NIO said to deliver ES8 in June

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China EV startup NIO held an opening ceremony for its first Shanghai-based NIO House on May 26. By far, five NIO Houses have opened up in Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai.
Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO attended the ceremony and answered several questions that confused the public. In terms of its cooperation modes with other automakers, Qin Lihong said that NIO has two major cooperation modes. One is a deep strategic cooperation mode with JAC, which is mainly embodied in vehicle manufacturing. For example, in order to manufacture NIO's models like the ES8, JAC has invested several million yuan in building an all-new manufacturing factory, which is planned to have a full production capacity of 100,000 units.
Another cooperation mode is called joint establishment that both parties will establish an all-new enterprise with same investments, but may not focus on NIO brand. Take GAC NIO as an example. The new enterprise will have different brand, products and customer services from NIO and GAC, but can share NIO and GAC's resources in R&D, parts supply system, logistics and IT. In addition, both parties will incubate other teams based on the new enterprise's platform.
As to the process of factory manufacturing, JAC and NIO's factory has started operation in October, 2017. At first, the factory started to manufacture test models, and then embarked on producing models at a small scale. By the end of May, the factory began large-scale mass production. The production capacity is slated to reach 10,000 units by the end of this year.
When it comes to the specific delivery data of the NIO ES8, Qin Lihong said the delivery is just in the corner, but the specific date hasn't been determined yet. Qin Lihong also added that NIO House pays much emphasis on customer experience. 80% space of NIO House will be applied into customer experience, while the rest 20% will be used to show off NIO's models. Well-maintained facilities and customer satisfaction embody NIO House's most distinctive characteristics.
Qin Lihong said that NIO boasts abundant of funds to afford its operation. Reportedly, the Tencent-backed EV startup submitted an initial confidential filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the share sale is likely to raise around $2 billion. However, the size of the deal may change.
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• 1BYD, Daimler to invest RMB 800 million in Denza
• 2Geely launches new energy strategy
• 3BYD Yuan EV360 goes on sale with price starting from RMB 79,900
• 4EV startup Sitech cooperates with Bosch in AVP, ends over $ 100 million A round financing
• 5What are those Baidu ex-big names in autonomous driving doing now?

China, Japan governments agree to cooperate in autonomous driving field

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China and Japan will cooperate in autonomous driving field, Miao Wei, Minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Hiroshige Seko, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry reached a consensus in Tokyo on May 28, according to NHK, Japan's largest broadcasting organization.
Reportedly, this was the first time that two governments reached a consensus on the cooperation in autonomous driving area. Japan wishes to promote its advanced technologies in China, the world's largest auto market.
According to NHK, both parties agreed to collaborate on setting rules for autonomous vehicle public road test and formulating international standards on communication infrastructure.
Under the agreement, China and Japan will hold working-level negotiations in July in Beijing. In addition, two countries will conduct a seminar on technical development by the end of this year, involving both the governments and the public from two countries.
“The communication and information exchanges between China and Japan are becoming increasingly important as China boosts its efforts on market opening-up and structural reform.” Japan's Seko said.
Miao stated that two countries are important economic and trading partners. He expressed the hope to expand bilateral cooperation in various areas.
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• 1CATL sells 10% stake at RMB 25.14 per share
• 2China, Japan governments agree to cooperate in autonomous driving field
• 3First model of Chery EXEED to hit market at end of this year
• 4NIO said to deliver ES8 in June
• 5BYD, Daimler to invest RMB 800 

What are those Baidu ex-big names in autonomous driving doing now?

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Baidu announced on May 18 the departure of the group's COO and president Lu Qi, which heavily shocked the Internet circle. During the past several years, the Chinese Internet giant has been changing its senior executives, especially in autonomous driving area. Gasgoo summarized some key senior executives or experts that had made significant contribution to the development of Baidu's intelligent driving cause during their tenure. Although they did different routes after resigning from Baidu, most of them still chose autonomous driving or AI as their future battle field.
Lu Qi

Due to “personal and family reasons,” Lu Qi will leave the management roles as Baidu's president and COO, but stay as vice chairman of the company board of directors, Baidu announced on May 18. Affected by his abrupt departure, Baidu's share prices slumped 9.54% on the same day.
Lu Qi joined Baidu in January, 2017 as group's COO and president and has served as vice chairman of the board of directors since February, 2017. During his tenure, he has made great contribution to Baidu's development, especially in intelligent driving area. On March 1, 2017, Lu grouped the autonomous driving unit (L4), the intelligent vehicle unit (L3) and IoV (Internet of Vehicles) unit into an Intelligent Driving Group (IDG), which was directly headed by himself. Then in April last year, Baidu launched its autonomous driving platform the Apollo, which has currently won 100 partners worldwide.
Wu Xuebin

