The author | Lingyun
Produced | automotive grand view
Founded 12 years ago, Denza Motors, which has been hovering in the fringe market, has a new trend.
A few days ago, Zhao Changjiang, general manager of the desir Auto Sales Division, revealed on his personal social platform that in 2022, DENZA will release 3 new cars, including an MPV, a medium-sized SUV and a medium-sized SUV. Among them, the MPV model will launch pure electric and plug-in hybrid electric two-power, and equipped with four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive systems, "so the price range will be wider."
In fact, this is not the first time this year that Zhao Changjiang has released the dynamics of Denza Motors on social platforms. Public information shows that as early as February 23 this year, Zhao Changjiang posted a set of spy photos of Denza's high-end MPV on Weibo. On March 20, Zhao Changjiang also revealed that Denza's new APP is under development and will realize functions such as sales, vehicle control, and community; the LOGO has new optimizations; and Denza's high-end MPV third emission has a unique solution...
In early April, Zhao Changjiang released a promotional video about Denza's high-end MPV. Judging from the contents announced one after another, desirected the appearance of the high-end MPV body, the whole car is equipped with double-sided electric sliding doors and four-door double-layer silent glass, and the interior layout of the car is 2+2+3, which will be unveiled at this year's Beijing Auto Show. "This year will be the first year of the outbreak of the mid-to-high-end MPV market." Zhao Changjiang said.
It is worth mentioning that since the end of 2021, the release of new products and planning and other information is only part of deforestation's frequent actions.
On December 25, 2021, BYD announced that it and Daimler intend to increase the capital of Denza by 1 billion yuan each. At the same time, the two sides also signed an equity transfer agreement on Denza Automobile, which reads: After the completion of the transfer of Denza Automobile, BYD's shareholding in Denza will increase from 50% to 90%, Daimler's shareholding ratio will be reduced from 50% to 10%, and the transfer is scheduled to be completed in mid-2022.
More than a month after the signing of the agreement between the two sides, that is, on February 14 this year, BYD established Denza Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd. According to the data, the company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BYD Automobile Industry Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 50 million yuan, and its business scope is new car sales, new energy vehicle sales, and electrical accessories sales.
Changes in equity, frequent exposure of product information... All kinds of signs are indicating that Denza Automobile is accelerating its return to the automotive market and wants to enter the high-end new energy vehicle market with the help of high-end MPV models after the brand operates independently.
Ten years of sand panning have not seen gold
Although the current series of actions make people wonder whether Denza can become a new upstart in the next new energy era, before that, Denza Automobile's life was not good.
Pull back 12 years.
In 2010, Wang Chuanfu, founder, chairman and president of BYD Group, led the team to Germany to sign a memorandum of understanding with Daimler. A year later, BYD and Daimler established Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd. in a 50:50 share ratio.
In 2012, DENZA Denza, the first new energy vehicle brand positioned in the high-end market in China, was born. According to the agreement between BYD and Daimler, Denza Automobile is provided by BYD with three electric technologies, and Daimler is responsible for the production and manufacture of the whole vehicle.
In the following 2014 and 2016, Denza Automobile completed the launch of the first model Denza 300 and the change of company name, and Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd. was renamed Shenzhen Denza New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. (referred to as Denza Automobile). It is understood that the first mass production model Denza 300 is based on the Development of the Mercedes-Benz B200 platform.
Since then, Denza Automobile has not only launched the replacement models Denza 400 and Denza 500, but also merged into the sales system of Mercedes-Benz in July 2019, and launched the upgraded Denza X (pure electric/hybrid version) model in November of the same year.
As the first new energy vehicle joint venture brand in China, Denza Automobile has attracted the attention of the industry because of the strong background of both shareholders. Wang Chuanfu also said: "As a child of Daimler and BYD, Denza Automobile is a brand born on the shoulders of giants. ”
Why did BYD and Daimler establish a joint venture to establish Denza Automobile? In the industry's view, at that time, BYD wanted to obtain Daimler's advanced car-making technology through cooperation, enhance brand image, and transform high-end. Daimler, on the other hand, hopes to use cooperation to enter the Chinese new energy vehicle market.
Perhaps it is precisely because of the "impure motives" of both parties to the cooperation that eventually led to the "tragedies" of Denza Automobile.
The data shows that in the 11 years from 2010 to 2021, China's new energy vehicle production increased by nearly 500 times, especially after the reshuffle in 2019, the domestic new energy automobile industry began to enter a golden age. By 2021, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China will reach 3.545 million units and 3.521 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, and the market penetration rate will be 13.4%, an increase of 8 percentage points year-on-year.
In stark contrast, the performance of the Denza automobile market, which was born with a "golden key" and took the lead in entering the game, has not improved. According to the data, from 2014 to 2021, the cumulative sales volume of Denza Automobile is less than 30,000, of which only 4708 are in 2021.
"The main reason why Denza Automobile has not been able to seize the outlet of domestic new energy vehicles is that BYD and Daimler have not paid enough attention to it before." Some industry insiders said. This can be seen from the fact that Denza Automobile has only relied on one product support in its 12 years of establishment and the lack of early brand publicity.
It is worth mentioning that the continuous sluggish market performance has also put Denza Automobile into a situation where it can only rely on the "blood transfusion" of the two major shareholders to survive. According to public information, from 2012 to 2021, BYD and Daimler have increased the capital of Denza 12 times, with a total capital increase of more than 7 billion yuan, while the cumulative loss of Denza has exceeded 4.39 billion yuan (2016-2021 November).
