During this period, Toyota’s financial results for fiscal year 2023 envied a large number of auto people: operating income was 2.
09 trillion yuan, up 21% from the same period last year.
operating profit was 249 billion yuan, nearly double that of the same period last year.
and net profit increased by more than 100% year-on-year to 228.
1 billion yuan.
This figure means that the net profit of a Toyota car company exceeds that of TOP10, a domestic car company.
This kind of financial data makes some domestic automakers who work hard but do not see an increase in profits, or even lose money, mourn their own misfortune, and also make many onlookers angry at the infighting of domestic car companies.
After all, in online public opinion, the Chinese car company that is fully committed to electrification is Apple, while Toyota is in jeopardy.
However, in terms of financial results, “Nokia” seems to have more “money” than “Apple”.
This is more or less emotionally unacceptable.
But the problem is that although European and American giants have slowed the pace of electrification, the general trend of electrification and intelligence will not change in the medium to long term.
Toyota, which lags one step behind Chinese car companies in electrification, its status may not be shaken by the slow electrification process, but behind Toyota, the huge Japanese automobile industry chain seems to be very difficult to get the opportunity to overtake.
For example, in the field of power batteries, the core component of electric vehicles, Japanese companies are becoming marginalized.
With the encirclement and suppression of competitors, the global power battery market has long been the arena of China, Japan and South Korea, while Japan’s Panasonic, once the world’s largest power battery manufacturer and the first to establish deep cooperation with Tesla, once relied on Tesla’s exclusive order for 18650 ternary lithium batteries to crush China’s Ningde Times and BYD, as well as South Korea’s LG New Energy, SKI on and other competitors.
But the times did not care for Panasonic for a long time, and now the Ningde era in China has not only replaced Panasonic’s position in the power battery circle, but also opened the gap with it.
According to the global power battery loading released by SNE Research, although the growth rate of Ningde era slowed down in the first quarter of this year, it is still the highest power battery-loaded enterprise in the world, with a cumulative installed capacity of 60.
1GWh in the first quarter, with a global market share of 37.9%. China’s BYD, second only to the Ningde era in the first quarter of SNE Research, is 22.
7GWh with a global market share of 14.
3%, with a combined market share of more than 50% in the Ningde era.
Panasonic, the only Japanese power battery company on the SNE Research list, dropped 12.
6% to 9.
3GWh in the first quarter of this year, with a global market share of only 5.
8%, lagging far behind not only Ningde Times and BYD, but also South Korea’s LG New Energy.
It is clear that the halo above Panasonic is dimming.
Just as Rome was not built in a day, it was not a day for Panasonic to fall from the world’s largest maker of power batteries to fourth on the SNE Research list.
If the timeline is lengthened, Panasonic’s fading trajectory will be clearer.
Before 2017, Panasonic was the “number one” in the power battery industry, and since 2017, the number of power batteries installed in the Ningde era has surpassed that of Panasonic.
In that year, Ningde era installed 10.
8GWh, with a market share of 18.
2%, and Panasonic 10GWh with a market share of 16.9%. Although Panasonic was overtaken by King Ning this year, the gap between the two sides has not yet been widened, and Panasonic’s alarm bell was not officially sounded until 2021.
In December 2019, with the opening of the Shanghai super factory production line, Tesla introduced LG new energy as the second supply.
at the financial report meeting in January 2020, Tesla announced his cooperation with Ningde era.
After losing Tesla’s exclusive order, Panasonic retreated another place in the SNE Research power battery load list in 2020.
This year, Ningde Times installed 35.
39 GWh, global market share 26% LG New Energy 30.
91GWh, global market share 22.
7%, Panasonic’s installed capacity 27.
51, global market share shrank to 20.2%. At this time, Panasonic has not yet been opened by its opponents.
Until 2021, the number of power batteries installed in Ningde era increased by more than 150% year-on-year to 96.
7 G Whforce LG new energy is 60.
2GWh, while Panasonic’s power battery capacity has only slightly increased to 36.1GWh. In terms of loading, the size of Ningde was almost three times that of Panasonic.
If you look at the market share, Panasonic’s global market share fell below 20% for the first time in 2021, only 12.
2%, while the global market share in the Ningde era exceeded 30% for the first time.
Panasonic has lagged behind Ningde era and LG New Energy in all aspects, regardless of the number of vehicles or the growth rate, or the market share.
For Panasonic, bad news followed.
