On August 23rd, the launch conference of the Hongqi H9 model was held at the FAW headquarters in Changchun.
As a banner of China’s auto industry, China FAW Hongqi brand is leading the high-quality innovation of China’s auto industry and accelerating the breaking of the old pattern that independent brands do not have the voice over luxury cars in the global market. Supported by the manufacturing resources and capabilities accumulated by the old industrial bases in Northeast China for many years, and driven by the strong resource integration capabilities of China’s auto industry, Hongqi is moving towards "China’s first and world-famous".
Looking for opportunities in danger, heavy luxury cars accelerate to push new ones
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The total sales volume in August exceeded 21,000, an increase of 110% year-on-year; from January to August, the cumulative sales volume exceeded 108,500, an increase of 108% year-on-year… This is a bright transcript handed over by Hongqi.
In the context of the overall decline of the global auto market and the COVID-19 epidemic hitting the global auto industry hard, it is rare for Hongqi to achieve contrarian growth. And this is just one of Hongqi’s excellent performances in "stress testing". Hongqi also launched C-class new luxury cars at a fast pace, showing a momentum of accelerating innovation.
On August 23rd, Hongqi H9 was launched. As an epoch-making product that integrates the latest design concepts and forward-looking technologies of the Hongqi brand, H9 has established the soul of the new Hongqi design in the new era with five surpassing innovations, and established a new benchmark for C +-class cars in China’s automotive industry with nine top technologies: the first "Oriental Concept" cockpit, the first flagship advanced technology chassis and powertrain platform, the first intelligent network technology Smile 1.0, aggregating L2.5-level autonomous driving, Zhilian ecological AI engine, five-screen linkage, voice assistant, full-scene remote control and other technologies to show the physical form of science fiction-level smart cars; by equipped with Unbounded Vision System, GUARD Security System, Safe Plus Information Security System, and Healthy Environment System, a national guest-level safety experience is constructed.
Then, the Hongqi HS7 2021 model was launched, with an all-round perception system, a "9H" ultra-high-strength cage body, full-scene automatic parking, SACC advanced cruise, and a new third-generation self-developed 2.0T high-power engine… Refresh the top level of Chinese brand C-class SUVs.
What amazes the market even more is the upcoming Hongqi E-HS9, which is Hongqi’s first full-size flagship intelligent pure electric SUV. It not only aggregates a variety of Chinese wind elements and is highly recognizable in appearance, but also uses AR real-life navigation, intelligent induction steering wheel, traffic congestion automatic driving system (TJP), valet parking system (AVP) to create a full avant-garde sci-fi sense. More importantly, it has made a number of innovative breakthroughs in the safety of electric vehicles that consumers are most concerned about: self-developed 160/245 electric drive system, ultra-high-strength thermoformed steel floor and threshold structure provide full coverage of side protection for the battery. This industry-leading battery protection structure can maximize the protection of battery pack safety. It uses the most advanced rigid materials, international leading manufacturing technology, and high-tech configuration to make it safe Become a "mobile security fortress"; especially in terms of information security, three-layer security monitoring software architecture, application of platform-based diagnostic technology, three-layer protection from customers, vehicles, and ground ends, and strictly adhere to the safety bottom line of smart cars. As the flag of Chinese brands, Hongqi’s C + luxury pure electric SUV is expected to accelerate the breaking of the old pattern of weak independent brands in the luxury car camp in the Chinese market.
Hongqi is rapidly enriching its luxury car array at this time, just to seize the new industry opportunities and market opportunities that have emerged in the crisis. Affected by the epidemic, the production and sales of automobiles in the domestic market in the first half of this year showed a large decrease year-on-year, but the production and sales of high-end automobile products still maintained rapid growth, becoming a bright spot in the automobile market under the epidemic. In fact, since the first negative growth in China’s automobile market in 2018, the year-on-year growth rate of luxury car sales has been in double digits for most of the time. China is currently the world’s largest luxury car market. In 2019, China’s luxury car sales accounted for 31% of the world’s total, but it is still far from saturation. More importantly, high-end is of great significance to China’s automobile industry, which is not only the result of market demand, but also an inevitable requirement and way for the development of the independent automobile industry. China has been the world’s largest automobile producer and consumer market for many consecutive years, but there are not many high-end brands with market influence and competitiveness, and product and brand upgrading has become a task that the automobile industry must complete in the future. Industry insiders believe that although China’s luxury car market is still dominated by foreign brands, the biggest variable is that if Hongqi can reach the established target size of 400,000 vehicles next year, it will have the opportunity to restructure the pattern of the first camp of luxury cars.