Baidu confirmed on January 23 that its vice president Wu Xuebin has submitted a resignation and would leave for Baoneng Group, taking charging of automobile businesses in the new company.
On September 28, 2016, Wu Xuebin joined Baidu as vice president in charge of the company's autonomous driving unit. Before that, Wu had previously worked at BAIC Group, a Chinese state-owned auto enterprise. Besides, his life in auto industry also includes the experience he served for General Motors, Ford and Porsche, etc. During his tenure in Baidu, Wu managed the external cooperative matters for Apollo autonomous driving platform and other auto-related businesses of Baidu.
Wang Jing

Wang Jing, Baidu's former senior vice president and ex-general manager of the company's autonomous driving unit, announced on March 27, 2017 that he would resign from Baidu in April and set up his own company.
Wang joined Baidu in April 2010 and was promoted as senior vice president in December 2012, before serving as general manager of the autonomous driving unit since December 2015. In the same month he officially left Baidu, Wang established his own autonomous driving startup named JingChi.ai.
On December 22, 2017, Baidu filed a lawsuit in Beijing Intellectual Property accusing JingChi.ai and its founder Wang Jing  of infringement on its commercial secrets, not returning devices that contained classified information, and poaching technical personnel. Wang Jing responded that Baidu's prosecution was totally untenable.
The case came across a dramatic turning in March. JingChi.ai has officially joined Baidu Apollo autonomous driving platform, while its founder Wang Jing left his own company for “family issue”, succeeded by Tong Han, the startup's new CEO. Although Baidu dropped the lawsuit against JingChi.ai, it is still suing Wang Jing.
Andrew Ng

Andrew Ng, a leading figure in the world of artificial intelligence, left his post as chief scientist at Baidu in March last year.
“I will be resigning from Baidu and opening up a new chapter of my work in AI”, he announced through his social accounts.
After joining Baidu in 2014, Ng helped develp an AI-first strategy. He oversaw the creation of the Silicon Valley AI Lab in California and led a AI team of more than 1,300 researchers, among which 300 were from Baidu.
Three months after he left Baidu, Ng confirmed that he had joined self-driving vehicle startup Drive.ai and became one of the directors. In December, 2017, Ng announced the establishment of the AI startup Landing.ai, where he served as CEO. The AI startup aims to help enterprise transform for the age of AI.
Ni Kai

Ni Kai, the former director of Baidu's self-driving vehicle project, left Baidu in December 2015 and then was hired as vice president at LeEco's autonomous driving unit.
Ni joined Baidu in 2013 as the senior scientist of the Institute of Deep Learning, and was in charge of the R&D of Baidu's self-driving vehicle and unmanned aircraft projects.
Currently, he was the founder and CEO of the autonomous driving startup HoloMatic, which was established in August 2017. The company aims to deliver level 3.5 production-ready autonomous driving functions. To be specific, it focuses on developing level 4 automatic driving solutions, and then applies the technologies in level 3 system, which is under a higher security standard and suitable for mass production at the same time.
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• 1BYD Yuan EV360 goes on sale with price starting from RMB 79,900
• 2EV startup Sitech cooperates with Bosch in AVP, ends over $ 100 million A round financing
• 3What are those Baidu ex-big names in autonomous driving doing now?
• 4Overview of CATL’s automaker partners
• 5Geely first sports sedan model expected to go on sale in third 

EV startup Sitech cooperates with Bosch in AVP, ends over $ 100 million A round financing

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Sitech, a Guizhou-based electric vehicle maker, officially formed partnership with the world-leading auto parts provider Bosch on May25. In the future, both parties will jointly develop projects like AVP (automated valet parking) and apply such technologies into the EV maker's vehicles.

According to Gasgoo, the cooperation between Sitech and Bosch mainly includes three aspects. The first is to jointly develop and upgrade the Sitech DEV1, the startup's first EV model, which will carry AVP technology in the future. The second is to proceed with the AVP pilot operation in Guian New Area and Guiyang, Guizhou Province. In addition, two companies will jointly promote the programs of smart city and smart transportation.
Besides, the EV startpup announced the completion of a Series-A round financing on the same day, which was led by CDH Investments, raising a total capital of over hundreds of million dollars.

