When: August 12, 2021
Location: Beijing
Interviewer: [Car Wiki]
Interviewee: Hu Jun, Managing Director of Chongqing Xinte Automobile
Liu Yang, Director of Chongqing Xinte Automobile Research Institute, Deputy General Manager and Director
"The new Xinte Automobile has been reorganized in 2021 to create a new Chongqing Xinte Automobile, and we are starting from scratch today to reconstruct our new energy model and become the current emerging car-making force."
——Hu Jun, Managing Director of Chongqing Xinte Automobile
On August 12, Xinte Automobile, which has faded from the public eye for a long time, began a new round of charge, announcing the completion of a new round of financing participated in by Shanghai Feimu Technology Co., Ltd., while launching a new electric travel brand "Electric House" and the first A0-class pure electric vehicle "YOUNG Guangxiaoxin" for users in third-tier and lower-tier cities.
However, this "Xinte" is not the other "Xinte", but the introduction of a new car-making force after the completion of the restructuring of the relevant industrial funds in Chongqing Changshou District - Chongqing Xinte Automobile.
In the eyes of Hu Jun and his team, there is absolute confidence in the restructured Chongqing Xinte. However, for the A0-class small electric vehicle model where YOUNG Xiaoxin is located, it is difficult to compete with opponents such as Wuling and Euler in this segment of the market, which is already very small profits.
Fight again in the name of Shinte
As we all know, Xinte Automobile was established in September 2017. At that time, Xianyue, who was the co-founder and CEO of Xinte Automobile, set up his headquarters in Gui'an New District, Guizhou Province, as one of the key new energy projects incubated by the Gui'an New District Government of Guizhou Province, Xinte was an important part of the whole industry chain of China's first new energy vehicle being built in Gui'an New District.
At the beginning of the second year of its establishment, Xinte also reached a strategic cooperation with FAW Car on the research and development and production of new energy vehicles, reaching a certain height at the brand strategic level.
However, compared with a number of new forces such as Weilai, Xiaopeng and Weima, although the timing of Xinte's entry into the car manufacturing field is not too early, with the support of the Guizhou Local Industry Fund, the first batch of devs 1 of the first model DEV 1 was completed in 2018.
That is, from 2019 onwards, the problems covered by the rapid development of Xinte have gradually been exposed. The shutdown of Xinte Automobile's Guiyang plant, coupled with changes in the state's management of production qualifications for passenger cars, has also stagnated sales, and has since faded out of the market.
"In 2018, I launched products, and there was also a certain sales volume, and then due to some problems in operation, product, cost control, etc., I had no choice but to withdraw from the market."
▲Hu Jun Is the director and general manager of Chongqing Xinte Automobile
Hu Jun, managing director of Chongqing Xinte Automobile, said: "In 2020, we reorganized Xinte Automobile and completed it in September of that year, which is the Chongqing Xinte Automobile that everyone sees today, which is a new business entity, and the previous Xinte Automobile is a completely different company, and we also launched a new brand "Electric House", instead of the previous "Xinte Automobile" brand. ”
Indeed, although today's Chongqing Xinte has the name of "Xinte", it has long been completely different from Guizhou Xinte.
The team system changes blood
"On the new business entity, we have carried out new financing and introduced new investors. In addition to CDH Investment and Chongqing Changshou High-tech Zone, Shanghai Feimu Technology Co., Ltd. has become a new investor. ”
At the same time, from Hu Jun's mouth, we also know. Chongqing Xinte has also made adjustments to the management team, including Hu Jun himself, who also joined after last year's restructuring.
In addition, in the core areas of corporate strategy, finance and risk control management, new energy vehicle research and development and marketing, there are the latest industry experts to join.
For example, Zhao Huaiying, chairman and CFO of Chongqing Xinte, who has 30 years of experience in the industry, has held important positions in central enterprises and investment institutions, and has very rich experience in the fields of finance, investment and risk control; Liu Yang, president of the research institute, is the main person in charge of production and research and development of Chongqing Xinte, who has worked in Chery for many years and has also been responsible for product development in Jaguar Land Rover; Chen Jian, general manager of the marketing center, has been responsible for marketing and sales in Zotye Automobile. Chief Marketing Officer Liu Hongwei was one of the heads of Chery Sales and once served as vice president of the huge group.
▲Liu Yang, Director and Director of Chongqing Xinte Automobile Research Institute
Hu Jun also said: "We are a company with lightweight operations, the current number of employees is about 100 people, the core is the R & D and sales team. ”
It is worth mentioning that In terms of operation mode, Chongqing Xinte has also adopted an innovative DOCK model, which unites industrial chain resources to the greatest extent and covers all levels of research and development, manufacturing and marketing in a cooperative mode.
Liu Yang said bluntly: "Our team is not so large, but under the DOCK model, we can fully integrate the collaborative research and development resources of the industrial chain." ”
Clarify the A0-level market
It is understood that since the reorganization and establishment of the new Chongqing Xinte Automobile last year, the team led by Hu Jun has been preparing for the development of channels, and so far, a lot of layout has been made in channel construction.
"We emphasize lightweight channel construction, hoping that channels can quickly get close to users' lives and bring convenience to users." We divide the channel into two parts, one part is the offline store, and the other part is the online DTC system. ”
Naturally, this is also an important foundation for supporting the new brand electric house and the new model YOUNG light small new.
It is worth noting that in terms of products, unlike new car manufacturers focusing on high-end brands such as Weilai and Ideal, Chongqing Xinte aims at third-tier and low-tier city users whose penetration rate of pure electric travel continues to grow, and is even willing to deepen in this field to carry forward this market.
Specifically, the new model YOUNG light small new includes L400 and S400 two models, which is also the first model of the electric house brand, and also an A0-class hatchback model product, positioning fun and inexpensive pure electric scooter.
In Hu Jun's view, first of all, YOUNG Guangxiaoxin made it clear that the main focus of the product is high cost performance, in the face of the majority of second-, third- and fourth-line young users, the product meets their urban transportation needs, family needs and requirements for personality and appearance with four major selling points.
One is high value, fashionable and dynamic, the acceptance of young groups is very high; the second is long endurance, the whole series is standard with 402 km endurance, the current general family daily car mileage in 30 to 40 km, that is to say, this car is full of electricity can be used for about 10 days, 2 weeks recharge can bring practical convenience to consumers.
The third is the large space, whether the length or wheelbase is the same level has the advantage, 4 adults sitting inside is not crowded at all, the trunk is also the largest 230 liters, the overall space is enough for a family of three; the fourth is the fun technology configuration, such as intelligent voice assistant, OTA upgrade, driver assistance configuration, remote control APP, etc., which are also needed by young users.
YOUNG Xiaoxin is through the improvement of comprehensive strength, showing the characteristics of high cost performance. Both versions start at 59,800, which is competitive among products with a range of 400 km and above in the same class.