High-quality services drive industry forward

The 2023 China-German Automobile Conference held recently in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin province, once again brought a shining moment to the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone.

The conference created more opportunities for closer Sino-German cooperation in the industry and accelerated the high-quality development of Changchun's automobile industry.

The three-day event combined international and domestic industry trends, and was attended by heavyweight guests from enterprises, institutions, governments and industry clusters, with approximately 1,000 participants in all.

The participants discussed the global macro situation, disruptive industry trends and cooperation opportunities that are of common concern in the China-Germany automotive industry, shared their views on topics such as the transformation of vehicle enterprises, ecosystem construction and the innovation leadership of component enterprises, and explored the innovative development of fields such as new energy, intelligent connected vehicles, new retail, digitization and supply chains.

A total of 21 automotive industry projects were signed, with a total investment of some 25.02 billion yuan ($3.42 billion).

Wang Zilian, mayor of Changchun, said at the conference that China and Germany are comprehensive strategic partners, and the automobile industry is a benchmark for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. With the strong promotion of China-Germany cooperation, the Changchun automobile industry has entered the fast lane of high-quality development. Led by FAW Group, the integrated automobile industry cluster of vehicle manufacturing, parts and after-sales service is rapidly rising.

The China-Germany Automobile Conference has become the highest-level and most influential professional cooperation and exchange platform between the two leading automobile countries, attracting great attention from the global automotive industry, he added.

"We will increase government funding and investment to promote collaborative innovation among industry, academia, research and application. We will take the lead in layout for next-generation core technologies, accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, develop intelligent transportation and create a first-class development environment that supports the automotive industry," Wang said.

Liu Yan, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said that over the past few decades, the cooperation between China and Germany in the automotive field has played a significant role in promoting the economic development of both countries. Since Volkswagen first entered the Chinese market, the cooperation in the automotive field between China and Germany has been continuously advancing and China has become the largest global market for German automotive brands.

The deep cooperation between the Chinese automotive industry and German enterprises with complementary advantages has not only achieved win-win results for both sides, but also greatly promoted the overall development of the Chinese automotive industry.

Since the first conference was held in 2020, the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone has participated in organizing and hosting four consecutive annual conferences for the auto industry.

Over the past two years, the zone has continued to make efforts to bolster its industrial supporting facilities, provided element guarantees, promoted the integration of industry and city and project location and gradually built itself into internationally influential fertile ground for the development of the automotive industry.

In 2022, the GDP of the zone reached 101 billion yuan, surpassing the 100 billion yuan threshold for three consecutive years, and the output value of large-scale industries accounted for 51.7 percent of Changchun's total.

It ranked first in the evaluation of development zones in the province and 27th among 217 national-level development zones in the country, a significant leap of 65 places. The zone has been listed as a national innovation demonstration zone for promoting the import trade, a national ecological industry demonstration park and a national emerging industry demonstration base. It is also the cultural tourism base of China FAW Group and the only national industrial tourism demonstration base in the province.

As the base of China FAW Group, the zone has built a solid foundation for the automotive industry and a relatively complete industrial chain system, and established a new pattern of industrial development driven by multiple clusters.

It is home to more than 400 component enterprises, various specialized automotive component industrial parks, a strong supporting system of international premium and domestic independent brands, and major aftermarket platforms such as auto trade areas and Huagang Used Car Market. Relying on this solid industry foundation, the zone has attracted various resources and a number of major projects such as the FAW Hongqi new energy vehicle factory with an investment of 7.9 billion yuan, Jilin Linglong Tire with an investment of 5.89 billion yuan, and the intelligent transformation project of Hongqi Factory.

FAW-VW's new energy power battery project is about to be completed and put into operation.

By 2025, China FAW will achieve an annual vehicle sales volume exceeding 6 million units, and the zone will become a world-class intelligent manufacturing production base with an output value exceeding 1 trillion yuan.

In the first half of this year, the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone introduced 266 projects with a total investment of more than 50 million yuan each, signed contracts for 16 projects, started construction on 19 projects, and put five projects into operation.

German automotive supplies manufacturer Webasto has based its vehicle roof systems in Changchun for 21 years.

"The Changchun auto zone has assigned dedicated service personnel to our company, providing one-on-one services and responding to our needs promptly. We are informed of relevant policies regarding talent, financing and other aspects at the provincial, city and district levels. These series of measures have made us feel more secure, honored and a stronger sense of belonging," an executive from the company said.

Over the years, service quality has always been a hallmark of the zone. It has continuously promoted the transformation of functions, reduced the various time limits for window handling and project approval, and minimized direct government intervention in business entities.

It has also boosted cooperation between enterprises in the automotive industry chain and mainframe manufacturers within the zone, facilitated innovation and integration among large, medium and small enterprises, and implemented a variety of beneficial measures for more than 5,300 companies, such as achieving a tax deduction and refund of 2.7 billion yuan, coordinating loans of 4.4 billion yuan, and disbursing rental and utilities subsidies of 8.41 million yuan.

Key mission

In 2022, China FAW Group achieved an output value of 390 billion yuan, accounting for 41.1 percent of Changchun's industrial output; the city's automotive industry achieved an output value of 518.9 billion yuan, accounting for 65.2 percent of the city's industrial output.

The Changchun automotive zone adheres to the mission of serving FAW and focuses on meeting the innovation and development needs of FAW. It deepens reform, reconstructs the project service system and strives to promote the realization of the strategic goals of complete vehicles, auto parts and automotive services.

In recent years, the zone has fully leveraged its functions to attract talents and promote regional innovation, development and vitalization breakthroughs.

Building a platform for cooperation and exchange among government, universities, research institutes and enterprises, the zone has signed strategic cooperation agreements with six universities in Changchun, including Jilin University and Changchun University of Science and Technology, to jointly build talent training bases.

The Automobile Enterprise Technology Demand Challenge has been held for four sessions, assisting enterprises in solving more than 30 technical innovation issues.

wangjinhui@chinadaily.com