"The Changan new energy vehicle brand was finally named 'Changan Deep Blue'."
On April 13, at the 2022 Changan Automobile Global Partner Conference, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said.
This is the second new energy sub-brand under Changan after changan automobile, Huawei and CATL established Avita.
This kind of sub-brand that relies on a new look and deviates from the traditional concept is becoming the consensus of the domestic traditional independent brand, and it is also the most effective way to achieve the transformation of electrification.
The question is: since Avita has it, why does Changan launch a new pure electric brand?
01
Left hand Avita, right hand Chang'an deep blue, conflict?
In November last year, Changan Automobile, Huawei and CATL released the Avita 11, the first high-end electric vehicle based on the new "CHN" platform.
This emotional intelligent electric vehicle positioning coupe SUV, in the core data, Avita 11 can reach at least 700km of pure electric endurance, 0-100km/h acceleration of less than 4 seconds, while having 200 kilowatts of high-voltage super fast charging and 400Tops' top computing power, easily surpassing today's mainstream new energy vehicles.
The arrival of Avita 11 has at least brought Changan Automobile, which has been hovering on the edge of the new energy field, to the center of the stage.
Since Avita has helped Changan Automobile achieve electrification transformation, why should a new brand Changan Deep Blue be needed? Isn't this a family beating up a family member?
Regarding deep blue, Changan Automobile has not disclosed it to the public for the time being. However, through the content combing before and after the conference, the product planning of Changan Deep Blue is clear at a glance:
At present, Changan Deep Blue has five product plans, mainly for Z generation new energy users. Among them, the C385 will be officially released in the second half of this year, and the C673 will be released within the year.
These two new cars are based on Changan Automobile's EPA pure electric platform. It is understood that the EPA platform covers three market segments:
The EPA0 platform covers the micro to small car market to meet the basic travel needs of users, and the representative model is mini car glutinous rice;
The EPA1 platform covers the compact car market with a balance of performance, price and experience, with the first model being the C385;
The EPA2 platform will cover the medium-sized and above-class model market, paying more attention to quality and personalized experience, so as to establish a brand image.
Among them, Changan Navy C385 has surfaced as early as the day of the release of the Avita brand.
The overall style of the Navy C385 is similar to that of the UNI-V, including a closed grille, split headlight set, fixed skeleton spoiler, etc., and the body also has multiple cameras and millimeter wave sensors.
From the perspective of product positioning, the C385 benchmarks the segment of the 200,000-level pure electric intelligent car led by Tesla Model 3.
But in addition to Tesla Model 3 and Xiaopeng P7, there are now competitors such as BYD Seals, Zero Run C01, and Nezha S who are eyeing this segment.
All along, the domestic new energy vehicle market has shown a typical "dumbbell" structure, high-end volume, low-end outbreak, located in the middle of the mid-end market has always been unsatisfactory, which has become a "blue ocean" market that car companies are eager to try but repeatedly hit the wall.
After Tesla Model 3, Xiaopeng P7, and BYD Han successively delivered eye-catching results, the market of 200,000-300,000 yuan of new energy vehicles ushered in the entry of many car companies.
As Zhu Huarong said, Changan Deep Blue is of key significance to the strategic transformation of Changan Automobile's electrification strategy.
In the same way, Changan Automobile also needs C385 to impact sales in the new energy market segment of 200,000-300,000 yuan to open up market influence.
In addition to the need to add chips to its own win at the product level, pricing may be one of the important factors that determine its success or failure.
At the same time, we can also see Changan Automobile's positioning of its Changan Deep Blue and Avita double-line strategies:
Changan Deep Blue, which is based on the EPA platform, plays the mid-market segment;
Avita, based on the CHN platform, is playing in the high-end market segment.
High-end can be said to be the knot that Changan Automobile has always had.
Focusing on product models, Changan Automobile only has a top version of the official guidance price of more than 200,000 yuan for a few models, and most of the rest of the prices are concentrated in about 100,000-150,000 yuan.
Zhu Huarong said that Changan Automobile's products of more than 100,000 yuan have reached 70%.
Although this price point has been achieved after long-term structural optimization, how to break through the bottleneck of high-end and complete the transformation and improvement of brand value is a problem that Changan Automobile still needs to solve quickly.
At present, the pricing range of domestic high-end automobile brands is roughly between 150,000 and 300,000, while the only four models that meet the pricing range of Changan Automobile's current sales are UNI-K, CS75 PHEV, CS95 and CS55 pure electric version.
In addition to Changan Automobile's one-million-capacity industrial transfer strategy, new energy is also the only window for Changan Automobile to "soar".
Tan Benhong, chairman and CEO of Avita Technology, once said that Changan Automobile must be a high-end brand through cooperation with partners.
