经济学人：中国车市变天，比亚迪遇到新对手

作者：经济学人      来源：一天一篇外刊

For years visitors to the Shenzhen headquarters of BYD, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles (EVs), have been treated to an explosive safety demonstration. As they peer into a chamber made with thick protective glass a drill bores into a conventional EV battery, which erupts into flames. Then one of BYD’s signature “blade” batteries is similarly pierced—without the subsequent blast.

参观比亚迪深圳总部的访客，定会欣赏到一场震撼的电池安全演示。作为全球规模领先的电动汽车生产商，比亚迪会在厚重的防护玻璃舱内开展电池对比试验，当钻头刺穿传统动力电池，电芯瞬间起火爆燃；但比亚迪刀片电池，不管怎么刺，都不会出现起火炸裂的情况。

BYD was built around batteries. And its founder, Wang Chuanfu, created his car empire using the same rigid vertical integration that made them successful. That entails everything from running its own lithium-processing plants to training its own artificial-intelligence models. On May 28th Mr Wang unveiled a semiconductor, designed in-house, that he claimed was the world’s most powerful for self-driving.

比亚迪的根基，就是电池。创始人王传福打造这座汽车帝国时，也沿用了让比亚迪电池业务取得成功的那套严格垂直整合模式。也就是说，从自建锂加工厂，到训练自己的人工智能模型，许多关键环节都由比亚迪自己掌控。5月28日，王传福发布了一款由比亚迪自主设计的半导体，并称其是全球性能最强的自动驾驶芯片。

With far fewer middlemen to deal with, BYD has managed to control costs even as they have surged for others, turning out ultra-cheap, high-quality models such as the Seagull, a compact EV that sells in China for around $10,000. Vertical integration is also credited with speeding up innovation, as engineers from different divisions collaborate on common problems. When supply bottlenecks have held back rivals, BYD has been able to step on the accelerator. It churns out new models faster than most, with several brands at different price points, some with captivating, quirky add-ons. Models from its luxury Yangwang brand can float in water or jump over potholes. One from Denza, another upmarket marque, can “crabwalk” sideways into parking spots. (It uses the brand “BYD” for its mass-market range.)

依托精简中间流通环节，比亚迪得以稳住生产成本；反观同行车企，原材料与制造成本普遍大幅飙升。得益于此，比亚迪能够打造出海鸥这类性价比出众的小型电动车，这款车型国内售价约一万美元。 垂直整合模式同样助力企业提速研发创新：各事业部工程师可针对共性技术难题协同攻关。每逢供应链瓶颈拖累竞品产能时，比亚迪却能逆势提速扩产。 新车迭代速度远超行业多数对手，旗下布局多档位定价的子品牌，不少车型还搭载趣味十足、辨识度拉满的特色选配。高端品牌仰望的车型支持涉水浮行、越坑过坎；另一豪华品牌腾势的部分车型，还能依靠蟹行模式横向平移泊车。（常规大众量产车型，则统一使用 BYD 主品牌标识。）

One problem is that the battery-maker is starting to look out of place as China’s car industry focuses far more on software and entertainment. Young would-be customers often inspect the large entertainment display panels on the dashboard before anything else. Several rising challengers, such as Xpeng and Li Auto, were founded by internet bosses rather than industrial tycoons.

但现在的问题是，随着中国汽车行业越来越重视软件和娱乐体验，这家以电池起家的企业开始显得有些“不合拍”。 如今，很多年轻的潜在购车用户看车时，往往会先盯着仪表盘上的大尺寸娱乐显示屏，而不是先看其他配置。与此同时，一批新兴挑战者正在崛起，比如小鹏和理想。这些车企的创始人不少出身互联网行业，而不是传统工业巨擘。

Other carmakers have been forging partnerships with tech firms. Volkswagen has bought system know-how from Xpeng. A division of Huawei, a Chinese tech giant, is selling software and entertainment systems to no fewer than five carmakers. It has helped JAC, a stodgy state-owned firm, launch a luxury EV brand called Maextro that sells for more than $100,000. Geely has been inking deals left and right, for instance with StepFun, an AI startup, for autonomous driving and with iFlytek, another AI business, for voice recognition. In September it launched a computing platform for AI models with Thundersoft, a Chinese software developer.

其他车企纷纷牵手科技企业落地战略合作。大众就向小鹏采购整车智能系统相关技术。国内科技龙头华为，已至少五家车企供应车载软件与座舱娱乐系统；更是助力风格偏传统的国企江淮汽车，打造高端电动车品牌尊界，车型售价突破十万美元。 吉利同样在密集落地各类合作：先后牵手AI初创企业阶跃星辰研发自动驾驶、联合科大讯飞布局车载语音识别。同年 9 月，吉利携手国产软件厂商中科创达，正式发布面向大模型的车载计算平台。

By contrast, BYD is keeping things in-house. Max Zhang, a member of the team developing its autonomous driving system, points out that other carmakers are at the whim of their third-party suppliers for upgrades. Keeping that control is still the most important thing for BYD, he says.

与之形成对比的是，比亚迪仍坚持全产业链自研自研、内部落地。 负责自动驾驶项目研发的张工表示，其他车企的系统迭代升级完全受制于第三方配套厂商，比亚迪的首要准则是牢牢攥住核心技术自主权。

作者：经济学人      来源：一天一篇外刊