[August 15, 2023, Beijing] BBAC celebrated its 18th anniversary recently. Through 18 years of accumulation and precipitation, BBAC has achieved steadily growing results in production, operation and the expansion of its product portfolio, further defining its strategic transformation path of "electric, digital and low-carbon", while at the same time enhancing its efforts to build a thriving company culture and accelerate the high-quality mutual reinforcement of the company’s soft and hard power.

Enhancing a pioneering product upgrade with electrification transformation

As BBAC accelerates along the path to "Electric Only", the company is constantly consolidating its three foundations of platform, talent and products, in order to ensure strong support for the new electric future.

At the BBAC Shunyi Plant, where mainly all-electric models are rolling offline, the production base adopts an advanced digital ecosystem to enable the seamless connection of intelligent production, intelligent logistics, high quality and other production processes, to create luxury electric vehicles with leading quality and high customer satisfaction. By the middle of the decade, BBAC will be deploying of the new Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA) and MB.EA platform, laying the foundation for the production of new all-electric vehicles.

Looking further ahead to the electric future, BBAC has set up a new energy talent incubation center and a new energy innovation center. Together, the two centers are committed to providing a professional training system covering the R&D, quality and production of all-electric vehicles, accelerating the transformation of traditional high-skilled talent into electrified and intelligent talent, ensuring a continued supply of high-quality talented professionals necessary for the company to go all electric.

Backed by its strong platform and talent pool, BBAC officially began production of the all-new EQE SUV in the first quarter of this year, increasing the number of all-electric vehicles produced by the company to 5, and expanding its product portfolio to 12 models in total. BBAC will spare no effort to expand and upgrade its product lineup and continue to develop towards electrification. By 2025, the Entry Luxury models and Core Luxury models based on the new architecture platforms MMA and MB.EA will be put into production in BBAC, providing a wider range of sustainable luxury mobility options for Chinese customers.

Driving smarter production upgrades with digital transformation

In recent years, BBAC has actively promoted digital transformation and worked to fully utilize the advantages of high-quality manufacturing. Based on the use of machines and technologies that can learn by themselves and generate solutions, BBAC is accelerating its digital transformation driven by data, widening the use of artificial intelligence to improve the ability of the company’s systems to make correct decisions and enhance the degree of man-machine coupling.

BBAC’s recent technological upgrades include the launch of an intelligent data management platform that integrates digital technology and capabilities to support digital and data-driven production and management across a wide range of application scenarios. By introducing the MO360 system, and comprehensively applying digital technologies such as Internet of Things, big data, industrial Internet and MES system, BBAC has realized intelligent management and control throughout R&D, manufacturing, quality, logistics, technical maintenance, procurement, finance, sales and service. In doing so, the company has established a system that can ensure high and consistent production quality and improved production and operation efficiency to the maximum extent. At the same time, BBAC is committed to digging deep into the value of data and driving the efficient and high quality capitalization, collecting, storing, analyzing and managing of data. By building a scenario-driven data model, BBAC aims to fully unleash the potential of data to enhance productivity for intelligent manufacturing.

In the process of accelerating its digital transformation strategy, BBAC has ushered in a number of innovative breakthroughs in digital technology so far this year. Among them, BBAC's self-developed "Windy Intelligent Monitoring System Based on Machine Vision Technology" won the Mercedes-Benz Innovation Pioneer Award in 2022. The windy intelligent monitoring system is equipped with a high-resolution industrial camera and integrates artificial intelligence driven by data, algorithm and computing power, making it able to complete the full process from perception to decision-making and execution, instantly transmitting production information to production personnel, further providing a digital assurance of high-quality and efficient production.

While continuing to pursue in-depth research and development of artificial intelligence technology and intelligent manufacturing equipment, BBAC is also actively exploring the close integration of AI big models and robots to promote new advances in intelligent production.

Promoting more harmonious green development by low-carbon transformation

Adhering to BAIC's "BLUE Plan" and Mercedes-Benz's "Ambition 2039" strategy, BBAC is accelerating its low-carbon development based on the "internal and external dual drive" model.

BBAC has taken numerous measures such as energy saving, emission reduction, self-production of green energy and purchasing of green electricity. The company has also implemented green processes such as dry painting, in which no intermediate coating is used, as well as a digital energy management system, which has resulted in a major reduction in energy consumption and carbon emissions of BBAC's plants. Thanks to its efforts in developing clean energy systems such as photovoltaic power generation, ground source heat pumps and wind turbines, BBAC Shunyi Plant has achieved 100% green electricity supply since this April. It is estimated that by 2025 photovoltaic power generation can meet about 20% of the production energy demand of BBAC, set to reach a capacity of 90 MWp of photovoltaic power. As one of the first enterprises in Beijing to purchase green electricity, BBAC has applied for green electricity purchases for three consecutive years, with an agreement to purchase nearly 200,000 MWp green electricity this year. Meanwhile, BBAC is strengthening its partnerships with local steel suppliers to ensure the shared and ambitions green goals to be achieved.

Deepening cultural values to ensure stronger competitive advantage

While continuously strengthening its hard power, BBAC has also sought to enhance its soft power this year, promoting the spirit of innovation, as reflected in the upgrade of its core values to "Customer focused, Responsibility, Integrity and Innovation", aiming to achieve greater resonance between its soft and hard power.

Throughout its development, BBAC has focused on innovation in terms of talent, technologies, workshops and many other aspects, placing innovation as the first driving force to lead the development of the company. During its 18 years' development, BBAC has produced numerous skilled craftsmen and chief technicians who have won acclaim and awards at the city and national level, established 7 employee innovation studios, and produced more than 2,000 recognized technological innovation achievements, forming a core competitive advantage with leading technical strength and rapid innovation ability.

Today, facing a new scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and confronting the many changes in China’s automotive industry and market, BBAC has reaffirmed the crucial role of forward-looking thinking in its development, as reflected in its incorporation of "innovation" into its core values. It shows the company’s firm determination to further consolidate its competitiveness and drive sustainable and high-quality development through innovation and transformation.

Over 18 years of high-quality development, BBAC is as determined as ever to achieve new victories and set new records. Guided by the strategies of both BAIC Group and Mercedes-Benz Group, BBAC is committed to accelerating the strategic transformation of "electric, digital and low-carbon", as it continues to provide Chinese customers with most desirable cars. Based on a deeper understanding and appreciation of the company’s cultural values, BBAC will bring new kinetic energy to this new stage of high-quality development, striving to make greater contributions to the continuous transformation and upgrading of Beijing’s automotive industry and the sustainable and healthy development of the city’s economy and society.