Toyota and Honda are eager to transform, and the advantages of closed supply chain become cumbersome

In the global automotive industry , Japanese car companies are famous for their close cooperation with suppliers . But today , In electrification 、 Networking 、 Intelligent 、 Shared “ New four modernizations ” In the wave of innovation , The traditional manufacturer relationship in Japan's auto industry has become shaky .

Among them Honda The most significant change in attitude . Honda has been independent in foreign cooperation for a long time , Until the last two years . In recent days, , Just took office at Honda CEO Soon, Mibu Minhong publicly shouted that , In order to promote the early profitability of electric products , Honda is willing to form an alliance with other car companies .

thus , The Japanese automobile industry has formed “ Toyota - Mazda - suzuki - subaru union ”、“ Renault - nissan - Mitsubishi Alliance ”, And the new alliance Honda is looking for .

The vertical and horizontal cooperation between Japanese car enterprises , Behind it is huge policy pressure .2020 year 12 month , Issued by the Ministry of economy, industry and trade of Japan 《 Green growth strategy 》, Mention the latest arrival 2035 year , Realization 100% Electrification of new passenger cars （EV+PHEV）.“ New four modernizations ” Not only forced Japanese car companies to form a horizontal alliance , It is also subverting the vertical alliance between Japanese auto enterprises and local parts enterprises . In the past two years , Toyota 、 Nissan has jumped out of the traditional local supplier system , Turn to the European, American and Chinese markets for Software 、 Power battery 、 Semiconductor supplier .

meanwhile , The traditional parts industry shrank , Some Japanese traditional parts enterprises have increased business pressure . Honda 、 Nissan began to spin off its closely tied but underperforming parts companies , To reduce the burden of their own transformation .

Horizontal alliances occur frequently

In the past five years , Alliances between Japanese car companies have sprung up . Although the specific forms are different , But the establishment of these alliances has a similar background —— Emission regulations are becoming increasingly stringent ,“ New four modernizations ” The pressure of transformation is increasing .

2016 year 10 month , Nissan in 3370 Billion yen （ close 22.9 Billion dollars ） Bought Mitsubishi at a price of 34％ Shares of , And get a controlling stake in Mitsubishi . thus , Renault - Nissan alliance expands to Renault - nissan - Mitsubishi Alliance .

An important opportunity for Nissan to acquire Mitsubishi shares is Mitsubishi “ Fuel consumption valve ” The outbreak of the scandal .2016 year , Facing the investigation of the Japanese government , Mitsubishi admitted that it had falsified the fuel economy test data of some models . Affected by this , Mitsubishi's auto production and sales in Japan fell sharply that year .

2017 year 8 month , Toyota and Mazda announced an alliance , Toyota through the acquisition of Mazda's third-party private placement of new shares , Get a stake in Mazda , meanwhile , Toyota will also sell shares to Mazda , Both parties hold the same amount of shares of the other party .

About why we should form an alliance , Toyota and Mazda explained in an official statement ,“ With environmental protection 、 Safety regulations are becoming stricter all over the world , The accelerated rise of new types of cars and the diversification of travel modes , The automotive industry has ushered in a period of great change , In this situation , Toyota and Mazda need to strengthen their partnership , Face and respond to the period of change together ”.

2019 year 8 month , Toyota and Suzuki issued a joint announcement , Formally build a capital alliance . according to the agreement , Toyota will spend 960 Billion yen to acquire Suzuki 4.94% equity , And Suzuki will 480 The price of 100 million yen , Buy Toyota 0.2% equity .

2019 year 9 month , Subaru also announced , Reach a business cooperation alliance agreement with Toyota , The agreement includes 2020 year 2 In June, Toyota completed its control of Subaru .

Toyota and Suzuki 、 Subaru's alliances all point in the direction of electrification .2019 year , Toyota has released an electrification strategy , At the end of the strategy “ Vehicle cooperation ” In the plate , Toyota mentioned that it would work with Suzuki 、 Subaru cooperates in the development of small and medium-sized and large electrified vehicles respectively .

After this round of horizontal alliance , Japan's auto industry has formed three camps , First, the camp led by Toyota , Including Mazda 、 suzuki 、 Subaru and the big hair that has long been under Toyota's revenue 、 Hino ; Second, Renault - nissan - Mitsubishi Alliance ; Third, the independent Honda .

2019 year , When he was president of Honda, long Hong BA Xiang also said publicly , Honda has no intention of Alliance , because “ Once the alliance is formed, the other side will be in our management ‘ backseat driver ’”.

However , from 2020 Year begins , Honda's attitude on alliance appears 180 Turn around .2020 year 4 month , Honda and GM have reached a cooperation , The parties will be based on the general agreement Ultium Battery and highly flexible global electric vehicle platform , Jointly develop two new Honda pure electric models .

2020 year 9 month , Honda and GM signed a memorandum of understanding , Both parties intend to form an automobile business alliance , Buying 、 Research and development 、 Car networking 、 Cooperation in vehicle platform and powertrain . however , The form of alliance is relatively limited , The scope is limited to North America , And does not involve cross shareholding .

recently , Just took office at Honda global CEO Not long after, mihiro said publicly ：“ If through an alliance , Honda can achieve the planned goal as soon as possible , Then we are willing to form a new electrification Alliance .”

