BYD's "1.5T China's King of Machines" has not only reached the top of technology, but also stepped on the accelerator for the industry.

At the Chengdu Auto Show, BYD made a splash with its new fuel-powered brand "Xiaoyun" from Fudi Power and its first 1.5T high-powered powertrain. It is reported that this new powertrain has a maximum power of 136kW and a maximum torque of 288N·m. It is equipped with advanced technologies such as Miller cycle, 350bar high-pressure direct injection, and intelligent thermal management. The thermal efficiency of the whole machine has reached 38%, and the fuel consumption has been reduced by 15%, directly hitting the user's pain point of "running farther with less fuel consumption".

Thousands of miles of cloud, Fudi power

Although the 1.5T powertrain released this time is the first product of Fudi Power's "Xiaoyun" brand, Fudi Power is a pioneer in China's supercharged engine technology. Its predecessor was the BYD Powertrain Division established in 2003 and officially operated independently at the end of 2019. In the past 17 years, Fudi Power has supported BYD and accumulated rich R&D experience. It has more than 2,200 patented technologies, leading the country and comparable to the world's first-class. This time, the "Xiaoyun" powertrain, named with the meaning of "strong power, surging, willful galloping, and moving at will", is called the "Chinese King of Machines". From the perspective of technical strength, it is not surprising.

In terms of various attributes, Xiaoyun's new 1.5T has surpassed its peers, with a maximum power of 136kW and a maximum torque of 288N·m, which are at the forefront of its peers. In terms of energy consumption, without losing power, the thermal efficiency of the whole machine has reached an industry-leading 38%, and with the new 7-speed wet dual-clutch automatic transmission with a transmission efficiency of 95%, the fuel consumption per 100 kilometers has been reduced by 15%. In addition, Xiaoyun has also optimized the noise and vibration of the movement from the source, and all the values ​​have reached the industry-leading level.

Looking at the current global market, it is difficult for manufacturers to achieve a perfect balance in the face of users' pursuit of power, fuel consumption, emissions, NVH, price and reliability. Most manufacturers choose the path of "biased" development and only explore one of them. However, in Xiaoyun, we can see that these major factors can actually be developed in a balanced manner. Based on the theory of the short board of the bucket, this powertrain without obvious shortcomings has also stepped on the accelerator for the technological progress of domestic independent brands.

Just like the path that many domestic industries have taken, domestic independent automobile brands are also constantly seeking advancement. More than 10 years ago, Chinese brands were synonymous with "copycat" and "low price and low quality", but it was through this path of "from imitation to surpassing" that domestic brands, which had been arduous, finally made it into the automobile market with many strong competitors.

At that time, with the rapid development of China's economy, cars had changed from high-end consumer goods to tools for people's daily lives. In 2009, China's auto sales surpassed the United States to become the world's largest auto market, and in the following 11 years, China continued to hold the throne of the world's largest auto market.

In the same year, the State Council promulgated the "Automobile Industry Adjustment and Revitalization Plan", which solved many problems faced in stimulating domestic demand and the development of the automobile industry through policies such as reducing purchase tax, bringing cars to rural areas, clearing up unreasonable regulations on car purchase restrictions, promoting the used car market, and accelerating urban road construction, and further pushed the automobile industry onto the fast track of upgrading.

As the market share of domestic brands continues to increase, domestic cars have gradually gotten rid of the path of copycats and have broken through to the mid-range market with higher quality and technology to achieve further market expansion. Although during this period, trust in domestic brands is still affected by the initial stage, through the enhancement of real user experience, the brand will gradually accumulate positive word of mouth.

However, if you want to improve user experience, higher technology is indispensable, which is also the shortcoming of China's industrial chain. But as the profits of independent brands in the market increase, investment in technology will also follow.

Only with leading technology can we dare to surpass

No matter how the outside world changes, BYD always insists on relying on technology. This can be seen from the fact that it was the first to establish an NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) laboratory - even the details, BYD will treat them with care.