Founded on September 1, 2017, Sitech is a state-owned company owning assets up to RMB 270 billion. On January 6, 2018, the EV maker signed a framework agreement with FAW Car to co-develop EVs based on FAW Car's qualification of electric passenger vehicle production.
Before the Auto China 2018 kicked off in Beijing, Sitech unveiled its firs EV model the DEV1, with prices below RMB 100 thousand and a range of around 320km. Reportedly, the Sitech DEV1 will officially go on sale in the Chengdu Motor Show in September this year. The company is set to deliver its first order of 4,000 DEV1s by the end of 2018 and aims to achieve a maximum delivery of 90,000 units next year.
Sitech's prototype shop in Guian New Area has currently been put into operation and is mainly used to conduct vehicle tests. Reportedly, the company's new intelligent factory will be fully operational in 2019 with an expected production capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year.
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• 1EV startup Sitech cooperates with Bosch in AVP, ends over $ 100 million A round financing
• 2What are those Baidu ex-big names in autonomous driving doing now?
• 3Overview of CATL’s automaker partners
• 4Geely first sports sedan model expected to go on sale in third quarter
• 5Geely alternative fuel vehicle, pan-Eurasian parts base located in 

Huatai Securities becomes 22.86% shareholder of Chery Holding

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Huatai Asset Management became the new shareholder of Chery Holding. Meanwhile, the registered capital of Chery Holding has increased to 4.2784 billion from 3.3 billion, according to local media.
Founded on October 16, 2014, Huatai Asset Management was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huatai Securities, a leading integrated securities group in China. It had acquired a 22.86% stake in Chery Holding on March 13 with an investment of around RMB 978 million, becoming the third-biggest shareholder of Chery Auto's parent company.
Apart from Huatai Asset Management, Chery Holding still has another two shareholders, Wuhu Construction Investment Co., and Wuhu Ruichuang Investment Co. After the new shareholder joining, Wuhu Construction Investment and Wuhu Ruichuang Investment’s equity proportion in Chery Holding decreased to 40.1% and 37.02% respectively from 52% to 48%.
It is noteworthy that the major shareholder of Wuhu Ruichuang Investment is Chery Auto's chairman Yin Tongyue, who possesses 87.52% stake in the investment company. Besides, Wuhu Construction Investment, who has the largest shares in Chery Holding, is a wholly-owned subordinate company of the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of Wuhu. Thus, the actual controller of Chery Holding is still Wuhu SASAC.
Senior executives from Huatai Securities refused to take interview and make any comment on the purpose of the company’s investment in Chery Holding.
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• 1BMW-Great Wall Motor JV said to be located in Changzhou
• 2China to reduce auto import tariffs from July 1, 2018
• 3First NIO battery swapping station prepares for service in Shenzhen
• 4CATL approved IPO by China Security Regulatory Commission
• 5GWM targets over 51% shares in JV with BMW Group

Tencent WeChat to develop voice-driven version for vehicle use

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese Internet giant Tencent is developing a voice-driven version of its prevalent social application WeChat for vehicle use, Ma Huateng, Tencent's CEO, revealed at the Tencent Cloud Summit in Guangzhou on May 23. The application can serve for millions of drivers on roads as long as the technology is mature enough.
The pure voice interacted version without screen could keep drivers eyes on roads instead of being distracted by the smartphone screen, not even for one second. “If we can do it, the version will be officially provided in IoV (Internet of Vehicles) solutions and works in a very intelligent way”, Ma Huateng said.
He added that Tencent has not launched the in-vehicle WeChat version for safety concerns. “If our users check their WeChat Moments and reply messages when they are driving, there is potential life risky for others.”
Some vehicles are equipped with WeChat in infotainment system, while this is just web-version WeChat transplanted from the computer and has not been authorized by Tencent.
Tencent has currently expanding its layouts in automobile industry. In November last year, the Internet company launched an ICV solution dubbed “AI in Car” and announced the cooperation with GAC Group, Chongqing Changan, Geely Auto, BYD and Dongfeng Liuzhou. Last month, the “AI in Car” greeted FAW Group as its sixth partner. According to official introduction, the solution aims to serve for the auto industry based on Tencent's advantages in security, contents, social services, big data and AI, etc.
In autonomous driving area, Tencent obtained its first license on May 14 to conduct road tests for autonomous vehicles in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. In addition, Earlier in April, Tencent's autonomous vehicle made its first public presence on the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing.
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• 1BMW-Great Wall Motor JV said to be located in Changzhou
• 2China to reduce auto import tariffs from July 1, 2018
• 3First NIO battery swapping station prepares for service in Shenzhen
• 4CATL approved IPO by China Security Regulatory Commission
• 5GWM targets over 51% shares in JV with BMW Group

