Carmakers offer latest tech to stay ahead in biggest market

Auto sector in China an extravaganza of innovation as various brands vie to win sales in fierce contest

Chinese carmakers are rolling out new technology as part of their effort to stay ahead in the intensely competitive new energy vehicle market.

Voyah, the premium arm of State-owned Dongfeng Motor, unveiled two smart electric vehicle architectures last week, vowing to grow into a technology-driven carmaker. Its third model, which will make its debut in December, will be the first to be built based on the latest architectures, the carmaker said.

One of them is called the Electric Smart Secure Architecture or ESSA, which is a hardware platform. The scalable architecture is compatible with sedans, MPVs, SUVs as well as crossovers whose wheelbase runs from 2,800 to 3,200 millimeters.

The other architecture is called the Service-Oriented Architecture or SOA, which is focused on smart features. Voyah said the SOA integrates vehicle control, smart driving as well as smart onboard functions.

Wang Junjun, chief technology officer of Voyah, said the two architectures mark the start of its transition from a carmaker into a technology company.

Separately, GAC Aion, based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, unveiled its latest electrical and electronic architecture on Nov 3.

The new E/E architecture, called Xingling, features one of the world's most powerful sensing systems to improve the safety of smart vehicles, said the carmaker.

The system is composed of 39 sensors, including three second-generation lidar units with variable focal lengths.

It also involves the infrared remote sensing technology, which can detect objects that cameras and radar may fail to spot. The Xingling architecture came days after its latest vehicle platform, called the AEP 3.0, was introduced.

GAC Aion said it introduced hyper car technology into the platform so its vehicles can take on Tesla in terms of acceleration.

The carmaker said vehicles built on AEP 3.0 can have a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour, and the acceleration from 0-100 km/h takes merely 1.9 seconds for multiple-electric motor vehicles and 4.9 seconds for single-electric motor versions.

Tesla's fastest model, the Model S Plaid, accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 2.1 seconds. It takes 5.3 seconds for the more popular Model 3 sedan to finish the sprint.

The AEP 3.0 platform also enables models to excel in terms of turning radius and braking distance, said the carmaker.

GAC Aion is one of the first Chinese carmakers to launch an EV platform. It sold 30,063 EVs in October, up 149 percent year-on-year.

Its total sales in the first 10 months reached 212,384 units, up 134 percent year-on-year. The carmaker's sales target for the year is 200,000 units.

International carmakers are speeding up the introduction of new electric models and deepening their localization campaigns in China.

By the end of 2022, Audi will offer six pure electric models in China, taking its electrification campaign to a new level in the world's largest market for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

Last week, the German premium carmaker started to move its growing research and development team into a new building in Beijing.

"The new Audi China Building underpins the Four Rings' strategy to further increase its local R&D capacities in China," said Audi. "The state-of-the-art R&D facility will also serve as a key innovation hub for the next generation of Audi technologies."

Early this month, BMW announced it is investing around 10 billion yuan ($1.41 billion) to expand the battery production facility at its manufacturing base in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province.

BMW Brilliance Automotive's battery production facility started operations in 2017. The facility, which was the first of its kind built by international premium carmakers, expanded in 2020.

The 10-billion-yuan investment is another milestone of its localization in China, its largest market in the world.

Oliver Zipse, chairman of BMW Group, said China is one of its most strategically important markets. He made the remarks when he visited China this month as a member of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's business delegation.

Zipse said China has grown into a main driver in many of BMW's strategic areas, including digitalization, electrification and sustainability.

Sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids stood at 714,000 units in October, up 81.7 percent year-on-year, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. They accounted for 28.5 percent of total vehicle deliveries in October.

NEV sales from January to October reached 5.28 million units, up 110 percent year-on-year. The CAAM said their total sales are expected to reach 6.5 million units this year.