The main reason why he said this is that in the high-end market of fierce competition, it is difficult for Changan Automobile's own strength to break the deep-rooted low-end image of consumers.
Relying on the Ningde era and Huawei, Changan Automobile has pressed the hope of the brand upward on Avita, and also pinned the hope of electrification strategic transformation on the Avita and Changan deep blue double-line sub-brands.
Zhu Huarong has publicly stated more than once that the rapid development of new energy and intelligent networked vehicles has provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Chinese auto brands to rise and participate in global competition, and in the next ten years, world-class Chinese brands will be born in the world.
Zhu Huarong's remarks are not only encouraging other domestic car companies, but also hoping that the brand face of this "world-class Chinese brand" will fall on his own.
02
Changan's electrification transformation accelerates
Changan New Energy's cumulative sales last year were only 76,466 vehicles, of which Changan Benz sold 76,381 vehicles, accounting for 99%.
It is enough to see that Changan's new energy products are mainly relying on low-end vehicles, and other oil-to-electricity products are not competitive at all.
Last year, the retail sales of new energy passenger cars reached 2.989 million units, an increase of 169.1% year-on-year;
Compared with 2020, the sales of new energy vehicles increased by 1.879 million units.
For Changan Automobile, there are advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage lies in the large-scale application at the consumption level that can force the completion of infrastructure such as social charging piles and reverse stimulate the sales of new energy products; the disadvantage is that more and more industry participants come to the wind and increase the difficulty of customs clearance of Changan Automobile.
Including a number of new force car players such as Wei Xiaoli, veteran car companies such as Great Wall Salon Zhixing and Geely Krypton Automobile have also entered the high-end market, and everyone has the same way of playing, and there are also technology players such as Xiaomi and Jidu outside the industry.
Each one is not small, the high-end market has been muddy, Changan Automobile's brand upward plan will naturally be affected.
For Changan Automobile, this survival of the fittest market has not left too many breathing opportunities.
Up to now, there are 96 enterprise groups in China's auto market, with a total of 130+ brands, which is the market with the most enterprises and brands in the world.
With the addition of the new energy market and the turbulence of product change, the industrial elimination competition is also accelerating.
In the past year, there were 85 brands in the traditional fuel vehicle market, 34 with monthly sales of less than 1,000 units, and 9 brands that have died.
Zhu Huarong believes that in the next 3-5 years, 80% of automobile brands will face shutdown, stop, merger and turn, and Chinese brands can only survive and develop in the fierce market if they conform to the trend of the times, continuously innovate and accelerate transformation.
Bearing the sense of crisis of this track elimination, Changan Automobile has continuously accelerated its speed by relying on the two-line electrification transformation plan of "Shangri-La" and "Beidou Tianshu".
At the "2021 Changan Automobile Science and Technology Ecological Conference", Changan Automobile put forward a grand new goal for the first time: in 2025, Changan brand sales will reach 3 million vehicles, and new energy will account for 35%; in 2030, sales will reach 4.5 million vehicles, new energy will account for 60%, and overseas sales will account for 30%.
Today, Zhu Huarong once again stressed that by 2025, Changan Automobile is expected to invest more than 80 billion yuan in key areas such as new energy, intelligence, scientific and technological innovation, and digital transformation, and the R&D team will expand to 20,000 people, including 6,000 intelligent software teams and 5,000 new energy R&D personnel.
All this, just so that by 2030, Changan New Energy will sell 2.7 million vehicles, accounting for 60% of new energy, and Changan Automobile's UNI sequence, Changan Passenger Vehicle, Auchan and Kaicheng will be fully transformed into electrification and electrification.
In other words, Changan Automobile will achieve the goal of "banning combustion" with its existing product lines.
In June last year, Zhu Huarong succeeded Zhang Baolin as the new chairman, and in front of Zhu Huarong's eyes was Changan Automobile, which was hovering on the edge of the new energy market, and the continuous decline in market capital recognition.
Since Zhu Huarong took office, a series of actions have made the market look forward to Changan Automobile again, including the adjustment of product architecture, the continuous rise in sales, etc., as well as the long-term layout of overseas manufacturing bases in the future.
From a close point of view, this year Changan will launch a total of 36 new products, of which 19 are independent brand products and 8 are new new energy products, truly covering mini cars, mainstream electric vehicles and high-end intelligent electric vehicles.
From a distance, Changan also released its 2025 target, 2030 target, and "carbon peak, carbon neutrality" time, which further demonstrates Changan Automobile's determination to transform into a smart low-carbon travel technology company.
There is no doubt that Zhu Huarong is a practical player, but wanting to be a "world-class Chinese market" is not just the goal of Changan Automobile.
Under the spur of the fierce competition and the survival of the fittest market, what kind of height can Changan Automobile rise to?