BMW-Great Wall Motor JV said to be located in Changzhou

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- The joint venture of Great Wall Motor (GWM) and BMW will reportedly be located in Changzhou. According to local media, GWM has conducted recruitment secretly in Changzhou recently, saying the employees will work at Jintan District, Changzhou, 55km away from Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). The move enhances the possibility of the JV's location in Jintan, Changzhou.
Since GWM and BMW haven't signed cooperation agreement yet, local media found it difficult to get the information on both parties' cooperation framework. It is said that the local market situated at Jintan District has been removed and now the area has been circled by fence.
In addition, the local media outlet found GWM has been recruiting a variety of employees and requires the qualified candidates to have experience in construction and management of battery factories. The recruiting information also showed that GWM asks their staff-to-be should work in Baoding, Hebei Province, and then will move to Jintan District, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. These signals all proved that the JV of GWM and BMW is probably to be located in Jintan District, Changzhou.
However, GWM responded that the JV's site has not been determined yet. GWM hasn't disclosed any official information on whether the new factory will be situated in Changzhou or not.
According to their letter of intent, both parties will try their best to expose unanimous information on their JV. In addition, since the letter of intent is not a legally binding agreement, GWM and BMW will not disclose the site of JV factory during the period of cooperation intention.
Several reasons make Changzhou is a good choice to be the JV's site. Locating JV factory in Changzhou, where abounds in abundant parts suppliers, can largely reduce the logistics cost of auto parts. The geographic situation of Changzhou also makes it the most possible place for the JV, because Changzhou is very close to CATL, a battery provider for both BMW and GWM, and the city situated in the center of Yangtze River delta will enable the products to quickly arrive at the sales channels in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
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• 1Baoneng reportedly acquires stake of Changhe Suzuki
• 2Tencent WeChat to develop voice-driven version for vehicle use
• 3Nissan likely to register E-NV 200 as name for locally-produced MPV in China
• 4Huatai Securities becomes 22.86% shareholder of Chery Holding
• 5Changan added into MSCI China A-share inclusion

24 Lynk & Co centers jointly open up

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Geely's premium vehicle brand, Lynk & Co saw its dealership network expansion with 24 new Lynk & Co centers co-opening on May 20, including in Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou. Moreover, Lynk & Co initiates the "6S" service mode characterized with "Social" and "Share" features, based on the deep analysis of youngsters' life styles and shopping habits. Besides, Lynk & Co also invites customer representatives to review and supervise the dealers' services, in order to optimize and promote Lynk & Co's service standards.

With the concepts of "Social" and "Share", Lynk & Co centers not only feature the full functions of traditional 4S dealers, but also provide a human-oriented service system.

Specifically, "Social" represents Lynk & Co centers will become the third place that attracts customer to go, excluding their offices and houses. The Lynk & Co centers not only provide traditional services like vehicle purchasing and aftersales services, but also offer social spaces for customers to hold birthday party and friend visiting.

The "Share" concept extends Lynk & Co's sharing spirit further. When the Lynk & Co models are in idle, their owners can share the models with family members, friends and other persons who own Lynk & Co accounts and digital keys. Noticeably, the personalized settings, including different systematic backgrounds and page layouts, can be switched among different accounts.

The innovative 6S service mode enhances the ties between the brand and consumers. Moreover, it offers more three-dimensional services for customers. The co-opening of the 24 Lynk & Co centers marks the further progress of Lynk & Co's dealership network deployment.
 
As of now, more than 1,460 dealership investors had applied for building Lynk & Co dealers, and 106 dealers has started operation. By the end of 2018, Lynk & Co will own more than 260 off-line dealers, bringing more convenient services for customers.
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• 1First NIO battery swapping station prepares for service in Shenzhen
• 2CATL approved IPO by China Security Regulatory Commission
• 324 Lynk & Co centers jointly open up
• 4Honda to transfer stake in Honda Automobile (China) to GAC Honda
• 5GWM targets over 51% shares in JV with BMW Group

Murder provokes Didi to revamp services

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China's ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing (hereinafter Didi) will disable all of rating and tagging functions from its hitching service, the company announced on May 16. To win back users' trust after the killing of a female passenger, Didi will also intensify the inspection of driver's qualification based on the platform and improve its emergency help function. The revamp will be completed before May 31.
The 21-year-old flight attendant was purportedly raped and killed by her driver has triggered a drastic query about the safety of ride-hailing service. Meanwhile, the exposure that Didi' drivers tag female passenger by their appearance disgraces the company as well.
Didi took a range of measures to ease the public's anger and save the company's image loss. From May 12, Didi suspended its hitching service nationwide to conduct one-week internal inspection and rectification. On May 16, the company said it will temporarily reject the orders between 10 pm to 6 am.
Besides, the facial recognition must be mandatory for all drivers in case of imposture of drivers' accounts. Reportedly, the male suspect, who purportedly killed the young flight attendant, used the account belonging to his father, while without being detected. After the tragedy happened, Didi also admitted its facial recognition function was imperfect.
In addition, Didi has said the profile pictures of passengers on the carpooling platform will be replaced by the system's default images, which terminates the rating and tagging of passengers. Many users, especially women, have removed their selfies on the platform for the sake of self-protection.
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• 1Murder provokes Didi to revamp services
• 2Faraday Future’s Chinese headquarter likely to announce operation on May 18
• 3Patent image of Hongqi’s first pure electric SUV, E-HS3 exposed
• 4Donfeng Honda to recall over 130 thousand 1.5T CR-Vs
• 5Updating of Chinese self-driving startups financing in 2018

