——China FAW's overseas business has covered 78 countries and regions in Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and other regions, and its global layout has been accelerating
Looking back at FAW's 38-year "going out" process, the "Belt and Road" is undoubtedly the most far-reaching keyword
——For FAW, "going out" is not only to export products and services, but also to better gather global resources and serve the development of enterprises
On November 16, 2021, The Hongqi H9 model won the "Innovative Luxury Car Award" in the 9th Saudi National Automobile Awards;
On September 29, 365 Hongqi pure electric intelligent SUVE-HS9 were launched from Changchun, Jilin Province, China FAW headquarters and exported to Norway;
On September 27, Jiefang's annual export sales exceeded the 10,000-vehicle mark for the first time;
On September 15, the Pentium T99 was officially listed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;
……
In 2021, despite the repeated epidemics, tight transportation capacity, exchange rate fluctuations and other factors, China FAW's "going out" is still in a steady pace, and the three major brands of Hongqi, Jiefang and Pentium are frequently moving, constantly polishing the business card of "Made in China".
As one of the earliest car companies in China to "go global", China FAW has put the overseas market and the domestic market at the same strategic height in recent years, adhered to the principle of "grasping with both hands and two hands", and continued to improve the ability and level of transnational operation of enterprises. At present, China FAW's overseas business covers 78 countries and regions in Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and other regions, with more than 90 overseas first-class agents, and overseas R&D centers or subsidiaries in Germany, Austria, South Africa, Russia, Tanzania and other countries, and the global layout is accelerating.
"At present, China FAW is focusing on the core market of the 'Belt and Road', accelerating the layout and strengthening management in the order of brand, trade, investment and industrial chain, and promoting overseas business to gradually form a new growth pole for China FAW." In an interview with the "Lookout" news weekly reporter, the relevant person in charge of China FAW's overseas business said.
In September 2021, the China FAW Besturn T77 started shipping to Russia for the first time
Firmly grasp the opportunities of the "Belt and Road"
Striving to "go global" has always been the goal of China FAW. As early as 1984, China FAW began to expand overseas markets. Looking back at FAW's 38-year "going out" process, the "Belt and Road" is undoubtedly the most far-reaching keyword.
After the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed, China FAW actively planned to lay out the markets of countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", closely integrated the company's own development with the "Belt and Road" initiative by carrying out localized assembly projects and launching overseas strategic models, while contributing to the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", it also regarded internationalization and global development as an important way for the company's own rapid development, transformation and upgrading.
The automotive industry is internationally recognized as one of the most globalized industries, and any aspiring car company will strategically lay out a global perspective. As a rising star in the global automotive industry, Chinese car companies need to give full play to their own advantages if they want to break through in overseas markets.
At present, China FAW's overseas business has covered more than 50 countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", and has built a number of international production capacity cooperation projects in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Pakistan, Nigeria and Myanmar.
These achievements, China FAW relies on both a prophetic strategic vision and a spirit of mutually beneficial cooperation.
The completion and operation of FAW's Kuha plant in South Africa is a vivid portrayal of FAW's overseas strategic layout and spirit of mutual benefit. The plant was officially completed and put into operation in 2014, covering an area of more than 87,000 square meters, with a total construction area of more than 30,000 square meters, it was FAW's first self-operated overseas factory, and it was also the largest, most advanced equipment and most standardized medium- and heavy-duty truck assembly plant in Africa at that time. With excellent product quality and service, China FAW has continued to maintain the first position in the export of medium and heavy trucks to South Africa, and has achieved terminal sales of more than 1,000 units for 8 consecutive years.
For FAW, the successful commissioning of the Kuha plant has made South Africa a bridgehead for FAW to explore the African market, and has accumulated rich experience in overseas production management and localization talent selection, and has become a training base for FAW's international management talents.
For South Africa, since its commissioning, the Cuha plant has continued to provide high-quality talents for the local automotive industry, directly creating 240 jobs and indirectly driving more than 1,500 jobs.
Jean-Jacques Mwanza, diesel mechanic at FAW South Africa, said: "I am an immigrant from South Africa, and life was very difficult at the beginning. FAW gave me not only the improvement of my life, but also the help of my learning ability, and now I am working hard to become a diesel mechanic. ”
In 2021, the assembly of the 7,000th truck at the Kuha plant in South Africa rolled off the production line, marking another positive progress in FAW's implementation of the "Belt and Road" initiative and in-depth localization operations. The business performance and corporate responsibility of South African companies have been highly praised by the local government and society, and are praised as "a model of Sino-South Cooperation".
The Hongqi brand appeared at the Saudi Jeddah International Auto Show
Create explosive products to win worldwide reputation
As the saying goes: "Gold cup, silver cup, not as good as the consumer's reputation". The continuous development of China FAW overseas is, in the final analysis, that its own products have sufficient competitiveness and attractiveness.
Over the years, through continuous research and development and innovation, FAW's own brands Hongqi, Jiefang and Pentol have continuously made leaps and bounds in terms of quality, driving, intelligence and experience, which can not only fight head-on with joint venture brands, but also gain advantages in some aspects.
Especially in the past three years, through continuous deepening reform, China FAW has comprehensively reshaped its organizational structure, management system, operating mechanism and corporate culture, and promoted new achievements in comprehensive innovation drive. In the field of new energy, Hongqi E-HS9, Hongqi E-QM5, Pentium NAT, Jiefang J6F pure electric and other products are unique; in the field of intelligent networking, focus on mastering key core technologies, step up the construction of new energy intelligent network innovation test base, "Qizhi Spring City" intelligent network demonstration area and other key projects, Hongqi E-HS9 to achieve L4 level high-end intelligent auxiliary driving function, The Jiefang J7L3 intelligent driving tractor debuted at the 2021 World Intelligent Driving Challenge.
