The flowers are similar every year, and the years are different.
On October 18, 2022, the Paris Motor Show officially opened. As one of the world's top five exhibitions, it has been four years since the last Paris Motor Show. After 4 years of quiet flowing, the venue as a stage is still there, and the brand and products that sing on stage have changed more.
Paris Motor Show Great Wall booth Photo/official website
Compared with the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz GLE, Kia Niro EV and facelifted Porsche Macan that attracted attention in 2018, more Chinese brands appeared at the Paris Motor Show. BYD has brought core products such as Han, Tang, Seal, ATTO 3 (Yuan PLUS), Great Wall Motor is led by new cars such as Ora Good Cat, Lightning Cat, WEY Pie Coffee 01 (Mocha PHEV), and models such as C11 and T03 under the new power brand Zero, and Syris SF5 under Xiaokang Group have also appeared in the European market with a high profile. According to incomplete statistics, a total of 14 models of Chinese brands appeared at the Paris Motor Show.
In Paris, France, which is famous for its romance, Chinese new energy vehicle brands are becoming a beautiful landscape, showing the style of the oriental automobile industry.
Ling Ran, an auto analyst at the Paris Auto Show in France, told Shell Financial Reporter that there were many independent brands exhibiting at the Paris Auto Show, among which BYD and Great Wall attracted the most attention, and Great Wall Motor appeared in Hall 6, which belongs to the core location. Their appearance not only brought new Chinese manufacturing to French friends, stimulated overseas users' expectations for Chinese brands, but also formed an important echo with the foothold and development of independent brands overseas.
Deloitte China Automotive Industry Leader Lingkun Zhou mentioned that it is just the right time for Chinese brands to go global, but they still face complex opportunities and challenges in the future, and how to further leap from "product going abroad" to "value chain globalization" is a compulsory course for every enterprise.
A hundred flowers bloomed at the Paris Motor Show, and Chinese brands such as BYD and Great Wall made a brilliant appearance
The Paris Motor Show originated at the International Automobile Salon in 1898 and has been around for 124 years. In the history of this traditional European auto show, there are not many appearances of Chinese brands, Jiangling Lufeng, Brilliance Automobile, and GAC Trumpchi have landed at the Paris Motor Show in the era of fuel vehicles, but it is also unprecedented for such multiple brands and models to go abroad and embrace the European market as in 2022.
At the Paris Motor Show, European brands gave full play to the advantages of local operations, and the French Stellantis Group and Renault cars released a number of products, of which new energy models also accounted for a high proportion, such as the German Mercedes-Benz brand released a new EQE SUV at the auto show.
In addition, new energy products such as the new Peugeot e-208, JEEP Avenger, Dacia Jogger Hybrid Edition, and Renault 5 Turbo 3E concept car have appeared, demonstrating the determination and investment of overseas brands in the transformation of fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles.
Great Wall WEY Coffee 01 photo/official website
At the auto show, the flag of Chinese brands also stood tall. Independent brands led by BYD and Great Wall entered the market with a high profile, and a number of new cars that were hotly sold in China were also officially released or announced at the Paris Motor Show.
For example, the price range of Great Wall Wei's Coffee01 (Mocha PHEV) is 55,900-59,900 euros, about 390,000-420,000 yuan; BYD's Han, Tang, and ATTO 3 (yuan PLUS) have announced the pre-sale price at the recent European online launch of new energy passenger vehicles. Among them, the German pre-sale price of Han and Tang is 72,000 euros, about 504,900 yuan, and the price of ATTO 3 is 38,000 euros, about 266,000 yuan.
Ling Ran said that at the Paris Motor Show, Chinese car brands attracted a lot of media and consumers with their excellent exterior interior design. "When foreign friends saw that these cars were produced by Chinese brands, many people expressed their surprise at the rapid development of Chinese cars." Ling Ran said.
BYD Paris Motor Show press conference Photo/official website of the company
For Chinese brands going overseas to Europe, participate in the Paris Motor Show. Shu Youxing, General Manager of BYD's International Cooperation Division and European Automotive Sales Division, said: "We are very excited to present the latest technologies and products of BYD's new energy passenger vehicles to European consumers. We highly respect the European automobile industry and its industry ecology, and are willing to work with excellent local dealer partners to provide European consumers with high-quality new energy products and services and build green dreams together. ”
By the end of this year, BYD will further develop in the French and British markets.
