According to recent data released by China’s Ministry of Commerce, from January to July this year, nearly 32000 foreign-invested enterprises were established nationwide, an increase of 11.
4 percent over the same period last year, continuing the trend of rapid growth of newly established foreign-funded enterprises since 2023.
Despite the intensification of market challenges, foreign-funded enterprises are still optimistic about the prospect of investment in China.
This is reflected not only in the increase in the number of new enterprises, but also in the addition of “established” foreign-funded enterprises, such as foreign Tier1 in the automobile field, who continue to “increase” the Chinese market.
Investment in China is quite “sincere”, and foreign Tier1 is “sincere” enough for the Chinese market.
The successive landing of new projects is the best proof.
According to incomplete statistics of Galaxy, as of early September, at least a dozen foreign-funded Tier1 had invested in new projects in China this year, including Schaeffler, ZF, Continental Group, Magna, Valeo, Otto, Freya, Andorra, Lear, Ambofo, Weitai Technology and so on.
And many of these suppliers have announced a number of new project developments.
For example, Zaifu, its largest airbag production base in the Asia-Pacific region was completed in Wuhan in April this year, the Wuhan R & D Center was launched at the same time, and its new Asia-Pacific headquarters building of passive Safety system (ZF LIFETEC) was officially opened in Jiading, Shanghai in September.
Another example is Valeo, which officially launched the Jingzhou vehicle test base for comfort and driving assistance system in April, laid the foundation for its wiper expansion project in Wenling, Taizhou in May, and Valeo Intelligent Transportation system (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. laid the foundation in late June.
Photo: Valeo, according to Galaxy, in the past 30 years, Valeo has continued to cultivate the Chinese market, continue to invest in China, and enhance local innovative R & D and production capacity.
In the past three years, it has opened and expanded a number of R & D centers in China, and invested in the R & D and production of new technologies such as electrification, intelligence and intelligent lighting in Shenzhen, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai, Changshu, Jingzhou and other places.
The attitude of foreign Tier1 towards Chinese market can be seen from this.
The reason for the firm commitment is simply to be optimistic about the Chinese market, or, to put it more colloquially, to “make money” in the Chinese market.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the total profits of industrial enterprises on foreign investment regulations increased by 11% from January to June this year, higher than the national average (3.5%). Focusing on the performance of foreign Tier1 in China, there is no doubt about the importance of the Chinese market.
At present, China has become the largest single country market for Valeo.
” Recently, at the 30th anniversary of Valeo China and the wiper system, Zhou Song, president of Valeo China, reaffirmed this point in an interview with Galaxy and other media.
According to its disclosure, in the first half of this year, more than 70% of Valeo’s business orders in China came from Chinese mainframe factory customers, and the remaining 30% came from international mainframe factory orders.
the vast majority are also joint venture companies of international mainframe factories in China’s R & D centers and procurement centers in China to make procurement decisions or develop products and technologies.
Strengthening R & D has become an “important play”.
From the new projects, it is not difficult to see that the layout of foreign Tier1 in China has gradually changed from “production in China” to “R & D in China”.
Earlier this year, Continental made it clear that it would take a series of cost-cutting measures and expected to initially achieve an adjusted EBIT margin of 8% to 11% in the next two to three years.
But despite seeking to maximize spending cuts, it is planned to maintain its investment in China and strengthen localized research and development.
Last month, ZF pointed out that in recent years, China has become one of the important bases and innovation centers for the first launch of ZF’s global products and technologies.
Source: ZF, which also mentioned that in the field of smart chassis, its integrated new chassis solutions division will focus on several R & D projects in China.
in the field of electric drive, in response to the unique needs of the Chinese market, the ZF China team innovated and launched a new generation of assembly and parts products, and won hundreds of millions of new orders one after another.
Zhou Song also said that Valeo has experienced a transformation from “made in China” to “made in China” in the 30 years since it entered China.
In 1994, Valeo established the wiper company in Wenling and the air conditioning company in Jingzhou.
In the following years, Valeo set up production bases and R & D centers in several cities and began to lay out China in an all-round way.
According to Zhou Song, the development of Valeo China over the past 30 years can be divided into three stages: the first decade is the beginning of layout and the comprehensive introduction of Valeo’s business into China.
the second decade is to strengthen local production and research and development, accompanied by the rapid development of China’s automobile industry.
the third decade is the stage of transformation from “made in China” to “made in China”.
