In 2014, as a highly advanced brand of Nissan, Infiniti officially established a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor to establish Dongfeng Infiniti. I thought that Infiniti could drive sales after domestic production, but in the past seven years, Infiniti's sales have not improved much, compared to Toyota's Lexus, the treatment in China is completely two extremes, not to mention that Lexus has not been domestically produced.
After seven years of itching, Dongfeng Infiniti finally couldn't hold on. In the past year, news about Dongfeng Infiniti's return to Dongfeng Nissan was exposed, and on January 5, the official finally confirmed the news.
The third brand under Dongfeng Nissan
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On January 5, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. officially announced that Dongfeng Infiniti will be included in Dongfeng Nissan's management system as an independent business headquarters. This also means that Dongfeng Infiniti will no longer be an independent division of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., but will become the third brand under Dongfeng Nissan.
In 2014, when Infiniti was just domestically produced, it was planned to achieve the goal of 100,000 vehicles sold in China by 2028, which was not difficult for a car company, or even a goal. But for Infiniti, it is no longer possible in the current situation.
The continuous decline in sales is the main reason for the merger of Dongfeng Infiniti and Dongfeng Nissan. According to statistics, after Dongfeng Infiniti reached the peak of 48,000 vehicles in 2017, sales in recent years have been worse than a year, with sales of 35,000 vehicles in 2019 and 26,000 vehicles in 2020.
In the past 2021, Dongfeng Infiniti was even more "315" because of the gearbox problem, and the reputation dropped to the bottom in an instant. Although Infiniti's total sales in 2021 have not yet been announced, from January to November last year, Dongfeng Infiniti's cumulative sales were less than 10,000 vehicles, so dongfeng Infiniti did not need to become an independent business unit.
Infiniti insiders also admitted that Infiniti's return to the Nissan system is mainly due to declining sales, and if it continues to operate as an independent joint venture, the cost is too large, and it has to condescend to Dongfeng Nissan.
Hugging Dongfeng Nissan's thighs can save the market?
The opposite of Dongfeng Infiniti's performance in China is Dongfeng Nissan, which has been rising in sales in recent years, and the main model Xuanyi has won the car sales championship for two consecutive years, while the B-class sedan Tianlai has also ushered in the second spring in 2021, with single-month sales once exceeding 20,000. As of the first 11 months of 2021, Dongfeng Nissan's cumulative sales have exceeded 1 million vehicles, which is one of the few car companies that sell millions of vehicles a year, and Dongfeng Nissan's influence in China is much higher than that of Dongfeng Infiniti.
And Dongfeng Infiniti's return to Dongfeng Nissan can reverse the declining sales? In my opinion, it is difficult. Why do you say so, to find out this reason, you must first understand why Dongfeng Infiniti does not go in China. Among them, the biggest problem is not the quality problem, but the problem of backward product change.
Since localization in 2014, Infiniti has always had only two models on sale, Q50L and QX50, until last year's Guangzhou Auto Show launched a new model QX60, but Infiniti's influence has not been enough to support its price range of 450,600,000 yuan.
It is too late for Infiniti to launch a new car in 2021, and Infiniti has missed the best development opportunity after domestic production. Speaking of good points, Infiniti is called a second-tier luxury brand in China, to say that it is ugly, with Infiniti's current sales, it is not a second-tier luxury brand at all, as a third-tier luxury brand Lincoln, sales are higher than Infiniti.
It is worth mentioning that although Infiniti's domestic sales have declined year by year, the overall sales volume of the domestic luxury car market is rising. According to the data, in the first 11 months of this year, the domestic luxury car market sales were 3.112 million units, an increase of 19.5% year-on-year, outperforming the market.
Today, the problem of Infiniti's lack of products still exists, and clinging to Dongfeng Nissan's thighs does not change the fact that sales are declining. For Infiniti, as long as it accelerates the update iteration of the product and gives enough sincerity, consumers will naturally pay the bill, and the template for Lincoln's success is there, depending on whether Infiniti is willing to copy it.
Write at the end:
In the face of the problem of the outside world lagging behind in the replacement of Infiniti products, Infiniti also said that it will launch 5 new cars within 5 years, and will also fully open the layout of electrification, in the future new energy battlefield, what kind of performance can Infiniti bring back to Dongfeng Nissan, it is still worth looking forward to.
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