Automotive design company invades China or will promote independent design

Mr. Hu, who has a background of returnees and has already emigrated, ended his post at a multinational internal-combustion engine giant in Shanghai and began as a Chinese director at a leading Austrian automotive engineering company. He recruited one assistant last year and two others. Engineers led them to start gold rushing in China.

Today, the company's business in China, MagnaSteyr, is still insignificant compared to their large parent company, the Magna Group (Magna is a third-largest auto parts giant in the world).



Although this subsidiary's global business accounted for nearly one-third of its total business volume, it is obviously not as famous as the BMW X3 and Chrysler 300C that it designed and developed.

At its largest plant in Austria, Magna Steyr is currently assembling six different models based on orders from three different OEMs: Mercedes-Benz G-Class and E-Class 4MATIC, Jeep Cherokee, Chrysler Voyager, Saab9-3 Convertible and BMW X3. This assembly plant can produce approximately 200,000 cars each year.

Similar behemoths have already landed in major cities such as Shanghai. The list of foreign companies that competes with Magna Steyr in one of its businesses includes Lotus Automotive Engineering, Giugiaro, I.DE.A, Pininfarina, Bertone, Zagato , Giugia-ro, Stola's long list of names, local automotive design companies are also rising.

Their customer list in China includes the vast majority of joint venture car companies as well as Chery, Great Wall, Hafei and other self-owned brand cars, and some even signed long-term development cooperation contracts.

The consistent image of Chinese automotive products is conservative, aging, and lack of beauty. With the help of these independent design giants, can we catch a "new shuttle bus" for global automotive design?

Vigilant Chinese car factory

Mr. Magna Steyr's Mr. Hu has a bright and spacious office in Zhangjiang, Pudong. There is a coffee machine not far from here, but many times he can not enjoy the warmth. He needs to travel frequently.

He had met in places where there were almost complete automobile plants in China. Some of them became his friends, while others became customers of his company. He will deal with the leaders of state-owned enterprises for a while, and later he will be replaced with the boss of a private enterprise. In addition to adapting to the Mandarin dialects of various local dialects, he must carefully introduce himself.

“At the beginning, we were treated as a company similar to selling home appliances. We did not even give the opportunity to call each other even when we met. At that time we were not famous enough and we were depressed.” Magna China One An employee said to this newspaper.

In the past few years, some companies such as Chery, the Great Wall, Nanjing Fiat and Magna Steyr have once again made a deal. In recent years, the upsurge of amateur carmakers has become the biggest business opportunity for companies like Magna Steyr.

In fact, foreign independent automobile design companies have been fully developed in China.

In the 3DEC global user event held recently in Shanghai by Alias, a leading software supplier in the automotive design industry, the giants of famous automobile design companies are frequently seen.

Yan Tianyi, president of Alias ​​Systems Greater China, said: “Our software sales are doubling growth, and automotive design companies doing business in China are optimistic about this market. They are gold rushing and we are selling jeans.”

Luo Dongfei is a senior designer of Idea Industrial Design (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of I.DE.A in China. He and his colleagues often attend meetings in the automotive industry. In addition to the latest industry news, he also has One task is to get acquainted with some of the car company's design researchers. Of course, it's best to have a CEO who has "rights to shoot."

As one of the three global technology centers of I.DE.A, this Shanghai-based technology center opened in January this year and currently has three major major customers in China. The business in China has already accounted for its total global turnover. 40%.

He told the newspaper that I.DE.A also has two technology centers in Shanghai and Paris, and in Torino, Italy. The Shanghai Technology Center currently has 25 engineers and designers; it has been developed for Changan Automobile. Three mature models, including the listed CM8, will have two new models next year.

Pininfarina Automotive Design also has about 30% of its business in China. It has signed a design agreement with Changfeng Motor Co., Ltd. for its own-brand SUV, which was launched in 2007. In addition to establishing a liaison office in Beijing, the company has engineers in Harbin, Wuhu, and Changsha.

Qin Ming, secretary of the Shanghai Representative Office of Giuglion SA of Italy, told the newspaper that they had received contracts from Brilliance Jinbei, FAW Group, Yuejin Group and Shanghai GM. Brilliance Zhonghua and domestically-made Chevrolet models were all works they were proud of.

How to get its heart?

Mr. Hu of MagnaSteyr recently welcomed the arrival of his superiors, which can be considered as his only few departments are being valued by global business leaders, because almost everyone believes that China is the future of the largest automotive design market.

“Our strategy is to focus on our own brands and joint ventures at the same time. But what I want to emphasize is that, as Magna Steyr, we value automotive brands that own our own brand,” said Peter Harbig, vice chairman of Magna Steyr Global.

He described to reporters that MagnaSteyr not only helps customers to develop models, but also helps customers to train R&D personnel. The system of the independent brand manufacturers needs help.

He even considered exports of self-owned brands that could help China, integrating their experience in Europe and the tastes of European consumers into the development of their own brands.

"Based on their plans to export cars to Europe and North America, we firmly believe that we have the ability to help them."

PeterHarbig told reporters that MagnaSteyr’s strategy is to participate in some important auto shows to increase his popularity in the vehicle factory, so that customers can understand their professional strength, and generally do not only advertise in the newspaper.

Mr. Hu's customary workflow is: First, bring his professional team to visit customers, communicate with them, see what they need, and see what Magna Steyr can do for them. This data is then fed back to its Austrian center for critical engineering development.

In addition, they are also allowing local resources to participate in the global engineering system, so that China's engineering center with the European and North American operations, including more local manpower, test conditions and other participation. In the process, MagnaSteyr also has a contract task: to help train the customer's technical staff.

Compared with joint ventures that gain access through technology transfer, one of the biggest advantages of the overall outsourcing model for vehicle design and development is that autonomous brand cars will have ownership of the models – because intellectual property is bought out once.

A widely held view in the industry is that in China, the cost of developing a new car is much lower than in European and North American markets, only one-third or even lower, and can be “packaged” to include design, bodywork Design, chassis design and electrical design and other processes.

In general, the development of a sedan Europe and the United States need hundreds of millions of dollars, Japan is relatively low, but the information obtained by the newspaper from a design company shows that the development of a new car in China as long as about 2.5 million -4 million US dollars.

"Our goal is not to achieve the lowest cost and lowest labor cost, but to use the resources of China's competitive costs as much as possible, while merging the most advanced and most advantageous professional experience in Europe together to reach the highest level with customers. Benefits.” Peter Harbig still believes that not cheap is not the most important thing, but at least for the Chinese, it is.

The fact is that no matter how long the independent auto design companies in China are doing, they will become boosters on the road to the development of China's self-owned brands. At least they will break the deliberate development of the vehicle development by foreign giants. Unstoppable myths. Technology transfer? It sounds a bit out of date.