Through the implementation of the product innovation strategy of "extreme fantasy and stunning second kill", China FAW has created a large number of star products that lead the development of the industry and detonate the market.
In Saudi Arabia, Hongqi has successfully circled fans among local consumers. In April 2021, Hongqi was officially listed in Saudi Arabia, due to the local epidemic situation, the listing ceremony adopted an online method, but even if you can't feel the quality of Hongqi on the spot, you can't stop the enthusiasm of consumers, and the number of transactions on the first day of listing reached 46 units. In June of that year, in order to meet the car purchase needs of local consumers in Saudi Arabia, Hongqi once again exported 234 H9 and HS5 models, and the flagship store in Riyadh was officially opened. This is the third flagship store of Hongqi brand in Saudi Arabia after the flagship stores of Hongqi Jeddah and Dammam. In November, The Hongqi H9 model won the "Innovative Luxury Car Award" in the 9th Saudi National Automobile Awards...
In September 2021, another self-owned brand car of China FAW, the Besturn T99, was listed in Saudi Arabia, which carries the design concept of light, overhang, ring and thin, equipped with the surging power of 2.0T224Ps, has a thermal efficiency of up to 39%, has many advantages such as large rear seat + trunk storage space, and is more in line with the car habits of Saudi consumers.
The Middle East has been reported frequently, and the Situation in the European market is also gratifying. In September 2021, Hongqi's strategic model, pure electric intelligent SUVE-HS9, was officially exported to Europe, and China FAW achieved an important breakthrough in the overseas high-end new energy vehicle market. In Norway in particular, the model received more than 500 orders on pre-sale alone.
"As the country with the highest penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the world, Norway's environmentally friendly policies, perfect infrastructure and culture of loving environmental protection and pursuing innovation are highly in line with the development vision of the Hongqi brand. Hongqi's strategic model, the pure electric smart SUVE-HS9, has gained keen attention and a strong willingness to buy in the Norwegian market as soon as it is booked online. The person in charge of China FAW's overseas business told reporters that China FAW also plans to start from northwest Europe and launch more strategic model products after the export of Hongqi E-HS9, gradually enriching Hongqi's product layout in Europe.
Adhere to the coordinated development of domestic and international
With the iterative evolution of the "Philosophy of Light and Shadow Trilogy", the styling design of FAW Besturn's models has received widespread attention. Whether it is the Pentium T77 that appeared on the New York International Fashion Week or the Pentium B70 praised by the internationally renowned designer Hu Sheguang, the forward-looking design concept and the design style of the national tide have become the benchmark of independent automobile design.
On November 12, 2021, FAW Besturn made another big move - the global styling center was officially inaugurated. The center is divided into three sections, Changchun headquarters is the core, and there are two foreign branches of Pentium Shape Shanghai and Besturn Shape Munich, aiming to give full play to the global leading advantages in innovation and technology in Europe and Shanghai, in line with the design elements of China and Germany, and provide the ultimate Besturn products for the market.
For FAW, "going out" is not only to export products and services, but also to better gather global resources to serve the development of enterprises.
"All along, China FAW has put the overseas market and the domestic market at the same strategic height, insisted on grasping both hands and two hands, actively built a strategic pattern of domestic and international coordinated development, and continuously improved the ability and level of transnational operation of enterprises." The person in charge of overseas business said.
One of the most typical manifestations is that in the process of making great strides overseas, FAW pays special attention to strengthening the integration of R&D resources.
"Make full use of global resources to let the world's best talents and most advanced technology be shortlisted for China FAW." This is the goal proposed by Xu Liuping, the head of China's FAW.
In recent years, China FAW has insisted on laying out R&D centers in many parts of the world, relying on the world's leading R&D system and development test process, and accelerating the layout in the fields of new energy, intelligent network connection and aftermarket by continuously strengthening forward-looking technology research and development, further close to the market and the actual needs of users, and continuously injecting strong technical vitality into products.
——Hongqi brand, adhering to the R & D concept of "global first-mover, new initiative", "ultimate standard, ultimate requirements", is committed to becoming "China's first, the world's famous" "new noble brand". With L, H, S, Q four series of products, the pursuit of "Shang, Zhi Yi", the interpretation of "Chinese style new noble refinement".
——Pentium brand, committed to becoming the "Internet of Things car pioneer", products cover the A, B class main passenger car market, with high safety, high intelligence and low fuel consumption and other characteristics, with Pentium T33, T77, T99 and other models, of which, T77 equipped with artificial intelligence and 3D holograms have become the market hot selling points.
——Jiefang brand, committed to becoming a provider of intelligent transportation solutions, products cover tractors, trucks, engineering vehicles, special vehicles four series, with J7, JH6, J6P, J5P, J5M and other product platforms. The products have high reliability, high intelligence and high fuel saving, and the L4 level autonomous driving heavy truck has achieved port operation for the first time in China.
During the interview, the reporter learned that China FAW proposed in the "14th Five-Year Plan" development plan outline that it will take "wonderful travel, a better life, and build a world-class, environment-friendly and consumer-loved mobility service company" as its vision, and "establish a national automobile brand, become a happy partner for users, and strengthen China's automobile industry" as its mission, and strive to open up a new road and new pattern for the transformation and development of China's automobile industry in the new era.
Strive for the "14th Five-Year Plan" and stride forward on a new journey. The pace of China FAW's overseas layout is becoming more and more solid, making more overseas consumers fall in love with Chinese products and Chinese brands, and contributing wisdom and strength to enhance the influence of Chinese manufacturing.