Distributed body control modules will lead the development trend

According to recent research by Allway Consulting, in recent years, body network control technology has begun to be widely used in my country's automotive industry. The automotive body control module (BCM) related to body network technology is in its infancy and has a promising future market. At present, the body control module products used by domestic vehicle manufacturers are mainly imported or produced by foreign-funded enterprises. Although some local manufacturers have already started research and development and production, they are struggling to develop and face two development bottlenecks: technology and market.

my country's BCM industry becomes a new potential market

The domestic BCM market is highly competitive. Foreign-funded enterprises have occupied the BCM supporting market for passenger cars and have become the mainstream enterprises in my country, while local enterprises are developing towards the BCM market for buses and commercial vehicles. According to a survey by Allway Consulting, there are more than 20 BCM manufacturers in China, of which foreign-funded enterprises account for 2/3. Foreign-funded enterprises mainly include Suzhou Adecco, Shanghai Continental Taimic, Tianjin Continental Automotive Systems, Tianjin Denso, Wuhu Etech, Beijing Hyundai Mobis, Suzhou Bosch, Guangzhou Magneti Marelli, Guangzhou Omron, etc. Local enterprises mainly include Jiangsu Yahua, Shanghai Tongde, Zhangjiagang Suxing, Zhejiang Zhongke Zhengfang, Lianchuang Automotive Electronics, Hefei Tongyu, Beijing Jiuzhou Hirain, etc. Due to the high technical and market barriers of the BCM industry, Allway Consulting expects that no more companies will enter this field in the future.

Most domestic models have certain body electronic control functions, such as electric doors and windows, electric wipers, electric seats, electric rearview mirrors, etc. There are three types of body control technology: decentralized, centralized and distributed (bus-based). At present, the models that use decentralized BCM in China are mainly economy cars, such as Santana 3000, Cowin, Free Cruiser, Elantra, Elysee, Jetta, etc. Distributed BCM is mostly used in mid-to-high-end cars, such as Passat, Touran, Accord, Triumph, Audi, Sagitar, Mondeo, Crown, Regal, Pairon, etc. A current development trend is that distributed BCM is also gradually becoming popular in economy cars. For example, Chery's A5 model uses CAN (Controller Area Network) bus technology, and the new models A6 and A3 are also equipped with CAN bus technology. At present, there are few models that use centralized BCM in China, and the representative models are Yuxiang, Teana, Yida, Tiida, Zunchi, Junjie, etc. The widespread popularization and application of distributed body control technology has opened up new potential markets for the development of the BCM industry.

Domestic buses and trucks have a low level of intelligence, and the number of electronic control modules used is also small. Relatively speaking, the body control function of a single car has a high level of intelligence, and the number of BCMs used is also large. In addition to the increase in the popularity of applications, the main driving force for the expansion of the domestic BCM market capacity lies in the rapid growth of my country's automobile production. Since 2001, the annual growth rate of my country's automobile production has remained above 10%. In 2007, my country's automobile production reached 8.8824 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 22.02%, of which passenger car production was 6.8311 million vehicles, accounting for 76.9% of the total production. According to the research and analysis of Allway Consulting, my country's passenger car production will reach 16.31 million vehicles in 2010, which will greatly drive the growth of the market demand for passenger car BCM in my country, allowing the BCM industry to catch up with a great development opportunity.

Distributed BCM will become the mainstream of development

According to Allway Consulting's statistics on the application of body control technology in 49 domestic car brands in production, decentralized body control technology is still the leader in market size, showing a trend of large-scale popularization, while centralized body control technology maintains stable development.

Statistics show that among the new cars in my country equipped with BCM, the proportion of cars using decentralized body control technology reaches 50%, followed by those using distributed body control technology accounting for 38%, while centralized body control technology accounts for only 12%.

From the perspective of market size, decentralized technology is still the mainstream type of current body control technology. However, driven by vehicle manufacturers, distributed body control technology will accelerate its popularization and development, which means that distributed technology is likely to surpass decentralized technology and become the mainstream of future body control technology.

Local enterprises encounter technical and market bottlenecks

At present, my country's body network and body control module industries are still in their infancy. For manufacturing companies, technological breakthroughs and supporting market development are top priorities, which are precisely the two major development bottlenecks faced by my country's local companies.

Due to the low level of trust in domestic technology by vehicle manufacturers, local enterprises are less motivated to develop body network control bus systems and body control module products. Some vehicle manufacturers have developed their own body network control technology, which does not require domestic parts manufacturers to repeat the development. Vehicle manufacturers still have a low level of trust in body network and body control module products developed by local enterprises.

From the perspective of local enterprises, the pace of developing the supporting market will be more difficult due to the failure of technical research and development. Representatives of local enterprises that have independently developed the body network CAN/LIN (Local Internet) bus technology include Shanghai Tongde, Zhejiang Zhongke Zhengfang, Jiangsu Yahua, etc. Their technology application areas are mainly buses and trucks, and they have achieved mass production; but in terms of cars, although local enterprises have body network technology, they have not yet achieved mass production and supply due to the difficulty of entering the supporting market.

In addition, the incomplete domestic body control technology industry chain is another important factor restricting the development of local enterprises. The immature development of the domestic upstream chip industry is a weak link. Due to the lack of large-scale domestic chip manufacturers, the cost of domestic BCM is also high. At present, the majority of chips used by domestic body control module manufacturers are imported products, and a few use domestically packaged chips.

Industry experts have made the following suggestions for local enterprises to develop BCM: First, enterprises should pay attention to scale design to meet the requirements of automobile manufacturers; second, they should act within their capabilities, set high standards, and achieve specialization; third, they should base themselves on domestic independent automobile manufacturers and gradually move into joint ventures.