When BYD’s sales exploded in 2022, becoming the top seller of new energy in China, which led to the growth of its power battery business, Panasonic fell further to fourth place in the SNE Research power battery loading list, with its global market share falling below 10 per cent for the first time.
In 2023 BYD overtook LG New Energy while Panasonic’s power battery business still did not improve much and its global market share shrank further to 6.
4 per cent.
Panasonic could not even sustain growth until the first quarter of this year, and if this trend continues, Panasonic is likely to be overtaken by Samsung SDI this year.
After all, in the first quarter, the gap between Panasonic and Samsung SDI in power battery capacity is only 0.
9GWh, and the gap in market share is only 0.5%. So far, the differentiation of China, Japan and South Korea in the field of power batteries has been obvious.
Ningde era, which has the first-mover advantage, is expected to sit on the throne of the world’s largest power battery supplier for several years, and there will be a fierce competition between BYD and LG New Energy, while Panasonic deserves a long sigh.
In the turn of the century from fuel vehicles to electric cars, it once had the opportunity to become the global leader in power batteries, but ended up losing ground in the encirclement and crackdown by Chinese and South Korean competitors.
Tesla’s betrayal, Toyota’s “backstab”, Panasonic has something to do with its own conservative and strategic vision, at a time when Chinese and South Korean companies are expanding production capacity at a loss, Panasonic spends most of its energy on making its North American business profitable, giving its competitors a head start.
But in addition, Tesla and Toyota are also “contributed”.
Panasonic’s power battery business has always been highly dependent on Tesla, so when Tesla’s order was split by LG New Energy and Ningde era, Panasonic immediately appeared exhausted.
In the first quarter of this year, Tesla saw a year-on-year decline in global delivery for the first time, which ushered in Panasonic.
The quarter with the lowest market share.
, Putting aside the “betrayal” of major customer Tesla and the avalanche of deliveries, Toyota, as a leading Japanese car company, has an electrification strategy that has slowed the transformation of the Japanese auto industry, so that Panasonic has not received support from local car companies for a long time.
It is also an important reason why Panasonic is overtaken by its opponents.
Looking at the history of Ningde’s prosperity in the era, 2012 is certainly a great opportunity to win orders from BMW, but the critical year to completely establish its position in the global power battery industry is 2021.
That year was the first year of the explosion of electric vehicles in China.
The annual penetration rate of electric vehicles exceeded 14%.
Compared with the previous slow increase in penetration rate, China’s electric vehicle penetration rate has achieved rapid growth this year.
China’s electric vehicle penetration rate will further exceed 27% in 2022 and exceed 33% in 2023.
, This means that a large amount of orders from Chinese car companies will flow to the upstream Ningde era.
Riding on the east wind of China’s electrification transformation, the Ningde era quickly shook off rivals from South Korea and Japan.
But Panasonic did not have such luck.
Toyota, which should have shouldered the banner of Japan’s automobile transformation, did not shoulder such a responsibility.
Toyota’s electrification strategy is notoriously greedy.
While investing in pure electricity, it is unwilling to give up fuel vehicles.
On the other hand, it still says that “hybrid is also a new energy source.
” At the same time, it is still investing in hydrogen energy, and it will soon launch plug-in hybrid in China.
,”Both want and want” may not affect Toyota’s sales, and Toyota may indeed have the capital to do so.
However, for the entire Japanese auto industry, the transformation direction of leading auto companies is unclear, and the group of “younger brothers” behind them have no reference samples, so Japanese auto companies generally lag behind Chinese auto companies on the road to electrification.
The certainty of downstream orders is insufficient, and upstream Panasonic naturally does not dare to rashly invest in production capacity.
After all, like all auto parts, batteries also need to be produced on a large scale to reduce costs and make profits.
Therefore, to some extent, Panasonic’s defeat was the result of Toyota’s delay.
However, this battle over power batteries is not yet over.
In the long run, the demand for power batteries in the international market is not only huge but also shows an overall growth trend.
Therefore, as long as Panasonic’s production capacity construction is followed up in a timely manner, then temporary backwardness will not mean eternal.
What’s more, as once the largest power battery manufacturer, Panasonic still has a rich family background.
It still has solid technical barriers in terms of NCA cathode materials and silicon-carbon anode materials.
In the future, Panasonic and Chinese and Korean battery manufacturers will surely perform a wonderful war in the global market.
Return to First Electric Network Home>.
