A few days ago, Tianyancha information showed that Chongqing Denza Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. was established, the company's registered capital of 2 million yuan, 100% controlled by Denza Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd., the latter was established on February 14, 2022, the registered capital of 50 million yuan, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BYD Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. From this level of relationship, Chongqing Denza Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. is indirectly wholly owned by BYD, which also means that after BYD takes over Denza, its investment and layout have been further expanded.
BYD controls Denza, starting with a capital increase at the end of last year. On December 24, 2021, BYD announced that it and Daimler intend to increase the capital of Denza by 1 billion yuan each. At the same time, BYD also signed an equity transfer agreement with Daimler for Denza Automobile, which mentioned that after the completion of the transfer, BYD's shareholding in Denza will increase from 50% to 90%, and Daimler's shareholding in Denza will be reduced from 50% to 10%, and this transfer is scheduled to be completed in the middle of this year. At present, although the equity delivery of Denza by BYD and Daimler has not been fully implemented, BYD has fully established the Denza Automobile Sales Company at the beginning of this year.
Denza, into bydir rushed high "fulcrum"
Since the establishment of Denza Automobile, its development path has not been smooth. According to public information, the predecessor of Denza Automobile is Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in 2010 and is 50% owned by BYD and Daimler Greater China, and the company changed its name to Shenzhen Denza New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. in 2016.
After the establishment of Denza Automobile, it successively launched denza 300, Denza 400 and Denza 500 models from 2014 to 2018, but these products only expanded the battery capacity and endurance of the previous generation model, and did not increase the product line, and the cumulative sales of Denza Automobile in the past five years were less than 13,000 units. Therefore, due to the single product structure, Denza's voice in the market is getting smaller and smaller, and it has fallen into a period of brand and product operation. In order to help Denza Automobile get out of the predicament, BYD and Daimler, the shareholders of Denza Automobile, have increased their capital several times since 2017, of which the shareholders increased their capital by 1 billion yuan in 2017; in 2018, both shareholders increased their capital by 800 million yuan; in 2019, BYD increased their capital by 200 million yuan; in 2020, Denza received another 700 million yuan capital increase from shareholders.
Image source: Denza Motors
Although the shareholders have made several capital increases for Denza Motors, its development difficulties have not been reversed. At the end of 2019, Denza Automobile launched its second product, Denza X, which is integrated into many Mercedes-Benz genes in terms of design and technology, and even directly labeled "Mercedes-Benz design" on its body nameplate, and fully incorporated into the Mercedes-Benz sales company in terms of sales and after-sales service, brand operations, etc. After the full "Mercedes-Benz" of products and channels, Denza ushered in a brief upturn, with annual sales rising from more than 2,000 to more than 4,000 vehicles. However, this sales volume is placed in the context of the rapid growth of new energy vehicles in the market background, and there is still a large gap compared with some new forces and the same level of products.
The "Mercedes Design" nameplate on the side of the Denza X body, image source: Denza Automobile
After the failure of the comprehensive "Mercedes-Benz", Denza fell to BYD, the other side of the shareholders. Analysts pointed out that at this stage, BYD's "rushing high" urgently needs to find a support point, and Denza itself is positioned as a high-end, after more than ten years of market experience, it has accumulated a certain brand awareness, and it has complete car-making qualifications and research and development capabilities, which can be used directly by BYD.
In the past two years, with the dongfeng of intelligent electric power, independent brands have frequently exerted efforts in the field of high-end new energy, among which SAIC motor has launched Zhiji, Dongfeng has launched Lantu, Geely has launched Extreme Kr, in addition, Changan's Avita and Great Wall's Sharon Automobile are also accelerating construction. As an early and more aggressive independent brand that cut into the new energy track, BYD has no reason to be absent in the high-end new energy track. Today, BYD has included Denza under its command, which is expected to reverse and revitalize the Denza brand on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also fills the market gap of BYD in the field of high-end new energy above 300,000.
"Rush high" above the high-end
After BYD took over Denza, in addition to accelerating the establishment of sales companies, it also accelerated the pace of product introduction. Not long ago, Denza Sales Division General Manager Zhao Changjiang revealed the latest news of Denza's new medium and large MPV through Weibo, from the recently exposed news and the previously released new car trailer, this new MPV length will reach 5.2 meters, wheelbase of more than 3 meters, in the design into the BYD existing design elements, will be equipped with double sunroof, double-sided electric sliding doors, four-door double-layer sound insulation glass, high-end brand tires, etc., while providing pure electric and hybrid two power versions. According to this, the industry expects that the price of the model is expected to be more than 450,000 yuan.
