【 Auto parts 】 Recently, the 2023 global auto parts supporting suppliers list was released.

According to the latest list released by Automotive News, Bosch has won the title for the 12th consecutive year, while Denso, ZF and Magna remain in the top four. It is worth mentioning that Ningde Times surpassed Aisin Fine Machinery to enter the fifth place, becoming the first Chinese power battery company to enter the top five in history.

The remaining companies in the top 10 are: Hyundai Mobis maintained its position at No. 6; Aixin Precision Machinery slipped from fifth to seventh place; Freya dropped from seventh to eighth; Continental slipped one place to ninth. Lear remained at No. 10.

It is worth mentioning that there are 13 Chinese companies on the list this time, 3 more than the list in 2022. Of course, this is also the largest number of Chinese companies on the list in history.

Looking at the global parts ranking list, it can be seen that the structure of the parts industry is quietly changing. Emerging businesses are on the rise, while traditional businesses are on the decline. The proportion of high-tech businesses such as electrification, intelligence and networking in the automotive industry is increasing, and it is becoming an important engine for performance improvement.

Emerging businesses become new engines of growth

Since 2005, Automotive News has published the Top 100 Global auto Parts Suppliers list, which ranks the suppliers according to the operating revenue (sales) of their business in the supporting market of the automotive industry in the previous year. Therefore, the 2023 Top 100 list is judged on the performance of each supplier in 2022. In addition, some of the larger parts suppliers did not make the list, perhaps because they did not submit relevant data.

According to preliminary statistics, of the 100 enterprises on the list, a total of 81 enterprises have achieved year-on-year growth in supporting revenue in 2022, and 19 have declined to varying degrees. At the same time, the total revenue of the top ten suppliers in 2022 reached 348.35 billion US dollars, an increase of about 10.02% from 2021, and the overall increase of more than 10%, the growth volume is very impressive. Among them, suppliers with more than $40 billion in revenue in 2022 are Bosch, Denso and ZF.

Germany's Bosch Group retained the top spot with total revenue of $50.456 billion. It is worth mentioning that in addition to being surpassed by Denso in 2010, Bosch has been ranked first in the list for the rest of the year, and is truly the world's largest auto parts supplier.

The business of the Bosch Group is divided into four areas. In 2022, automotive and intelligent transportation technologies remained Bosch's largest business segment by sales, accounting for nearly 60% of group sales, with sales of driver assistance systems growing by more than 20% year-on-year. The changes in the market and technology environment brought about by interconnection, automation and electrification, as well as the growing importance of sustainable development, are the driving forces for the Group's growth in recent years and the years to come.

The Bosch Group is restructuring its automotive and intelligent transportation technology business to adapt to changing markets and customer needs. After the reorganization, the business will be renamed "Bosch Intelligent Transportation Business" and continue to be part of the Bosch Group. Bosch expects the restructured intelligent transportation business to achieve global sales of more than 80 billion euros by 2029.

Denso ranked second on the list, with annual ancillary revenue of $47.9 billion. Born out of Toyota Motor, Japan's Denso is one of the world's leading auto parts, and in recent years Denso has always occupied the runner-up position on the list. Denso is accelerating its electrification and intelligent transformation, and consolidating its leading advantage in the field of auto parts and automotive semiconductors.

In the context of electrification becoming an inevitable trend in the automotive industry, Denso and Toyota have determined the policy of integrating the electric vehicle parts business. In January 2022, Japan's Denso announced that it would transfer a series of businesses such as the development, production and sales of fuel pump products related to internal combustion engines to Aisan Industries, which is also affiliated with the Toyota department. Starting in 2022, Denso will be responsible for the mass production of electrification parts for all Toyota vehicles.

Zf was third on the list. Zf is one of the three largest transmission manufacturers in the world, and with the advent of electrification, ZF is constantly seeking transformation, seeking cooperation in areas with great growth potential and high investment requirements. In the first half of 2022 alone, ZF's Electric Drive Technologies division saw a 12% increase in sales, with new orders in its electric drive segment particularly impressive. It is reported that ZF needs to deliver passenger cars and commercial vehicle electric drive orders up to 23 billion euros by 2030.

Throughout the top 10, companies are constantly seeking opportunities in emerging areas to accelerate the transformation of electrification and intelligence. Continue to increase investment in cutting-edge technologies, and electrification and intelligent business will become a growth engine.

Magna, the fourth ranked "foundry emperor" in the automotive industry, takes electric as a breakthrough, strengthens cooperation with BAIC Blue Valley, provides the development and manufacturing of high-end intelligent pure electric vehicles for the Chinese market, and leads the transformation and upgrading of the automotive industry. It goes without saying that the new Ningde era, which entered the fifth place on the list, as one of the power battery giants, the overall revenue in 2022 increased by 122.22% year-on-year, showing double growth. The Furia Group, formed by the combination of Faurecia and Hella, has consistently captured key market trends such as electrification and energy management, safety and autonomous driving, and digital and sustainable cockpit experiences, and further internationalized its business.

German and Japanese companies are still in the lead

In the ranking, the top 20 parts companies are from Germany, Japan, the United States, South Korea, France and other countries. Among them: Bosch, Denso, ZF, Aixin precision, Continental Group, Sumitomo Electric, MAHle and Panasonic Automotive systems and other German-Japanese components group, accounting for half of the country.

It can be seen that in the era of intelligent electric power, the strength of German and Japanese parts companies is still strong.

