The National Development and Reform Commission accelerates the approval of "qualification" to restart the "new and old cooperation" of new energy vehicles

The closed door to build a car is changing the expected competitive landscape. Up to now, the approval of investment projects for new energy vehicles has been suspended for more than a year, and in order to seize the subsidy exit and the window period before the joint venture brand enters the market, the new car manufacturers can't wait for the queuing after the restart. While cooperating with traditional car companies for OEM production, while acquiring qualified “shell” companies, they are applying for qualifications and are becoming the first choice for new car manufacturers. The traditional car companies have let go of their hands and feet, and take the initiative to seize new opportunities.

"We have cars sold at the end of the year, but we don't know how much time to use until we apply for the qualifications." Singular Auto CEO Shen Haijun said that in April this year, electric car startup Qide Auto and Beiqi New Energy of Beiqi Group To achieve cooperation, Shen Haijun does not evade. The focus of cooperation is to borrow the qualifications of BAIC and produce singular vehicles through BAIC. The latest move of BAIC seems to be more proactive. After the joint venture with global auto parts giant Magna on June 18 this year, the joint venture is considered to be the "Foxconn" in the automotive industry. In an interview with the media, deputy secretary of the Beijing New Energy Party Committee and spokesperson Lian Qingfeng said that some Chinese auto companies need high-quality production services. "They may all become potential customers of the joint venture."

In parallel with the singularity car, the company also announced that it has obtained the investment of FAW Group, and signed an agreement on deep cooperation in the industrial chain with FAW Group in July. Prior to this, there have been a number of electric vehicle start-up companies and traditional car companies to reach a foundry agreement, even the star of the new car company - Wei Lai's new car tail also posted the "Jianghuai Wei Lai" manufacturer's words. At the same time, as a result of the first round of the new energy market knockout, the acquisition of qualified companies has become another path for new car companies to obtain a permit. In early July this year, Electric Coffee Motors announced that it acquired SUV production qualifications through the acquisition of West Tiger Motors. . More potential acquisitions in the industry are also in progress.

From this perspective, the intention to officially suspend investment project approval is also being realized. "Cooperate and cooperate", a professional close to the National Development and Reform Commission said that the auto project authorities welcomed the cooperation between new car manufacturers and traditional car companies, encouraged the merger and reorganization of backward production capacity, and strictly controlled the new capacity building that could not bring industrial benefits. . This is also reflected in the new industrial policy.

However, the new car manufacturers have not given up their "ambitions" with their own production bases. At present, at least a dozen of the major new car manufacturers have already built or are building production bases, and in the new energy sources that are said to be as many as sixty or seventy. Among the car startups, only six have been approved by the NDRC investment project.

The Economic Observer reported that the "Automotive Industry Investment Management Regulations (Draft for Comment)" is following the final approval process. Once the regulations are formally implemented, the approval of the investment approval for new energy vehicles will be restarted.

The qualification of new car companies "chasing war"

Entering mid-July, rumors fly all over the sky. Tianjin FAW, which has been “staying for a long time”, announced the transfer of 100% stake in FAW Huali, and then the electric vehicle startup company Beit Motor, which has just become a FAW partner, was ranked first in the list. The joint venture between BAIC and global component giant Magna has triggered speculation that the joint venture company is likely to produce vehicles for the singularity and network car giants, and then start the "Foxconn" model of the automotive industry.

For the speculation that Baiteng took over FAW Huali, FAW Xiali subsequently denied it. For Beiqi to form a joint venture foundry, BAIC responded to the economic observation report that there is no final conclusion. However, as a leader in the new energy automobile industry, Beiqi will not change its goal of supporting the rapid development of the industry with the concept of 'open sharing'.

The so-called rumors are not groundless. From April this year, Baiteng Automobile signed a strategic cooperation investment framework agreement with FAW Group. In June, FAW Group participated in the B round financing of Baiteng Automobile, and then signed the strategic cooperation framework agreement on July 3. . The two parties have confirmed that they will cooperate in the fields of platform technology, investment and shareholding, parts procurement, and development, production, sales and service of intelligent networked automotive products. In this package of cooperation, helping Baiteng obtain production qualifications is the most important question.

