The Gap between Chinese and Foreign Automakers Insights from Great Wall Motors' Chairman

TapTechNews August 7th news, Sina Technology released the conversation between the chairman of Great Wall Motors, Wei Jianjun, and the CEO of Sina Finance, Deng Qingxu, this morning. Wei Jianjun said that the future development of the Chinese automotive industry is not to do everything, but must be global resource complementarity.

Wei Jianjun said that when BMW cooperates with Great Wall, the other party needs the low cost and speed in engineering of Great Wall, and Great Wall will also provide parts to the other party; while what Great Wall Motors needs is to 'learn from it (BMW). 'We are now also a little bit complacent, everything is fine, but actually I think the gap is very big. Even up to now, we still have to learn from the established automotive manufacturers.'

Wei Jianjun further gave an example, 'In terms of quality management, I think that Great Wall has a 'label' in the word-of-mouth of Chinese consumers - Great Wall's cars are durable and sturdy, but compared with those abroad, there is still a gap, and there is also a gap in technology. It's not that they can't do intelligent driving or (intelligent) cockpits, but that the users there (overseas) don't have such a strong demand, and the competitive pressure is not that great.'

Wei Jianjun admitted that it's not that they 'can't do it', but that China (in terms of intelligentization) has a demand, and people have a very strong acceptance of digitization. 'The stronger the acceptance, the earlier we have to develop it, we have to take the lead. In fact, when we look at the chips used in our cars now, the domestic ones should be said to account for a very small proportion, and now chips are still mainly from Europe, America and Japan, including in traditional technologies, such as the core parts of engines, which are also from Europe.'

He said that in terms of quality management and supplier management, the gap between (domestic auto companies and overseas established auto companies) is relatively large. 'The stability of their products is better than ours, so we really have a gap.'

According to TapTechNews' previous report, Wei Jianjun and Deng Qingxu also talked about Xiaomi Cars in this conversation. Wei Jianjun said, 'As for the car, it should be judged in three years, and if judged in three years, it should be above 95 points.'

Related Reading:

'Great Wall Wei Jianjun: Build Xiaomi SU7 in three years, give Lei Jun more than 95 points, and is willing to promote and learn from each other with Xiaomi.'