Weichai Power Cooperates with Italian VM Engine to "Strong Attack" Light Truck Engine

When Weichai Holdings CEO Sun Sun Shaojun made a speech at the business conference on December 7th, introducing Weichai Power to cover a full range of 2L-15L commercial vehicle engines, many people thought that Weichai entered the field of light truck engines. It was just a vision. . Unexpectedly, Sun Shaojun's voice just fell. Two days later, the mysterious partner of Weichai Power emerged. On December 9, the signing ceremony of the technology cooperation agreement between Weichai Power and the Italian VM Engine Company was held in Weifang.

What is even more interesting is that cooperation with VM is only a small step for Weichai to enter the field of light trucks . Before that, Weichai has already included a mainstream light diesel engine plant in China. According to the agreement, Weichai Power will introduce the world's leading VM engine production technology for its 10 multi-cylinder models. As a result, there are two possibilities. One is to put the VM engine production line into production at Weifang headquarters and use it to cut into high-end light commercial vehicles (mainly light trucks, of course, including light passengers, China buses and SUVs). Another possibility is to put the VM engine in the newly acquired domestic engine plant to increase the overall technical platform of the plant and maintain the cost-effective and supporting relationship of its original products.

What is it?

According to legend, the introduced VM engine has a displacement between 2.9L and 3.8L, which is basically the same as that of Foton Cummins' ISF engine, and is also a mid-to-high-end subdivision in the light-duty truck market (such as Jiangling, Shuai Ling, and Ou Ma Ke , Capstone, etc.) The gold displacement.

Several measures made by Weichai suddenly made the light truck engine market come into its own, and the competitive landscape is prominence.

In fact, many people are no strangers to VM engines. The company's parent company, VM Engines, is a well-known small diesel engine developer and manufacturer in Europe. It is a diesel engine supplier for Mercedes-Benz, Ford and other multinational companies such as light passenger vehicles and Van vehicles. Moreover, the VM engine has entered China in the first two years. Currently, the VM engine used on Jiangling Landwind SUV adopts the Bosch EFI high pressure common rail system, 4-valve double overhead camshaft and liquid tappet design. III and IV. However, it seems that the first engine introduced by VM in China has not yet been used in domestic light commercial vehicle products, and the light engine cooperating with Weichai will soon be applied to commercial vehicles.

why?

Weichai cooperated with VM and its product strategy is highly consistent. According to the planning of Tan Xuguang, the chairman of Weichai, Weichai will strive to become an enterprise group that annually produces and sells millions of engines in 3 to 5 years. However, relying solely on the current construction machinery, passenger cars and medium- and heavy-duty truck engine products is far from enough for one million targets. In a nutshell, to be the largest supplier of commercial vehicle powertrain systems, it is necessary to win the largest commercial vehicle market segment.

Ask the officer to ask who is the largest in the commercial vehicle market?

Natural light trucks. With the stimulation of the automobile to the countryside, the Chinese light truck market is expected to reach 1.5 million vehicles this year. However, from the Weichai product line of view, the lowest displacement of the product is 4 liters WP4 blue engine, although the power is suitable for Jianghuai Weiling, Dongfeng Duolika and other light truck products, but it is difficult to enter the light truck manufacturers have a relatively stable supporting market And it takes more time to develop a smaller engine. Instead, it is better to acquire a ready-made light engine plant that has a stable and supporting relationship but faces capital and technological bottlenecks, injects capital, technology, and talents to steadily increase its share of the medium-low-end light truck market; at the same time, it will introduce advanced foreign technologies. Enhance the basic R&D level of small-displacement engines and prepare for the future in the high-end light truck market.

Ever since, we have witnessed the official signing of Weichai-VM. The author "by the way" boldly conjectured that Weichai 's capital and technical strength + VM technology + the acquired plant's original products and the matching relationship between the OEMs may bring a real storm to the existing light truck engine architecture.