The "Global Automotive Forum Sino-US Dialogue and 2013 Global Automotive Elite Forum" co-sponsored by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Automobile Industry Branch, NetEase Auto and Detroit Chinese Engineers Association was on the afternoon of January 13, 2013, local time, on the eve of the opening of the North American Auto Show. Held in Detroit, USA. When talking about China's auto industry, many senior industry professionals who attended the meeting mentioned a key word—innovation.

Former Director of Ford: China must strengthen the development of local brands

Mike Thomas, former executive director of global technology strategy at Ford and current director of Automotive Insight, said that if they want to truly become a powerful player in the global automotive market, Chinese cars must strengthen the development of local brands, and the most important and effective way is undoubtedly-to innovate. .

Mike Thomas said that despite the rapid development of China's auto industry, it is an unavoidable fact that foreign brands occupy a major share of the Chinese auto market, especially in the mid-to-high-end passenger car market, which is almost monopolized by foreign brands; joint ventures are still The main way for Chinese automakers to seek development is that foreign capital has dominated the entire industrial chain of production, R&D, marketing, finance, credit, and leasing after taking advantage of brands and technologies. Chinese local brands have always lacked competitiveness. He believes that Chinese car companies should be determined to get rid of joint venture dependence, take the local entrepreneurs cultivated in the joint venture era as the leader, develop local brands, conduct mergers and acquisitions at home and abroad, and embark on a true path of innovation.

GM chief economist: China's auto industry is optimistic about the future

Mustafa Mohatarem, GM's global chief economist, said in his speech that China's auto industry has taken a mere 10 years to develop from an obscure player in the industry to a high-profile role in the world's auto industry. The future of China's auto industry is still worth looking forward to optimistically.

He said that in the next ten years, relatively mature car brands such as the United States, Europe, and Japan will face competition and challenges from more developing countries' car brands. Among them, China is obviously the force that cannot be ignored. However, in order to achieve sustainable development in the future, China's auto industry still needs to face some realistic questions. For example, in the next few years or more, will China's auto industry need to achieve standardization and unification? The needs and behaviors of Chinese consumers are changing rapidly. Do Chinese automakers really understand consumers' demands and buying characteristics?

Deloitte: China is the most competitive country in the automotive industry

Deloitte’s automotive industry leader Joseph Vitale said that a survey of more than 1,000 CEOs from all walks of life around the world in the past five years showed that: at present, in the automotive industry, China is generally considered to be the most competitive country in the world and will continue to The current strong momentum will be maintained in the next five years, and China's influence on the auto industry will gradually deepen and expand.

He said that various factors such as favorable local policy environment, low-cost labor supply, abundant raw material resources, and determination to expand to overseas markets have promoted China's entry into the world's automotive arena and has become a force that cannot be ignored. However, if they want to further enhance their strength, Chinese automakers must not only strive to enhance the basic factors of corporate competitiveness—such as cost control, infrastructure construction, and energy optimization, but also based on a core issue—innovation.

Joseph Vitale said that innovation is the fundamental driving force for the continuous development of the automotive industry. In addition to the frequently mentioned process technology innovation and management and sales innovation, he especially mentioned the innovation of human resources-that is, to enable those with outstanding skills and talents. Professional talents can play and grow to the greatest possible extent in the industry.

Related Links: GAC Detroit "Bargaining Talent"

Zeng Qinghong, vice chairman and general manager of GAC Group, and a group of senior executives of the company also attended the forum. Zeng Qinghong said that since the financial crisis, the automobile city of Detroit has been in a downturn, and many outstanding Chinese engineers intend to return to China for development. This is a great opportunity for GAC to "buyer talents". Zeng Qinghong revealed that GAC will use commercial vehicles as a breakthrough point to export cars to North America, South America, Africa and other regions.

This North American Auto Show is also the first overseas auto show that GAC Group has participated in. The main exhibits of GAC Group are all new energy models developed by GAC Research Institute, including hybrid models based on Trumpchi cars, pure electric models based on GS5, and An extended range pure electric concept car E-JET.