Independent parts companies share the turbocharger market, aiming to "take" more shares

According to an authoritative report, the allocation rate of turbochargers for automobiles in my country has increased from 23% in 2014 to 32% in 2016. Judging from the situation in 2017, major car companies continue to increase their efforts to launch turbocharged models, and the growth trend remains unabated.

Turbochargers are becoming more and more popular due to the following two reasons: first, the production and sales of automobiles are increasing year by year, and second, there are higher requirements for automobile fuel consumption and emissions. And it is not difficult to see that the latter is more critical.

As we all know, the demand for energy saving and emission reduction of automobiles is becoming stronger and stronger, and the country has formulated very strict fuel consumption and emission regulations, especially in China. The standards of 5 liters per 100 kilometers per year and 4 liters per 100 kilometers in 2025 pose higher challenges to car companies.

In this context, what kind of growth will the turbocharger market take in the future? Can independent component companies that have been in a weak position for a long time participate in the pie? What kind of market share will it occupy in the future? Recently, at the off-line ceremony of one million gasoline engine superchargers held by Ningbo Fengwo, several automotive power technology experts talked to the automotive industry media and conducted key discussions and exchanges on the above issues.

Turbocharging has great prospects, but it is not easy for independent parts companies to share

Wang Yonghong, executive vice president of Ningbo Fengwo Turbocharging System Co., Ltd., clearly stated in an interview with the media: "According to the forecast of the World Energy Organization: in 2050, vehicles with pure internal combustion engines and hybrid drives will still account for about 60% of the total. On this basis, with the gradual improvement of fuel consumption and emission regulations, turbocharging has become an irreversible trend.”

Wang Yonghong, Executive Vice President of Ningbo Fengwo Turbocharger System Co., Ltd.

As for the future market size of turbocharging, the company's sales director Liu Jing gave such an answer: "Although the market has certain uncertainties and some changes will occur in the future, overall, the turbocharging configuration rate It will continue to increase year by year. From the perspective of specific proportions, the annual growth rate will remain at about 15% or even higher; About eight or nine million units."

However, although the turbocharger market looks "attractive", it is not easy to get a share of it, especially for independent brand turbocharger manufacturers.

Those who are familiar with the automobile industry should know that for a long time, both in terms of technology and quality, self-owned brand turbocharger manufacturers have a large gap with the international leading level, and there is little market share in gasoline engine turbochargers. This makes Chinese self-owned enterprises "daunted" from this market, and even for those suppliers who have already made achievements, the journey can be described as difficult.

Last week, Ningbo Fengwo Turbocharger System Co., Ltd. officially rolled out one million gasoline engine superchargers, which not only let the industry see the achievements of this company in the past 7 years, but also revealed the hidden self-entrepreneurship behind it. story.

Wei Anli, deputy secretary-general of China Internal Combustion Engine Industry Association, said: "Fengwo is making continuous progress step by step, but in terms of specific results, from 200,000 units a few years ago to 1 million gasoline engine superchargers rolled off the assembly line today, This is not a step, this is a leap, and the connotation of this leap is very deep."

Wei Anli, Deputy Secretary-General of China Internal Combustion Engine Industry Association

Indeed, for Fengwo, its road to self-employment is not very smooth. According to Chen Weide, general manager of Ningbo Fengwo Turbocharger System Co., Ltd., Fengwo’s turbocharger project initially started with reverse matching, and the completion of high temperature and cold tests involved in the project will take a long period of time. It will take 12 to 18 months. Faced with this situation, most domestic customers are reluctant to try something new. "Many times, Chinese turbocharger brands will be more discriminated against. If foreign products have to undergo a 600-hour durability test, we may need to do 800 hours. There is no special reason, just because we are a Chinese brand. Everyone They don’t trust our components, especially core components like turbochargers.”

Chen Weide, General Manager of Ningbo Fengwo Turbocharging System Co., Ltd.

At the beginning of 2011, Ningbo Fengwo and Haima Automobile officially started cooperation on the turbocharged engine project, and successfully mass-produced it in 2014, becoming the first domestic independent brand supporting OEM. It was also after this that Fengwo turbocharger ushered in more projects. In the subsequent 2015-2017, its turbocharging system products have successively ushered in Geely Automobile, Zotye Automobile, Southeast Automobile, Dongfeng Liuqi and many other car companies' models.

"In the past, the industry may have doubts about Fengwo's capabilities, but with the mass production of our products in Haima Automobile, as well as the continuous improvement of our capabilities and the gradual improvement of facilities, these doubts have gradually been eliminated, and our projects have gradually begun. Increase." Chen Weide told reporters that after the accumulation of previous years, the company's turbocharger output reached 80,000 units in 2015, 280,000 units in 2016, and 800,000 units this year, and according to estimates, the corresponding output It will reach 1.3 million units in 2018 and 3 million units in 2020.

The technical reserves are enhanced, and the gap between domestic and foreign products is gradually narrowing

It is undeniable that there is still a gap between domestic gasoline engine turbochargers and advanced foreign products, but it is also worth noting that this gap is gradually narrowing.

Wei Anli said: "Behind this is a group of internal combustion engine companies that have been engaged in traditional energy power for a long time, including this group of people represented by Fengwo people, who stick to this position in obscurity, dedicating and investing in the future development of the automobile industry that they firmly believe in."

Since its establishment, Ningbo Fengwo has established several gasoline engine turbo technology platforms to strengthen its advantages in technology development. At the same time, the test center with a total area of ​​1,600 square meters has the functions of supercharger performance test, supercharger durability test, engine durability test, engine performance test, etc., and also provides reliable support for related technology research and development and matching.

At present, Fengwo's self-developed products mainly include standard vent valve series (VT) and variable cross section series (VG). Among them, -VT series- adopts standard bleeder valve structure, wide-flow compressor/high-efficiency turbine, and has high stability and other characteristics. It is the best choice for engine miniaturization. VG series-has continuously variable turbine The cross-section adjustment greatly improves the transient response performance and significantly reduces the fuel consumption of the internal combustion engine. At the same time, it adopts the latest generation of variable nozzle design, which has a compact structure and greatly improved reliability. Not only that, in view of the problem that the variable cross-section turbocharging technology can only be used for diesel engines due to the ultra-high exhaust temperature of gasoline engines, Fengwo has also started to improve and upgrade related technologies, and it is expected that gasoline engine Successful introduction of variable cross-section supercharger. In addition, Fengwo also pays attention to the electric turbocharging technology that is excellent in alleviating turbo lag and energy saving and emission reduction, and has made corresponding product layout and research and development.

Wang Yonghong said that turbocharger, as a major way to save energy and reduce emissions, still has a long way to go on the existing basis. In response to the new requirements put forward by the market, Fengwo is expanding its research and development team to further enhance its product strength.

Liu Jing further stated that with the support of technical reserves, Fengwo will strive for more market share on the existing basis. "At present, Fengwo's customer base is mainly self-owned brands. In the future, we will continue to increase some mainstream self-owned brands. Of course, we cannot satisfy the current supporting customer groups. We still need to make breakthroughs, improve new technologies, and narrow our relationship with multinational companies. The gap between giants."