Ma Zhongchao: Three Strong Messages on Electric Bicycle Industry

Editor's note: 2011 is a clear year for the electric bicycle industry and a year of full development; it is a crucial year for returning to rational development. It is an unusual year and an extraordinary one. What is unusual is that this year's electric bicycle industry has encountered unprecedented challenges and difficulties. The industry is driven by the rigidity of the policy and begins to carry out industrial upgrading and market regulation. The extraordinary is that: this year's electric bicycle industry has been difficult and difficult to find, the crisis has been demanded, the wave of industrial upgrading has started, the trend of industrial upgrading has started, and the direction of enterprise transformation has grown. In the course of the rest of the year, a stroke of heavy ink was drawn.

On the occasion of the 2012 New Year, Ma Zhongchao, Chairman of the China Bicycle Association, sent a cordial New Year message to industry professionals who are actively facing challenges, and specified the direction of development for the industry.

Looking back on 2011, many people may describe it as “deflection and hardship.” Indeed, measures such as the notice of four ministries and the rectification of the ministries and commissions once let the electric bicycle industry fall into an unprecedented trough, and confidence in the industry has been significantly frustrated. However, “coins have two sides”, standing in the perspective of long-term development, the rigid rectification of policies and constraints are precisely the best opportunity for the rapid development of the electric bicycle industry to transform, upgrade and intensively develop.

At the G20's sixth summit, President Hu Jintao put forward the idea of ​​"five persistences and seeking a win-win situation." Here, I would like to borrow something and make a slight change. As a message to the industry in 2012, it is: "Three firmly win the future."

First, firm confidence.

From 1995, Tsinghua University developed the first light-duty electric vehicle, and the current market occupancy exceeded 140 million units, and more than 2,000 production licenses were issued. The product range was numerous. “It has become more than 95% of the world’s electric autonomy. "World leaders in the industry" (American famous scholar and economist Eurasian), China's electric bicycles took only a short period of several decades.

This is not surprising because electric bicycles are environmentally friendly, lightweight, economical, and convenient. They not only meet market demands but also meet the general trend of “green environmental protection” economic development in the future.

Data is the most powerful proof. For more than 10 years, the average annual growth rate of the industry was 40%, and the highest was 68%; in 2010, the output of electric bicycles was 29.54 million, and the total sales volume exceeded 22 million. Even in the unprecedented pressure of 2011, we predict that the total output will still be between 27 million and 29 million, and the total sales volume will still remain at a high level of over 20 million, which will be flat or slightly higher than in 2010; exports are lower than last year. The growth has no suspense and will be around 650,000 cars...

Obviously, higher and higher oil prices, worsening environment and climate change have made the existence of electric bicycles a rigid demand. We have every reason to believe that it will gain greater market space in the future.

Second, firm innovation.

The beautiful future will certainly not come by itself. To achieve it, we must use “innovation” to interpret the needs of the times. This puts forward at least three requirements for the industry:

The first is R&D innovation. At present, one cannot deny the fact that electric car products tend to pay more attention to appearance and hardware equipment in R&D, and lack attention to breakthroughs in software and ideas. Therefore, new products that the industry truly guides consumption and explores market space are extremely rare.

However, whether it is the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" or the industry rectification, all this information is transmitted: Lithium-powered bicycles are the future direction of the industry. Electric bicycles are the training ground for electric vehicles and have become a consensus within the industry. The country’s high regard for electric vehicles is undoubtedly a great news for the development of lithium-powered bicycles.

Statistics from the Bicycle Association of China Bicycle Association also showed that the sales volume of 53 key automobile manufacturers in the country in the first half of 2011 increased by 11.7%, of which sales of lithium-ion bicycles increased by 84%. The industrialization and marketization of Lithium-powered bicycles will become the pioneering force in the industry transformation and upgrading during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period.

The second is standard innovation. The reorganization of industries promoted by national policies has made the revision of existing standards and the introduction of new national standards more urgent. In early November, Jiangsu issued the “Registration Measures for Jiangsu Electric Bicycles” and the “Registration Technical Parameters Specification for Electric Bicycle Products of Jiangsu Province (Trial)”. For the series of issues that are most concerned about by the industry, such as the production capacity of the companies that apply for filing and the technical parameters of the products, both regulations have provided clear regulations and instructions. We also learned that other provinces such as Tianjin, Shandong, Zhejiang, Henan, and other large-scale production and sales of electric bicycles will also gradually introduce local regulations and regulations under the influence of Jiangsu's first management measures.

