new energy vehicles, with a planned annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles.

"The new Nanjing factory has five workshops, including stamping, welding, painting, final assembly and battery, among which the welding workshop is equipped with 215 robots, with an automation rate of 98%." According to the relevant person in charge of Deep Blue Automobile, the new factory is also based on the 5G network and the Internet of Things platform. Under the optimization of the digital operation system, the manufacturing cost is expected to be reduced by 10%.

In recent years, Nanjing has continued to exert its efforts in the transformation and upgrading of electrification, intelligence and networking of automobiles, and has been successively approved as the first batch of national pilot cities and provincial vehicle networking pilot areas for the application of new energy vehicles. According to the "three verticals and three horizontals" industrial layout, a number of key enterprises in key core areas of the new energy vehicle industry have gathered, such as batteries, motors, electronic control and intelligent wire-controlled chassis, vehicle-mounted radar and vehicle-gauge chips. Among them, three of the top ten enterprises in the world in terms of total installed capacity of power batteries have been put into production in Nanjing, and the accumulated capacity of power batteries and the total installed capacity of power batteries in the whole year rank among the top in the country.

"Customers test drive in the 4S shop to experience the performance of the car, choose personalized configuration through the self-service system in the mobile phone, and the customized order will soon arrive at the assembly workshop." According to the relevant person in charge of SAIC Datong Nanjing Branch, in addition to the basic configuration such as powertrain, there are many options for colors, seats and wheel hub shapes, which can be randomly combined, and specific prices can be generated at the same time after the selection.

Since 2017, SAIC Chase MAXUS series products have settled in Nanjing, and the world’s first C2B custom factory has been built, becoming a global "lighthouse factory".

Entering the "Lighthouse Factory", a revolution in the automobile industry has been vigorously promoted here, and the traditional car-making mode has been broken. Consumers can "personal tailor" a "DreamCar" in three minutes.

"At present, personal tailor can provide nearly 100 configuration options for individual users. After determining the delivery time, users can even check the production and logistics information at any time, from scheduling to entering the workshop, from off-line to delivery. " The relevant person in charge of SAIC Chase Nanjing Branch said.

Whether it is a traditional fuel vehicle or a hot new energy vehicle, in Nanjing, which is rich in scientific and educational resources, innovation genes are also engraved into the blood of the automobile industry.

Nanjing Hengtian Lingrui Automobile Co., Ltd. began to build a technical platform in 2019, and has basically completed the complete product research and development and manufacturing system of new energy vehicles and core components of Sandian, with first-class overall technical strength in the industry.

Technical advantage comes from R&D investment. Since 2018, Hengtian Lingrui has applied for nearly 200 patents of inventions and utility models, including 91 authorized patents, including 2 authorized invention patents. The products cover the fields of motors, electronic control and complete vehicles.

Market performance has given back to innovation. In the past three years, Hengtian Lingrui Pure Electric Airport car ferry has sold 62 sets, with a total amount of 100 million yuan, accounting for 8% of the market in this market segment, and has been selected as a national "little giant" enterprise specializing in innovation.

Join hands with "head enterprises" and aim at "the first echelon"

The main models such as MG6 and RX5 brought by Nanjing Automobile Group have earned enough attention. Nanjing Changan Automobile made a wonderful appearance with deep blue series products … In the automobile tour exhibition of Nanjing metropolitan area and the supply-demand docking activities of Ningchu automobile industry chain held in late April, many automobile enterprises in Nanjing took out their own fist products.

The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology said that this activity focused on the display and promotion of Nanjing real estate vehicles, and set up a communication platform between enterprises in the automobile industry in Ningchu, helping car companies to explore the market while achieving accurate docking of enterprise supply chains.

The government set up a platform to help, and the development of enterprises increased confidence.

In April this year, SAIC Chase’s brand-new architecture new energy vehicle and new MPV industrialization project were signed and landed in Jiangning High-tech Zone. The first vehicle is scheduled to be put into production at the end of 2023, which is expected to bring new output value of 10 billion yuan in the future.

SAIC Chase Nanjing Branch is an important strategic base for SAIC Chase to face the future. In 2022, the output value of Nanjing Branch exceeded 6 billion yuan, of which the output value of new energy vehicles was nearly 2.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3 times. The new project signed this time is the third large-scale investment of SAIC Chase in Jiangning High-tech Zone since 2017.

SAIC also continued to "overweight" in Nanjing. At the beginning of this year, Nanjing Iveco SAIC Motor Commercial Vehicle Medium-sized Multi-functional Wide-body Light Passenger Vehicle Project was put into production in Pukou Economic Development Zone, with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan. After production, it will achieve an additional output of 23,000 vehicles and an additional output value of 4 billion yuan.

It is understood that this project is the first strategic project after SAIC takes control of Nanjing Iveco. The products cover both fuel and new energy vehicles, facing both domestic and overseas markets simultaneously, and leading the global wide-body light passenger market segment strongly, which will further promote parts enterprises to form industrial chain cluster effect in Pukou District.

How to launch "Nanjing brand" in the fierce competition of automobile industry? The Action Plan of Nanjing to Promote a Strong City by Industry (2023-2025) clearly states that it is necessary to promote the structural optimization and adjustment of the automobile industry, focus on promoting the structural optimization and quality improvement of the automobile industry, explore domestic and foreign markets, and transform the advantages of the traditional automobile industry into the advantages of new energy automobile clusters.

Taking vehicle manufacturing as the leading factor, we will cooperate with the head enterprises in depth, promote a new round of cooperation between Nanjing and SAIC, actively strive to introduce brand-new models of Changan Deep Blue and Mazda, and build Nanjing into an important base for new energy vehicles in the eastern part of Changan Automobile.

We will continue to enhance the self-control and supporting capabilities of the industrial chain supply chain, promote the deep integration of the automobile industry with energy, transportation, information and communication, artificial intelligence and other fields, and create a new automobile industry ecology with mutual integration and division of labor.

Support the construction of key gathering areas such as Jiangbei New District, Pukou District, Liuhe District, Jiangning District, Lishui District, Nanjing Economic Development Zone, Jiangning Development Zone and Qinhuai District.

Draw a blueprint to the end. By 2025, the city’s automobile industry technology level, market influence of vehicle products and vehicle output will rank first in China.