[car home Industry] (|), a model that stopped production for more than two years and was gradually forgotten by the market, has delivered over 610,000 vehicles in the past three years from its listing in July 2015 to its withdrawal from the historical stage in April 2018. However, 19,680 vehicles with 6-speed DCT gearboxes have been repeatedly complained by users due to quality defects, which has become a hard stone for SAIC-GM-Wuling. Today, this stone has been moved to CCTV’s "March 15th Party" in 2020. This endless complaint incident no longer reflects the problem of a certain car company, and there is a deeper "cause" behind it …
■ Special policies to protect users’ interests should be introduced as soon as possible.
"It’s quite unexpected to be exposed again." "Wuling used to be a cost-effective company and always wanted to seek a breakthrough." "They all follow the process, and maybe the technology is not good." When communicating with many industry experts, we got such a reply, including the relevant R&D personnel of SAIC-GM-Wuling.
Baojun is the first time to board the "3.15 party", but the 6DCT problem about Baojun 560 is not the first time to be exposed by the media. In more than a year after the production of this model was stopped, many local media and TV stations have reported on this matter. Baojun officials are also very concerned, and on June 5, 2019, 19,680 models of 2017 Baojun 560 DCT were recalled because of the calibration problem of engine control module (ECU) software. Baojun upgraded the ECU software for users free of charge and replaced the gearbox clutch damping module.
"Baojun 560 2017 1.5T DCT flagship model"
The calibration matching of power and transmission system is the problem. It is reported that these cars use a 6-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox code-named DCT360, using pre-engagement technology and dual-clutch adaptive control technology from Borgwarner. Although Baojun engineers have made great efforts on the shifting logic of the transmission, the vehicle still has problems. There are also 20,406 2018 Baojun 530 DCT models and 12,252 2017 Baojun 730 DCT models with the same problem, all of which have been recalled.
Generally speaking, the vehicles that have been recalled have determined the solution to the problem. However, in this CCTV report, after the manufacturer recalled Baojun 560 for maintenance, some car owners reported that the problem had not been cured. According to the latest statement of SAIC-GM-Wuling, "a special investigation team has been set up to be responsible for the product quality problems encountered by users at all costs". According to the feedback from some users, at present, manufacturers still register and maintain according to the recall process, and there is no new unified solution.
Automatic gearbox and power matching work is not a simple matter, which is also the development difficulty of the whole domestic automobile industry. However, it is unexpected that many related problems appear after the new car goes on the market, and it can not be solved quickly in a short time. It is reported that a large-scale recall will cost hundreds of millions of yuan or even more than 1 billion yuan, and the recall processing will take several months or even longer.
During the exchange, some people in the industry suggested that SAIC-GM-Wuling should introduce an appropriate extended warranty policy according to users’ demands, and provide an excellent policy for Baojun 560 DCT owners to replace other Baojun models, in view of the huge operating pressure of the current automobile industry and the main factors such as the long-term suspension of production of Baojun 560 and the lack of 6DCT market position and its replacement by new products. At the same time, the problem of engine control module software calibration encountered by this car is discussed as a long-term research topic to avoid similar problems from happening again in new models.
■ Expose the deep problems of the two industries.
The 6DCT problem of Baojun 560 is exposed again, which also reflects two deeper problems, and this is not a matter of SAIC-GM-Wuling, but the deep "cause" of the whole China automobile industry.
First, the supervision of automobile recall needs to be tightened, and public supervision should be strengthened.
"No recall notice was received!" "How many old cars can be recalled smoothly?" "Will the recall definitely solve the hidden danger?" Similar user questions are common in previous car recalls. This time, the public is still not clear about the overall recall progress and maintenance effect evaluation of nearly 20,000 Baojun 560 vehicles, which has led to the continuous amplification of cases such as "adverse recall and maintenance".
According to the implementation measures of the regulations on the recall management of defective automobile products, "producers shall submit a recall periodic report to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine every three months from the date of implementation of the recall. If AQSIQ has special requirements, the producer shall submit them as required. The producer shall submit a recall summary report to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine within 15 working days after completing the recall plan. " However, reports like this are almost never made public, and the media rarely follow them up.
An anonymous senior supplier of automobile gearbox parts believes that "the recall will make car companies and suppliers pay a huge price. Some serious recalls can lead to huge losses of enterprises. The state has supervision over the recall progress, but it still cannot completely rule out the possibility of the recall subject exploiting legal loopholes." Whether the state needs to further introduce stricter policies on recall supervision and strengthen public supervision is worth exploring in the industry.
