Gree teamed up with Weimar Automobile to enter the whole vehicle manufacturing. Dong Mingzhu’s ＂dream of building a car＂ still faces difficulties
■ Our reporter Jia Li
Recently, it is reported that Gree Electric and Weimar Automobile will carry out in-depth cooperation in intelligent related fields, such as intelligent manufacturing, intelligent interconnection between vehicle owners and so on, as well as vehicle manufacturing-related and high-end equipment output.
Gree said that the cooperation between Gree Electric and Weimar Automobile will also explore the possibility of cooperation in channels. According to the relevant person in Gree Electric who told the Securities Daily reporter, Gree has reached cooperation with many automobile companies such as FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC-GM and Dongfeng Honda, and the exploration path is basically similar.
According to insiders of Gree, Dong Mingzhu has always maintained a strong interest in the automotive field, and has promoted the cooperative relationship between Gree and car companies for many times.
Does the cooperation between Gree and Weimar Automobile further enter the overall manufacturing related industries, which means that Dong Mingzhu is one step closer to the realization of its "dream of building a car"?
Gree officially entered the whole vehicle manufacturing?
Recently, the cooperation between Gree Electric and Weimar Automobile has attracted much attention from the outside world. However, in fact, Gree Electric has held hands with many automobile companies.
It is understood that most of the projects and workshops of FAW-Volkswagen’s manufacturing bases in Chengdu, Foshan, Changchun and other places have adopted Gree’s high-efficiency centrifugal chillers. Gree also provided systematic solutions for the refrigeration station project of the comprehensive station building of the third base of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile and the production capacity expansion project of Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. in Guangzhou.
However, unlike the previous cooperation between the two parties mainly in the fields of automobile air-conditioning and central air-conditioning, the cooperation between Gree Electric and Weimar Automobile will be carried out in the aspects of vehicle manufacturing and high-end equipment output, and the banner of intelligent interconnection between car owners will be played.
Zhang Jianfeng, Deputy Secretary-General of china national household electric appliances commercial association, said in an interview with Securities Daily: "With the coming of the 5G era, many enterprises are discussing how to realize the interconnection of industry and technology. However, for the cross-border people in the automobile industry, it is still difficult to enter this field with high threshold, and cooperation has become the way for them to open up market space. Gree has been laying out in the fields of smart home and intelligent manufacturing, and has accumulated rich technology and resources. Cooperation with Weimar Automobile means that it has a deeper involvement in the automotive field, but Gree’s layout of intelligent manufacturing needs to be further spread. "
However, this time, does the cooperation between Gree and Weimar Automobile mean that Gree will fully enter the field of vehicle manufacturing?
In this regard, Jia Xinguang, executive director of china automobile dealers association, said in an interview with the Securities Daily: "At present, the cooperation between Gree and Weimar Automobile may be more in parts, intelligent manufacturing and intelligent systems, which is conducive to further promoting the intelligence of new energy vehicles, but it is difficult for the two sides to truly cooperate fully on the whole vehicle."
He believes: "In recent years, many companies have flooded into the field of new energy vehicles, but they have no clear understanding of the industry. The threshold of automobile manufacturing industry is high, which requires enterprises to continue research and development, and research and development can not stop, but also to build a large area of network, enterprises must continue to invest a lot of money and resources. However, among the newly entered enterprises, there are not many that can really make achievements in the automobile industry, and even many new entrants have died down. "
Will the enthusiasm for building a car be short-lived?
The timing of this cooperation is also critical, just during the period when Gree’s major shareholder is brewing Gree Electric’s equity transfer.
At present, the equity transfer has not officially landed, and there is still great uncertainty about who will take over in the future. At present, all parties are waiting for the answer.
"Although from this public information, we have not seen the specific details of the cooperation between Gree Electric and Weimar Automobile and the amount of funds involved, we can see the future direction of Gree Electric, which is still expanding in the field of smart cars in an attempt to expand the territory of intelligent manufacturing industry. Even if new shareholders come in, Gree’s future development path in the direction of intelligent manufacturing and car networking will not change much." Strategic analyst Hong Shibin told the Securities Daily reporter.
Gree Electric insiders said: "No matter how the shareholding structure of the company’s shareholders changes in the future, Gree Electric will still follow the existing planning route, and there will be no obvious changes. The future layout of the company is continuous and forward-looking."
Jia Xinguang believes: "At present, most cross-border people and traditional car companies jointly explore the potential market space in marginal industries, and it is still difficult to enter the core manufacturing field, but future cooperation will be the normal state of the industry."