Meng Xiangjun, president of Great Wall Motor's European region, said at the auto show that Europe is one of Great Wall Motor's most important overseas markets, and the Paris Motor Show is the best opportunity for Great Wall Motor to showcase GWM brands and products to the European market. Great Wall Motor is studying the entire life cycle of carbon emissions in the automotive industry, and by 2025, it will launch more than 50 new energy products to fully support the use of renewable energy and create a sustainable and harmonious future for users around the world.
Ling Ran believes that after the Paris Motor Show, Chinese companies will not only stay here with more and more novel and reliable products and technologies, but also have excellent market impact. "A glimpse of Hong is too hurried, and the participation and localization of the three points into the wood is the most worthy of people's expectations." Ling Ran said.
The road to the sea is long and obstructive, and Chinese brands need to "fight steadily"
2022 will be a "big year" for Chinese brands to go global, and data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that mainland automobile exports in September were 301,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 73.9%. According to the General Administration of Customs of China, in the first eight months of this year, China's automobile exports reached 1.91 million units.
However, according to the data, the top three countries with the largest automobile exports on the mainland are Mexico, Chile and Saudi Arabia. Developing countries such as the Middle East, Central and South America are still the "main battlefield" of mainland automobile brands, and export products are still dominated by fuel vehicles.
With the continuous development of electrification, intelligence and networking, the strength of new energy intelligent vehicles of Chinese brands continues to leap forward, moving towards the European market with century-old automobile heritage, and upgrading the brand image, which is becoming a new direction for Chinese car companies.
Before the Paris Motor Show, new energy vehicle brands such as BYD and NIO have released new energy vehicle strategies in Europe; Lantu, Xpeng and other brands have also opened export plans for the European market.
Zhou Lingkun told Shell Financial Reporter that in order to further seek new business growth opportunities, upgrade brand image, and continuously enhance their own advantages through global competition, Chinese car companies have become bolder in terms of target market, competition strategy, model innovation and other aspects. Under the wave of globalization in all walks of life, the automotive industry has taken the lead in entering a new chapter, and how to further leap from "product going abroad" to "value chain globalization" has become an important issue in front of every OEM.
In the European market, NIO chose the business model of leasing cars; Brands such as BYD, Xpeng and Lantu have chosen a sales model of cooperation with dealers. However, in the face of the rapid development of Chinese auto brands, there are still many problems in entering the European market.
Jiawen Ming, China Partner of Deloitte Consulting, pointed out that despite the broad prospects and clear goals, the globalization of Chinese automakers is still full of challenges.
For example, insufficient overseas supply security, lack of internal basic capabilities, limited local market resources, difficult to find global business talents, brand advantages have not yet been established, product technology is not satisfactory", etc. are the current common pain points of enterprises, which restricts the globalization process.
Mou Jiawen believes that in the overseas market, Chinese car companies urgently need to clarify their goals, formulate strategies suitable for themselves, give full play to their unique advantages, and gradually make up for their shortcomings, so as to stand out in the fierce market competition.
"Brand upward" is one of the most important themes of the domestic automotive industry in recent years, in the face of the overseas market full of strong competitors and the red sea competition of electric vehicles that have opened, more and more car companies have begun to choose to cultivate the market segment, try to create explosive products, and form a unique positioning.
According to a research report by Deloitte China, 50% of car companies plan to focus on a certain segment of the model or demand market overseas in the next 3-5 years, and taking electric vehicles as the focus of product planning in the next 3-5 years has become the consensus of 87.5% of the surveyed car companies.
China's automobile industry has written a chapter of struggle for Chinese automobile practitioners from the initial introduction of foreign funding for development, to self-reliance and breakthroughs in the later stage, and now to sail overseas. The future challenges may be more severe, what kind of achievements Chinese brands will achieve in Europe, Shell financial reporters will continue to pay attention.
Beijing News shell financial reporter Bai Haotian Zhang Bing
Editor Song Yuting
Proofreader Liu Jun