At a time when many technology and Internet companies are vying to enter the field of car manufacturing, Midea is also accelerating the planning of greater room for growth in the automotive field. Only this time, Midea changed the way of the game.
On May 11, according to the official news of Midea Welling Auto Parts, it will hold the "2021 Welling Auto Parts Three Product Lines Commencement and Product Release Conference" on May 18 this year. The imminent production and landing of this product means that Midea has once again entered the car track.
In April of this year, Midea made its debut at the Shanghai Auto Show, highlighting the Welling Auto Parts series of energy-efficient auto parts products, including electronic power steering motors in assisted/autonomous driving systems, electronic water pumps, electronic oil pumps in thermal management systems, Electric compressors and other products. Midea also stated that Midea's electromechanical business group, Welling Motors, has built a product matrix in the four major fields of home appliances, automobiles, industrial control, and 3C.
Judging from the layout of Midea, Welling is obviously an important gun. According to data, the Midea Group currently includes Guangdong Welling Automotive Parts Co., Ltd., which has been established in 2018, and its business scope includes the research and development, design, manufacturing, Sales, technical service and after-sales service.
The reason why Midea’s entry is called "again" is because Midea is already considered an "old man" in the field of cross-border car building.
Since 2003, Midea has successively acquired Yunnan Bus Factory, Yunnan Aerospace Shenzhou Automobile, and Hunan Sanxiang Bus Group to enter the commercial vehicle field. Since then, new manufacturing bases have been built in Kunming and Changsha, which once achieved the manufacturing capacity of 10,000 passenger cars and special chassis.
According to the plan at the time, Midea plans to become a leading domestic passenger car manufacturer within 3 to 5 years. However, the acquisition and expansion models did not make Midea splash in the automotive field. In 2008, under the influence of multiple factors, Midea's car-making project was terminated, and the Changsha bus base was also taken over by BYD.
However, based on the re-layout after a lapse of more than ten years, Midea is not desperate for the auto industry. After having tried the water and failed, Midea changed its previous aggressive expansion style after entering the field of new energy vehicles. Instead, it first aimed at new energy auto parts and focused its attention on the technology and manufacturing of electromechanical products.
In addition to increasing investment in Welling auto parts, in March last year, Midea Group also planned to acquire Hekang New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hekang" for nearly 743 million yuan) through its subsidiary, Midea HVAC Xinneng"). After the transaction was completed, Midea Group became an indirect controlling shareholder of Hekang Xinneng. In the main business of Hekang New Energy, in addition to the high-voltage inverter product business, it also has a layout for the new energy automobile industry chain, including high-end manufacturing of energy-saving equipment, construction and operation of energy-saving and environmental protection projects, and new energy automobile assembly support And the three major sectors of the operating industry.
After the acquisition of Hekang New Energy, Midea Group integrated it into the Mechatronics Division of Midea Group, and then upgraded to a new "business group", that is, the aforementioned electromechanical business group, which became its core business organization.
Moreover, in the field of new energy vehicles, Midea Group has now expanded its cooperative customers, such as BOSH, Huawei, Baoneng, etc. Among them, for Baoneng Automobile, Midea mainly provides KUKA welding robots, welding lines and auto parts.
All kinds of acquisitions and cooperation show that Midea has "made a comeback" in the automotive field and is expanding its business to the new energy automotive field through diversification and new models. And whether it will end up building cars again in the future, perhaps some clues can be revealed in the product line launch conference a few days later.
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