[Figure] On the way to the China brand, someone left the scene and someone was in the upper position

[car home Industry] "Our competitors will not only be Mercedes-Benz, Toyota or Stellantis Group, but also include Tesla, Foxconn, Apple, LG Electronics and Uber." One year after audi ag released the "NEW AUTO" strategy, the head of the company, Diss, made another speech at the group’s board meeting.

At the same time, a PPT is particularly striking. The content generally lists the main competitors of Volkswagen Group in the fields of vehicle, technology platform, software, battery and travel, and the figures of China’s new power brands such as Weilai and Tucki are impressively listed.

On May 10th, 2017, the State Council approved the establishment of the first celebration of "China Brand Day". Miao Wei, then Minister of Industry and Information Technology, published a signed article entitled "Treat every day as" China Brand Day ".He pointed out that brand is the carrier of value and reputation, and this process is like a" thrilling leap "for China brands.

Five years later, different people have different understandings about whether China automobile brand has achieved a key leap forward. According to the terminal sales data from January to March this year, the market share of China brands has expanded to 42.9%. It has become an indisputable fact that consumers are increasingly recognizing China automobile brands.

On this occasion, car home has launched a special plan for China Brand Day. This article is the third in a series, detailing the brands that have gradually faded out of people’s sight on the road of China brand promotion, and the new forces that have been questioned, but now they can represent China brands.

Volkswagen Group and these new automobile forces in China are, on the one hand, an automobile giant with a mass of nearly 10 million, and, on the other hand, a new face with an annual sales volume of just over 100,000 vehicles. It is hard to imagine that players with such a disparity in sales will be able to sit at a table one day and "talk" in this way.

More importantly, who would have thought that it was not China Head Automobile Group, such as Great Wall and Geely, that could represent the China brand against the traditional giants, but Weilai and Tucki, the new players who were once considered "unable to get on the table". Whether it is admitted or not, the wave of electrification and intelligence has completely changed the rules of the game in the automobile industry.

"BYD, Weilai and Tucki entered the list of competitors of Volkswagen"

Of course, the story begins in 2017. In that year, the China brand was not seen in Volkswagen’s opponent list; Tesla’s market value has not surpassed Toyota; Wei Lai, Tucki and other new players have just entered the stage, and they are still looked at coldly by the outside world. It was this year that China Brand Day was formally established.

Looking back on 2017, there is no doubt that it was the most brilliant year for China auto market. This year, China’s automobile sales reached 28.879 million, a record high. Among them, the cumulative annual sales volume of narrow passenger cars reached 23.7644 million. Since 2018, the China auto market has started to fluctuate, and at the same time, there is a large-scale "reshuffle" of auto companies. In the following five years, the players at the poker table have changed. Some people left the stage sadly, and some people came on stage strongly.

Those "lost" brands

For many second-and third-tier China brands, 2017-2022 is a "lost" five years.

In that year, Zotye, which specializes in the technology of "tape measure department" and relies on "cottage" luxury cars, has more than 300,000 fans, and continues to dream of luxury cars for many young people. However, in 2018, it turned sharply, and sales fell to 230,000 units. By 2020, the production and sales volume will be only over 1,000 vehicles. Zotye, on the verge of death, was finally forced to go bankrupt and reorganize.

"Porsche CEO visits SR9』 on Zotye booth"

That year, Brilliance China’s market performance has declined, but it still has a high degree of brand attention. With the deep cooperation with BMW, a series of new products have been launched. At that time, China Smart Factory appeared in the second episode of the documentary "Brilliant China", which endorsed Brilliance Auto Group’s adherence to scientific and technological innovation and industrial transformation and upgrading under the background of the national blueprint of "Made in China 2025".

That year, Baowo, a German brand known as the same as BBA, "revived" on the soil of China, and ushered in its own highlight moment, with annual sales reaching 44,000 vehicles. However, in the blink of an eye, there was a linear decline in 2018. After reaching its sales peak in 2019, it basically slowly fell silent. Although there was an episode of "selling oneself" in China, it was ultimately doomed to bankruptcy.