Germany Continental Group in the automatic driving, intelligent network connection, shared travel and other high-tech layout earlier, accumulated quite deep. Continental's main business in the automotive parts system is focused on tires, body stability control systems, fuel injection systems, etc. In recent years, Continental has focused its attention on autonomous driving and connected vehicles.

In order to seize market share and enhance its competitiveness as soon as possible, Continental bought the Lidar business from ASC, acquired Israel's virtual security technology company Argus, and acquired Singapore's Quantum Inventions. Continental Group 2022 financial data show that the Continental auto sub-group orders last year increased by 26%, more than 23 billion euros, of which car cameras, radar and lidar and other products shipped about 35 million sets, after 2022 production of cutting-edge display solutions orders more than 7 billion euros.

As a Japanese parts supplier, Aixin Precision Machinery keeps pace with Japanese vehicle companies. In the field of automatic transmission in the dominant position of Aixin fine machine, still did not forget to find a new breakthrough in the era of electrification.

In June 2022, Eisin and its investment Tohoku Magnetic Materials Research Institute jointly developed an ultra-efficient motor using NANOMET, and presented the new motor prototype at the Automotive Engineering Expo 2023 in Yokohama in May this year. In August 2022, Aisin teamed up with an Israeli startup to develop a vehicle-mounted radar system, with plans to put the device on the market around 2025.

In addition, Aisin will invest $2.1 billion by 2025 to produce a new product line of electrified drivetrains and kinetic energy recovery systems. By 2025, Aisin hopes to expand the plant's footprint to support the production of 4.5 million electric drive units per year. These include E-axle for electric vehicles and electrified powertrains for hybrid vehicles, as well as regenerative braking systems and thermal management systems for various battery-powered vehicles.

German and Japanese parts companies enjoy a high reputation in the world, and in the top 100 global parts list in 2023, German and Japanese parts companies still occupy the core position. The development trend of German and Japanese parts companies has important reference significance for Chinese competitors. With their in-depth understanding of the law of the automobile industry, strong technical background, and strong capital accumulation, their multi-dimensional layout around technological innovation, new product development, capacity expansion, market reserve and so on deserves our great attention.

Chinese component companies are on the rise

Through the statistics of the list data in the past five years, we find that the number of Chinese enterprises entering the global Top 100 has gradually increased. There are seven Chinese companies on the 2019-2020 Top 100 list. In 2021, the number of Chinese enterprises on the Top 100 list increased to 8. China has 10 companies on the list in 2022. In the 2023 list, there are a historic breakthrough of 13 Chinese enterprises. Among them, there is one ranked fifth, and there are two companies in the top 20.

Among them, new Chinese companies on the list are Ningde Times, Junsheng Electronics, Ningbo Huaxiang Electronics and Jingcheng Engineering Automotive Systems Co., LTD. The nine Chinese companies that made the list last year - Yanfeng, Beijing Hainachuan, CITIC Decca, Johnson Electric, Minth Group, Noble Automotive Systems, Desay Siwei, Ningbo Topu Group and Anhui Zhongding Seals Co., Ltd. continue to make the list this year.

Ningde Times is also the only power battery supplier in the top 10 list. Thanks to the explosive growth of the new energy automobile industry, the power battery industry is more explosive, and the market size is also expanding rapidly. As a representative enterprise in the era of new energy vehicles, Ningde Times has been in a stage of rapid growth.

According to SNE Research statistics, in 2022, Ningde Era's global power battery usage market share is 37.0%, ranking first in the world; In 2022, the market share of global energy storage battery shipments was 43.4%, ranking first in the world.

In terms of technology, Ningde Times will release new technologies such as Kirin batteries and chocolate power exchange blocks in 2022. The Kirin battery is expected to be mass-produced in the first quarter of 2023. It is reported that the volume utilization rate of the Kirin battery exceeds 72%, the energy density can reach 255Wh/kg, and the vehicle can achieve a 1,000 km endurance, and the charge and discharge ratio can reach 4C at the fastest. In addition, the company is promoting the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries in 2023, and promoting the layout of battery technology such as M3P, condensed matter, cobalt-free batteries, all-solid-state batteries, and rare metal-free batteries.

Jingcheng Engineering Automotive System Co., Ltd. is the second listed parts enterprise under the banner of Great Wall Holding Group. The first company to make the list for two consecutive years is Noble Automobile. Seiko Automobile has four business segments: intelligent chassis, lightweight body, digital intelligent equipment and recycling resources.

With five major companies including Seiko Chassis, FeiG Technology, Greer Machinery, Seiko Punching and welding, and Seiko Die casting, Seiko Automotive has been deeply engaged in core components including intelligent suspension system, intelligent braking system, body in white system, intelligent equipment system, and lightweight magnesium aluminum die casting. Different from other enterprises, Seiko Auto has 29 production bases and 9 R&D centers in Germany, Thailand and other parts of the world, with the ability to develop and manufacture core automotive components, and by virtue of its products and global layout advantages, successfully ranked among the suppliers of many international automotive head enterprises.

Overall, the 13 Chinese enterprises shortlisted in the global Top 100 parts list, corporate revenue growth, continuous innovation driven, new energy vehicle sector income and profit growth accelerated, while the head enterprise technology iteration accelerated, industrial chain layout extension, is building a "moat". It can be seen that Chinese enterprises are gradually strengthening the strength of global competition, and are also changing the competitive pattern of global parts and components enterprises.