As far as I know, the national standard revision and coordination task force established in GB17761 "General Technical Conditions for Electric Bicycles" has been assigned to implement relevant issues and has communicated and reported with the relevant national authorities. The expert group composed of local associations and key enterprises also held the “National Conference on Revision of Electric Bicycle Standards” in Wuxi on December 13 last year, and revised the scope, content, and methods of the national standard GB17761-1999 “General Technical Conditions for Electric Bicycles”. , and the timing of the eventual formation of consensus within the industry was arranged. It can be revealed that the industry is expected to put forward amendment opinions on the industry standards before and after the first quarter of this year and report them to the relevant state departments.

The third is management innovation.

At present, the competition of modern enterprises has been more and more played by the game of soft power. For industry enterprises to win in the increasingly high-level competition, they must learn advanced experience at home and abroad in management and production supervision, and innovate in management concepts, management methods, and management systems, break the shackles of traditional concepts, change ideas, and create conditions. To adapt to changes in the new era and the information society. In view of this, the China Bicycle Association has listed management training as the focus of this year's training work, and is preparing to establish a talent pool so that companies can obtain truly advanced management concepts and gradually improve their management systems.

Third, it is firm and persistent.

While we are full of confidence in the future, we must also realize that electric bicycles will enter a period of stable development after a period of budding, initial development, and high growth, and will embark on the road to transformation and upgrading. This inflection point has already emerged, and the industry must adapt to this change and rethink and reposition itself in the changes.

It must also be understood that transformation and upgrading are not necessarily based on human will, and are absolutely beneficial to the long-term and sustainable development of the industry. Only by holding this belief can we deal with all kinds of hardships and challenges with ease in the future development.

Confidence is important and ideas are more important. How to transform an electric bicycle? I think the core should still rely on culture to enhance the industry.

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee sounded the clarion call to build a culturally strong country. The ministries and commissions of the State Council proposed to further strengthen the cultural construction of the industry when implementing the spirit of the plenary session. This is the general trend. The industry must see that it must keep up with it, otherwise it will lag behind, and it will have to be stuck in the bottleneck for a long time. I have also spoken on many occasions: Culture is a good way to improve our industry. Electric bikes are also included.

Now, bicycles have found a breakthrough in the “cycling culture” and have begun to taste the taste of success. E-bikes can learn from their experience, and think carefully about where they are integrating with culture. How to do it? Prior to this, electric bicycles should lay a good foundation. On the one hand, it is necessary to lay a solid foundation for the material, build a material culture, grasp the industrial cultural knowledge platform, the propaganda platform, and the activity platform; on the other hand, it is necessary to mobilize the spiritual power to build a spiritual culture and strive to establish itself. Advanced ideas, nurturing core value systems, and building a strong brand in the industry.

With the development of the industry and the intensification of competition, the era of e-bikes for quality and price competition has passed, and “brand competition” will be the main theme of the industry in the future. In fact, signs have been revealed: The China Bicycle Association conducted field surveys in 10 provinces and cities across the country last year. It found that the production and sales volume of enterprises presented a “polarization” in 2011 – SMEs have a larger decline, and only one production area In the city, 40 small-scale enterprises have switched production to shut down or have left the market, while the production and sales volume of key leading companies has increased substantially, with an average increase of 20% to 30%.

It can be imagined that in the future, the industry structure will be built on the basis of plate competition. There will be less than 300 companies above a certain scale, and eventually form the “three major squares”: the first square array represented by the top ten industries, and strong constants. Strong; the second phalanx is a backbone enterprise, and it will continue to grow bigger and stronger, and the competition between brands will become increasingly fierce and cruel. The third-party array will refine the market and focus on certain regions, becoming a regional strong brand.

In late December 2011, Germany’s famous “Frankfurter Zeitung” wrote a report after interviewing me and was republished by reference. The title is “The electric bicycle is getting more and more popular in China”. There is a saying in the text that impresses me. : "The trend in Beijing is synchronized with Germany: There is no such thing as a popular electric bicycle like this."

This is the driving force for our progress.

Since 2012 has come, we will embark on a new journey. I wish the New Year's sunshine not only hit our faces, but also shine into our hearts.