Autonomous thermal joint venture "individual brand" enters the test period of the market

Baojun, Qichen, concept, and other joint-venture brands have been listed on the first models successively———

With the continuous expansion of China’s auto market share, joint venture brands are increasingly demanding to explore the low-end market, and have launched their own brands under the joint venture name. This month, the first independent model of the joint venture, SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 630, will be officially launched on the market, which means that the joint venture’s “autonomous first car” will enter the market test period, followed closely by Guangzhou Automobile Honda. Independent brand concept, Dongfeng Nissan’s own brand Qichen and Dongfeng Honda’s own brand new model. The joint-venture vehicle enterprises began to really seize the low-end market that traditional self-owned brands clung to with their own models, and this new “independent brand” was more like a new venture where joint ventures catered to Chinese consumers.

●Independence fever under policy tilt

From the background of the development of China's auto industry, the joint venture car companies have launched their own brands in fact, the general trend of the policy. At the beginning of last year, in the State's "2009-2011 Regulations for the Adjustment and Revitalization of the Automotive Industry", many references were made to "supporting the independent innovation of automotive companies, vehicle R&D, and especially the autonomy of key component technologies." From the simple introduction of the past to the introduction of technological innovation, the self-owned brand will become a key “care” target. This led to the development of independently developed companies such as Chery, Geely, BYD, and Great Wall, as well as the introduction of development companies by GAC and BAIC, and the joint development of foreign companies in joint ventures.

In addition, changes in the domestic market environment have also forced joint ventures to reconsider positioning issues. The Chinese auto market has become an important market that both Chinese and foreign companies in joint ventures cannot afford to ignore and must continue to expand market share. Although the expansion of the joint venture brand market is also relatively good, it is subject to a relatively high premium on the brand and the price of the vehicle is relatively expensive, which makes its share in the process of growth will be subject to certain restrictions.

At present, China's first and second-tier cities have almost saturated their auto market. On the contrary, the third and fourth-tier cities have huge room for development. However, consumers in these regions are more sensitive to prices, which foreign brands can't give, and by developing their own brands, joint venture car companies can explore the product line and increase market share without damaging themselves. Brand.

Although the advantage of the joint venture company to engage in its own brand is self-evident, research and development, innovation and manufacturing technology will make it easier for consumers to recognize the self-owned brand car that the joint venture vehicle company has developed and manufactured. However, some industry insiders pointed out that for the vast majority of joint-venture car companies, whether they can truly lower their stance and completely achieve differentiated positioning will be market challenges faced by the joint venture's own brands.

●Compared with independent brand cars

It is undeniable that compared with the current self-owned brand cars, the self-owned brand models that were born in joint ventures have inherent advantages. From the joint venture brand models of body and power systems, these high starting points in the core "components", the overall quality has exceeded the majority of domestic self-owned brands.

In addition, the self-owned brand vehicles of the joint ventures are more autonomously embodied in the digestion of joint venture brand models. Of course, this also includes the management and cost control of parts suppliers. As the deputy general manager of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicles Ren Yong said in an interview with reporters, “Dongfeng Nissan’s 'Kaichen' brand has full autonomy. Perhaps there are some technologies that are owned by the suppliers when they are introduced. However, on this platform, I can 'order food', for example, the steering wheel is not necessarily designed by myself, and is designed synchronously with the supplier. Therefore, there is an independent property for the 'Kaichen' brand Dongfeng Nissan." “Brands, Guangzhou Automobile Honda’s “idea” brand; they are the same as “Qichen”, and the first model is from the old or cash models of the joint venture brand. Only in the development of models and parts suppliers, joint ventures have more say.

● performance is difficult than the joint venture models

The performance of the joint venture’s own brand models is also what consumers are concerned about. Actually, from the performance of joint ventures “quasi-autonomous vehicles” that have already been listed, such as Shanghai Volkswagen LaVida and FAW-Volkswagen New Bora, it is not difficult for us to see that even these unlicensed joint ventures’ own-brand “quasi-autonomous vehicles” are at a cost. Under the reduced pressure, after changing the bodywork on the original joint venture brand vehicle platform, its performance is not excellent, and it caters to consumers in terms of space and comfort configuration.

The positioning of self-owned vehicles of joint ventures has become clear before they are born; the gaps in the product lines of joint ventures have been made up, and the market for second- and third-tier cities has been affected by the quality and lower prices of the joint-venture vehicles, as well as the joint ventures. More profit. Of course, we do not want to see that the joint venture's self-owned brand models are products that are only produced for the market, but can accumulate more manufacturing experience for Chinese companies and bring consumers products that are superior to joint venture models.

