The rapid development of China's automotive industry has brought vast development opportunities to the domestic automotive mold industry. Furthermore, due to cost and market factors, the focus of mold manufacturing in developed countries is gradually shifting to developing countries, represented by China. These combined domestic and international factors have promoted the rapid development of China's automotive mold industry, leading to the emergence of many new automotive mold enterprises. Statistics show that in 2012, China had nearly 110 key backbone mold enterprises. Among them, stamping dies accounted for approximately 37%, making China a veritable automotive mold manufacturing powerhouse.
While my country's automotive mold production capacity is highly competitive globally, the slow pace of technological advancement, insufficient technological innovation capabilities, and inadequate R&D and application of new mold technologies among domestic high-end automotive mold enterprises mean that the development capacity of domestic high-end molds cannot fully meet the supporting needs of the domestic automotive industry. A significant portion of high-end automotive molds still relies on imports. Therefore, the domestic automotive mold industry needs to address this weakness as soon as possible to remedy a major deficiency in my country's automotive mold industry.
As one of China's ten key industries for revitalization, the Chinese automotive industry has received support from national policies and the "cars to the countryside" program. Major Chinese automakers have increased production, with China's automobile production exceeding 19 million vehicles in 2012, maintaining its position as the world's largest producer and seller. Luo Baihui stated that manufacturing a single ordinary sedan requires approximately 1,500 molds, including nearly 1,000 stamping dies and over 200 interior component molds. Driven by the rapid development of my country's automotive industry, the automotive mold industry has experienced rapid growth, with its market capacity continuously expanding. Based on the levels of developed automotive industries like Japan and the United States, if the proportion of molds serving the automotive manufacturing industry in my country reaches 40% by 2015, the total sales of my country's automotive mold industry could reach 70 billion yuan.
With the annual increase in my country's automobile production, both domestic and foreign-funded automotive mold companies have made significant strides in the Chinese automotive market, satisfying the booming domestic and export demands to a certain extent, while also creating a favorable opportunity for the upgrading and transformation of my country's automotive mold industry. Therefore, the prospects for my country's automotive mold industry are very broad.
Looking back at the development history of my country's automotive mold industry, the 12th Five-Year Plan for the mold industry clearly stated that the future development of the automotive mold industry should move towards high-end, precision, and advanced technologies. This places higher demands on the current development of my country's automotive mold industry. Looking back on the journey, my country's automotive mold industry has experienced several leaps in development.
According to experts, the development of my country's automotive mold industry started almost simultaneously with the automotive industry itself. Since the launch of the Changchun First Automobile Works project in the 1950s, it has never stopped moving forward. Entering the 21st century, my country's automotive mold industry has experienced significant development. The design and manufacturing of car body panel molds are characterized by high difficulty, high quality and precision requirements, and represent the best reflection of the level of automotive mold technology. After years of development, molds serving the automotive industry now account for about one-third of my country's total mold production, demonstrating the important position of automotive molds in the mold industry and the automotive industry. Especially automotive body panel molds, which are directly related to car models, are particularly important.