Faraday Future’s Chinese headquarter likely to announce operation on May 18

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Faraday Future (FF) will have a big story on May 18, according to the sources from Sina Weibo on May 17. At the same time, Chen Zhe, director of FF's global marketing and communication, also spread the news that "Big Story is coming" on WeChat.
The released information may signal that FF is likely to announce on May 18 that its Chinese headquarters will officially start operation.
In addition, FF disclosed the preorder information at its official Weibo account on May 16, according to local media. Part of Weibo users said that they had received FF's official invitation of experiencing the FF91 at the end of April.
It is disclosed from FF's official network that the company has been recruiting engineers and salesmen in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing on a large scale.
The only thing that can be confirmed is that the FF91 has arrived in Beijing at the end of April. Moreover, it is also rumored that Jia Yueting has returned to China, in order to make preparation for the mass-production of the FF 91 in China.
At the beginning of April, FF's affiliated company, Ruichi Intelligent Automobile Co., Ltd. (Ruichi) gained an area of 401,000 square meters in Nansha District, Guangzhou through bidding. Since then, the news that FF may prepare for the local production of its models was widely spread.
On the afternoon of May 11, FF released a letter to celebrate FF's four-year anniversary of foundation, confirming that FF will see its Hanford plant's official construction and the installation of manufacturing equipment in May. What's more, FF's Chinese headquarters will be based in Guangzhou, and the Guangzhou factory will start production as scheduled.
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• 1Faraday Future’s Chinese headquarter likely to announce operation on May 18
• 2Patent image of Hongqi’s first pure electric SUV, E-HS3 exposed
• 3Donfeng Honda to recall over 130 thousand 1.5T CR-Vs
• 4Updating of Chinese self-driving startups financing in 2018
• 5Geely's first pure electric crossover SUV exposed to have expected range of over 400km

Baoneng said to acquire stake of Chery with RMB 25 to 27 billion

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Baoneng Group reportedly plans to acquire stake of Chery Auto with a total of RMB 25-27 billion, and aims to be the biggest shareholder of the automaker. It is said that both parties will announce the merger and acquisition (M&A) as early as next month. Once the acquisition is finished, Chery Auto will transform from a state-owned company to a private automaker.
About half a year ago, a negotiating team, which is formed by representatives of Wuhu government, Wuhu Construction Investment Co., Ltd. and Chery's senior executives, had contacted with Baoneng Group and Industrial Bank Co., Ltd. with a purpose to get funds through selling a certain part of Chery's stake, due to the worsening cash flow of Chery and urgency of supplementing operating fund.

The news that Baoneng will acquire Chery is not a secret any more, according to insiders of Chery. They also disclosed that Baoneng and Chery have been negotiating the acquisition for a long time, and the announcement will be released this month or next month.
It is also revealed by the person who is close to Baoneng that the group and Chery had reached a consensus on the stake acquisition. Both parties are just waiting for a proper time to expose it.

It is rumored in last October that the ultimate goal for Baoneng's acquisition of Qoros is to acquire Chery. Local media also revealed that Yao Zhenhua, president of Baoneng Group once showed his intention of acquiring Chery Auto as early as in October, 2017.
Chery's M&A will benefit the automaker in the long run. On one hand, Baoneng can provide funds for Chery. On the other hand, the system advantages of private company will revive Chery. Besides, Chery boasts superior auto technologies in chassis, engine, platform, intelligent connection and autonomous driving. It is the product planning chaos, poor product definiton and unattractive design style, rather than lacking core technologies that result in Chery's sales slump.
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• 1Geely's first pure electric crossover SUV exposed to have expected range of over 400km
• 2Geely, BAIC Group jointly deny merger discussion
• 3Baoneng said to acquire stake of Chery with RMB 25 to 27 billion
• 4Roadstar.ai raises record $128 million in Series A round
• 5Liuzhou Wuling intends to acquire Yema Auto

