After Wang Lihong endorsed the storm, Infiniti was "demoted" and "incorporated" by Dongfeng Nissan

On January 5, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. announced that Dongfeng Infiniti will be included in Dongfeng Nissan's management system as an independent business headquarters, and together with the company's Nissan and Venucia brands, it will become the third brand of Dongfeng Nissan. It is reported that the new policy has been implemented on January 1 this year.

This means that Dongfeng Infiniti will "downgrade" from the status of being tied with Dongfeng Nissan to become a part of Dongfeng Nissan.

Infiniti merged into Dongfeng Nissan

According to public information, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dongfeng") was established on June 9, 2003 as a joint venture jointly funded by Dongfeng Motor Group and Nissan Motor.

At the beginning of its establishment, Dongfeng had seven major business divisions, namely Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Venucia, Dongfeng Infiniti, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou Nissan, Dongfeng Motor Parts (Group) Co., Ltd. and Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. Equipment Company.

On December 28, 2020, Dongfeng announced the integration of Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Venucia, as well as Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. Equipment Company and Dongfeng Motor Parts (Group) Co., Ltd. After the integration, Dongfeng's business units have changed from seven to five, namely Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Infiniti.

In fact, regarding the merger of Dongfeng Infiniti and Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng has long been planned.

In April 2021, Dongfeng Infiniti first adjusted its organizational framework, splitting the four major business divisions of the eastern, western, southern and northern districts into 15 districts, under the unified responsibility of a sales director. Officials said that this is to reduce the complexity of communication between the management of the original system and the various regions, and improve the operational efficiency of enterprises.

But in July that followed, news of Infiniti's return to Dongfeng Nissan began to drift around online. Later, in December 2021, it was announced that "Infiniti China headquarters will be moved from Beijing to Guangzhou in January 2022, and the relevant relocation plan is being formulated."

The integration of this "official announcement" confirms the above rumors. Since then, Dongfeng will have only four business units left, and Dongfeng Nissan will fully take over Dongfeng Infiniti.

Multi-factor catalysis

Regarding this integration, some media quoted Dongfeng Infiniti insiders as saying, "Infiniti's return to the Dongfeng Nissan system is caused by many reasons. On the one hand, its market size in China is not large, and if it continues to operate as an independent joint venture, it is more expensive; secondly, this is also related to Nissan's strategic adjustment in the world. ”

In fact, in recent years, Dongfeng Infiniti's market performance has indeed been unsatisfactory.

According to public information, Dongfeng Infiniti was established in 2014 as a joint venture between Dongfeng Group and Infiniti.

In November 2014, Dongfeng Infiniti launched the Q50L domestic model. In March 2015, it launched its second domestic model, the QX50, while it was hot. At the beginning of localization, Infiniti set a target of 100,000 vehicles sold in China by 2028, with more than half of its Chinese models accounting for more than half.

However, after 2016, with the first-line luxury brand "BBA" and the second-tier luxury brands led by Cadillac, Volvo, Lexus, etc., constantly introducing new models, the market competition has become increasingly fierce. Unfortunately, Dongfeng Infiniti did not launch a new model for up to 5 years, which led to no significant improvement in its sales in these years.

According to Dongfeng official information, from 2016 to 2020, Dongfeng Infiniti's sales were 26,131 vehicles, 27,766 vehicles, 28,868 vehicles, 35,035 vehicles and 25,695 vehicles, with a year-on-year increase of 6.26%, 3.97%, 21.36% and -26.66% respectively. In the first 11 months of 2021, Dongfeng Infiniti's cumulative sales were only 7691 vehicles, down 64.7% year-on-year, and the average monthly sales of the whole year were less than 700 vehicles.

On December 16, 2021, Dongfeng Infiniti finally launched the third domestic model QX60, and it was also on the hot search because of the scandal of the spokesperson Wang Lihong on the second day, but it was also difficult to complete the gorgeous "counterattack" in a relatively short period of time, thereby saving Dongfeng Infiniti's tepid sales data.

On the other hand, Infiniti's quality problems have also caused many questions. At the 2021 CCTV 3.15 party, a number of car owners complained that infinitus failures of Infiniti's imported QX60 models occurred frequently during use, and there were problems such as power interruptions, steering/brake boost failures, and endangered personal safety. In addition, the warranty expires, and the owner also faces huge maintenance costs.

When faced with quality problems, 4S stores require the signing of a "confidentiality agreement" and distribute it according to "noisy".

After the exposure of CCTV 3.15, Infiniti did not give a solution that could solve the CVT transmission failure. However, on the newly released domestic QX60, the gearbox has been converted to a 9AT gearbox.

Reporter: Xiao Yisi Intern: Gao Xiuxiu

Edit: Zuo Yu

Editor-in-Charge: BiDandan

Cover image: Tension