Ye Shengji, chief engineer and deputy secretary-general of China Automobile Industry Association, told car home that some car companies voluntarily recalled, but if the companies failed to fulfill this responsibility and evade the recall, the regulatory authorities would intervene, and if the recall measures could not effectively eliminate the product defects, the producers would be required to carry out the recall again or take other corresponding remedial measures.
Second, the research and development, production and assembly adjustment of automatic gearbox are still industrial problems.
In recent ten years, the domestic automobile industry has been in a weak position in the field of automatic transmission for a long time. Not only local enterprises, but also joint ventures have many problems in cost control and matching research and development of automatic transmission products for low-end models. Obviously, the problem of Baojun 560 is not a case in the field of automatic transmission. SAIC-GM-Wuling, as a joint venture with SAIC and GM as the main shareholders, has perfect upstream industry supply capacity. The key components of Baojun 560 are from well-known suppliers at home and abroad, including Nexter’s EPS, Autoliv’s ESC, Aisin’s manual gearbox, Baosteel’s vehicle steel, one-button start and keyless entry in mainland China, and United Electronics’ body control module assembly.
On July 18th, 2015, Baojun 560, the first "big household SUV" of SAIC-GM-Wuling, was officially launched. The configuration of all manual gears and the top price of less than 90,000 made this SUV quickly open to the market, and once rushed to the second place in the sales list of compact SUVs, but Baojun needed to break through to the high end. In 2016, Baojun first tried the 5-speed AMT gearbox from Aisin. Unfortunately, 12,485 2016 Baojun 560 AMT models were recalled due to poor contact of the terminal of the gearbox sensor harness connector. On the other hand, DCT360 developed by SAIC Transmission and Borg Warner began to be matched with Baojun 560, but in the end it could not escape the fate of recall.
Nowadays, Baojun brand has taken the CVT gearbox which can simulate 8 gears as the main automatic transmission configuration. In fact, the DCT360 and DCT250 of SAIC Transmission are products developed and promoted in the early stage. This year, SAIC Transmission has launched a new generation of wet medium-torque dual-clutch gearbox DCT280, which matches many new cars of Roewe and MG.
Looking back at the whole automobile industry, the local automatic transmission enterprises have been in the process of following and exploring. Although domestic enterprises such as SAIC Transmission, Sheng Rui Transmission, Honeycomb Yichuang, Wan Liyang and Dongan Automobile Development have made breakthroughs in DCT, CVT and AT automatic transmission, the local supply capacity of the upstream components of the industry is only 21%, mostly housings and synchronizers, while key components such as CVT steel belt, dual clutch module and ECU control module are still occupied by foreign companies. There is also a big gap in the experience and accumulation of domestic enterprises in vehicle powertrain integration.
Xu Xiangyang, executive deputy director of the National Passenger Car Automatic Transmission Engineering Technology Research Center, said in an interview with the media that many domestic vehicle companies do not have automatic gearbox matching and calibration technology, and the matching and calibration of automatic gearboxes are mostly dominated by suppliers, so the level of transmission companies largely determines the quality level of automatic gearboxes on the whole vehicle. Vehicle companies may not have their own independent automatic transmission suppliers, but they must have corresponding matching and calibration technologies, core control strategies and quality control capabilities for suppliers, so as to avoid similar problems from happening again.
Editor’s comments:
When Baojun 560 officially stopped production, there were a lot of doubts in the industry, and of course there were regrets, but the rapidly changing market forced Baojun to make this decision as soon as possible. In 2017, compared with competing products Chuanqi GS4 and Haval H6, Baojun 560 was difficult to make new breakthroughs in terms of sales volume and technical advantages, so Baojun 530 became an alternative model.
This incident is a huge product crisis that Baojun brand has to deal with, and it is a brand crisis that needs the management of the enterprise to actively respond to the whole line of sales and after-sales. Regardless of whether the car has been discontinued, car companies should raise the interests of consumers to a new height. What is the core of brand power? The recognition of consumers is the basis for the sustainable development of enterprises. If a solid user base is not established, how can we save users only by upgrading products? If you are the owner of Baojun 560 DCT, how do you want to communicate with the enterprise? What kind of compensation do you want? Let’s leave a message! (Text/car home Liu Honglong)