See the real story under pressure. In fact, compared with other Chinese auto brands, Hongqi also shoulders the mission of leading the rise of the national auto industry and the heavy burden of revitalizing the old industrial base in Northeast China. As a symbol of domestic high-end cars, Hongqi has been a vehicle for major state events since the brand was founded. It is the leader of China’s auto industry and the benchmark of China’s manufacturing industry. Today, "the international automobile manufacturing industry is very competitive, and the trend of informatization and intelligence continues to develop. It is dangerous for us. We must master the key core technologies in our own hands. We must set this ambition and promote the national auto brand."
The greater the responsibility, the greater the pressure. Under the quadruple pressure, this brilliant answer from Hongqi shows Hongqi’s ability to recognize crises, industrial innovation, and transform crises into opportunities. It also represents the strong ability of China’s automotive industry to seek opportunities in crisis.
From quantity to quality, towards system capacity enhancement
The answer is the "first driving force" of innovation. In the accelerating innovation, Hongqi’s scientific and technological strength is moving from quantitative accumulation to qualitative leap, from point breakthrough to system capacity enhancement.
On February 10, China FAW, including Tianjin, Qingdao, Dalian, Foshan, Chengdu, Wuxi, Yunnan, ******* and Changchun, resumed work and production one after another. At that time, it was the most serious period ** the domestic COVID-19 epidemic, superimposed on the ****** Festival holiday factors, and the domestic manufacturing industry was almost stagnant. China FAW was able to take the lead in resuming work and production, relying on the long-term accumulation ** digital transformation. This time, through the online digital **fice tool FAW Easy platform, it realized the no-sense switch between online and **fline resumption ** work and production. While ensuring the physical and mental health ** employees, the impact ** the epidemic on production and operation was minimized.
On the eve of the launch of the new Hongqi H9, China FAW "declassified" the new Hongqi factory that gave birth to the H9, from which we can get a glimpse of Hongqi’s technological strength. This "super factory" located in Changchun not only has four complete processes of stamping, welding, painting and final assembly, but also widely adopts advanced manufacturing technology and equipment in the automotive industry and new processes and materials for environmental protection and energy saving. Whether it is manufacturing process, production quality or automation, intelligence, digitalization and flexibility, it represents the advanced level of domestic automobile manufacturing.
In the stamping workshop, the international first double flying wing type mold change can increase the mold change efficiency by more than 40%, while the international first fully automatic crane can realize a full set of automation of the mold change process, and no one can intervene in the whole process, so that the mold change efficiency can be increased by another 20%. Stamping product identification and QR code engraving are the first in China. Through the digital management and intelligent analysis of the whole production process, accurate traceability of stamping single pieces can be achieved.
The automation rate of solder joints in the welding workshop is 100%, and the automation rate of gluing is 97%. The laser welding technology used is 10% higher than that of ordinary spot welding, and the torsional stiffness of the body frame is greatly improved through solder joint encryption. The laser three-spot brazing technology makes the brazing seam generated by the laser achieve the combination between molecules, which can withstand the "microscope test". It is currently the most advanced intelligent and digital welding workshop in China.
The painting workshop uses today’s most advanced multi-color painting technology, which is at the international leading level. The most amazing thing is the final assembly workshop. In the huge factory, nearly 200 AGV navigation vehicles of various models walk along the 33 gray magnetic strips on the ground according to the programmed track, automatically identifying the material distribution location, becoming the first "fully unmanned distribution" workshop in China. In addition, there is also the largest industrial robot nicknamed "Big Yellow Duck" in China, with an arm span of 4.2 meters and a maximum load of 1.7 tons. It transports the body transported from the painting workshop to the T0 station of the interior line quickly, accurately and stably, and the intelligent station of this workshop accounts for more than 80% of the total number of stations.