As the first domestic automobile brand to start NVH research, BYD built the first laboratory in Shenzhen dedicated to improving vehicle driving experience. In this laboratory covering an area of ​​about 300,000 square meters, there are world-leading anechoic chambers, parts sound absorption and insulation laboratories, listening rooms, modal laboratories, etc., with a total of more than 2,500 sets of monitoring equipment, which can carry out more than 4,000 automobile tests.

The completion of the laboratory basically represents that domestic brands have begun to leap from the stage of simple imitation to a stage that focuses more on the inner experience. The appearance of Xiaoyun's new 1.5T high-power powertrain reminds us where the core experience of car driving lies.

Whenever we talk about Chinese independent brands, there are always some rational or irrational emotions involved. Such emotions have even played a big role in promoting the development of home appliance and mobile phone brands, and automobile consumption is no exception. However, compared with the low consumption amount of home appliances and mobile phones, when buying cars, consumers have to consider the later fuel consumption and maintenance costs.

Therefore, it is not difficult to see why Xiaoyun's new powertrain has put so much effort into power, fuel consumption, emissions, NVH, price and reliability. Because only when consumers truly feel the technological accumulation of domestic brands, and begin to experience the strength of domestic brands on par with the global industry frontier not only emotionally but also from actual products, can the development of domestic brands truly upgrade to the high-dimensional stage of brand premium.

Just as we have seen in the development path of domestic brands such as Xiaomi and Huawei, domestic mobile phones were also dominated by copycats more than 10 years ago. However, as the market continued to expand, the brand image gradually began to stabilize, breaking through to the mid-to-high-end market, and successfully breaking the monopoly of foreign brands in the high-end field.

At present, the products launched by these domestic mobile phone brands not only have no obvious shortcomings, but are also clear enough in product positioning, and can even provide some differentiated services, so that consumers' trust in the products rises along with the brand, and they fly together, eventually being marketed around the world and becoming an important pole in the world mobile phone market.

Since automobile products are much more expensive than mobile phones and home appliances, their development is greatly affected by the economy, so domestic brands do not develop as fast as home appliances and mobile phones. In comparison, the technical strength required in automobile manufacturing is higher, involving many categories of electronics, chemicals, materials, etc. Only industrial powers without obvious shortcomings can produce the best automobile products. In fact, this is also true. All automobile powers are industrial powers, and all have strong technical accumulation and a complete industrial chain.

Take engine technology for example. When developed countries began to industrialize, China was still in a half-life society and lost more than two centuries of development time. Therefore, today, after 40 years of development since the reform and opening up, we can keep pace with Western developed countries in technology and even slightly lead in some areas. This is a unique case in the history of human industrial development. In fact, although China's manufacturing industry currently has the most complete industrial categories in the world, there is still a gap in technological level. How to transform from an industrial power to an industrial power, automobile engines with "strong core" functions are a typical breakthrough point.

As early as May 2015, the State Council promulgated a strategic document called "Made in China 2025", which is the first action program for China to implement the strategy of becoming a manufacturing power. It plans for the future of China's manufacturing industry. It is expected that by 2025, China will become a manufacturing power, by 2035 it will reach the middle level of world powers, and by 2045 it will be among the leading construction powers.

Nowadays, domestic manufacturing has reached the world's advanced level in some areas, such as 5G mobile communication networks, ultra-high voltage transmission technology, quantum communication, etc. With the continuous upgrading of the manufacturing industry under the support of policies, the automotive industry will naturally benefit from the development of industrial technology and produce products that are both excellent inside and outside in the future.

However, the development of the core industry of automobile manufacturing cannot be achieved overnight. Only through continuous polishing in the market and long-term accumulation and preparation can a stable foundation be finally established. Xiaoyun's new 1.5T high-power powertrain is the best testimony to the continuous improvement of China's manufacturing technology strength.

In a few years, with more and more technology-based companies like BYD, I believe that China's automobile industry will eventually stand in the spotlight of the world stage and become the top representative of China's manufacturing industry together with China's home appliances and mobile phones.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.