Dialog | Ein neues Paradigma für die Globalisierung chinesischer Technologie-Marken

Currently, Chinese technology brands are writing a new business narrative in the global market. The globalization of brands is no longer just the expansion of the market, but the global reordering of technological paradigms and business ecosystems. As the first Chinese new force in the electric truck industry to achieve mass production and delivery, DeepWay, a company invested in by Qiming Venture Partners, is conducting global market explorations. At the Spring New Product Press Conference last May, DeepWay announced that it had signed order contracts with several domestic and international companies and had received a total of 2,273 orders for new electric truck models.

At the 16th RMB Fund Annual Meeting and Investor Gathering of Qiming Venture Partners, Zhou Zhifeng, the leading partner of Qiming Venture Partners, had a conversation with Wan Jun, the Chairman and CEO of DeepWay, on the topic of "The New Paradigm of the Globalization of Chinese Technology Brands." Wan Jun introduced the opportunity for the establishment of DeepWay, the three core strategies, and the market reaction. He also analyzed traditional overseas strategies and shared his thoughts on DeepWay's innovative overseas business model.

Zhou Zhifeng, leading partner of Qiming Venture Partners (left) and Wan Jun, Chairman and CEO of DeepWay (right)

When mentioning the thousands of orders that DeepWay had received in a short period of time, Wan Jun said that this was due to the strong support of the company's three core strategies: The self - development of core components not only ensures the technological superiority and reliability of the products, but also shapes a corporate culture of initiative and innovation; adhering to the international orientation with the goal of achieving 60% of the revenue from overseas by 2030; adhering to the intelligent orientation.

In the context of the topic of the efficient development of the Chinese manufacturing industry, Zhou Zhifeng cited DeepWay as an example and introduced the outstanding performance of the company invested in by Qiming Venture Partners, which delivered thousands of vehicles in a short period of time. At the same time, he also shared the current main overseas business models of Chinese companies. These include direct export, where the finished product is directly brought to the overseas market after the entire production chain in China is completed; the outsourcing model, where the final assembly is done by overseas contract manufacturers and then sold worldwide under its own brand name; the local operation model, where assembly plants are built in the target markets and even independent brands are used according to local needs to achieve the entire process adaptation to the local situation from production to marketing.

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Pay attention to industry problems

Combine technical solutions and social support

Zhou Zhifeng: During our recent business trip to the United States, we talked with local investment institutions and often cited DeepWay as an example when we talked about the "Chinese speed". Tesla is currently the leader among American companies that combine production and technology. The company also has an electric truck called Semi, which was introduced in November 2017. More than seven years later, only over 200 vehicles have been delivered to date.

Wan Jun: We introduced our concept vehicle on September 17, 2021.

Zhou Zhifeng: When we invested in DeepWay in 2022, it was still a "PPT vehicle manufacturer". But in the third quarter of the year before last, we started mass production and delivery. Last year, thousands of vehicles were delivered, and this year we have set even more ambitious goals. We told many American investors that this was the Chinese speed. Mr. Wan was also the founder of the largest logistics service finance platform in China before. What was the reason that made you decide to establish DeepWay? Please share this with us first.

Wan Jun: This is actually a typical story of someone who is not satisfied with the quality of the meat they buy and decides to raise pigs themselves.

I once founded a company called Lionbridge Group. It is the largest truck finance company and the largest long - distance logistics company in China. Maybe many of you are my customers. Most consumers know the "last mile" of transportation when the courier delivers the shopping cart after an online purchase. But the previous long - distance transportation route of thousands of kilometers is also part of our services. One in every ten packages in China is transported by our long - distance logistics company. We were also the owner of the largest long - distance logistics fleet in China. While using the vehicles in the fleet, we found that there were many problems with the vehicles, such as insecurity, low efficiency, unfriendliness to drivers, and lack of intelligence.

Are there new technologies in the new intelligent era that can solve these problems? We are very lucky to live in such an era. We can solve cost problems through electric vehicle technology, safety problems through AI or driver assistance technology, and operation management problems through Internet technology. Together with the national and social policy measures that promote energy conservation and emission reduction in the freight transportation industry, we have the opportunity to solve these problems.

Since we have recognized the market problems, have technical solutions, and received national and social support, we have decided to devote ourselves to the research and development of electric trucks.

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Three core strategies

Zhou Zhifeng: We recently held a press conference where we not only introduced new products but also announced our overseas strategy. The theme of this forum is "The New Paradigm of the Globalization of Chinese Technology Brands". Let's talk about the current situation of the company, including the press conference and the overseas business strategy.

Wan Jun: Everyone here is an indirect shareholder of our company. Qiming Venture Partners led the Series A round and also invested in the Series A+ round, thus becoming a very important shareholder. I would like to tell you that we held a press conference on May 8th, which had two key points:

First, the results of the self - development of the electric vehicle system, that is, the core components in the vehicle: battery, electric motor, and electronic control.

