Huawei's Hongmeng OS has been released. How long will it take for independent car companies' Hongmeng to be on the market?

On August 9, Huawei released its first domestically produced operating system, HarmonyOS. The emergence of HarmonyOS is like a bomb in the operating system field dominated by Google Android and Microsoft Windows. From now on, my country can completely get rid of the embarrassing situation of being constrained by the West in this field.

However, in contrast, in the field of automobile manufacturing, domestic automobile brands still have many technical bottlenecks that are restricted by world-class international automobile companies and urgently need to be broken through.

For example, compared with those first-class international automobile brands that are often "century-old", we still have a gap in the three major areas of "engine, gearbox, and chassis".

But fortunately, with the rise of the Chinese auto market in recent years, my country's auto companies have gained a chance to breathe and develop, and have also made some breakthroughs in related fields.

01 Chery, a "technical geek", exports over 1.2 million engines

Some people say that among domestic brands, Chery's engine technology is the best. Whether this conclusion is true or not is not up for debate. But one thing is certain: Chery's engine technology is definitely one of the best in China.

Perhaps it is because Chery is too focused on technology and ignores publicity and marketing strategies that its sales performance is not so impressive. But this does not affect its title of "tech geek".

The 1.6TGDI engine in the Chery Xingtu TX, a high-end brand launched in April this year, is a self-developed engine of Chery. This engine belongs to Chery's third-generation ACTECO engine. The third-generation engine was released in 2017, and the data shows that it is comparable to joint venture brands. Take the SQRF4J16 engine in the 1.6TGDI basic version (there is also a high-dynamic version) as an example. It is upgraded from the SQRE4T15B released in 2017, with a maximum power of 140kW (190Ps) and a maximum torque of 275N·m.

It is said that the thermal efficiency of the 1.6TGDI engine in Xingtu can reach 37.1%. What does this mean? The EA211 (installed in Audi A3) that Volkswagen is proud of is 37%, and the 1.5T engine in Civic is 36.3%.

Chery's promise of a "10-year, 1,000,000-kilometer warranty" for its engines also indirectly shows that Chery is indeed confident enough in its own engine technology.

Chery engines have not only won numerous praises at home, but also been recognized abroad. So far, Chery engines have been exported to more than 80 countries around the world, including industrial powers such as the United States, Germany, Russia, and Israel, with a cumulative export volume of more than 1.2 million units. As early as the beginning of 2013, Chery exported 1,500 engines code-named SQR372 to the United States. These engines quickly gained market recognition due to their high stability. After that, the Chery engine brand took root in the United States and has been sold ever since.

Of course, among domestic brands, Chery is far from the only one to tackle key technologies. For example, there is the Blue Whale engine that will be installed in the Changan CS75PLUS that will be launched soon, the GW4B15 installed in the Great Wall Haval H6, and the Blue Core SGE20T engine of SAIC Roewe.

02 Strengthening autonomy is the way to survive

In addition to Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, Honda, Volkswagen and other international brands that develop their own gearboxes, there are also independent gearbox design and production companies such as ZF, Aisin, and JATCO. It can be seen how difficult it is to manufacture gearboxes.

In terms of independent research and development of gearboxes, we still have a long way to go to catch up with first-class automakers or suppliers. However, after Geely acquired the Australian DSI gearbox company in 2009, it broke the blank in this field in my country. DSI is known as the "world's second largest automatic gearbox company". Its 6AT front and rear drive automatic gearbox technology is very mature, and it has deep technical reserves in 8AT and DCT dual-clutch gearboxes. It has mainly supplied Ford, Ssangyong and other automakers.

Five years later, due to various reasons, 90% of its shares were transferred by Geely to Shuanglin Group and Jinshajiang Venture Capital respectively. According to the 2018 annual report released by Shuanglin Group in April last year, the total revenue in 2018 was about 5.56 billion yuan, although it decreased by 16.92% year-on-year, but this was due to the decline in sales in the entire auto market. Despite this, Shuanglin's R&D expenses increased by 20.33% year-on-year. It also indirectly shows Shuanglin Group's confidence in its own gearboxes and the entire auto market.

In addition, some international gearbox companies have also entered China, such as Belgium Punch, Dongan Mitsubishi, Volkswagen (Shanghai) Automatic Transmission Co., Ltd., Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (wholly owned); there are also some domestic independent gearbox companies, such as Chery, Huatai, Great Wall, and independent suppliers Hunan Rongda and Shengrui Transmission, all of which have a certain market share in China. Moreover, now Changan, Great Wall, FAW, SAIC, JAC and other independent brand car companies have plans in the field of gearboxes, and some car companies have taken a crucial step.

But in April 2018, the news of Aisin's joint ventures with FAW, GAC, and Geely caused a stir in the industry. Some people were worried that this move would make China too dependent on foreign technology, thereby reducing the enthusiasm for independent research and development and inhibiting the healthy growth of the domestic gearbox industry chain; at the same time, some people believed that joint ventures were mutually beneficial and that domestic brands would not be terminated because of this, but would further stimulate their creativity and force them to work harder to catch up.

In any case, whether it is a joint venture or borrowing, the most important thing is to achieve self-breakthrough in gearbox research and development and strengthen independent strength.

03 "Chassis Expert" Marginalized by the Market

Cars are for riding, not for viewing. Therefore, merely pleasing interior decoration is not enough to impress increasingly picky consumers. To find a good car, you need to sit in it and judge it by the touch of the car body and seats while driving. In this process, the chassis, one of the "three major parts" of the car, plays a key role.

At present, independent research and development of chassis is still a rare thing in my country, and most of them are joint ventures or "borrowing" mature technologies from other car companies. Why is this the case? Because a solid chassis requires too much accumulation, which is not only a technical breakthrough, but also a precipitation of time.

So, what kind of chassis can be called a solid chassis? First, the frame has good rigidity; second, the suspension can provide sufficient support and toughness when turning or on bumpy roads. And in terms of these disassembly, it needs to have excellent performance in transmission, braking, driving, and steering. Combining the above conditions, the current domestically excellent chassis manufacturing company is JAC, known as the "chassis expert".

Although JAC is an often forgotten marginalized brand, it does not affect its position in the chassis field at all.

JAC started out as a chassis manufacturer, so naturally it has accumulated relatively deep technical experience in this area. Take the Ruifeng S4, which was just launched in July, for example. This is also the first model launched by JAC after its joint venture with Volkswagen. Its chassis is completely free of the messiness of other models (many models use protective plates to "cover up" the chassis to avoid this), and in terms of suspension, the front suspension uses a full-frame subframe, which is very rare in the same class. The advantage of the full-frame subframe is that it can not only strengthen the support of the front of the car and improve the torsional rigidity, but also disperse energy during a collision and improve safety performance. At the same time, the subframe can also reduce weight through hollowing out, reduce the load on the front of the car, thereby improving flexibility and increasing handling.

In addition, Chery, Great Wall, SAIC and other companies have also made considerable progress in chassis research and development. I believe that in the near future, domestic brands will break through the bottleneck of the "three major components" and embark on a broader and longer road.

Editor's note: Hongmeng is said to be the world's first full-scenario, distributed architecture system, which is likely to dethrone Google Android and Microsoft Windows. So, for domestically produced car brands, when will they be able to dethrone ZF, Aisin, Toyota, Volkswagen, etc.?