In that year, Beiqi New Energy was in full swing in the new energy market. In that year, its sales volume reached 103,199 vehicles, up 98% year-on-year, making it the first pure electric vehicle enterprise in China with annual production and sales exceeding 100,000 vehicles. This achievement can basically keep pace with Tesla at that time. Now, the "champion" throne has been taken away by BYD.

Beiqi New Energy is the first pure electric vehicle enterprise in China with annual production and sales exceeding 100,000 vehicles.

Scene after scene, just like a movie, flashed back and forth in front of my eyes. Sic Bo, Magic Speed, Senya, Junpai, Bisu, Lifan, Guanzhi, Haima and Cheetah … one after another, have gradually faded out of people’s sight.

Looking back at these brands, before they "exited", a large part of them were still immersed in the enthusiasm of SUVs, harvesting a huge low-end market with selling points such as low price and large space. However, as the market turns to stock competition, it is obviously not so easy to continue to enjoy the dividend of SUV.

The brutal struggle for "life and death" finally made them unable to cope with the lack of core competitiveness and accelerated their exit.

Many insiders say that their elimination is inevitable. The whole market is evolving, but they are holding back. Wu Xiaobo, a famous economic writer, once said that the new generation of consumers are no longer sensitive to price, but more rational and willing to pay for good quality and service.

Zotye SR9』

"The development of these brands has benefited from the development of the whole China market, and the China market is constantly expanding. Everyone wants to buy a car, so they occupy some markets with low-price competition mode. However, as the whole market becomes more and more perfect, consumers pay more and more attention to the quality of products, and do not completely care about low prices. For consumers, there are better products to choose, and these low-quality products will naturally be eliminated. " Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of China Automobile Industry Association, told car home.

In his view, the core reason is that its own research and development, product quality, brand maintenance and development process have not kept up with the market rhythm. "Simply put, if the product is done well, consumers will definitely recognize it. On the basis of good products, the price is more suitable, so that competitiveness is formed. "

The bipolar reversal of new power identity

In any case, these "lost" brands have made some contributions in the popularization stage of automobiles, meeting the demand of many consumers in China and cultivating the early automobile consumption market in China. Let the next China auto market become more vibrant.

In the wave of electrification and intelligence, a new automobile group-"new force of making cars" began to appear in front of people. A series of new brands, such as Weilai, Tucki, Ideality, Weimar, Guoneng, Baiteng and Yundu, broke in one after another, which was very lively. According to incomplete statistics, hundreds of new forces have poured into this track.

After five years of big waves, the market has left some high-quality brands with its ingenious screening rules. Familiar with Wei Lai, Tucki, Ideality, Nezha, Weimar, Zero Run, etc. There are also many "quits" halfway, such as Baiteng, Bojun and Sailin.

"Weilai ES8 was officially unveiled at the 2017 Shanghai Auto Show"

Obviously, the influence of these new brands has gradually expanded. They were once questioned as "PPT" cars, and they are coming to the stage by their strength, becoming important representatives of China automobile brands.

At the same time, BYD, the representative of the successful transformation of traditional car companies. Five years ago, it was not seen on the sales list of the Association. However, five years later, it has become the first traditional car company to stop selling fuel vehicles, with monthly sales climbing above 100,000 vehicles, and the sales of new energy vehicles are ranked first.

Once unruly traditional car companies have to face this reality frankly, and even have to learn from those new entrants with an open mind. Today, I don’t know if these traditional car companies have ever remembered that "the Internet (making cars) is flickering all day long" and that new forces are unreliable in making cars. It takes time to precipitate and accumulate experience to build a good car. "… these criticisms come from his mouth.

"Krypton brand was officially released in April last year"

As a result, one brand after another, such as Ai ‘an, Zhiji, Feifan, Extreme Krypton, Extreme Fox, Aouita, Lantu, Euler, Salon, and so on, have sprung up. At the same time, the concepts such as direct marketing mode, community and OTA, which have been hyped by new forces, have also become the focus of their study.

New technology, new thinking and new model are the characteristics and advantages of the new forces. Offline stores in the form of city exhibition halls, car dealers’ supermarkets and direct stores are blooming everywhere. Feng Sihan, CEO of audi ag (China), once praised, "The products of the new forces of making cars often have colorful shapes and a lot of innovative functions."

