Zhiliao Auto/Chen Xin
With the addition of new energy vehicles, the automobile industry is in the increasingly fierce competition, and dark horses of independent brands appear frequently. However, some companies are happy and some are sad. The glory of domestic products used to be, but today's life is not easy.
If you talk about the glorious era of Chery , it has the style of today's Wuling Hongguang . Chery QQ can be said to be the memory of a generation. It once blossomed across the country and even sold to nearly 100 countries. However, the highlights of the past cannot hide the current fatigue. The sub-brands not only have they encountered cold weather, but even went bankrupt.
The pioneer of microcars
Before 2000, the development capacity of domestic cars was almost zero, and the common models on the market are either German or Japanese. Chery QQ was launched in 2003 and can be said to be a pioneer in urban transportation micro cars.
The two round headlight groups are bright and bright, and the arc-shaped front grille is raised on both sides to create a clear "smiling expression". The Chery A-shaped logo just makes a delicate nose. The exquisite and cute front face of Chery QQ breaks the dull car design that has been around for many years. Chery QQ fully catered to the aesthetic preferences of young people at that time and became the focus of the market in one fell swoop.
Chery QQ once again expressed sincerity to young consumer groups at a price range of 60,000 to 80,000 yuan. Therefore, it achieved a brilliant record of over 150,000 vehicles in one fell swoop. After steady progress, Chery is ready to start enriching its brand matrix.
Chery high-end, is it born at the wrong time?
In 2009, the high-end brand " Riich " under Chery Automobile was born. Perhaps this name is a bit veritable, but this logo design that is extremely similar to Bentley is unforgettable. From this small logo, we can see Chery's determination to strive for the high-end.
(Chery Richy car logo)
(Bentley car logo)
is said to be a high-end brand, but Richy's "value" is not clear. Unlike the current pricing range of new power brands "Wei Xiaoli" that often has a pricing range of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan, Chery, a high-end sub-brand, covers several models of 300,000 to 300,000 yuan. Furthermore, when birth was not at the right time, in 2009, consumers in the mid-to-high-end automobile market had low recognition of their own brands. They competed with the joint venture car and even imported cars. Riich was defeated without surprise.
In August 2011, Chery Automobile's mid-to-high-end all-round commercial vehicle brand - Weilin , was jointly launched with its three main models Weilin V5, X5 and H5. The response after its launch can be roughly referred to Richy, but it still has not allowed Chery to regain its former style.
After the failure of the mid-to-high-end route, Chery realized that its core user was young people, so in 2014, it launched Kaiyi for young consumers. Kaiyi's appearance is not outstanding, and the younger elements are not reflected in the car model. This wave of fans failed again, and finally ended with Chery's transfer of 51% of Kaiyi's shares.
Compared with the previous brands, Qoros may have the highest popularity. Qoros’ goal is to create Chinese automobile products that meet or even exceed international standards, and it still has the subtext of positioning high-end. Unfortunately, Qoros acquired 51% of its shares by Baoneng Group in 2017 due to serious losses.
It is worth encouraging that Chery, which has been defeated repeatedly, is becoming more and more courageous and launched its sub-brand Jetour in 2018.
With its high appearance and large space design , Chery, which has always been "out of time", finally ushered in a turning point in life. As of the end of 2021, in less than four years, Jetour's cumulative sales exceeded 420,000 vehicles. However, the good times did not last long. With the price of Jetour rising, the cumulative sales in the first half of this year were only 39,881 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 32.59%.
is always slow to avoid
At the moment when independent brands are growing explosively, Chery's sub-brands always have a sense of being born at the wrong time. Sub-brands have been killed one after another, and Chery's own development is also difficult. When brands such as Great Wall, , Geely, and other brands have reached sales of more than one million units per year, Chery's local sales last year were only 387,000 units.
The reason is that it has to be said that in the market positioning of sub-brands, "Little Chery" have always remained in a misaligned manner with market demand; and in terms of technology, Chery is always half a beat slower.
When domestic mainstream models such as Geely's Lynk & Co , Great Wall's WEY are already equipped with 2.0T engines, Chery's Qoros and Xingtu are still equipped with 1.6T engines. When Chery launched the Kunpeng Power 2.0T, its competitors had already entered the era of plug-in hybrid. As the first independent brand in China to carry out vehicle system research and development, Chery uses its strength to interpret what it means to "get up early and get up late".
Fortunately, Chery seems to have realized the problem in recent years, and has made great efforts to upgrade technology, and has gradually regained its own style in brand positioning. Chery successfully launched the Tiggo 7, with good sales; in the , the Chery new energy sector, the Chery Little Ant has the style of QQ at that time; the Chery Big Ant's highly recognizable appearance and 2830mm wheelbase have also won a lot of applause for it.
is not too late to fix the problem, not to mention that for Chery, both R&D capabilities and vehicle manufacturing are not inferior to their peers. As new forces from all parties pour into the chaos of the automobile industry, Chery has the opportunity and strength to regain its own voice.
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