| Along with the steady growth of its national economy, China is now a most dynamic place in the world automotive market. More global automotive manufacturers build up joint ventures with Chinese companies, accelerating the internationalization of the local market as a result. In China, the automotive industry is experiencing a challenge it has never had so far. Without proprietary R&D capabilities, Chinese automotive makers wouldn't be able to survive and develop as independent entities in the fierce competition in future, but would degenerate instead into processing factories for multinational companies or even be kicked out of the market. Therefore, the issue of how Chinese automotive companies can acquire more expertise on R&D and what kind of R&D system suits them best has been widely discussed.By analyzing the R&D pattern of foreign and domestic automotive manufacturers, two patterns - learning technology and technical innovation - will be explained in the following pages in terms of their specific connotations and the supporting systems required. The R&D pattern and development direction that best suit Chinese automotive companies will be studied, and strategies on how to implement such a pattern will also be suggested.The study on Daimler-Benz, Toyota, and Hyundai shows that world leading motor companies all have their R&D systems to support technical innovation. Such systems can be summarized as the following: l.More than 10,000 researchers and developers in those big companies; huge financial support for new product development; powerful research centers or labs to constantly strengthen corporate technological force and to expand technical reserves. 2. They open research centersby way of direct investment overseas for local development and local production to meet local requirements; meanwhile they make very good use of local research resources. 3. When learning new technology, they start by digesting, absorbing and imitating in order that the new technology can be applied to production very soon. After that, they will gradually transit to focusing on technical renovation, improvement and innovation. 4. Very powerful product development and very fast product update.Analysis of their product development institutes and workflow shows: 1. The R&D systems of leading motor companies can be divided into several layers including basic theories and technology research, application technology research, design and trial production of new models, development of automotive accessories, etc. 2. Large overseas motor companies all have these three departments, i.e., Engine Department, Bodywork Department, and Chassis Department. They also focus on manufacturing techniques and materials. Research and product development are very important parts of the company structure and integrated with the company management. 3. Product development includes four major stages, i.e., concept development, product planning, product design and process design. The actual development can be in any of the following patterns: project team, platform strategy, joint development, and synchronized engineering. 4. The development is financed according to how it is operated. Financing for original and independent development (advanced technical innovation) can exceed 10 billion RMB. The batch production volume of each kind of platform of independent development is about one million units.Through the analysis of Chinese automotive manufacturers, we can see that large domestic companies have set a goal for a complete R&D system. They work hard to accumulate basic human resources, technology resources and research facilities.They also pay attention to approaches and systems in order to acquire capabilities for sustainable development. Through efforts in cooperation and independent development, they have now accumulated considerable resources. Breakthroughs have been made in such areas as whole commercial vehicle development, engine and other key assemblies, passenger vehicle bodywork development and whole vehicle matching, and mixed power. In addition, platform development capability is also in quite good shape. Some companies have developed proprietary products through joint development, borrowed-platform development and other development patterns with their research capabilities growing in the process of digesting and absorbing new technologies.But generally speaking, compared with advanced foreign counterparts, Chinese motor companies are lagging behind in terms of product research and development procedures, systems, investments, platforms and parts research and development.Today, the growing car market provides a great opportunity for Chinese companies to engage in independent research and development. China's auto industry used the first 5 million capacity (in 2004 car sales volume in China exceeded 5 million) to build a presentable domestic automotive part production system through development of home-made parts. Now, Chinese parts production can support the development of home brands like Red Flag, Xiali, Chery, and Hafei. We will use the next 5 million increment to develop our R&D power. The market is now ready in both size and space for Chinese R&D.First, we must take the opportunity of R&D internationalization to seek cooperation and independent development in order to arrive at a technologically creative R&D pattern. In the recent years, Chinese automotive market is growing very dramatically. International companies are attracted and come to China forcooperation or even set up their own manufacturing bases in China. As the competition gets intensified in Chinese automotive market, those international companies have already introduced the latest models and technologies over here in order to gain more customers. Meanwhile, they are building R&D bases and increasing R&D investment in China. On the other hand, the core technology in making a car is largely a mature technology. The trend of R&D internationalization has made automotive technology, especially the design technology, an independent part of the professional system of division of work as well as a tradable product of competition in the market. We must take this opportunity to introduce the latest technology into our company through joint investment, cooperation, joint development, entrusted development, etc. Learning and introducing latest technology form international companies can reduce the development procedure and save time so that we can accomplish a leap forward in technical development and narrow up the gap with international car manufacturers.In addition, we must accelerate the reforms on systems and mechanisms to improve the system capabilities. The First Production Power (which is science and technology) needs to be activated through mechanism reforms. Research personnel should be regarded as important human resources and people-focused management must be applied; latest independent R&D management systems in foreign countries must be introduced, and projects should be independently managed so that the best would be drawn from the project staff; advanced foreign management patterns for product development should be applied to set up a system for innovation jointly supported by market, technical research, design and production; cooperation between industry, university, and research institute must be continued to promote technical improvement through synergy; increase R&D investment, and to accumulate resources in technology, facilities, equipment and talent.
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