It can be said that without the support of BYD and Daimler, Denza Automobile, which has almost no sense of existence, may have disappeared long ago.
Or will take on a new mission
In the past, Denza itself was in a game game.
Why? Because at the beginning of the establishment of the Denza brand, BYD and Daimler had an agreement, that is, the core electric drive technology used in the vehicle was responsible for BYD, and the design and chassis adjustment of the vehicle were responsible for Mercedes-Benz.
So, why did the two sides make such an agreement? The reason is very simple, at that time, Mercedes-Benz did not have a pure tram on sale, and BYD's new energy was also on the eve of the outbreak. In other words, what BYD has is what Mercedes-Benz lacks; and what Mercedes-Benz has happens to be what BYD needs to make up.
Therefore, in retrospect, the Denza brand has been saddled with the respective "yang plots" of BYD and Daimler from the beginning of its birth. Rather than being a car brand, deforestation is more like a bridge, allowing Daimler and BYD to come and go, each taking what they need.
Now, 12 years later, Daimler has "things are not people", and BYD is no longer the Next Amon. Specifically, Mercedes-Benz's new energy layout has moved from EQC to EQS, from oil to electricity to large pure electric architecture and mass production. AND BYD has also grown from a "small lotus to a sharp corner" to a world-class new energy giant.
According to common sense, the story is here, and the mission of Denza Motors seems to be over.
However, just when the industry was speculating about where Denza Automobile would go in the future, IND made a surprising decision in December 2021 - to continue to increase the capital of Denza Automobile and sign an equity transfer agreement with Daimler to obtain absolute control of Denza Automobile.
"Bydir brand itself is positioned in the mid-range, the Ocean series is mainly positioned as a running volume model, BYD may want to continue to make Denza a brand with high-end positioning." Bai Yiyang, manager of CMB International Research Department and automotive industry analyst, said.
It is worth mentioning that the views of the above-mentioned industry insiders are not unreasonable. On the one hand, the product line under the Denza brand is not much, there is only one denza X product at present, which is not complicated to sort out, and it is not difficult to "continue to cook on the fire" on the existing basis. On the other hand, because of Daimler's blessing, the Denza brand is also a rare high-quality asset.
In addition, compared with the Great Wall with Wei brand, Geely with Lynk & Co, Changan with Avita, Chery with Xingtu, ASD, as the head car company of Chinese brands, it is also time to launch a relatively high-end brand. Compared with rebuilding a new brand, it is obviously more appropriate to let the denza, which originally has a high-end positioning, return and become a new path and new fulcrum of its own high-end.
According to public information, the highest priced model in BYD's product line is Tang New Energy, with a price of 300,000 yuan, while the highest price of models under the Denza brand has reached 400,000 yuan.
Combined with the information released by Zhao Changjiang a few days ago that the "new MPV price range will be wider", Denza may undertake a new mission, that is, to use the existing brand positioning to enrich the product line, help BYD break through the current price ceiling, and pave the way for the more high-end brands to be launched in the future.
There are also "stumbling blocks" on the way forward
"This year, there are three models released: MPV, medium and large SUV, medium-sized SUV; the channel system will be rebuilt to meet the needs of mid-to-high-end users' car services, social services, etc.; intelligent and digital cockpits, please stay tuned, there will be a number of scenarios and details of the solution ..."
Judging from the information given by Zhao Changjiang, whether it is management personnel, service systems, and sales channels, the momentum under BYD's control seems to have been renewed.
So, can these allow Denza to play a new role and become the next "upstart" in the new energy era? This question is difficult to answer for the time being.
In the author's opinion, the current denza car is not without stumbling blocks on the road ahead. One of the challenges is the pace of BYD's product advancement. According to BYD, in 2022, its focus of work has three: one is to expand the marine series product line; the second is to improve the dynasty series product matrix; the third is to break the last layer of window paper and launch a high-end brand with a price of nearly one million yuan.
Take only the high-end brands that BYD will launch this year as an example. According to reports, the high-end brand price range will be more than 500,000-1 million yuan, in terms of brand, product, sales and service network, operation team, will be new and independent, the first model is a hardcore off-road vehicle. That is to say, the new high-end brand will most likely occupy most of BYD's resources and energy.
With the focus of work already determined, how much energy will BYD focus on Denza in the next period of time? It's still an unknown.
Therefore, in the author's opinion, although the Denza brand will launch new models in 2022, this year will definitely not be its product year, at most a product attempt.
In addition, from the perspective of BYD's current product planning, the price range of Denza's models may be 300,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan. This price range seems to have been firmly controlled by new power brand models such as Tesla, Xiaopeng, Ideal, and Weilai. In the face of these competitors with their own "net red" effect, which has been "depressed" for 12 years, it is not easy to continue to impact the high-end market.
However, this does not mean that Denza Motors must have a bleak future. "At present, domestic high-end independent brands are performing well, such as Gaohe, Weilai, Xiaopeng and so on. This also means that high-end new energy vehicles have a certain market demand. In addition, in recent years, BYD has been performing well in electric vehicles, and with strong new energy technology coupled with the endorsement of Mercedes-Benz, Denza still has the opportunity to impact the high-end market. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, said.
At the same time, in the author's opinion, if Denza Automobile wants to successfully transform into a high-end brand under BYD, it must use time, products and stories to build the image that a high-end brand should have. Otherwise, no matter how good the product is, the brand power will be difficult to support the expensive price.