Denza's new MPV, image source: Zhao Changjiang Weibo
In addition to some information about the new MPV models, Zhao Changjiang also revealed some new trends of the Denza brand, such as its brand LOGO will have new optimizations and be exhibited as an independent brand at the Beijing Auto Show. In addition, like other independent high-end new energy brands, Denza also adheres to the "user-centric" operation strategy and focuses on creating a fan economy. According to Zhao Changjiang, Denza's new APP is under development, which will realize functions such as sales, car control, and community, and at the same time, the Denza brand also named its fan group "Rattan Pepper" through the form of fan name.
Judging from the series of products, channels and user operations carried out by BYD to the Denza brand, Denza is rejuvenating under the route formulated by BYD, and has also helped BYD fill the market space of more than 300,000 yuan.
However, after taking Denza into its hands, BYD's high-end road did not stop there. In other words, on the road to high, BYD still has a higher pursuit.
During the Guangzhou Auto Show last year, Du Guozhong, deputy general manager of BYD's brand and public relations business department, revealed the trend of its high-end new brand in an interview with the media, according to reports, the first model of the high-end brand is a hardcore off-road vehicle, priced between 500,000 and 900,000 yuan, which will be released in the first half of 2022.
At the end of last year, a screenshot of "BYD's new car planning for the next 1-3 years" circulated on the Internet, and the picture information also showed that BYD's first product of the high-end brand was a hardcore off-road vehicle, which will be benchmarked Mercedes-Benz Big G, providing EV and PHEV versions, which are expected to be listed in 2023.
As more information about high-end brands is revealed, the industry believes that BYD's future product lineup will consist of four major parts: Dynasty Series, Ocean Series, Denza and High-end Brands.
The road to high is not an easy road
"After starting multi-brand operation, what BYD should be most vigilant about is the phenomenon of products dumping each other within the brand." An industry analyst pointed out.
In fact, the multi-brand operation model is not uncommon among independent car companies, and the earliest to implement this model is Chery Automobile. At that time, in the thinking mode of "having more children and fighting", Chery took the lead in opening a number of brand strategies, and successively set up four brands of Chery, Karry, Ruiqi and Weilin, in addition to Karry focusing on commercial vehicles, the other three brands are passenger cars, so the product similarity is high, which eventually leads to Ruilin and Weilin being forced to stop production due to weak sales. However, at this stage, Chery is still actively practicing the multi-brand operation strategy, its brands in addition to Chery, there are Kaiyi, Xingtu, Jietu, etc., the current growth of Xingtu is weak, largely because of its main sales products and some of Chery's models in product strength and positioning overlap caused.
Today, BYD has also joined the ranks of multi-brand operations, and from the perspective of the existing product lineup, it also has the problem of unclear product positioning. At present, BYD has classified its products into two series, Dynasty and Ocean, and sold them on separate networks. Among them, the Dynasty series products cover the relevant models of the Qin, Tang, Song, Yuan, and Han series, as well as F3, while the Ocean series products include Dolphin and Destroyer 05, and also add e2 and Song PLUS. According to BYD's official interpretation, its marine network products include two major product sequences, namely the pure electric marine life series equipped with e platform 3.0 technology and the warship series equipped with DM-i super hybrid technology. According to this definition, the Marine series should have included Dolphin and Destroyer 05 at this stage, but now BYD has classified Song PLUS as an ocean network, which is really puzzling, and it is inevitable to leave people with the impression that the product positioning is not clear.
BYD Marine series products, image source: BYD
In addition to the existing Dynasty and Ocean series products, in the field of high-end new energy, Denza and the future high-end brand is the object that BYD will focus on next, from the perspective of positioning, Denza cut into the high-end new energy market above 300,000, while the high-end brand cut into the high-end new energy market above 500,000.
BYD's practice of setting up "high-end" on top of the high-end has also triggered many speculations in the industry, and some analysts pointed out that BYD's existing products such as Han have re-entered the 300,000 yuan range, which may overlap with the products introduced by Denza's subsequent products, and its future high-end brands are bound to further explore if the sales in the high price range are not ideal, and their prices are bound to further explore, which will overlap with depression positioning to a certain extent, which is bound to lead to mutual squeezing within the brand.
There is also a voice in the industry that pointed out that with BYD's products and technologies at this stage, it should be easy to cut into the product range of more than 300,000 levels, because the pre-price of Han DM-p has crossed the threshold of 300,000 yuan, but if it is to cut into the market segment of more than 500,000 yuan, in addition to the accumulation of technology, BYD also needs to spend more energy on brand power, channels and services.