China's luxury car market is still the domain of BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi), but in the second-tier camp, the ranking has undergone new changes.
According to official data, the cumulative sales of the Hongqi brand exceeded 300,000 vehicles last year, an increase of more than 50% year-on-year. Among them, more than 39,100 vehicles were sold in December, once again setting a new monthly record. As of December 24, 2021, the cumulative number of users has exceeded 600,000.
Cadillac and Lexus sold 207,340 vehicles and 201857 vehicles respectively in the first 11 months, although the results of December have not yet been announced, but with reference to the overall development momentum and chip shortage and other constraints, it is not surprising that the "bellwether" of second-tier luxury cars will change owners.
Hongqi is a high-end automobile brand operated by China FAW Group. At the end of the 1950s, FAW people adhered to the principle of "imitation-oriented, independent design", and created the "Dongfeng CA71" in only one year, ending the history of China's inability to produce cars. Although the car is based on the French Simca Vedette, the design is full of Chinese characteristics, the logo is a golden dragon, and the taillights are "palace lights" shape.
Immediately after, they borrowed an "Empire" brand high-end car produced by the Chrysler Automobile Factory in the United States from Jilin University of Technology, disassembled the parts and then studied and manufactured them. A month and three days later, the first Hongqi brand luxury sedan was successfully trial-produced. Over the next 9 months, the designers conducted five more systematic trials on the vehicle. At the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the founding of New China, 10 brand-new CA72 Red Flag cars were officially unveiled, and domestic and foreign media competed to report on it, calling it "China's Rolls-Royce".
However, at that time, Hongqi did not have any market competitiveness, with large fuel consumption and high manufacturing costs, and was ordered to stop production in the 1980s. In the more than two decades since its birth, only 1540 vehicles have been produced. After the resumption of production in the 1990s, FAW took advantage of the cooperation with foreign companies to build CA7220 (commonly known as Xiaohongqi) based on the Audi 100, produced CA7460 (commonly known as big red flag) based on lincoln city models, and later launched Models such as Mingshi, Century Star, HQ3 and so on. However, the performance was not satisfactory, with only 4702 units sold in 2017.
In the same year, FAW decided to "use the strength of the whole group to support and build the Hongqi brand in multiple dimensions", abandon the image of the past "official car", and lay down its body to build cars for the common people. In the next four years, Hongqi's sales climbed steadily, reaching 33,028, 100166, 200,000 and 300,000 respectively, creating an industrial miracle of 63 times growth in four years.
At present, Hongqi has formed a sedan family composed of E-QM5, H5, H7 and H9, and an SUV family composed of HS5, HS7, E-HS3 and E-HS9, and the product system covers the high-end market of 150,000-700,000 yuan. Among them, the H5 and HS5, which aim at young consumer groups, have become the pillar of sales; the Hongqi H9, which was listed in August 2020, is the first C-class sedan with a starting price of more than 300,000 yuan for China's own brands, and competes head-on with the Audi A6L, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, with sales of more than 40,000 vehicles last year, performing well.
It is worth mentioning that Hongqi is also frequent in brand marketing, such as inviting actor Jin Dong to endorse; giving away a H9 for each Tokyo Olympic champion, giving away silver and bronze players H9 use rights; signing a strategic cooperation agreement with Wanda, Wang Jianlin said in a high profile that he will take the lead in riding the Hongqi car, and the executives above the vice president of the group will all be replaced by Hongqi cars.
epilogue
Of course, the red flag still has many shortcomings. Last year, it failed to achieve its target of 400,000 vehicles, and it is unclear whether the vision of 500,000-600,000 vehicles in 2022 and 700,000-800,000 vehicles in 2025 will be adjusted. In addition, the best sold by the brand is the Hongqi HS5 with a price range of 183,800-249,800 yuan and the Hongqi H5 of 145,800-190,800 yuan, which is insufficient in high-end color. In addition, by 2025, The sales volume of Hongqi new energy vehicles is planned to exceed 400,000 units, and there are only three models of E-HS3, E-HS9 and E-QM5, with average sales performance, and it is not easy to achieve the goal. Hongqi wants to carry the banner of independent high-end brands, and the task is heavy and long.