JAC, Cummins set up JV to manufacture engines

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- JAC and Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Cummins) signed a contract on May 14 to set up a new engine factory, which is likely to be named as JAC Cummins Engine Co., Ltd.
On July 4, 2012, JAC and Navistar set up a 50:50 JV called JAC Navistar. Now Navistar desired to pull out the JAC Navistar and intends to transfer the 50% share of JAC Navistar to Cummins.
Therefore, JAC Navistar will be reorganized and then changed into a new JV with a capital form of 50:50. The new JV's registered capital will still be RMB 600 million. Both parties agreed that JAC Navistar's name will be changed as JAC Cummins Engine Co., Ltd., after the equity transfer. By virtue of the new JV's platforms, JAC can realize emission upgrade and performance optimization for light-emission and medium-emission engines, thus the value of the complete vehicles can be entirely improved.
According to the released statement, the new JV will specialize in researching & developing, designing, testing, manufacturing, assembling, promoting, marketing, importing and exporting diesel engine and its parts, and will also offer aftersales parts and services as well as the leasing of factory and equipment.
It is expected that the new JV will reach an annual production capacity of 250,000 engines after the JV starts production. The JV will manufacture engines in accordance with the business plan and budget approved by board of directors annually.
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• 1Summary of Chinese automakers sales in April
• 2Sales of new energy PV soar 150% year on year in April
• 3Top 10 PV automakers by April wholesale volume
• 4BYD’s new energy passenger vehicle sales soar 117% year on year in April
• 5Central and South America, Africa may become Chinese branded cars' most potential markets

Highlights of BAT layouts in autonomous driving industry

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- With Alibaba confirming driverless vehicle test last month, it has joined Baidu and Tencent – which are collectively known as BAT – in the autonomous driving industry. The three Chinese Internet giants currently race to make layouts in this booming field. Gasgoo sorted some events as below to show how BAT builds their own ecosystem around autonomous vehicles. 
Baidu
Possessing the splendid autonomous driving platform Apollo, Baidu runs much ahead of its two rivals, Alibaba and Tencent. Later in April, Apollo welcomed it 100th partner BYD. So far, the Internet giant has extended Apollo's partnerships across the world, including not only renowned automakers like FAW Group, Changan Auto and Great Wall Motor, but also some world-class Tier 1 suppliers such as Bosch and Continental AG.
Additionally, Baidu has heretofore obtained autonomous vehicle road test licenses from three cities, Beijing, Fuzhou and Chongqing.
On March 1, 2017, the company announced that it had established the Intelligent Driving Group (IDG) which was headed by Lu Qi, Baidu's COO and president. This was a significant step to speed up its autonomous driving cause through a massive integration of three units, the autonomous driving unit (L4), the intelligent vehicle unit (L3) and IoV (Internet of Vehicles) unit.
In capital market, Baidu also did a great number of investments and acquisitions. For instance, the company bought out tech startups like Raven Tech and KITT.AI last year and put investments in such companies as NIO, WM Motor and Shouqi Limousine & Chauffeur, which is currently a part of the Apollo ecology.
Tencent
Following Baidu, Tencent also obtained its first ICV (intelligent-connected vehicle) license plate from Shenzhen municipal government on May 14. The government only issued one plate this time to Tencent Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory, who has been allowed to test its autonomous vehicle on public road after the government designates the testing sectors.
Earlier in April, Tencent's autonomous vehicle made its first public presence on the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing. The autonomous vehicle is a white converted SUV equipped with a large-sized Lidar on the roof and cameras, millimeter-wave radar around the body.
On April 12, Tencent and Chinese automaker Chongqing Changan officially signed a cooperation agreement to establish an ICV joint venture. Both parties will focus on developing IoV integration solutions as well as relevant operational businesses and services.
A few days later, Tencent and the state-owned automaker FAW Group inked a strategic cooperation framework agreement in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) area. The cooperation between two parties will focus on four major fields, scenario research, information security, IoV ecology as well as cloud platform and big data. Reportedly, Tencent's Keen Security Lab will provide FAW Group with IoV security solutions. Moreover, two companies will co-build service ecology relying on Tencent's technical resources of social search engine, electronic map, entertainment and payment instruments and make researches in such areas as AI, targeting marketing, big data analysis, etc.
FAW Group is Tencent's sixth automaker partner. In November last year, the Internet company launched its ICV solution dubbed “AI in Car” and announced the cooperation with GAC Group, Chongqing Changan, Geely Auto, BYD and Dongfeng Liuzhou.
Tencent's investments in automakers also reflect its ambition in auto area. In March 2017, Tencent had bought 5% share in Tesla and became the automakers' fifth largest shareholder. What's more, Tencent and Baidu had led a $600 million funding round in the Shanghai-based electric car maker NIO, who obtained China's first batch of ICV road test licenses in Shanghai along with SAIC Motor.
Alibaba
In the middle of April, Alibaba confirmed the news that it was researching and developing L4 (and higher level) driverless vehicle technologies. Meanwhile, some vehicles (reportedly, the Lincoln MKZ refreshed models) have already been tested on roads and dozens of vehicles have been under development. 
Besides, the company revealed that under the leadership of Professor Wang Gang, chief scientist of Ali A.I. Labs and one of MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2017, the autonomous driving research was proceeding rapidly.
In January this year, Alibaba's iDST (Institute of Data Science and Technologies) took the championship in pedestrian detection, which also refreshed its ranking in KITTI, the global authoritative leaderboard in machine vision algorithm. Meanwhile, in a competition raised by the renowned dataset of pedestrian re-identification the Market1501, Alibaba ranked No.1 worldwide with its first-target hit rate up to 96.17%.
In September last year, Alibaba officially announced that its operation system YunOS would be upgraded into AliOS with driving scenarios as highlight.
Before that, Alibaba and SAIC Motor built a joint venture dubbed Banma to offer integral Intelligent-connected vehicle solutions to auto industry.
Alibaba also became one of major investors of Chinese EV startup Xpeng Motors whose founder and chairman were former president of Alibaba Mobile Business Group. Moreover, the Internet giant also put investments in some AI companies, such as Face++ and SenseTime, and several AI chip providers like Cambricon and DeepPhi Tech.   
All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce, copy and use the editorial content without permission. Contact us: autonews@gasgoo.com.