Compared with Baiteng becoming a "successor", BAIC's joint venture foundry plan seems to have more background support. Recently, Xu Heyi, the chairman of BAIC Group, announced that he will stop selling SAIC Group fuel vehicles in Beijing from July 31 this year. BAIC's own brand has been in a weak position, so this decision did not disappoint the industry. As the first step in the transformation of BAIC Group into the new energy vehicle sector, the use of excess self-owned brand capacity for the foundry of new car companies can also be said to capture industry opportunities. After all, Beiqi New Energy, a subsidiary of BAIC Group, is already a mature segment, and it is the leader in the industry. After BAIC completely stops the production of fuel vehicles, the excess capacity will be more, and there are also many new energy vehicle start-up companies that are not qualified for production.

If the investment project is not approved, it means that it cannot be produced or sold. After the first high-profile collective appearance at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year, new car companies began to enter the new car offline and listing stage. The landing of the new subsidy policy in June this year has also increased the sense of crisis for new energy-making enterprises. In the early stage, the funds of 10 billion yuan have been invested, and the production qualifications are far from the future. This is like preparing the materials for cooking, but it is not the same.

On the other hand, the influx of large capital into the new industrial clusters has also made traditional car companies aware that opening up is an inevitable trend. Prior to this, Weilai was looking for Jianghuai foundry, electric coffee to find the southeast foundry, and Xiaopeng to find the hippocampus foundry. It has become the first batch of representatives of the “new and old forces cooperation” after the NDRC announced the suspension of the approval of new energy production qualifications. At the beginning of July, the release of the "Regulations on Investment Management of the Automobile Industry (Draft for Comment)" clearly conveyed the policy attitude of encouraging new car companies to engage in closer contact with traditional car companies, and also for more "new and old forces" cooperation mode. The birth of the book was endorsed.

However, the sense of security and achievement of new car manufacturers is not fully satisfied by traditional car companies. Therefore, in addition to borrowing the qualifications of traditional car companies, the acquisition of qualified car companies has become another shortcut. On July 6, the electric coffee car in the first echelon of the new car enterprise signed a technical improvement project with Quanzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone and Xihu Automobile Industry Co., Ltd., and obtained the SUV production qualification through the acquisition of Xihu Automobile. As a counterpart of the electric coffee car, Weimar Automobile acquired the 100% stake of Dalian Huanghai Automobile Co., Ltd. through its wholly-owned subsidiary Dalian Xinyaya Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. in February 2017. The “curve” got the SUV and Production qualification of MPV products.

According to industry views, the industry exit mechanism initiated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the “eliminated people” brought about by the inferior survival of the inferior are also providing new “prey” for the qualification of “new chasing companies”. Since the beginning of this year, due to the worrying profitability, the sale of qualified new energy car companies and the overall sale of old car companies have continued to occur, and the M&A activities of the auto industry are more frequent than in previous years. The “curve” is not as attractive as the “straight line”. For a new car company, without its own factory, it is just a research and development plus sales company. The image and quality of the brand will be largely determined by the foundry factory. Therefore, the production base is the most “heavy” part of the auto industry as a new car manufacturer, and has not terminated with the suspension of qualification approval. With the support of a large amount of funds and land from local governments, more than a dozen mainstream startups have started the construction of production bases.

"We will use the factory in Tongling, Anhui Province to apply for qualifications, but we are not in a hurry." Shen Haijun said that since the singular car will be sold at the end of this year, qualifications have become a top priority, and foundry is the most effective means of emergency. The Tongling base with a singularity of 8 billion yuan will be built at the end of 2017. It is planned to complete the first phase of construction in 2018, with an annual production capacity of 200,000 units. OEMs are just a transition for new car manufacturers such as Weimar and electric coffee that have both OEM and acquisition, and at the same time lay out production bases. Electric coffee has used this strategy combination more familiarly. Through the OEM of Southeast Auto, the first A0 electric car of Electric Coffee has been listed at the end of last year. The sales volume in the first half of this year has exceeded 2,000. At the same time of the acquisition, the electric coffee company already has three bases, and said that it is applying for qualifications through the self-built base.

The Qingxing Auto, which belongs to the “Tsinghua Department”, chose to develop on the mature platform of FAW Group. The Qingxing Jingke 400 launched by it even directly marks the logo of FAW Group. "We use FAW's factory and production qualifications, using FAW's matching, which allows us to minimize costs." Qingxing Auto COO Li Linuo told the Economic Observer.

