As the "heart" of automobile, engine is the most essential core technology of automobile manufacture, and also is the key of independent innovation. Technological breakthrough against engine has become the main direction of numerous automobile manufacturers' intention to achieve significant progress in independent innovation.
On June 26, Dongfeng Engine Plant was put into construction in Wuhan, which can provide "core" power for manufacturers to develop own-brand automobile; OED Engine Co., Ltd under Huatai Group has been engaged in improving productivity after Euro V engine and automatic transmission were released at the beginning of this year; SAIC Motor is interested in acquiring Yunnei Power to complement and perfect its own industrial chain of car diesel... There are indications that China's automobile has driven in the way of creating its own "core".
Currently, China has become an automobile market with the greatest development potential in the world. In recent years, Global MNCs of automobile components all have increased corresponding investment into Chinese market. Foreign automobile component companies have excellent performance in the Chinese market and especially keep on top in Hi-tech field relying on their technologies, management, existing customer relationship and other advantages. In this context, own-brand automobile manufacturers are catching up very quickly. In the field of engine, a lot of own-brand automobile manufacturers have had their own power, and some of them have formed engine product series and technical reserves covering various displacements. In the field of own-brand transmission, late as the start was, marked result has been yielded. For example, FAW Group has formed the full range products matched with different engine-compartments from that of passenger vehicles to that of commercial heavy-duty vehicles, and Huatai OED has also been able to manufacture high-end automatic transmission.
To become an auto power, China is of great urgency to make breakthroughs in core technologies. Automobile industry needs high technicalization, systematization and integration, especially the core components such as engine and transmission which must be supported by high-end, proven technologies. But it is just the Achilles heel previously for domestic components and whole-vehicle manufacturers. Simply relying on the whole-vehicle market instead of core components R&D due to backward technology, it cannot reverse the passive situation where we are controlled by others when we purchasing components. What strikes Xu Hengwu, president of OED Engine Co., Ltd of Huatai Motor Group is that we can truly gain initiative only when grasping the core technologies.
The breakthrough of Huatai OED has showed that clearly. It is learned that OED has taken the core technology as its top priority in its early days. By cooperating with Italian VM, German Bosch and Italian Honeywell, OED has succeeded in introducing and absorbing the world leading-edge technologies of common rail direct injection (CRDI), variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) etc. After its bold innovations combining with the roads and other natural conditions in China, they finally developed the first passenger clean diesel engine which meets Euro V emission standards and 4/6 speed automatic transmission for high-end automobiles in China. Breakthroughs in technology make Huatai OED leading as soon as it takes off. Huatai Motor following the principle of "developing core components first and thus to drive R&D of whole-vehicle", has pushed its first car to the medium- and high-end market after making breakthroughs in clean diesel engine and automatic transmission. A few days ago, its first above medium-class sedan Yuantian B11 has get off the assembly line.
It is understood that Huatai Motor plans to mass-produce and marketing clean diesel passenger vehicles with the clean diesel engine technology as its core, and expands its production capacity on the basis of current clean diesel engine and automatic transmission technologies since the end of 2009. Meanwhile, by digesting, absorbing, and innovating the introduced technology and speeding up R&D of new diesel engine and automatic transmission being more energy-saving and environmentally friendly, the company strives for keeping abreast with the international leading technologies on clean diesel engine and automatic transmission.
"Our target is to make OED a famous brand of China automobile power." Xu Hengwu gave away the strategy and ambition of OED. It is learned that currently Huatai OED Automobile Industrial Park located in Ordos has become the production base of passenger vehicle diesel power-compartment characterized by the largest scale, the most advanced production line and the highest technology in Asia. The automatic rate of the production line has reached as high as 97 percent, and one set of engine and transmission will be released per 46 seconds. Its yearly output has already broken 300 thousand sets of engines, 400 thousand sets of transmissions and it will reach 1 million sets of engines and transmissions in the future. Looking for a break in the R&D of automobile engine is precisely what Huatai OED wants.
Huatai has been following the enterprise strategy of persisting in low carbon development. Besides increasing power in such core technologies as clean diesel engine and automatic transmission, Huatai will also speed up R&D of clean diesel hybrid automobile and strive to lead the worldwide trend in the field of energy saving and environmentally friendly automobile.