A total of 6 Chinese companies are on the list this time, namely: Yanfeng, Beijing Hainachuan, CITIC Dicastal, Johnson Electric, Wuling Industrial and Minth Group. Among them, Yanfeng ranked 16th. Looking at the top companies, we can see that the automotive industry's electrification, intelligence, and networking are taking up an increasing proportion of the supplier's business, which also contributes to their performance growth.

Recently, the list of the top 100 auto parts supporting suppliers in 2018 was released. According to the new list released by "Automotive News", Bosch has been ranked for eight consecutive years, Denso jumped to runner-up, and Magna still ranked third. A total of 6 Chinese companies are on the list this time, namely: Yanfeng, Beijing Hainachuan, CITIC Dicastal, Johnson Electric, Wuling Industrial and Minth Group. Among them, Yanfeng ranked 16th. Looking at the top companies, we can see that the automotive industry's electrification, intelligence, and networking are taking up an increasing proportion of the supplier's business, which also contributes to their performance growth.

The future of technology

"Automotive News" has released the top 100 auto parts suppliers list since 2005, ranking according to the operating income (sales) provided by the suppliers in the supporting market of the auto industry in the previous year. Therefore, the evaluation criteria for the top 100 list in 2018 is the performance of each supplier in 2017. Among the 100 companies on the list, 84 companies achieved year-on-year growth in supporting revenue in 2017, and 16 companies experienced varying degrees of decline.

According to statistics, the total revenue of the top ten suppliers in 2017 reached 315.44 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of about 8 compared with 2016. Although the increase is not particularly large, it is also considerable. Among them, the only suppliers with revenue of more than 40 billion US dollars are Bosch and Denso.

The German Bosch Group is firmly on the throne with 47.5 billion USD. In fact, in the 14 lists that have been released, apart from being surpassed by Denso in 2010, Bosch has always been on the list in other years, and it is a well-deserved major component supplier. Bosch established an artificial intelligence center last year to study artificial intelligence technology and work with Daimler to develop software and algorithms for autonomous driving systems. The goal is to launch L4 and L5 fully autonomous driving systems suitable for urban roads in 2020.

At the same time, Bosch integrated its traditional power division and sold its SG holding company, which is mainly engaged in starter and generator business, to the Chinese company Zhengmei Machinery. Bosch has also made great progress in the field of electrification, and its 48V light-hybrid system can be quickly integrated into new models. "Bosch is accelerating the development of electric transportation. We have received a considerable number of orders in the past year, some of which even reached billions of euros." Bosch Group Chairman Volkmar Dunner said. Aiming at China's large electric vehicle market, Bosch and Weichai Power are cooperating on pilot projects to jointly develop truck fuel cells. At the Internet of Things Conference in February this year, Bosch announced the establishment of a new connected mobile service department, focusing on shared travel and intelligent connected services.

Denso is the second company with supporting revenue exceeding US$40 billion, reaching US$40.782 billion. Compared with Bosch, Denso's position on the list has been ups and downs. For example, Denso ranked fourth in the 2015 list, rose to second in 2016, fell to fourth in 2017, and returned to second in 2018. Under the background that electrification has become an inevitable trend in the automotive industry, in September last year, Toyota, Mazda and Denso signed an agreement to cooperate in the development of electric vehicle-related technologies, and decided to establish a new company for this purpose. The new company is mainly engaged in the research and development of technologies related to the basic structure of electric vehicles covering all levels and models. At the beginning of June of this year, Denso and Toyota determined the policy of integrating electric vehicle parts business. Starting in 2022, Denso will be responsible for the mass production of electrified parts for all Toyota vehicles. Denso plans to occupy 30 market shares in electric systems such as transformers and engines by 2025.