Unapproved capacity projects are illegal

"At present, the production capacity of the entire automobile industry is sufficient, and it is not necessary for each enterprise to build new capacity." The above-mentioned professionals close to the National Development and Reform Commission said that as the competent department responsible for the approval of new energy vehicle capacity, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is responsible for traditional car companies and new car companies. The cooperation is in line with the attitude of "cooperating and cooperating". The person believes that the advantages of new car manufacturers are not in the production process, and any products must first undergo market tests. These new products still have many shortcomings. Whether they can be accepted by the market in the end, and whether the funds and brands can keep up with them. There are also risks. Therefore, it is not recommended to invest heavily in capacity building in the early stage. Once it fails, it will only cause more waste. The Economic Observer reported that the Energy Bureau had expressed the hope that the original innovative energy vehicle companies would increase cooperation with traditional car companies.

In the next step of the approval of new energy vehicle production qualifications that the whole industry pays attention to, the NDRC person told the Economic Observer that, logically speaking, the production access of new energy vehicles will follow the new regulations. “New Regulations” refers to the “Regulations on Investment Management of Automobile Industry (Draft for Comment)” issued in early July. This opinion draft strengthens the requirements for local government audit responsibility and increases the environmental conditions for new production capacity, including The requirements for new energy vehicle consumption and supporting capacity at the location of production capacity. This is aimed at curbing the chaotic investment of blindly investing in new energy vehicles and encircling money. At present, the draft is still in the process of approval. If there is no accident, it will be implemented within the year.

"In theory, these capacity building projects are illegal and can't be invested before they are approved." The people close to the National Development and Reform Commission said that the new car companies are now rushing to invest in production bases, except for the interests of local governments. There are also factors that are not sound law enforcement.

“The normal process is to apply for an investment project (new enterprise) for approval first, and start construction after approval, and apply for announcement (product license) after completion”. The person said that the "qualification" is not accurate, it is an industry saying, and the accurate statement is "investment project review." “Applications for investment project approval are submitted by the provincial government to the country. There must be a fixed fixed asset investment project code, investment content, construction site, land procedures, construction plan, proof of funding source, and other necessary materials.”

In the current automotive industry, it is generally believed that only when the factory is first established can the NDRC's production qualifications be obtained (the official accurate statement is “investment project approval”), and this is wrong. It is reported that the projects under construction in the new energy automobile industry are mixed, except for the fact that most of the new car manufacturers have not approved the first-built production capacity, and some have started construction with auto parts projects, which are over-range construction; some are only borrowed from the so-called industrial parks (factory buildings). The project exaggerates the impact, and some only plan the project, do not have the construction conditions, and are used to circle the money. Most of these projects are supported by local governments.

The NDRC has denied the claim that a large number of companies are currently waiting in line to approve new energy production qualifications. They said that they did not receive new information after the announcement of the suspension of new energy vehicle investment projects in June last year. Project approval application. The Economic Observer reported that most of the new car companies that claimed to be applying for project approval did not formally submit their applications, and they were still in the state of preparation.

According to the industry's view, from the new "Regulations on Investment Management of Automobile Industry (Draft for Comment)", it can be seen that the NDRC is striving to achieve a balance between market development and policy supervision in the approval of new energy production projects. According to the above-mentioned professionals close to the National Development and Reform Commission, the focus of government supervision should be on the front end for any industry. However, for a new field such as new energy vehicles, it is inevitable that they will not be able to grasp accurately, and The call for the relaxation of the threshold and the “free killing” of capital, the NDRC did intend to listen to industry opinions and reduce front-end intervention.

However, there must be rules in any industry. Otherwise, chaos such as “cheat and abduction” involving industrial safety can easily breed. Therefore, the new "Regulations on Investment Management of the Automobile Industry (Draft for Comment)" strengthened the assessment of the market environment and local government responsibilities in all aspects, and established a more reasonable entry assessment for the investment approval of new energy vehicle projects. "Most people underestimate the impact of this document, we have been able to feel the changes in the capital market, and the deeper impact will soon appear." A senior executive of a new car company told the Economic Observer.