Per reporter: Sun Tongtong Per editor: Sun Lei
30 years ago, It swept the north and south of the river, and Fukang, which together with Santana and Jetta and called China's cars the "old three", is once again conquering the market with a new identity.
A few days ago, Dongfeng Fukang, as the third largest brand under DPCA, launched this year's blockbuster pure electric new car - Dongfeng Fukang ES600, aiming at the B-end new energy vehicle market, and obtained 30,000 orders on the day of listing.
"Dongfeng Fukang, as the third brand of Dongfeng Dongfeng PRU Motor, is jointly promoted by the joint venture company, and this ES600 is independently developed by the DPCA Automotive Technology Center." The relevant person in charge of Dongfeng Dongfeng Automobile told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that unlike Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot, Dongfeng Fukang is completely controlled by Dongfeng Peugeot Automobile, and its core "three electric" technology is provided by Dongfeng Group.
"Dongfeng Fukang entered the new energy vehicle market as a joint venture independent brand, and Dongfeng Technology transfused its blood, which reflects the characteristics of the current new joint venture era, and the electrification technology of the joint venture company needs to be fed by its own brand." Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Joint Association, said in an interview with the Daily Economic News reporter.
DPCA is dominant and aims at the B-end market
It is understood that the Dongfeng Fukang ES600 listed this time has launched two models, namely the rental version and the online version, using the power battery of AVIC lithium battery, and the comprehensive mileage is 430km.
Image source: Courtesy of the enterprise
Different from many new energy brands facing consumers, Dongfeng Fukang will focus on the B-end new energy market. "Only entering the B-end market is based on the suggestions and needs of customers in the early market research, so there are 30,000 orders on the market, and the follow-up product plan is still under study." The relevant person in charge of the above-mentioned DPCA automobile said.
In fact, since the official restart in 2018, Dongfeng Fukang has launched two new energy models, ES500 and e-Elysée, both for the B-end market, and taxis, online ride-hailing cars, coach cars, etc. have become the most concentrated areas of the brand models.
It is worth noting that B-end market users pay more attention to cost-effectiveness and service, and economy and practicality are also important factors for them to consider when buying a car. In response to this demand, Dongfeng Fukang has launched a number of car purchase policies, for example, ES600 provides car owners with a 7×24-hour service hotline and rescue nationwide, and provides all purchased owners with compensation of 200 yuan / day for lost work after 48 hours of normal maintenance, and enjoys the DPCA Five Hearts service when buying a car.
"The ES600 for the B-end travel market, its product technology and competitiveness are generally very good, Dongfeng Fukang entered the new energy market as a joint venture independent brand, and the future market performance is worth paying attention to." Cui Dongshu told reporters.
Shoulder the heavy responsibility of the transformation of DPCA
30 years ago, Beverly Wilshire was a Citroën sedan based on the Citroën ZX model that once swept Europe. On May 18, 1992, The French Citroen Company signed an agreement with Dongfeng Group to establish a joint venture company in Wuhan, DPCA, which also officially entered the Chinese market.
At that time, the Chinese market to choose from the model is very rare, Jetta, Santana, Fukang with the characteristics of leather, durable has become a popular goods sought after by the majority of car owners, and then developed into many consumers in the mouth of the "old three", but also become the memory of generations.
Since 2003, Beverly Wilshire has been at the top of several consecutive years, with an average annual sales of more than 40,000 vehicles for four consecutive years from 2003 to 2006. However, since 2007, as more and more joint venture brands and Chinese local cars have entered the market, Fukang's product strength and competitiveness have gradually declined, and finally officially stopped production in October 2008. From production in 1992 to delisting in 2008, The total production and sales of Fukang models in 16 years have totaled 500,000 units.
Compared with the continuous development of Jetta and Santana in the Chinese market, Fukang was reborn after ten years of disappearance, and its market performance is more expected.
At present, Fukang has become the third largest brand in charge of DPCA in addition to Citroën and Peugeot, and Dongfeng Fukang is also shouldering the heavy responsibility of the transformation of DPCA to electrification.
Image source: Per reporter Zhang Jian photographed (data map)
At present, Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot have not launched pure electric products, and their electrification transformation is also mostly focused on plug-in hybrid models, which has not brought substantial changes to DPCA. Therefore, DPCA has high hopes for the Dongfeng Fukang brand.
"Dongfeng Fukang ES600, as the first new product of Dongfeng Fukang Automobile, opened the prelude to the launch of new products and the transformation and upgrading of new energy in 2022, and was also the prelude to the rebirth of DPCA. Starting this year, the three major brands of Dongfeng Citroen, Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Fukang will also successively launch a variety of pure electric products and plug-in hybrid products, continuously enrich the layout of new energy products, and create a new growth pole for the sustainable development of DPCA's business. Zhang Zutong, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and deputy general manager of Dongfeng Group and chairman of Dongfeng Auto, said.
A number of joint venture independent brands want to "resurrect" through electrification
In fact, Dongfeng Fukang, which is managed by DPCA and independently developed, can be regarded as a joint venture independent brand. However, from past experience, the development of many joint venture independent brands has encountered resistance. For example, the concept brand of Guangqi Honda, the brand of Venus of Dongfeng Nissan, the Siming brand of Dongfeng Honda, etc., the market performance has not been satisfactory so far, and most of them have faded out of the public vision.
Image source: Per reporter Huang Xinxu photographed (data map)
"The fundamental reason for the emergence of joint venture autonomy is to seek a way out for China's auto industry to become stronger, but the identity is indeed somewhat awkward, and both sides of the joint venture cannot put excellent resources on the joint venture independent project, and almost all the joint venture independent brands have developed relatively bleakly." Auto analyst Ren Wanfu told reporters.
In recent years, with the acceleration of the electrification transformation of the automobile industry, the domestic new energy vehicle market has grown rapidly, and some joint venture independent brands have begun to try to return to the market with the help of the wave of electrification. For example, the idea brand launched the pure electric model EV-1, and the Siming brand launched the pure electric model X-NV, M-NV and so on.
However, the sound volume of these joint ventures and independent pure electric products is small, and the sales volume is not optimistic. At present, affected by the rise in raw material prices and chip shortages, many new energy vehicles have announced price increases, while the discounts of joint venture independent new energy models are generally large.
The reporter recently visited the Shanghai auto market and found that the maximum discount of guangqi Honda's concept EV-1 model is 45,000 yuan, and the promotion of Dongfeng Honda's Siming M-NV model is not small, up to 20,000 yuan, and the highest discount for X-NV models is 25,000 yuan.
"Joint venture independent brands have been unable to gain a foothold in the traditional energy market and have been forced to turn their perspective to the new energy vehicle market. In the new energy vehicle market, foreign parties started late and developed slowly, and independent brands occupy certain advantages. Therefore, this change penetrates into the joint venture independent brand, and there will be a trend of Chinese side. In Ren Wanfu's view, the identity of the joint venture autonomy is particularly embarrassing, and in the end, it is difficult to escape the fate of "disappearing".
However, in Cui Dongshu's view, joint venture autonomy is a survival opportunity for joint ventures, and there is an opportunity to "resurrect" through electrification, and cutting into the current new energy vehicle market is also a development trend of joint venture independent brands.
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