Install Gasgoo APPAnytime and anywhere to know the dynamics of China's auto industry

• 1Summary of Chinese automakers sales in April
• 2Sales of new energy PV soar 150% year on year in April
• 3Top 10 PV automakers by April wholesale volume
• 4BYD’s new energy passenger vehicle sales soar 117% year on year in April
• 5Central and South America, Africa may become Chinese branded cars' most potential markets

Beijing Benz to roll out 4 EQ all-electric models

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Beijing Benz will manufacture Benz's electric vehicle (EV) model in the BAIC's plant in Shunyi district of Beijing (hereinafter, Shunyi plant), which was used to manufacture the models under BAIC Senova, according to local media.
Beijing Benz plans to roll out 4 homegrown EV models of Mercedes-Benz EQ Series, covering SUVs and sedans, in accordance with the company's NEV planning. The first model EQC, which holds a range up to 500km, will roll off the production line in 2018.
According to relevant information, founded in 2011, the Shunyi plant was used to produce such models as the Senova D70, the Senova X55 and BAIC BJEV's EU260, etc. Its annual production capacity had increased to 30,000 units after the second phase was completed. Beijing Benz took over the plant, then remolded it in line with the Germany Industrie 4.0 to manufacture a series of all-electric models based on Mercedes-Benz modular platform for all-electric cars. Meanwhile, Beijing Benz will establish a battery factory to support the Shunyi plant's production.
As Mercedes-Benz's old adversaries, BMW and Audi also make planning to locally produce EVs in China. At Auto China 2018, BMW unveiled a concept model of the iX3, which will be officially locally produced in 2020. In addition, Audi has a blueprint to launch 4 EV models in the next four years, including the Audi e-tron, the Q2 e-tron, etc.
It is worth mentioning that Benz has gained a head start over BMW and Audi in the NEV competition. The all-electric EQC SUV will roll off production line in 2018 and officially go on sale in the next year, which runs ahead of BMW and Audi in proceeding with EV localization. Additionally, Benz's EQC, featuring the modular design, enjoys a range up to 500km, which is more than the 400km-range of BMW's iX3 and Audi e-tron.
All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce, copy and use the editorial content without permission. Contact us: autonews@gasgoo.com.

Install Gasgoo APPAnytime and anywhere to know the dynamics of China's auto industry

• 1Summary of Chinese automakers sales in April
• 2Sales of new energy PV soar 150% year on year in April
• 3Top 10 PV automakers by April wholesale volume
• 4BYD’s new energy passenger vehicle sales soar 117% year on year in April
• 5Central and South America, Africa may become Chinese branded cars' most potential markets

Beijing gets largest BMW R&D center outside of Germany

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- German luxury vehicle brand BMW officially opened a R&D center in Beijing on May 15. This is the third BMW's R&D center in China, also the company's largest R&D center aside from its German headquarter.
BMW currently owns three R&D centers in China, including the Beijing center, the Shanghai center and the Shenyang center. Based on a clear division of roles and responsibilities, the Beijing center will be responsible for the strategies formulation, consumer demands’ management, vehicle testing and verification as well as the product localization R&D. Shanghai center is mainly in charge of the technological innovation, innovative design research and the application of digitalization. Moreover, the Shenyang center, in the vicinity of a power battery center, focuses on NEV (new energy vehicles) development, production vehicle qualification control, etc.
Reportedly, the Beijing R&D center, covering an area of over 26,000 square meters, involves an investment of RMB 200 million in total. It will be dedicated to the verification and on-line diagnosis of whole series of BMW's models, including NEVs, hybrid vehicles, intelligent vehicles and the next-generation high-efficiency engines, and the R&D of core parts in NEV and self-driving area.
On May 14, BMW obtained two license plates for the ICV (intelligent-connected vehicle) road test from Shanghai municipal government, becoming the first multinational automaker that is allowed to test ICV on roads, according to official WeChat account of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information.
All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce, copy and use the editorial content without permission. Contact us: autonews@gasgoo.com.

