Beam produces VV5 and VV7, and the cooperation between Great Wall BMW has been "stale".

Guide: What about the new brand pure electric compact SUV and electric MINI? Originally, the production base, new factory, new equipment and new technology of Beam Automobile were used to open international versions of VV7 and VV5.

After several years of long-distance running, "Love into a Treasure" finally ushered in the official broadcast.

On June 20th, Great Wall Motor and BMW BMW Group broke ground on the joint venture project of Liang Guang Automobile Zhangjiagang Factory with a share ratio of 50: 50.

It is estimated that by 2022, a vehicle production base covering four traditional processes of stamping, welding, painting and final assembly will be built here, as well as a supporting R&D and test track.

The initial vehicle production capacity is 6.5438+0.6 million.

It is worth noting that, according to the EIA report of related projects and other information, the initial construction capacity of 6,543,800+6,000 vehicles of the Beam Automobile Production Base project was not the new energy electric vehicle products planned before, but all of them were given to WEY, a high-end brand of Great Wall.

It is used to produce VV7 and VV5 that meet export standards.

Shocking at the same time, it also smells that the joint venture and cooperation between Great Wall BMW has "gone bad".

The original intention of "Love of City Treasure" is to * * * innovate the great cause of energy.

As we all know, since the pilot project of "10 city 1000 vehicles" in 2009, the great cause of new energy vehicles in China has been running forward for more than ten years.

Based on the consideration of energy security, environmental protection and automobile power, it has long been a national strategy to vigorously develop new energy vehicles.

In fact, after years of support and cultivation, China has become a flag representative leading the new wave of new energy electric vehicles in the world. This is not only reflected in the fact that the annual production and sales scale of new energy vehicles ranks first in the world.

More importantly, it lies in the participation and investment of domestic car companies and the maturity of the entire industrial chain.

In order to meet the "new four modernizations" industrial transformation with electrification as the core, both domestic independent brands and multinational automobile companies such as Europe, America, Japan and South Korea have raised the development of new energy electric vehicles to the top of the strategy in recent years.

Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, etc. , without exception.

In order to actively embrace changes and meet challenges (including the environmental pressure of China's double-point policy), multinational auto giants have generally increased their investment in electrification in the China market, and one of the most important ways is to find suitable local partners to innovate energy.

Not only saves time and labor, but also is relatively safe.

Jianghuai Volkswagen, Zotye Ford, Nissan Dongfeng, BYD Toyota, and the Great Wall BMW, which we focus on this time, were born under this background.

Thus, from 2065438 to July 2008, under the witness of the Chinese and German prime ministers, the "engaged" Great Wall BMW joint venture project Beam Automobile came together with the original intention of * * * innovative energy.

In fact, judging from all kinds of information released by both parties at that time, the first and second products originally planned by Beam were all electric vehicles.

One is the pure electric compact SUV under the brand-new brand of the joint venture company, and the other is the pure electric car of BMW MINI.

This can be seen from the speeches made by Wei Jianjun, Chairman of Great Wall Motor, and Zhao Guoqing, Chairman of Beam Motor, at the special media communication meeting held at Park Hyatt Hotel the day after the signing ceremony of German Beam Motor.

Great Wall BMW is strong, and strong cooperation is "running-in".

We have heard too much about the so-called strong alliance 1+ 1 > 2, but we don't know that the cooperation between the strong is usually very difficult and full of beautiful things.

It should be pointed out that according to what Wei Jianjun and Zhao Guoqing said at that time, Great Wall Motor began to have private contact with BMW Group as early as 20 16, and "freely fell in love" for more than two years. It was not until 20 18 that the two sides got engaged in the presence of the two prime ministers.

According to Wei Jianjun, it was just an engagement, and there was no real marriage certificate. It shows that few people know the hardships and difficulties.

It is particularly worth mentioning that since the signing ceremony was held in Germany in July, 20 18, the joint venture project of Beam Automobile has been progressing slowly for a long time in 20 19, and there is no substantive action.

Combined with the news of some foreign media at that time, it was once rumored in the industry that the joint venture between Great Wall and BMW might eventually "fall through", because in the actual negotiation process, the two sides still had great differences on some major issues.

Fortunately, in response to external rumors and doubts, the Great Wall and BMW both came out in time to "dispel rumors", insisting that the beam car project has not been "stranded" and is still progressing in an orderly manner.

In order to further dispel external doubts and enhance confidence, at the end of 20 19, Great Wall and BMW held a high-profile "foundation laying ceremony" in Zhangjiagang, and beam Automobile Company was formally registered to show that the Beam Automobile Project officially set sail.