It is reported that so far, Valeo has 35 production bases in China, about 18000 employees, as well as 14 R & D centers and 4500 R & D personnel, of whom more than 1000 are software developers.
, photo source: “Shanghai Jiading” official account, China R & D, supply the world.
With the strengthening of R & D investment and innovation, foreign Tier1 have “generated” more and more product technology achievements in China, which are not only used in the Chinese market, but also are going global.
In June this year, Stefan Hatone, chairman of the Bosch Group, pointed out in an interview with the media, such as Galaxy, that “China is an innovation base and is a leader in the field of emerging technologies.
” In order to meet the needs of the market, we have established a software development capability in China.
Now, when we develop innovation in China, we can share it with other markets around the world.
This is change.
” Shen Liangyu, president of Mahler China, said in an interview with Galaxy that this is indeed a point of change.
“it may have been 10 or 20 years ago, whether it was a German enterprise like ours or other international enterprises.
Basically, we transferred some technology from our headquarters, but now with the continuous investment of local R & D teams, including the technical strength of the local younger generation.
More is that our research and development continues to meet the needs of local customers, and more is that we can feed and promote the new products all over the world.
” Zhou Song also said that Valeo provides customers with products and technologies that meet customer needs and even exceed customer expectations in China, and after it has been confirmed in China, it has been extended to the world.
According to him, based on the improvement of local innovation ability, Valeo not onlyIt not only provides support for the joint ventures of Chinese mainframe factories and international mainframe factories in China, but also provides strong support for the sea of Chinese mainframe factories and the export of international mainframe factory customers.
For example, as a microcosm of Valeo’s development in China, Wenling Wiper Factory has experienced the development process from product introduction to local self-research, and now it has not only become one of the most important manufacturers of wiper and scrubber systems in China.
at the same time, it has also become one of the main export production bases of Valeo parts in China.
Why can this be done? Zhou Song mentioned two reasons: on the one hand, at present, many Valeo products are developed in China, and the products it develops for Chinese and international customers are applicable to global quality standards.
“you don’t have to make any changes when you go to sea.
” as long as the corresponding certification in the host country can be applied.
” On the other hand, Valeo also has advantages in terms of overseas certification.
“as a global company with a hundred years of history, Valeo has been operating in many countries for a long time.
Our support allows products to be quickly recognized by local market regulations or regulators, thus providing strong local support to customers.
” According to Gu Jianmin, chief technology officer of Valeo China, many of Valeo’s products have been first developed in China, applied on board, and then promoted to the world.
Photo source: Valeo, for example, two years ago, Valeo China’s Vision Systems Division first developed an ultra-thin lens module (automobile intelligent lighting module) in China, which was first mass-produced on Chinese models, and then extended to Europe and North America.
Last year, for example, Valeo Intelligent Systems Division developed VSS360, an intelligent safe driving system based on cameras and millimeter wave radar, which was also developed in China and was first used in the European version of the Smart Elf # 3 model.
The Chinese market can be used as a “training center”.
One of the objective reasons why Chinese R & D can be supplied to the world is that China is leading the transformation of the global automobile industry.
Mathias Pillin, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Bosch Intelligent Travel Group, said bluntly before that, “China is the fastest growing market in the world, and the pace is being set to some extent.
” Shen Liangyu also mentioned, “objectively, in the Chinese market, we are in the lead in electric cars, and in the global context, we are in the lead, which gives us the first condition.
When we have advanced products in this area, it is bound to be used in other markets.
” In the view of Christophe P é rillat, CEO of Valeo Group, in a sense, China has become a training center for global automobile companies.
“Today, China is the place where we develop, test and introduce innovative products and technologies, and the environment here motivates us to make the best of ourselves.
Like athletes, we train here and become faster, taller and stronger.
” As a result, Christophe P é rillat said that in China, Valeo will continue to increase production investment in its three leading areas, namely, motorization, intelligent driving and software, and vision systems, and bring more innovation and technology to overseas markets.
All in all, the importance of the Chinese market has long been known to foreign Tier1, so naturally, it is difficult to have a plan to “stop”.
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