In the mouth of Mitsuhiro “ Planning goals ” Published this year 4 month , At that time, Mitsuhiro was taking office at Honda CEO At the media conference , Announced an ambitious electrification plan , The goal is to 2030 year , In major global markets ,EV( Blade Electric Vehicles ) and FCV( Fuel cell cars ) Sales account for... Of Honda's sales 40%, To 2035 Annual share 80%, To 2040 In, it reached 100%.

Supplier constraints

In the face of electrification 、 The impact of intelligence , While establishing horizontal alliance, Japanese car enterprises , The traditional vertical alliance with parts enterprises has become a restrictive factor in the process of transformation .

For a long time , With TOYOTA 、 The supply chain system of Japanese automobile enterprises represented by Honda is extremely closed . Car companies through cross shareholding 、 Investment holding 、 Merger and reorganization , Deeply integrate a large number of Japanese local parts enterprises into their own enterprises “ Family members ”, The two sides thus form a vertical community of interests .

Take Toyota for example , Disclosure of information , Toyota depends on the importance of the parts produced by the supplier , Divide it into 3 class , And set up 2 Tier 1 supplier organization —— Xiefeng club and Rongfeng Club , Among them, the members of Xiefeng association are the core component suppliers , Toyota generally holds its super 30％ shares , The members of Rongfeng association are suppliers of feature parts , Toyota generally holds its 10％ Left and right shares .

at present , Well known parts suppliers controlled or participated by Toyota include Aisin gearbox 、 Electric installation 、 Toyota textile 、 Jetegot 、 Aichi steel, etc . among , Aisin gearbox is the largest in the world AT Transmission supplier , Denso is one of the world's largest suppliers of automotive electrical accessories , Jetteggert is the world's top bearing 、 Machine tool supplier .

however , The binding relationship with local parts enterprises has also become a potential problem in the transformation of Japanese auto enterprises “ Burden ”. There is a view that , The supply chain model of Japanese auto enterprises is like a ship connected by iron rings , Although steady , But there are too many stakeholders , The action is slower than that of European and American car companies , It is not conducive to the reform and transformation of enterprises .

After the car is completely electrified , The engine and transmission are no longer needed . Therefore, the production of engines 、 Transmission parts enterprises will face the test of survival , meanwhile , Production and engine 、 Manufacturer of exhaust system related to gearbox 、 Parts and components enterprises of power transmission system , It will no longer be needed by the market .

An Guangyong, an expert of the credit management committee of the all union M & A Association, said , The electric transformation of European and American car enterprises only needs to calm the internal opposition , Basically do not consider the future of parts suppliers , Japanese auto enterprises deeply bound with local parts enterprises , At the same time, we need to consider the opinions from within the enterprise and parts suppliers .

2020 year 12 month , Toyota leader Akio Toyoda spoke publicly for parts enterprises at a press conference . He said , If Japan forced steering requires fewer parts 、 Easier to make all electric vehicles , This could cause millions of people to lose their jobs , And destroy the entire ecosystem of auto parts suppliers .

From closed to open

in fact , The vertical alliance between Japanese auto enterprises and local parts enterprises has become loose , Toyota 、 Honda 、 Nissan and other auto companies are reshaping their supply chain system to varying degrees .

In electric vehicles ,2019 year 6 month , Toyota announced that it will start from Ningde era 、 BYD purchases batteries , This is the first time that the company purchases key core parts from Chinese suppliers .

On autopilot , This year, 5 month , Toyota announced that it will be owned by Intel subsidiary Mobileye European and American enterprises such as ZF develop advanced driving assistance systems for them , The system will be deployed on multiple Toyota car platforms in the next few years .

This year, 1 month , There have been reports , According to Nissan's new strategy , The parts purchased by the company in China are no longer limited to bumpers 、 Category of seats and lamps , The future will include more complex components such as sensors and power inverters . for example , nissan e-Power The battery of the model will be developed in China , And supplied by Chinese battery manufacturer Xinwangda .

Honda is also “ Three electric ” On the one hand, we will vigorously strengthen cooperation with suppliers in the market place .2020 year 7 month , Honda signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese enterprise Ningde times , Cooperation covers the joint development of power batteries 、 Stable supply and other fields . In the field of electric motor control , The main supplier of Honda's independently developed models is Hefei Juyi power, a Chinese enterprise .

In addition to re combing the supply chain , Japanese auto companies also stripped off their parts assets through equity transfer and other means , So as to raise more funds and lay out new businesses .

2016 year , Nissan will produce air conditioners 、 Kangnaike, a component enterprise of compressor and radiator 41% Sale of shares to an American company KKR, It plans to use the funds obtained from this exchange to support its R & D of electric vehicles and artificial intelligence .

Interestingly , After the vertical binding relationship with the main engine factory is loose , Many Japanese parts enterprises are also seeking horizontal restructuring with their peers . In the eyes of the industry , This is quite similar to the alliance between Japanese car companies .

2018 year 12 month , Electric installation 、 Jetegot 、 EDX and Aisin Jingji announced the joint venture of automatic driving J-QuADDYNAMICS, The main business of the joint venture is to develop software and provide engineering services , Provide automatic driving integrated vehicle control system for automobile manufacturers all over the world .

2019 year 4 month , Aisin precision machinery and electric equipment have jointly established a new company BluENexus, The main business of the new company is to develop and sell drive modules for electric vehicles .

2019 year 11 month , Honda and Hitachi announced , Will gather the flags of both sides 4 A new company was formed from a parts enterprise , The new company will become the third largest parts manufacturer in Japan . The new company absorbed Honda's 3 companies , Including Showa 、 Jingbin electric and Rixin industries , But Honda only holds 33% Shares of .