Auto Industry Innovation Faces Three Problems

The independent research and development capabilities of China's auto enterprise groups are still relatively weak, and there is a lack of core technologies with independent intellectual property rights. The self-owned brand automobile enterprise groups are relatively good in terms of vehicle body development capabilities and vehicle integration capabilities. However, they are relatively poor in the development and application of new technologies, and are at a disadvantage in engine assembly development technologies and automotive electronic control technologies. In general, the level of R&D of self-owned brands is lagging behind that of developed countries for about 8-10 years, and it is basically in a state of catching up with technology. It lacks independent originality and “leads” key technologies for the development of the world’s automobiles, and forward-looking basic technology research and development is particularly weak.

At present, most of China's automobile enterprise groups still rely on commissioned development and joint development. Some vehicle companies have even formed a situation in which they rely on foreign partners to continuously input new models for domestic competition. Due to the lack of core technical support, the overall image of self-owned brand cars is lacking in strength and lack of confidence. This directly leads to the small scale of most self-owned brand enterprise groups, low technical content, lack of international competitiveness, and lack of a world-class automotive independent brand. .

The quantity and quality of patent applications can reflect the gap in technology control. In China, from 2007 to 2009, a total of 7,612 patents were granted to foreign vehicle companies, of which 4,659 patents were granted for inventions, accounting for 64.6%; and there were 8,569 patents granted by domestic vehicle companies, but 320 patents were granted for inventions. Only 3.7%. In Europe, there were about 11,500 patent applications filed in the automotive industry in 2008. EU countries, Japan, and the United States accounted for 54.1%, 22.4%, and 15.6%, respectively. China only accounts for 0.3%.

In recent years, the ratio of R&D investment to sales revenue of China's auto OEMs has always been between 1.4% and 2.1%, of which 1.62% has declined in 2010, and the average value of 4% to 5% of the major auto companies in the world still exists. A big gap.

I. Insufficient investment in R&D funding, inadequate input structure, and insufficient investment in R&D funding exist at both the national and corporate levels. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the national science and technology investment in the automotive industry during the "Tenth Five-year" and "Eleventh Five-year" period in China is less than 3 billion yuan, while the United States is in "a new generation of automobile partners plan" PNGV "," free car plan The investment in projects such as "FreedomCar" has reached 10 billion U.S. dollars. In addition, there is a big gap between the R&D investment of China's auto enterprise groups and the major global automobile enterprise groups. On the one hand, R&D investment has a low absolute value. In 2009, Dongfeng, SAIC, and BYD invested 19th, 21st, and 23rd global automotive companies in R&D, respectively. The total R&D investment was 421 million pounds that year, less than the Toyota Motor Corporation’s R&D expenditure at the top of the list. 60.14 billion pounds, 1/14. The same is true for parts and components companies. The investment in R&D of more than 10,000 parts and components companies in the country is less than the R&D investment of a company in the Bosch Group. In addition, China's auto industry R & D investment accounted for a lower proportion of sales revenue. In recent years, the ratio of R&D investment to sales revenue of China's auto OEMs has always been between 1.4% and 2.1%, of which 1.62% has declined in 2010, and the average value of 4% to 5% of the major auto companies in the world still exists. A big gap.

The irrationality of R&D input structure is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, the distribution of vehicles and parts companies is unreasonable. According to statistics, the average ratio of R&D investment to global sales of parts and components companies is 5.1%, which is generally higher than that of vehicle companies. At present, China's auto parts enterprises are less than 0.3%, which is more obvious than the gap in the vehicle industry. The second is the unreasonable distribution of all links in the introduction, digestion, and absorption. The heavy product introduction and light technology digestion and absorption are serious. In 2009, the investment ratio for the introduction of technology and digestion and absorption in China was 1:0.08; while the ratio of Japan and South Korea to the stage of automobile industrialization was between 1:5 and 1:8, resulting in the introduction of - Absorption - trial production - independent innovation.

The shortage of talent, especially the shortage of R&D talent, has become a major bottleneck restricting the development of the automobile industry in China. At present, only a few companies such as BYD Company and Jianghuai Automobile in China have been able to approach the international advanced level on this indicator.

Second, the reserve of talents is still insufficient, especially the shortage of professionals. Despite certain achievements in the construction of talents in recent years, the shortage of talents, especially the shortage of R&D talent, has become a major bottleneck restricting the development of China's auto industry. According to the statistics of the British Ministry of Commerce, Innovation and Skills, the ratio of R&D personnel to the number of employees in the world’s major automotive enterprise groups is generally above 10%. At present, only a few companies such as BYD Company and Jianghuai Automobile in China have been able to approach the international advanced level on this indicator.

With the rapid development of China's auto market, the shortage of auto professionals has become increasingly prominent. The senior and middle-level technicians of the major automobile enterprise groups in the world account for more than 40% of the total number of workers, while China only accounts for 4.3%. Taking the automobile maintenance business as an example, according to a sample survey of 831 car and motorcycle maintenance companies, the structural ratio of Chinese juniors and junior high school graduates or below, high school graduates, college graduates and below is approximately 4:5:1. The ratio of developed countries is generally 2:4:4. Among Chinese enterprises, senior technicians account for 1.5%, senior technicians 3.5%, intermediate technicians 35%, and junior technicians 60%; while in developed countries, senior technicians account for 35%, intermediate technicians 50%, and junior technicians account for 15%.

According to predictions, there are four types of talents in the automotive industry in China: the first is a high-level enterprise management composite talent with a background in automotive expertise and international trade, law, and marketing; the second is a senior R&D talent with hands-on capabilities; Automobile marketing, after-sales service, automotive culture talents and professionals who are familiar with the quality of parts and components in various countries; Fourth, professional designers and senior technical workers.

The short establishment time, especially the short time for normal development, is an important reason for the lack of independent development and practical experience of domestic auto enterprise groups.

III. Little experience in independent development and practical experience, and insufficient accumulation of data resources Compared with major global auto enterprise groups, the short establishment time, especially the normal development time, is an important reason for domestic auto enterprise groups to lack independent development and practical experience.

Compared with the modern Kia Group, which was founded in 1967 and has a rapid development momentum, the lack of independent development practices is largely due to the problems of the Chinese enterprise groups themselves. The lack of independent development practices has led to a lack of development experience and too little accumulation of data resources. The lack of database support for product development activities and the lack of integration of design, process, and manufacturing databases have led to a lot of empirical components in the design process, which has ultimately affected the progress and quality of product development. Although some small car and commercial vehicle enterprise groups have started to establish enterprise databases, they are closed and lack of communication, and they cannot establish a basic database shared by enterprises, which is not conducive to common development and improvement.