It has been decades since the first Chinese car was sold overseas, during which Chinese car companies have changed various ways and ideas, and have not stopped exploring going overseas.
In recent years, the call for China's new energy vehicles to "go to sea" has been rising and the actions are frequent. However, in the midst of the hustle and bustle, some car companies finally realized an urgent and profound problem: we do not have our own "global models".
The benefits of owning a global model speak for themselves. Global models are the benchmark of the industry, the face of the brand, and the gold attraction weapon of car companies. For example, the well-known BMW X3, Toyota RAV4 and other global models occupy an important position in brand sales. Global models are widely loved and highly anticipated, so every time a global model is replaced and remodeled, it naturally announces a new change in the brand and plays a role as a weather vane.
More importantly, for China's new energy brands, which have not been established for a long time, the sword refers to the "global model" as a guide to the destination. As Musk respects first principles, the ultimate goal of car companies is to build a best-selling car, and at the end of the best-selling car is a global model that has taken the world by storm for a long time. Compared with this goal, the so-called global car companies, global industrial chains, global sales systems, and so on are all processes.
However, the hardships of Chinese car companies in getting their cars out of the port and becoming global models may be far more than 9981.
How far are Chinese car companies from global models? I am afraid that they will have to go through the three hurdles of brand, technology and product strength before they can see the light of day.
Global brands and global models, who has made whom?
It's hard to say who is more successful between global brands and global models. Today, however, the leadership of a strong brand is an indispensable factor in the success of the model. Today's strong global brands need to help their products fulfill two important missions:
The first is to successfully find the profit gap that allows the product to survive in the gap between global and local brands, and help the product nail into the minds of consumers. The second is to bring new ideas that lead the industry forward.
For example, after World War II, Volkswagen entered the American market and chose the positioning of a sturdy car, Japanese cars in the 70s dug deep into fuel-saving consumer demand, and American car companies that entered the Chinese market after German cars nailed wedges with the "atmosphere" that Chinese like as a selling point. Pragmatism, environmentalism, and the pursuit of luxury that accompany the above initiatives are all spillovers of the brand philosophy.
Now, China's new energy vehicle companies are bound to take this step.
For example, Aion has completed the brand renewal by fully implementing the AION letter logo. After the update, Aion adopted the AION letter mark globally, which also became a new stage for it to become a global brand.
There is no shortage of precedents for Chinese automakers to change their global brands. But Aion is the first Chinese new energy vehicle company to do so after Chinese cars went overseas and amazed the world. What new waves can this rebrand bring to the global automotive market?
First of all, Aion is announcing the language of "Chinese automobiles" to the world. The AION logo itself has the triple meaning of global language, scientific language, and user language. From the design point of view, AION's letter logo has a simple and flat design style, which is highly recognizable and modern at the moment. From the literal meaning of AION, it is a combination of AI+ON, which is not only the brand pronunciation of Aion, but also has the technological meaning of opening AI life with one click. Of course, there are also those who understand it as an expression of "love". In any case, the letter image of AION conveys the connotation of the brand more intuitively than the graphic image, and it is the posture that a global brand should have.
At present, it is a precious window period for China's new energy technology to lead the world, and the new logo can just take advantage of the traditional thinking of overseas users to pry open the traditional thinking of overseas users and nail the intentions of pure electric, intelligent and practical into their minds.
Secondly, the new brand identity also announces a new culture. When people see the eye-catching logos of Chinese car brands, they are likely to associate them with the common characteristics of Chinese models, such as reverse charging, intelligent entertainment, strong acceleration, and ultra-long battery life. The changing car culture and lifestyle along with new energy mobility will also lead the way with new brands around the world.
In addition, the global AION also has a special meaning of "feeding". It's hard for the industry not to notice the history of the GAC Group behind AION. Born in the new century, GAC Group has a relatively more advanced joint venture model, which is smoother in the introduction of models and the implementation of technology, and its performance is also obvious to all. Nowadays, from outstanding students in the era of gasoline vehicles to outstanding teachers in the era of new energy, their performance has been recognized by the market. In this way, since China still lacks a well-known global model, Aion, as the head brand of smart electric vehicles, should indeed take on the responsibility of creating a new generation of classic models.
However, the global brand is the "face", and the technical strength is the lining. Globally trusted technology is at the heart of the success of global models.
technology, Chinese car companies can become leaders
Successful global brands all have advanced and reliable technical systems. Advanced means stronger performance, higher quality, lower cost. Reliability means replication, resulting in greater volumes, a wider geographic area, and better profit margins. Toyota's lean manufacturing, Volkswagen's modular platform, and Hyundai's E-GMP pure electric platform, all of them.