Joint Venture's Independent Brand Model Conjecture

Guess one

The first sedan of the GM Wuling "Baojun" brand is based on the Buick Excelle and has the same wheelbase as the Buick Excelle. The power system comes from the cash Excelle. It is said that Baojun will debut the 1.5L displacement model in the power configuration, and this engine is a 1.5L VTi engine that is matched with the Roewe 350. The engine has a multi-angle continuously variable valve timing system with a maximum power of 78 kW (106 hp)/6000 rpm.

● guess second

The first model of Guangzhou Automobile's Honda "idea" brand will be an A0-class car with a market segment below the front-end range. The first car will push 1.3L power, and its competitors are directly targeting 1.2L and 1.4L. Displacement of Chevrolet New Sail. According to news, the first model of the concept may choose a Sidi model that has been vertically replaced by Honda. According to forecasts, the new compact SUV model will come next to the A0-class car.

● Guess three

At present, there is little news about the "Qichen" brand production model. The relevant news is mostly rumors. Overall, it includes the following types: 1. The first models are derived from Tiida, based on which they are differentiated and improved to highlight sports. style. 2. The first model was derived from the sun which was discontinued, and was transformed on the basis of fashion to fill the gap between Dongfeng Nissan's mid- to low-end sedan and the compact sedan.

● Guess four

The first model of Dongfeng Honda’s own brand will be a smaller, lower-profile car that will share most of the parts with the Civic. Some analysts believe that as a complement to Dongfeng Honda's product line, self-owned brand models are likely to be re-development of the cash civic, thus creating a hatchback civic.

● Links

Traditional self-determination play "defense counterattack"

With the introduction of the new concept of "individual brand", more and more joint ventures have started to think about the introduction of autonomous models. An Tiecheng, a director and general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., said in a vague manner: “As long as the product is produced in China, it is a value-for-money product for Chinese consumers. In this sense, it is an indigenous one. Products and localized brands. FAW-Volkswagen has also been tracking, studying and researching these issues.” Chen Binbo, deputy general manager of Dongfeng Honda has said that from joint ventures to engage in independent brands, joint venture car companies have launched independent brands. It is a process that will eventually form an independent research and development capability.

In the face of potentially deteriorating joint ventures, the traditional autonomous car companies have not given up on the brand's attempt to cope with the challenges. Wu Gang, general manager of Haima Automobile Sales Co., stated: "In the competition with joint ventures, the huge demand in the Chinese market, the independent brands must find their own breakthrough points. If the independent brands only do low-end cars, or that the independent brands can only do There is no way out for low-end cars,” said Liu Jinliang, general manager of Geely Automobile Sales. “China’s own brands are now facing a lot of pressures, including joint venture product prices, competition for second- and third-tier markets, and joint venture production. In response to these problems, Geely's strategy is to focus on services and strive to build service brands, because whether the joint ventures continue to press down on product prices, or the joint venture's own brands use the advantages of joint ventures, automotive products, technology, etc. The end will tend to be homogenous, and the only one that can create differences, create differentiation, and create an independent brand is service.George must strive to provide differentiated products in the service sector, provide featured services, and use services to win over consumers. After all, consumers only buy cars for a while, but cars are a Along with their lives, good service in order to seize the hearts of consumers. "

Yang Zhao, manager of the public relations department of BYD Auto Sales Co., Ltd., believes that the newly established self-owned brand will have some impact on the auto market, and will also compete with traditional self-owned brands, but not to mention the impact. “At present, independent brands have been promoted and strengthened in the competition with joint venture brands. After years of development, BYD is also making a breakthrough in brand awareness. The mid- to high-end models of M6 and L3 that were listed this year have also received very good consumers. Reflected.” Yang Zhao believes that the creation of a brand new self-owned brand will inevitably increase the competition in the auto industry and make China’s auto industry develop in a better direction, and consumers will have more choices when buying a car.

● Bao Jun (Shangqi Universal Wuling)

Brand Release Date: July 18th

Models: Po Chun 630

Time to market: end of November

● Concept (Guangqi Honda)

Brand release time:

April 2008

In December, Guangzhou Auto Show released mass production car

● Kai Chen (Dongfeng Nissan)

Brand Release Date: September 8

Guangzhou Auto Show concept car debut, the first production model will be listed in 2012.

The brand is expected to be released:

year 2011

The brand is expected to be released:

intend

● GAC Toyota

The brand is expected to be released:

intend

● Changan PSA

The brand is expected to be released:

intend