Second, the introduction of a new vehicle with the self - developed electric vehicle system.

Before the press conference, we had two weeks for market test sales. The numbers were very encouraging. We received 1,403 orders (domestic) for our product in these two weeks. This may be a small number for passenger cars, but the best - selling electric truck last year was XCMG with an annual sales volume of over 9,800 vehicles. In comparison, this is a rather large number. Even better, many customers asked to extend the special offers. So we announced at the press conference that some special offers would be extended by one week.

In addition, we received over 800 orders from overseas. We have only been active in the overseas market for less than half a year, and we are very happy to receive so many orders in such a short period of time. What makes me even happier is not the numbers themselves, but the core driving forces behind these numbers. Our three core strategies or tactics have played a very important role.

First, the self - development of the core components of the electric vehicle system. In the past, Chinese automobile manufacturers did not engage in self - development. They thought that the role of suppliers was to provide components, while automobile manufacturers should be responsible for final assembly, coordination, calibration, brand building, and marketing. The development of core components was outsourced to others. We believe that in the new era, the development of core components must be firmly in our own hands, and the proportion should be 50%. Since the truck is a means of production, energy consumption is the most important indicator. Energy consumption depends highly on the coordination of the electric vehicle system. Without an own and controllable electric vehicle system, it is difficult to define a first - class vehicle.

In view of these considerations, we decided to self - develop the electric vehicle system. In this process, Qiming Venture Partners has given us a lot of support. I think this decision lays a very important foundation for the next few years and decades. It is not only the technological superiority and reliability of the products, but also the establishment of a corporate culture in which we try to develop and innovate independently as much as possible.

Second, we adhere to the international orientation. I would like to tell you an important goal announced at this press conference: We hope that by 2030, 60% of DeepWay's revenue will come from overseas.

Third, we adhere to the intelligent orientation. All our trucks are standard - equipped with an L2 combined driver assistance system. Although the L2++ system is already a common feature in the passenger car industry, imagine how difficult it is to control a truck with a total weight of 49 tons and a 17 - meter long trailer at a speed of 100 km/h and realize driver assistance functions at the same time.

This driver assistance system can largely relieve the driver from hand, foot, and eye control on the highway. So far, DeepWay has completed a total of more than 1.6 million kilometers of L2 test drives without risk and without driver takeover, which shows that this vehicle has reached a very high level of driver assistance.

The self - development of core components, the overseas orientation, and the intelligence are the three strategies we have implemented. I think this is the fundamental support for our good sales figures.

This support is more important than DeepWay's sales figures themselves.

Zhou Zhifeng: Last year, we were not the market leader in terms of the total number of mass production and delivery. What does "total number" mean?

Wan Jun: DeepWay has the label "Forward Design". This means that we break the technological boundaries and limitations of traditional vehicles. We design the vehicle from the first principle, that is, we design it from the ground up for electric drive, instead of converting an existing gasoline vehicle into an electric vehicle. This is a completely different way of thinking.

Second, according to the principle of "target - oriented", this vehicle will be able to drive autonomously in the future. Therefore, we must build a chassis today that is numerically controlled, has hardware and software redundancies, and achieves a high degree of functional safety. The truck product exhibited outside the venue today was manufactured and delivered according to this concept. Apart from Tesla's Semi, we are the only manufacturer of electric trucks with Forward Design that mass - produces and delivers. In terms of delivery volume, we are far ahead of Tesla's Semi. In China, most established automobile manufacturers mainly convert gasoline vehicles into electric vehicles. In essence, these are gasoline vehicles, which are only transitional products and not electric vehicles with Forward Design. Moreover, their product lines include not only tractor - trailers but also concrete mixers and other vehicles. We only produce tractor - trailers.

Since the tractor - trailer is the "crown jewel" in the truck industry, if we do a good job in tractor - trailers, we can regard the development of other vehicle types as a "one - dimensional blow". Our engineers confidently say: "Give me three months, and I can design any other type of truck you want." The above - mentioned total number refers to the mass production and delivery data of all vehicle types and channels. Many companies produce and sell multiple vehicle types, while we only have tractor - trailers. If we only focus on the tractor - trailer segment market, we would rank higher in the industry list.

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Think from a higher perspective

Think about innovative overseas business models

Zhou Zhifeng: Let's talk about the overseas business. China is a very large market with a vast territory. The logistics and e - commerce industries are also leading in the world. Why does DeepWay want to actively go overseas? What is the plan? Which countries and regions will be prioritized?

Wan Jun: Overseas business is one of the most important topics in the electric vehicle industry. If you don't think about overseas business, you may not have a particularly rosy future. But the overseas business of electric vehicles is associated with great challenges. Our traditional markets are, for example, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Australia and New Zealand do not levy tariffs on Chinese passenger cars, including electric trucks. In Southeast Asia, it needs to be differentiated. For example, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines levy about 5% tariffs, which is still very favorable. Indonesia also levies 5%, but it basically does not allow imports of non - domestic...