
On November 20th, No.9 Company, a well-known domestic manufacturer of two-wheeled electric vehicles, announced its cooperation with BMW Group.
It is understood that after the cooperation between the two parties, No.9 Company will develop and produce a series of electric two-wheeled products with independent property rights and leading safety and innovation based on the patent of two-wheeled vehicle safety technology developed by BMW Group and combined with the company’s own advanced technology.

As soon as this news came out, it caused widespread concern. No.9 and BMW, two seemingly different companies in different fields and different worlds, have come together. From the common point of view, both BMW and No.9 have electric two-wheeled vehicles, but there is a big gap in direction-one is an old motorcycle manufacturer, and in recent years, it has also begun to try to electrify motorcycles; The other is an emerging two-wheeled player who focuses on intelligence and starts with electric balance cars and scooters.
Of course, people are most concerned about what kind of sparks these two companies can spark and what kind of products they bring. However, the cooperation between the two sides may not be the same as people expected.
Question 1: What is the form of cooperation between the two sides?
Brother Yi:In fact, it is very simple, that is, No.9 made use of some motorcycle technology patents authorized by BMW to manufacture an electric two-wheeled vehicle. That’s all, there will be no No.9 with BMW LOGO, and there will be no "BMW No.9" joint venture motorcycle similar to Sundiro Honda.

There are three main reasons for making this judgment.
- Judging from the announcement of this cooperation, up to now, Company No.9 has announced this news on its official social media platform, but neither BMW China nor BMW Motorcycle China has announced this news on its official social media. Even BMWCar BMW customers who focus on BMW news have not released this news. It can also be seen from this that the importance of this matter to both sides is not the same.
Secondly, judging from the BMW staff attending the signing ceremony, BMW sent Dr. Rudolf Bencker, Senior Vice President of the Group, Alexander Eftimov, Director Dr. Jochen Karg, Project Manager Jie Chi and others. Dr. Rudolf Bencker is the senior vice president in charge of invention and innovation of BMW Group. Dr. Jochen Karg is the research and development director in charge of the BMW light concept car, and has designed some electric two-wheeled and three-wheeled concept products. If it is related to the business of BMW motorcycles, at least the global executives of BMW motorcycles or Zhan Fei, director of BMW motorcycles in China, and other relevant management will attend. This also proves that this cooperation has little relevance to the BMW motorcycle business itself.

Thirdly, the official press release of Company No.9 also clearly stated that Company No.9 will develop and produce innovative electric two-wheeled vehicles with independent property rights and special safety functions based on BMW authorization. Therefore, it can also be concluded that the cooperation between the two parties, at least at this stage, is limited to the field of "special security functions".
Question 2: What can BMW bring to No.9?
Brother Yi:As mentioned above, BMW authorized No.9 to have a "special safety function". Of course, we don’t know what the specific function is at present, but from the technology released by BMW motorcycles in the past, BMW has developed self-driving motorcycles and installed ACC active cruise control system and blind spot detection system on motorcycles. You know, motorcycles with ACC function are still very rare.

In addition, BMW also has many motorcycle safety technologies such as ABS Pro and ASC. Of course, the license granted to No.9 may also be some technologies that have registered patents but have not been mass-produced.
Question 3: If it is only a simple patent authorization, is it necessary to make such a big fuss?
Brother Yi:In fact, patent authorization is very common in various fields, including the automobile field. Enterprises are usually reluctant to publicize these things. After all, "mastering core technology" and "self-research" sound better. If an enterprise publicizes the bought technology every day, its image will become a solution integrator or assembly factory.
However, on the one hand, it may mean that the cooperation between the two parties is deeper than the general patent authorization, and there is the possibility of further development in the future; On the other hand, it is also necessary to help the brand develop in the name of "BMW".
In fact, many two-wheeled electric vehicle companies have high-end dreams. For example, the Mavericks electric car with Internet genes took the high-end route from the beginning and once held the conference in Paris, France. The price of the first model N1 released in 2015 was as high as 3,999 to 4,999 yuan, which was definitely a high-end electric vehicle at that time.

Yadea also released the high-end brand VFLY in 2021, which was designed by Yadea in cooperation with Porsche Design Studio, and the price of some products exceeded 10,000 yuan.

And No.9 also has such a "high-end dream". At the briefing on the third quarter performance of No.9 Company held on November 19th, No.9 Company also said that in the medium and long term, No.9 Company hopes to gain a higher proportion in the middle and high-end market share.
Therefore, the high-profile official announcement on the 9 th, to a certain extent, also wants to use BMW’s "Dongfeng" to realize his high-end dream.