According to the introduction, Hongqi Digital Factory has realized three closed loops: digital process closed loop, digital quality closed loop, and digital logistics closed loop, opening up the data flow between systems, forming an efficient digital network, and realizing efficient, controllable, and transparent production processes. Industry insiders believe that Hongqi New Factory, with lean production, intelligent production, and green production as its core, stands at the forefront of the automotive manufacturing field and has rapidly transitioned from imitators and chasers to innovators and leaders in China’s automotive intelligent manufacturing.
Inspire vitality and unleash tremendous innovation potential
Independent innovation is the lifeblood of an enterprise and the foundation for an enterprise to climb over the hurdle and grow stronger.
If Hongqi’s new factory represents China FAW’s hard power and high quality in automobile manufacturing, then Hongqi’s construction of a "world premiere, new first" technological innovation cluster and cutting-edge professional capabilities, and the creation of a global R & D pattern of "three countries, six places" and "two departments and six hospitals" are the strong guarantee and solid foundation for Hongqi to lead the high-quality innovation of China’s automobile industry.
In the forward-looking design center of Hongqi, the world’s top automotive talents are gathered, and the outstanding innovation team of globalization is cultivated, focusing on core key technologies such as art design, new energy, intelligent networking, and mobile travel, and focusing on forward-looking design, emerging energy, artificial intelligence, 5G applications, new materials, new processes, and intelligent manufacturing. Continuous innovation and breakthroughs lead the development of the industry.
In Hongqi’s intelligent networked autonomous driving demonstration area, 5G networks and high-precision maps are fully covered, showing the future picture of smart transportation. Hongqi E-HS9 driverless vehicles with L3 level autonomous driving technology have been demonstrated in the area. In Hongqi’s vision, by 2025, vehicles will achieve self-awareness and understanding, and adversity recovery autonomous driving applications; by 2030, vehicles will achieve human-like perception and group intelligence, and danger avoidance autonomous driving applications.
In the digital transformation, Hongqi has achieved breakthroughs in the field of digital marketing through live new car listing activities, product dynamic experience, online and offline multi-level linkage and delivery, etc., and has built a unified customer ecological cloud platform covering the user end, dealer end, marketing end, management end and travel end. At the same time, Hongqi has also established 29 collaborative innovation laboratories with world-renowned enterprises, universities, scientific research institutions, etc., to carry out innovation and cooperation in key areas of intelligent networking such as L4-level autonomous driving, user big data, in-vehicle computing platform, and vehicle to everything, to create a high-quality industrial ecosystem.
Once upon a time, Hongqi carried the dream of China’s automobile industry, and its brand development history is the epitome of the large-scale rise of the entire Chinese automobile industry. Now, the century-old automobile industry is facing a new life, and the global automobile industry pattern is accelerating to reshape. Becoming a world-class automobile company and leading the global automobile industry into the "China era" has become the new goal of Hongqi brand.
China’s automobile industry has ushered in a period of strategic opportunities for industrial transformation and upgrading. As the world’s largest automotive incremental market, the huge demand brought by China’s vast market hinterland has provided market impetus for the innovative development of China’s automobile industry. At the same time, China’s exploration of the fourth industrial revolution has also created a good environment for innovation and development for China’s automobile industry. 5G has taken the lead in commercial use in China, and new infrastructure has become a national development strategy. In the development and application of Internet of Things technology, China is also recognized as leading the world, and these are the important infrastructure for the development of "new four modernizations" of automobiles.
In this context, Chinese auto brands are showing new vitality. As the banner of Chinese auto brands, Hongqi will set a benchmark for China’s auto industry after creating the miracle of Chinese brand cars "from scratch", driving China’s auto industry from openness to high-quality independent innovation. And this will also inject a strong new impetus into our country’s realization of an industrial power.
More importantly, the red flag is backed by the huge strength of China’s old industrial base: so far, Changchun has formed an automobile industry system supported by FAW Group as the main body and hundreds of parts and components enterprises supporting FAW Group enterprises. It has accumulated a large number of related resources such as technology, raw materials, and accessories, which not only has strong industrial absorption capacity, but also spills out powerful forces, radiating to the entire Chinese automobile industry chain and even the larger industrial ecology. This power is also the foundation of China’s confidence, China’s kinetic energy, and China’s vitality.
[Editor in charge: Zhao Yihan]