Magna ranked third. As the "foundry emperor" of the automotive industry, Magna has just partnered with BAIC New Energy. The two parties plan to establish two joint ventures: an engineering development joint venture and a manufacturing joint venture to provide the Chinese market with the development and manufacturing of high-end smart pure electric vehicles. In May of this year, Magna announced an additional investment of US$300 million by 2020 to further develop the field of electrification and autonomous driving.

The eighth-ranked American parts company Lear has made a lot of moves recently. By acquiring companies such as Israeli GPS developer EXOTechnologies, Lear has further penetrated into the field of advanced electronic products. As Lear's core business, the car seat market is highly competitive. Lear hopes to make the seat part of the car's intelligent system, so that it can predict traffic conditions and provide personalized cockpit space for future vehicles.

In addition, in recent years, technological innovation, strategic adjustments, and high-level changes within the company have greatly changed the pattern of the supplier field. Mergers and acquisitions and splits have even changed the "identities" and names of several companies. For example, Adient, ranked 11th, was spun off from Johnson Controls in October 2016, focusing on the seat business, and established a joint venture with Boeing to establish Adient Aerospace to enter the aircraft seat field. Delphi announced last year that it would split into two companies, namely Anbofu and Delphi Technology. Among them, Anbofu ranked 21st in this list, focusing mainly on autonomous driving, while focusing on big data, in-vehicle entertainment information services and car interconnection.

German Japanese

In the ranking, the 4th to 15th places are: Continental, ZF, Aisin Seiki, Hyundai Mobis, Lear, Valeo, Faurecia, Adient, Yazaki, Panasonic Automotive Systems , Sumitomo Electric and Mahler. It can be seen that German and Japanese parts companies are stronger.

Continental and ZF are both well-known parts giants. In the high-tech fields such as autonomous driving, shared travel, and intelligent network connection, Continental has an early layout and has accumulated quite a lot. Last year, Continental announced that it would invest 300 million euros in electric vehicle technology research and development by 2021. At the 2018 Asian Consumer Electronics Show held in mid-June this year, Continental Group demonstrated a series of electric vehicles and autonomous driving solutions. For example, Continental has developed the "All-ChargeTM Universal Charge" charging system. Electric vehicles equipped with this system can be charged with all types of charging stations.

In order to seize market share and enhance its competitiveness as soon as possible, Continental bought the lidar business from ASC, acquired the Israeli virtual security technology company Argus, acquired Singapore’s Quantum, and cooperated with high-tech companies such as Huawei, China Telecom, Baidu and HERE. Cooperation to deploy autonomous driving business in advance.

ZF has also invested a lot in the research and development of technologies such as autonomous driving and electric vehicles, and has actively strengthened cooperation with companies such as BAIC, Baidu and Mobileye. At the Frankfurt Motor Show in September last year, ZF announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with Baidu to cooperate in the fields of autonomous driving, connected cars and mobile travel services to develop complete autonomous driving solutions for the Chinese market. Soon after, ZF signed a memorandum of understanding with Beijing Hainachuan Company to establish a joint venture to produce electric vehicle parts for the Chinese market.

As a Japanese parts supplier, Aisin Seiki has kept pace with Japanese automakers. In March of this year, Toyota, Aisin Seiki, and Denso announced a joint investment of US$2.8 billion to form a new joint venture company. In the future, the company will be mainly responsible for the production and development of autonomous vehicle software. In addition, in April and May this year, Aisin Seiki suddenly expanded its production capacity in China, and the intention of expansion was undoubtedly revealed, which caused shocks in the domestic autonomous transmission industry.

The rise of Chinese companies

In recent years, the number of Chinese companies on the top 100 list has gradually increased. In 2012 and 2013, there was only one Chinese company on the list. From 2014 to 2016, there were two Chinese companies shortlisted. In 2017, the number increased to 5. This year, there are 6 Chinese companies on the list, and these companies are all overseas With business deployment, many companies have greatly enhanced their strength and overseas reputation through mergers and acquisitions.

Among the six companies on the list, Yanfeng continued to lead with a record of US$14.28 billion.