Introduction: Will China give birth to great car brands and racing drivers?
Just like the 100-meter trapeze war in athletics, racing, a global sport full of hormones, speed and passion, has not been the specialty of yellow people for a long time; as a latecomer, no Chinese car company has been able to reach the podium in the world's top events.
As we all know, motorsport is an important stage for car manufacturers to show their technical strength, and in the history of the world's automobile development, the role plays an important role, just as F1 is ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Le Mans is to Audi, Porsche, Dakar is to Mitsubishi, WRC is to Peugeot Citroën...
In many famous automobile races, major automobile manufacturers or teams will create the strongest products to show their technical strength, and are proud of the "track gene".
However, in the special year of 2021, there was a Su Bingtian in the track and field field; and a young man named Zhou Guanyu, and a Chinese car brand with only five years, let the automotive industry that has gone through 136 years of time leave a deep Chinese mark and milestone - the first Formula One World Championship (F1) regular race Chinese driver and World Touring Car Championship (WTCR) team "Triple Crown" + driver "double crown".
China's auto sport ushered in an unprecedented highlight moment. This has finally made China worthy of the title of the world's first country in new car sales for more than a decade.
The Chariots of Germain, the God of War of the Eastern Ying, the Speed of the Southern Dynasty, the Passion of the Apennines... On the track of 2021, the blue whirlwind made a group of traditional giants bow down; a rapidly rising car brand in the East stood on the shoulders of these car giants.
F1 "car king" Schumacher rode a dusty "myth", which was almost surpassed by the latecomer "Black Han" (Hamilton). "Black and white battles" are the norm in F1.
It was only in Abu Dhabi that Verstappen broke the shackles of "black" and "trident" with a dramatic closing battle. The new champion left the regret of the "eight champions" to the Black Han, and what was returned to F1 was the future and hope.
From F2 to F1, a yellow-skinned Chinese boy, 2021 let the European and American car federation in the Chinese racing star (Zhou Guanyu signed with Alfa Romeo Racing F1 Team), becoming the first person to participate in the top auto sports competition Chinese 2022.
While carrying the hope of Chinese motorsport, Zhou Guanyu may also be able to create new Chinese opportunities for sinking foreign car brands, which people are looking forward to.
Lynk & Co's strong triple crown and Zhou Guanyu's entry into the world's top auto racing complement each other and also send a signal to the outside world: Chinese cars can win the championship and have this strength! Chinese can also occupy a place on the stage of world motor sports events through their own efforts.
Perhaps, 2021 is the "new year" of China's auto sports, which will attract more people to participate in auto sports like a magnet.
The wind began at the end of Qingping.
It is said that automobile sports is the crown of the tip of the automobile pyramid, because this global sports event can promote the continuous progress of science and technology in the world's automobile industry and help establish and strengthen the image of automobile brands.
It is basically the world's auto giants that can participate, but also listed companies, whether it is the Daimler Group behind Mercedes-Benz, which used to dominate F1, or Honda Motors, behind Red Bull Racing. But Chinese auto companies have not stopped their racing dreams.
Among traditional Chinese car brands, Li Shufu, Wei Jianjun and other people who are the leaders are all fans of motorsport.
Great Wall Motors participated in the Dakar race in its early years, became famous in a war, and pried open the international market; Geely was obsessed with formula racing, and finally it was Lynk & Co that achieved the dream of winning chinese cars in WTCR, which made Lynk & Co stand firm on the heel of the high-end market, and Geely also achieved a transformation...
For listed companies, the effect and value of motor sports events are immeasurable.
Although there is no competition, even Tesla, the world's largest car company by market capitalization, still can't help but go to the Nürburgring to brush the circle; Weilai Automobile, the head of China's new forces (currently leading in the total), was the first to launch a supercar, and participated in Formula E (FE) lucky to win the championship, because it was an era when there were no tigers in the mountains and monkeys dominated.
Later, more and more Western traditional automobile manufacturers poured into FE, and Weilai appeared to be powerless on the track, but this did not prevent it from taking advantage of the momentum to become the first IPO of China's new car-making forces. It can be seen how important motor sports are. Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda is driving his newly developed hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and participating in car competitions.
The vigorous electrification, far from hindering motor sports, has brought more possibilities to motor sports events.
Back to Lynk & Co winning the championship and Zhou Guanyu becoming an F1 regular racing driver, the positive effects they have brought to Chinese auto sports have been manifested.
In the view of Zhou Yong, one of the earliest batch of outstanding racing drivers and instructors in China, from the day of brand release, Lynk & Co has seized the commanding heights of building a high-end brand - automobile racing. Through the top events to quickly pull up the brand, hone and consolidate the quality of products, and apply the technology to civilian use, this road has been proven on major brands, which is very valuable for the promotion of other Chinese brands, and is an important driving force for the promotion of automobile marketing brands.
At a time when the track continues to compete with the racing cars of world-renowned car brands such as Audi, Honda, hyundai, etc., Lynk & Co relies on Geely Holding Group on the sidelines to integrate global high-quality resources and is also building a performance car matrix of Chinese brands. The "+" of Lynk & Co, like Mercedes-Benz's AMG, BMW's M, and Audi's RS, are all symbols of the brand's establishment of high-performance models.
Today, Lynk & Co has established its own auto sports experience center, through the creation of the "Lynk & Co Motor Sports Program", to promote the development of Chinese auto sports culture, and to establish China's first complete auto sports culture ecology from professional drivers to professional players to enthusiasts.
More importantly, the achievements in auto sports events will accelerate the pace of the Lynk & Co brand internationalization strategy. Just like a dandelion, across the ocean, let people in developed countries in Europe and the United States who love automobile sports and people in other parts of the world understand different Chinese cars.
Similarly, Han Han, as a racing driver, has a very high opinion of Zhou Guanyu: Zhou Guanyu became China's first F1 driver, which is of great significance, I think it is like Liu Xiang for athletics, Yao Ming for basketball.
So, will China give birth to great car brands and great racing drivers? I believe, it will!