Looking back, considering the influence of epidemic situation and other factors, the Liang Guang Automobile Zhangjiagang Project has not officially started yet, and it is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2022, which is also one year later than the planned year of 202 1.

The key production models have also been changed from the new pure electric SUV and BMW MINI pure electric vehicle expected by the outside world in the past to VV7 and VV5 under the Great Wall WEY brand.

In short, the wedding photos are married, but the matter of "having children" has to be changed.

Electric cars become fuel cars, civet cats become princes.

Liang Liang, how did the agreed electric vehicle project become a WEY brand production base?

In the view of Ledou Automobile, we can try to understand this wave of "Sao operation" of beam automobile from the following two angles!

Wei Jianjun, Chairman of Great Wall Motor

First, I only blame being carried away by love. At the beginning, I was immersed in the joy of "Love in the Castle" and did not fully consider the future planning and various changes in the big environment.

It must be pointed out that since Great Wall and BMW came out to jointly engage in electric vehicles, there has been great controversy in the industry around the purpose and actual effect of the combination of the two.

It is true that the development of new energy vehicles is the general trend and has become common sense in the industry.

However, due to objective factors such as the high price of electric vehicles, the lack of qualitative leap and breakthrough in lithium battery technology, and the imperfection of basic supporting facilities such as charging piles, the real large-scale consumption of new energy "private cars" has not been activated, except for Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other "restricted" cities.

In this context, let alone the BMW MINI, which is already a very niche model. Even Toyota, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other brands, as well as their own new energy electric vehicle products, have failed to achieve sustained breakthroughs and success at the current market level.

The fuel MINI can't sell much all the year round. What is the market prospect of introducing the electric MINI into the beam car?

As for the brand-new electric vehicle brand of Wei Jianjun's joint venture company, the leap of Mercedes-Benz and BYD and the promise of BMW and Brilliance all ended in a dismal way.

Therefore, some people will be optimistic about the great wall and the joint venture BMW to launch new brands of electric vehicles.

In addition, a sudden epidemic in 2020 really cast a shadow over the global automobile industry, and multinational automobile enterprise groups all tightened their belts and reduced large-scale investment.

Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz have terminated cooperation projects in areas such as autonomous driving. Will it have the mood and willingness to play the beam car project with Great Wall Motor wholeheartedly?

These are all very realistic factors.

It also explains to a great extent why it was a 50: 50 joint venture, which was intended to * * * innovate the great cause of energy electric vehicles, and now it has become a new manufacturing base of the Great Wall WEY brand.

Of course, in the short and medium term, Beam Vehicle will still mainly produce fuel vehicles such as VV7 and VV5, but this does not prevent it from preparing for R&D and electric vehicle manufacturing. The related electric vehicle products of the joint venture company will still be R&D and trial production here.

Second, from the very beginning, the electric vehicle joint venture project was used to promote the momentum, which is also in line with the national policy of vigorously advocating and developing new energy vehicles.

Only when the factory base is built first can the electric vehicle project be better promoted as scheduled. It is really impossible to introduce the ready-made fuel vehicle products of the Great Wall. This is not a matter of a few minutes.

In any case, it is good for local governments eager to introduce the Great Wall and BMW projects, no matter whether you end up producing electric cars or fuel cars.

Interesting observation:

Falling in love and getting married are two different things.

If the joint venture between Great Wall Motor and BMW BMW Group is compared to a "love for the purpose of marriage", then after several years of long-distance love, Great Wall and BMW officially got married and entered the marriage hall from then on.

When you are in love, before you get married, no matter how beautiful you think, when you actually live together, you will find that it is not so simple and idealistic.

The combination of two people is still the same. As you can imagine, Great Wall and BMW, two huge enterprises with different systems and cultures from different countries, have established a brand-new enterprise, such as Beam, through joint venture and cooperation.

As Mr. Gao Le, President and CEO of BMW Group Greater China and director of Beam Automotive, said at the groundbreaking ceremony a few days ago:

"Today, the construction of the beam car has taken an important step, thanks to the successful blocking of the domestic epidemic and the continuous attention and strong support of the Zhangjiagang Municipal Government for the beam car project."

Stumbling, the "exotic romance" between the Great Wall and BMW has finally taken another substantial step. Now that you are married, there will always be a "bridal chamber". It doesn't seem to make sense to talk about the baby's skin color in the future.

To say the least, the production base, new factory, new equipment and new technology of Beam are used to open doors for VV7 and VV5, and WEY brand will definitely make a profit anyway.

The problem is that in less than two years in 2022, the annual domestic sales of WEY brand is only 65,438+10,000. Are you really ready to rush out of Asia to Europe and America? It also planned the export capacity of 6.5438+0.6 million vehicles in one breath, which was a great challenge.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.