The three parties jointly built the Tianjin Automobile Base, and Dong Mingzhu made every step carefully in car manufacturing

Although Gree's acquisition of Zhuhai Yinlong New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhuhai Yinlong") failed, it did not affect the new energy vehicle layout of Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric. After Dong Mingzhu personally invested in Zhuhai Yinlong in December last year, it was confirmed on February 7 that Gree Electric and Zhuhai Yinlong had reached a cooperation agreement with the Tianjin Municipal Government to jointly build an industrial base for smart appliances, smart equipment, new energy batteries and automobiles. This also means that after several twists and turns, Gree Electric is still on the same front line of "making cars" with Zhuhai Yinlong.

Jointly build an automobile base

On the evening of February 6, Tianjin Municipal Party Committee Secretary Li Hongzhong, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Mayor Wang Dongfeng, Gree Electric Appliances Chairman Dong Mingzhu, and Zhuhai Yinlong President Sun Guohua had in-depth discussions on accelerating project construction in Tianjin and reached a cooperation agreement.

Wang Dongfeng signed the strategic cooperation framework agreement between the municipal government and Gree Electric and Zhuhai Yinlong with Dong Mingzhu and Sun Guohua respectively. According to the agreement, Gree Electric and Zhuhai Yinlong will work together to build a nationally advanced intelligent electrical appliances, intelligent equipment, new energy batteries and automobile industry base. In addition, Jinghai District signed an investment cooperation agreement with Zhuhai Yinlong. This also confirms the previous statement that "Dong Mingzhu will definitely make new energy vehicles."

The cooperation between Gree and Tianjin is not sudden. As early as October last year, the media disclosed that Dong Mingzhu and her delegation went to Tianjin for inspection. The itinerary included meeting friends, discussing cooperation, project site selection, expert discussion, etc. It is worth noting that not only Gree Electric signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tianjin, but also brought Zhuhai Yinlong with it.

Dong Mingzhu has always been very optimistic about the market development prospects of new energy vehicles, and she has highly praised Zhuhai Yinlong's battery technology. She has praised it many times in public, "The service life is 30 years, it can be fully charged in 6 minutes, the high temperature is 60℃, and the low temperature is minus 50℃. It can maintain normal operation within this range, and Yinlong electric vehicles will not stall." Dong Mingzhu even firmly believes that Gree's acquisition of Zhuhai Yinlong can open up a new category with a scale of 100 billion yuan. In April 2016, Dong Mingzhu actively promoted Gree's acquisition of Zhuhai Yinlong, hoping to enter the new energy vehicle market. However, in the end, because the supporting fundraising proposal was not passed by the shareholders' meeting, Gree adjusted the acquisition plan, but the final adjusted plan was not approved by the shareholders' meeting of Zhuhai Yinlong, and the acquisition failed.

The failed acquisition did not dispel Dong Mingzhu's idea of ​​investing in new energy vehicles. In December last year, Dong Mingzhu, in her personal capacity, jointly signed a capital increase agreement with Zhuhai Yinlong with four companies including Dalian Wanda Group and CIMC Group's subsidiaries, increasing the capital by 3 billion yuan and acquiring 22.388% of Zhuhai Yinlong's equity.

Project of automobile air conditioning

Dong Mingzhu, who is both the chairman of Gree Electric and an investor of Zhuhai Yinlong, is a key figure in the new energy vehicle industrial base project. Industry observer Hong Shibin said that Gree and Zhuhai Yinlong are building an industrial base in Tianjin. Gree's core should be smart appliances and smart equipment, while the new energy battery and automobile industries should be mainly Zhuhai Yinlong. However, this cooperation may lay the groundwork for Gree's future layout in the new energy vehicle industry.

In addition to being optimistic about new energy vehicles, expanding the automotive air conditioning business is seen as another reason for Dong Mingzhu to deploy new energy vehicles. On the afternoon of February 4, at a symposium where the main leaders of the Zhuhai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government visited Gree Electric Appliances for research, Dong Mingzhu confirmed a new plan - Gree automotive air conditioning.

Dong Mingzhu announced that through cooperation with Zhuhai Yinlong, Gree Electric will officially enter the automotive air-conditioning field in 2017. Dong Mingzhu revealed that Gree's automotive air-conditioning has been developed for several years and the product is very good, but due to the closed nature of the automotive air-conditioning industry, Gree has not been able to find a good breakthrough. Zhuhai Yinlong's pure electric buses have entered dozens of cities across the country, and cooperation with Zhuhai Yinlong is an opportunity. "If Zhuhai Yinlong achieves sales of 30 billion yuan and produces 30,000 vehicles this year, it means we will sell 30,000 automotive air-conditioners."

Dong Mingzhu believes that with the cooperation case of Zhuhai Yinlong, the promotion of Gree automotive air conditioners across the country will be much smoother.

As for whether Gree's entry into the automotive air-conditioning field is related to its previous acquisition of Zhuhai Yinlong, a Beijing Business Daily reporter consulted the relevant person in charge of Gree Electric's marketing department, who said that "the specific situation is not yet known."

Liang Zhenpeng, an observer of the home appliance industry, believes that it is possible that Dong Mingzhu had already planned to promote the diversified development of Gree's automotive air-conditioning field through Zhuhai Yinlong. Gree itself has accumulated great advantages in the home air-conditioning market and is very professional. Automotive air-conditioning is a branch of the air-conditioning industry and belongs to a related industry. Compared with Gree's mobile phones, rice cookers and other businesses, entering the automotive air-conditioning industry has lower risks and is more likely to succeed. Although Gree's acquisition of Zhuhai Yinlong failed, Dong Mingzhu's personal investment can bring the two sides closer and make it easier to achieve cooperation in all aspects.

About Gree Future

Seeking new business development is related to the growth of Gree Electric Appliances. In 2012, when Gree's revenue exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time and joined the "100 billion yuan home appliance club", Dong Mingzhu proposed the goal of "rebuilding a Gree in five years", but it is difficult to support this goal by relying solely on the air-conditioning industry. Gree's financial report shows that Gree's total revenue in the first three quarters of 2016 was 82.429 billion yuan, which is far from the annual revenue target of 200 billion yuan.

Dong Mingzhu also implicitly admitted at the 2016 Gree Electric shareholders meeting that the air-conditioning market lacks room for growth. "Everyone has their own preferences and choices. Some people choose family ties, and for various reasons they will not buy Gree's brand. However, Gree has already achieved a market share of more than 40% in the air-conditioning field with its technology and integrity. There is not much room for further growth. Even gods can do nothing about it. We must expand."

Looking back at the development in recent years, Gree has expanded from focusing on household air conditioners to covering refrigerators, air purifiers, water purifiers, rice cookers, humidifiers, mobile phones and many other businesses. Although Gree has repeatedly emphasized that this is a natural extension based on technological development, industry experts believe that behind this is Gree's continuous search for new growth points.

Chen Biao, an analyst at BiDa Consulting, believes that Gree Electric's previous plan to acquire Zhuhai Yinlong may have been Dong Mingzhu's plan to kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand, it is optimistic about the development prospects of new energy vehicles, and on the other hand, it can promote the expansion of Gree's original industry and enter the field of automotive air conditioners. However, the automotive air conditioning business may not help Gree Electric's performance growth to a limited extent. On the one hand, the market size of automotive air conditioners is average. On the other hand, automotive air conditioners are different from household air conditioners. Consumers do not choose to buy, but automobile manufacturers choose suppliers. The market structure has long been formed. For Gree to enter the automotive air conditioning market, this is a big challenge.

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.