Recently Hongqi launched a flagship SUV, the LS7. It's bigger than Rolls-Royce Cullinan, and Cadillac Kered. It is equipped with a 4.0T V8 engine. From the standard of luxury cars. It is luxurious enough, large in size, large in displacement and expensive in price. But it is a good car, but it is not a market-oriented car.
The development momentum of the Hongqi brand in recent years is still very good, with sales reaching 300,000 vehicles in 2021, an increase of 50% year-on-year. Very good results have been achieved. But I think there are still three major problems with the Hongqi brand. Only these three major problems have been solved. Only the Hongqi brand can truly stand firm.
The first big problem is to get out of the market.
Hongqi brand cars are out of the market, but also forced. Because it is a state-owned enterprise, it must undertake some tasks that private enterprises cannot undertake. For example, the parade car is something that other private enterprises cannot do, only the Hongqi brand can do. The development of this car does not consider the market at all, and is tailored for special use scenarios.
But recently, I've found that Red Flag is stuck in a weird circle. It is that its models are generally out of the market. According to the planning of the Hongqi brand, it currently has four major product series. L、S、H、Q。 Among them: L series, for the new noble red flag supreme car; parade car is among them, and LS7 is also L series. L series needless to say, it is not that you have money to buy it, you need to review your purchase qualifications.
The S series, the new noble Faw-hongqi coupe, the first model is a joint venture between Faw-hongqi and a company in the United States, and then a supercar manufactured in Italy. It is said that the first model, the S9, is limited to 70 units and is priced at about 10 million. It's also a car out of the market.
H series, for the new noble Hongqi mainstream car; this is also the most popular series of Hongqi at present, H5, H9, HS5 and other models sell well, but also the best series in the market.
Q series, for the new noble Hongqi business car. The first model will be a business MPV, positioned higher than the Buick GL8, it is estimated that the Mercedes-Benz V-class is the market.
Therefore, I think that at least 2 of the four major product lines of Hongqi are out of the market. Even money can't afford it.
The second major problem is the new energy pulling.
After the advent of the new energy era, there are not many new energy models under Hongqi at present. The E-HS9, which we are familiar with, sold 5400 units in 2021. This is not a very high achievement. There is also a car called the E-QM5, which has a very low starting price, only 122,800 to start. It has a civilian version, as well as a ride-hailing version. On the one hand, I don't understand why the Hongqi brand, a high-end brand, wants to do online car-hailing. On the other hand, I don't quite understand the design of the E-QM5, I think its design is strange.
The third biggest problem is the low unit price of customers.
Hongqi's third problem is that the unit price of passengers is relatively low, although the sales volume in 2021 reached 300,000 vehicles, but the average unit price of passengers is only about 210,000, which is not particularly high among luxury brands. Especially after the advent of the new energy era, new energy vehicles are now selling for 300,000 or 400,000 at a price. Even though Tesla never said it was a luxury brand, users categorized it as a luxury brand. Hongqi has always said that it is a luxury brand, but the average transaction price seems to be unable to support this brand. At present, the most sold models of Hongqi are still H5 and HS5 models that cost less than 200,000. This also more or less affected the high-end brand image of Hongqi.
In the minds of the post-50s and post-60s, Hongqi is definitely a luxury brand. But in the minds of the post-70s and post-80s, it is a luxury brand that is gradually drifting away. In the minds of the post-90s and post-00s, it is a brand that is not luxurious in life, but super luxurious in the military parade. Therefore, the development path of the Hongqi brand is not smooth.