Install Gasgoo APPAnytime and anywhere to know the dynamics of China's auto industry

• 1Liuzhou Wuling intends to acquire Yema Auto
• 2Beijing gets largest BMW R&D center outside of Germany
• 3Beijing Benz to roll out 4 EQ all-electric models
• 4BYD aims to recapture fuel-powered vehicle market share
• 5JAC, Cummins set up JV to manufacture engines

Sales of new energy PV soar 150% year on year in April

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In April, sales of new energy passenger vehicle (PV) reached 73,145 units with a YoY surge of 150% and a MoM sales growth of 31.3%, according to the data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The robust YoY sales growth in April signifies huge market demands in NEVs.
BYD still led the pack in all automakers by April NEV sales, with a YoY surge of 116% to 13,392 units. From January to April, BYD performed excellently with an outstanding YoY increase of 175%. Following BYD, BAIC BJEV sold 11,771 NEVs, soaring 104% over the previous year. Strikingly, Hawtai Motor saw NEV sales skyrocket 15376% to 3,250 units, compared to 21 units in April, 2017. Besides, Chery and SGMW boasted remarkable NEV sales in April.

In terms of the top 10 best-selling NEV models, the BAIC EC Series took the sales championship with deliveries of 7,471 units in April, jumping 72% from a year earlier. The BYD e5 ranked second with sales reaching 4,294 units. The ZHIDOU D2 was the third best-selling NEV model among all NEV models in the Chinese market with deliveries of 4,152 units, up 12% year on year in April.
As to different NEV types by April sales, taking up 52.4% shares, A00 class pure electric vehicle still dominated the pure electric PV market with YoY and MoM sales growth of 87% and 7% respectively to 29,579 units. In terms of PHEV, sales reached 16,677 units, shooting up 243% regarding the same period last year. In this segment, A-class PHEV sales leaped 360% year on year to 15,040 units in April, staying its leadership with market shares up to 90%.
All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce, copy and use the editorial content without permission. Contact us: autonews@gasgoo.com.

Install Gasgoo APPAnytime and anywhere to know the dynamics of China's auto industry

• 1Summary of Chinese automakers sales in April
• 2Sales of new energy PV soar 150% year on year in April
• 3Top 10 PV automakers by April wholesale volume
• 4BYD’s new energy passenger vehicle sales soar 117% year on year in April
• 5Central and South America, Africa may become Chinese branded cars' most potential markets

Top 10 PV automakers by wholesale volume in April

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- According to the data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), China’s PV (passenger vehicle) retail sales (excluding minivan) reached 1.812 million units, up 9.6% year on year and down 8.6% month on month. Meanwhile, the wholesale PV volume nationwide was 1.874 million last month, rising 12.3% from a year ago, while dropping 11.7% month on month.
In the first three months, a total of 1.982 million PVs (excluding minivan) were delivered in China with a year-on-year growth of 4.4%, reversing the sales downturn in a year-ago period. The rising PV performances in the first quarter may curb the month-on-month growth in the following month. Due to the Qingming Festival and the May Day, there are only 20 work days in April, which was 2 work days less than in March. This may cause the month-on-month sales decline in April to some extent.

As to the top 10 PV automakers in April by wholesale volume, SAIC-GM, SAIC-VW and FAW-VW still occupied the first three places compared with the previous month. SAIC-GM took the championship this time with a wholesale volume up to 171,177 units in April. Besides, Geely Auto, who ranked fifth in March, moved up to the fourth with 128,817 units delivered last month, driven by the strong sales of sedans and SUVs and the fast-growing sales of the Lynk & Co. Additionally, SAIC Motor PV ranked tenth with a year-on-year jump of 50% in wholesale volume to 62,289 unit in April.
All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce, copy and use the editorial content without permission. Contact us: autonews@gasgoo.com.

Install Gasgoo APPAnytime and anywhere to know the dynamics of China's auto industry

• 1Geely Auto sees 49% YoY sales leap in April with Lynk & Co 01 sales topping 9,000 units
• 2Li Shufu increases HKD 433 million worth of shares in Geely Auto
• 3Geely Auto delivers 500,000th Boyue
• 4BYD suffers YoY net profit nosedive of over 80% in Q1
• 5Highlights of NEV makers at Auto China 2018