In the field of new energy, Chinese car companies have advantages that other car companies cannot match. On the one hand, decades of deep participation in the design and R&D advantages brought about by globalization, on the other hand, relying on the deep domestic automotive industry chain and leading new energy technology experience, Chinese car companies are left and right.
Aion is a striking example:
After years of layout, Aion has widely spread its overseas R&D and design network, and established forward-looking design centers in Los Angeles and Milan, Italy, etc., which can learn from others in global design, global R&D and global procurement. In terms of industrial chain and three-electric technology, it occupies China's geographical advantages, and as a whole, it has formed an advantage that is difficult for others to surpass.
In addition, in terms of the three most important aspects of new energy vehicles, the advantages of Chinese car companies are fully revealed. Aion's AEP3.0 pure electric platform is equipped with Aion's first-in-class two-speed dual-motor "four-in-one" integrated electric drive technology, which enables acceleration to 100 kilometers into the 2-second range. Through self-developed electrical and electronic architecture and intelligent systems, Chinese automakers have consolidated their leading position in the international new energy vehicle market. In addition, Aion recently released its self-developed subversive new battery technology all-solid-state battery, which adopts the third-generation sponge silicon anode technology, with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, reduced energy attenuation by 50%, and increased energy density by 50%, which is enough to shatter mileage anxiety.
In terms of the iconic "intelligence" of new energy vehicles, Chinese car companies have recently given people the feeling that they are in the "crazy point technology tree".
The accuracy of automated parking is getting smaller and smaller, and the cities of NOA (Guided Driving on Autopilot) are getting more and more open. In terms of high-end intelligent driving, Aion also released the Garcia intelligent driving system based on pictureless pure vision technology. The system does not need to rely on high-precision maps or lidars, but can achieve accurate understanding of complex traffic scenarios through visual sensors and AI algorithms, and is especially good at handling complex road conditions such as ramps, tunnels, and curves. As a result, it has also promoted the realization of L4 autonomous driving technology.
It is precisely because of the unique technical soil that Aion has the confidence of EV+ICV full-stack self-development. Today, Aion is one of the few enterprises in the world that has developed and industrialized the full-stack of three-electric + intelligent networking. In turn, a series of original and exclusive technologies from Chinese car companies are also leading the development of the global new energy vehicle industry.
The place where these advantages and capabilities are integrated is the "super factory" of Chinese car companies. As the intersection of Chinese car companies, Aion's smart ecological factory is not only the industry's first "zero-carbon factory", but also rated as the world's only new energy "lighthouse factory" by Davos. This is the strength of China's new energy vehicle companies to lead the industry.
From a horizontal point of view, Chinese car companies have tried to go overseas in a variety of ways. Some people take the channel as the king, some people take the differentiated competition as the guide, and some people take the acquisition of foreign brands as a shortcut. However, the support of technical hard power is indeed the premise of steady and far-reaching development.
In the end, it is the product power that speaks
On the path to building a global model, global brands and global technologies are indispensable. However, the ultimate foothold can only be product power. Just as a global brand and a global model complement each other, the brand strategy must be followed quickly by strong products.
At this year's Beijing Auto Show, Aion released the second-generation AION V as its first global strategic model at the time of the full use of the AION letter mark, becoming one of the most noteworthy new cars at this Beijing Auto Show. This SUV has poured great effort into Aion: as a global model, the safety performance of the second-generation AION V meets the global platform standards, and integrates 23 top technologies including silicon carbide chips, super fast charging, battery safety, and pure intelligence, which seems to carry Aion's ambition to "conquer the four seas".
However, it seems that it is necessary to show its domineering, and Aion also gave this car the title of "Tyrannosaurus Rex", which not only pays tribute to the origin of the model in Hualong Town, Guangdong, but also is a powerful representative known all over the world.
In fact, Aion already has a popular physique, and it is foreseeable that the second-generation AION V may also inherit this tradition. Aion is also known as "Aion who can't drive badly", not only ranking first in China's new energy vehicle brand quality rankings, but also winning the J.D. POWER Pure Electric Value Preservation Double Crown. These also give the second-generation AION V the confidence to go overseas as a global model.
epilogue
Of course, there is still a long way to go from going overseas to global brands and global models. But as long as you dare to think and dare to work towards the ultimate goal, the future of China's new energy brand will be wider and broader.
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