Text丨Peng Suping
Edit丨Su Jianxun
On December 28, Shijia Technology, a domestic air suspension solution provider, announced the completion of the Pre-A round of financing of tens of millions of yuan. This round of financing was led by Ivy Capital, followed by Fupu Investment, and Guangzhi Capital as the long-term exclusive financial advisor.
Shijia Technology was established in 2021 and is mainly committed to R&D, production and sales of core components, hardware and software, and system solutions for air suspension systems. According to Wu Weimin, the founder of Shijia Technology, this round of financing will be mainly used for the mass production of One-Box, China’s first wire-controlled suspension.
The car suspension is the connecting device between the car body and the wheels. Its main function is to transmit the torque between the two (such as support force, braking force and steering force) to reduce the impact of rough roads on the car body and ensure the comfort of the car. sex. Compared with traditional suspensions, air suspensions are more stable and smooth. After being widely used in foreign high-end passenger cars in the past ten years, they have gradually been installed on domestic models in recent years.
For example, NIO’s first mass-produced car, the ES8, is the first model among Chinese brands to be equipped with an air suspension. In addition, the L8 and G9 released by Lixiang Automobile and Xiaopeng Motors this year are also equipped or optional. Air suspension. According to public information, the first model of Xiaomi, with a price ceiling of around 300,000, will also be equipped with air suspension.
As an important aspect that affects the comfort of a car, air suspension is an integral part of defining a luxury car, and it has also become a weight for new power brands to stand out from the encirclement. It is not difficult to imagine that with the upgrading of smart electric vehicle competition, air suspension will become another point of competition after batteries, cockpit, and smart driving. According to market research data, the air suspension configuration rate in the Chinese market is only 2.1% in 2021, which is far lower than the 14.5% in the European and American markets. However, the industry predicts that the proportion in China will reach 15% in 2025.
In addition to the increase in demand for intelligence, Wu Weimin told 36 Krypton that another major basis for the accelerated landing of air suspension in China is: the acceleration of the localization process and the resulting cost reduction. According to reports, the earliest generation of air suspension in China has an average bicycle value of about 10,000-12,000 yuan, and with the localization and mass production of core components, he predicts that it will drop to 5,000-6,000 yuan in 2026. At that time, the air suspension The suspension is expected to be installed on models within 250,000 yuan.
Shijia Technology is one of the earliest companies in China to deploy air suspension. The core team comes from well-known domestic OEMs and international large-scale parts suppliers. It has the research and development of air suspension systems, integrated One-Box, and controllers. , production, marketing and management experience, Shijia R&D team has the successful mass production and landing experience of four well-known domestic models, and once led the first semi-active air suspension landing project in China.
Based on previous mass production experience, Shijia Technology also took the lead in launching the “eight-in-one” integrated One-Box product in the domestic market. One-Box integrates the core components of the air suspension such as the air compressor, solenoid valve, and controller, as well as the integrated software and hardware control technology with the advantages of Time Drive Technology. Through the integrated design, One-Box will reduce the cost of the system by thousands of yuan. In addition, the separation of software and hardware, and the flexible and open software and hardware interfaces will also better adapt to the new generation of electronic and electrical architecture.
Wu Weimin introduced that Shijia Technology’s One-Box product research and development is at the forefront of the country. It is currently conducting joint development and real vehicle verification with a global leading car company. It is expected to complete the acceptance by the end of December, and the production line has also been developed. It can be put into mass production in the first half of next year. This financing is mainly for the construction of an advanced automated production line with a production capacity of 500,000 for One-Box products, which is expected to be mass-produced and delivered next year.
Just like the software and hardware in other fields of vehicle control, integration and separation of software and hardware are the general trend. It is foreseeable that all players will make breakthroughs in this area. How long will Shijia’s leading position last? In Wu Weimin’s view, the real competitiveness of the manufacturing industry is the economy of scale and the continuous iteration capability of technology. In the short term, the biggest competitor of Shijia is time.
It should be pointed out that, as a new product under development, One-Box is the second generation product of Shijia Technology. In fact, Shijia Technology has launched the first-generation product with mass production level. This is a “two-in-one” controller product that integrates various air springs and semi-active vibration reduction products on the market. At present, it has obtained The mass production orders of 10 well-known domestic OEMs have also completed the construction of a production line with a production capacity of 500,000, and will be officially mass-produced and delivered in 2023.
Xue Yuliang, director of Ivy Capital, said: “Air suspension is an important part of increasing the incremental penetration rate of auto parts. 2023 will be the first year of domestic air suspension.”
Wu Weimin said that in the history of suspension development in the past 20 years, German suppliers have almost monopolized the global high-end suspension market, but the rapid development of electric vehicles in China, coupled with the inherent scale advantages of the Chinese market, has given local suppliers a rare A historic opportunity to replace domestically produced products and catch up with international suppliers – Shijia Technology hopes to be the leader among them.
Market size determines the number of players. He also said that by around 2025, there will be 6-7 suppliers in the air suspension field in China, and judging from the number of players in the current market, this is still a blue ocean track that is still in its early stages.
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related events
- Shijia Technology has completed tens of millions of Pre-A rounds of financing, and the domestic air suspension has accelerated to the ground2022-12-28
- Air suspension supplier “Konghui Technology” completed over 500 million yuan in round B financing2022-11-14
- Tesla CEO denies that Model 3 is equipped with air suspension2020-02-11
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