Written by / Long Shihui
Edited / Kilig
Design / Zoi.
"The DX7 is the first car in my life, which has accompanied me to drive safely for 6 years and 300,000 kilometers, and my goal is 1.23 million kilometers to drive to Taiwan for a self-driving tour to Treasure Island."
A southeast DX7 owner named Peng Zhaohui said so at the 2021 southeast car replacement meeting.
This car owner link that seems to be "one person has a dream" in the eyes of Che Lizi is very interesting, there are hipster sisters, there are bought 6 southeastern, there are also forum moderators... They are ordinary people, but because they bought Southeast's car, their lives have changed subtly, and tonight they take office as Southeast Motors partners.
Not long ago, Che Lizi's impression of Southeast Automobile was still stuck in the image of quality assurance, certain technical precipitation, but not very good at marketing. And today's renewal conference, the image of Southeast China has changed so much that people are really surprised: equity changes, transformation to new energy, replacement of new LOGOs, release of three new cars in one go, talk about design concepts and marketing innovation... Among other things, "co-creation" and "partner", the two marketing concepts that automakers are most keen to play, are believed to be the first time to appear on Southeast Auto. Under the theme of "Wings Out" that night, we saw a more intelligent and enterprising, inclusive and open, but also with a sense of trend and humor, taking the initiative to deal with the market: Guys, I am late but arrived, the good drama is still in 2022.
It is true that Che Lizi blamed the high-profile transformation of the southeast on "not breaking and not standing". This 26-year-old self-owned car company, the past few years have not been good: the annual sales of Southeast Automobile in 2018-2020 fell from 89,000 to 14,000; this year's decline is more obvious, the cumulative sales of 1-10 months is only 6542 vehicles, down 48.8% year-on-year, the main sales model DX5, DX7 in the market is marginalized, southeast from the top down the change is urgent.
Wouldn't it be better without Mitsubishi's Southeast Car?
This is a question without suspense, and it is also a question that is worth talking about openly.
In recent years, the dilemma faced by Southeast is mainly that after the delisting of Southeast Mitsubishi models, the independently developed DX3 and DX7 are difficult to do, and the market sales are shrinking year by year and falling into a financial dilemma, so that research and development cannot keep up, and the new car launch is slow, and the electrification layout is dead. After this top-level change, Che Lizi believes that the four shareholders have given priority to solving the problem of money and resources, and the "Ren Dou Ermai" of Southeast Automobile has also been penetrated.
As early as April this year, the equity of Southeast Automobile changed, the original 25% shareholder Mitsubishi Motors launched, by the new shareholder Fuzhou handover baton, in August of the same year, Minhoujian into the shares. At present, Southeast Automobile is jointly held by Fuqi Group (37.6%), Fuzhou Jiaotong, Huawei and Minhou Jiantou, and the benefits of the three levels of provincial, municipal and county governments jointly supporting Southeast Automobile are obvious, in addition to the initial capital increase of 2 billion yuan, it will be of great help to the latter's enhanced strategic synergy and integration of resource elements.
It is worth noting that after the transformation of the southeast, it has also embarked on the policy of "building a modern automobile town of 100 billion yuan in five years in the southeast of China". During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee and Government will focus on building an internationally leading and domestic top-notch automobile city of the whole industry chain - China Southeast Automobile City, the importance of the central southeast is self-evident, and the future can also be in the "electric Fujian" development strategy to great ambitions.
Of course, more market focus comes from the product level. As early as 2015, Mitsubishi did not provide any R&D technical support for Southeast Motors, and in 2017, with the suspension of the production of Southeast Mitsubishi Wing God, Mitsubishi was further and further away from Southeast. Golan, Lanse, Ling Shuai, these car fans will never forget the car, did help Southeast Automobile in 2013 to take the best result in history of 116,000 vehicles, but it is also true that a new page in Southeast must be turned. Therefore, in Che Lizi's view of the renewal meeting that night, Southeast is answering the question to the outside world, "Without Mitsubishi, what does Southeast sell" this question.
First of all, in the new car debut link, although the DX9 landed on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology information as early as last year, I was still "touched" by the southeast designer. They are not satisfied with the DX9 positioning of medium-sized 7-seatER SUVs, and in the product development period, they introduced the full-scene design concept: "free to switch between multi-purpose SMVs such as family travel, business office, and RV", which have the domineering appearance of American SUVs and the practical and spacious space of MPV.
Admittedly, there is not much information about the DX9 revealed at the meeting, and the interior is only a picture skipped by the screen, but the designer still explains the "space philosophy" of the car in great detail: "The body is more than 2 meters long, the second row of seats is equipped with 400mm adjustable guide rails, and the three rows can comfortably ride 180cm passengers at the same time", there is news that the DX9 will be equipped with a 1.8T turbo engine with a maximum power of 245Ps, and the positioning of IKEA is very clear.
At the same time, the cross-border SUV Southeast N7 also appeared synchronously, focusing on young intelligent scenes; and based on the new pure electric platform of the coupe Southeast A7, the official only in the form of a design draft to show the design concept to the outside world, the appearance, cockpit design is very bold, the new car in the endurance, low temperature electricity and safety and other core links will also have breakthroughs.
The southeast that erupted in silence
Behind the three new models, the meeting that night also told a lot of new generation products in the southeast, including the new logo that will be installed on the high-end model.
Of course, the "sloppy flowers" used here is not a derogatory term, everyone knows that this time is a low-key opportunity for the southeast to speak out to the outside world, but no one expected that the southeast has accumulated so many things, how many stories to tell to the outside world:
Not only like the new forces, talking about intelligent driving, AVP autonomous parking technology, S-Pilot intelligent driving system, and smart housekeeper; also like a mature personalized service agency, talking about scenario-based, "thousands of cars and thousands of faces", opening up "guest-shop-factory"; in the end, it is still a return to the old independent car companies, talking about the service value-added of the whole life cycle, and creating a southeast FAMILY ecosystem, which can be seen as a comprehensive statement of southeast to the new four modernizations of automobiles.
The firmness of the determination and the positive attitude show that this polytechnic "South" finally chose to "explode" in silence. However, although the flowers are colorful, it is easy to forget about the rivers and lakes on the surface. Take a DX9 or self-developed S-Pilot intelligent driving system, enough to support the 1-hour conference, why are so many highlights piled together? After thinking about it, the meeting is just the curtain of transformation in the southeast, and this old friend who has not been seen for a long time is showing us the ambition to renew in a loose and tight way. Whether it is the corresponding DX9 or N7 on the stage, or the A7 that represents the transformation of electrification and youth, the highlight is next year.
As Mr. Chen Wenhao, chairman of Southeast Automobile, said at the meeting: The road is obstructive and long, and the line is coming; the future can be expected.
Write at the end
"When the times are about to abandon you, they don't even say hello."
Starting from the downward inflection point of the domestic automobile market in 2019, starting from the red line of 40% of the market share independently, for independent brands, consumption upgrades, joint ventures to explore the compression of living space, this sentence should be like a fish in the throat, so there is an independent collective inner volume and the second wave of brand upward offensive in 2021.
For Southeast Auto, the best years have been missed, and today's innovation and renewal are not to be lost, after all, it is also the best time to plant trees.
Finally, with a lyric from The Black Panther's "Restart", I give it to Southeast Motors: gaze at the predicament, stay awake, hold the fearless flag in your hands, let us use all our strength to defend to the end.
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