From the object that was bombarded before to the object that is being studied now. The bipolar transformation of the identity of the new car-making power shows the evolution of the automobile brand pattern in China in the past five years.

"In the era of electric drive transformation, the competitiveness of China brand has been significantly improved, which has attracted the attention of the world car industry. Behind this glory is the continuous exploration and accumulation of China brand. However, the road to innovation is long and arduous. In the face of the white-hot market, only by continuously improving the independent capabilities such as system architecture, core components and performance calibration, and getting rid of dependence on foreign suppliers, the foundation of China brand will be solid and there will be opportunities to move towards a broader world. " Xin Wang, an associate professor at Beijing Institute of Technology’s National Professional Laboratory for Automotive Power and Emission Testing, told car home.

Brand change drives the upward development of China brand.

The players at the poker table changed one crop after another. In every era, there are brands bearing the mission of each era. Just like faw xiali, it opened the door to the development of private cars.

The automobile industry in China, which started late, is making great strides in such brand changes one after another. The increase in market share is the best proof.

"From 2017 to 2022, when the brand of China is developing upwards, the brand of China can only survive if it keeps going upwards. Especially in the stock market competition. " Lin Jie, senior vice president of Geely Automobile Group and general manager of the sales company, said, "In 2021, the brand market share of China reached a new high of nearly five years. The increase in market share is the best proof of the high-quality development of China brands. Especially in the last five years, China brands have collectively moved up, showing strong tenacity, momentum and enthusiasm. "

"Lingke 03"

According to Lin Jie, when Lectra was born, the most frequently asked question was "Does the world still need a new brand?" Now, there is no need to answer this question. The achievements of China brand speak for themselves. According to the terminal sales data from January to March this year, the market share of China brands has expanded to 42.9%.

At the same time, he also believes that car companies should not be satisfied with building good cars, but also need to build and share the car ecology with consumers. China automobile brands are also actively exploring interactive positions for communication with users, including online channels such as their own App and short video platforms, and offline channels such as supermarkets and experience centers, so as to form more contacts that users are interested in and build a "moat" of reputation of China automobile brands.

Looking at the change of automobile brands in China is more like looking at the process of "metabolism" of China automobile industry. Perhaps only in this way can we truly show the majestic vitality of China automobile industry.

"Undoubtedly, the past five years have been a period of rapid development of China brands, especially China smart car brands." Li Pengcheng, vice president of Xpeng Motors and general manager of brand public relations, told Che car home.

"Tucki p7"

In Li Pengcheng’s view, there are three reasons for this situation: First, with the development of the Internet, in-vehicle intelligence and intelligent assisted driving, China’s smart cars have surpassed traditional competitors in many aspects, including foreign brands; Secondly, the new brand in China, which has no brand burden, has indeed created many classic cases in brand building by using its own advantages and more novel means. In addition, the younger generation of consumers in China stepped out of the "brand worship" of the previous generation and began to choose young and cool China brands.

"With the continuous improvement of the new energy penetration rate, China smart car brands have also ushered in unprecedented opportunities. There is still a lot of room for China brand in terms of brand labeling and brand promotion. In the next 5-10 years, I firmly believe that there will be a number of China smart car brands that will participate in the core competition of global cars. "

Youth can bring infinite possibilities. Young China automobile brands also have hidden unimaginable potential. Although the market size of Weilai and Tucki is still small, they have attracted the attention of the global traditional car giants.

Looking forward to the next five years, there are still many brands in the market to catch up with. The smart electric vehicle market is still in the development stage, and the competition pattern is far from being formed, so it cannot be said to be a mature market. There are many possibilities in the future. Perhaps other new brands will rise, and of course, some brands will continue to fall. (Text/car home Yang Yichun)

In the past 20 years, how has China’s automobile industry changed from a faltering start to a soaring, from a single brand to a multi-category matrix? Pay attention to China brand new cars and witness the development of China brand. Please pay attention to the special planning of car home on May 10th, China Brand Day, and help China brand together!