Changan’s 2023 offensive: (Technology + Boldness + Carefulness) × Carrying Deqing

As we bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, all major car companies are setting up Flags. On January 12, Changan Automobile held a global partner conference, summarizing its performance in 2022 and clarifying its goals for 2023 - the entire conference was full of useful information and frequent quotes. After one night, the author took stock of the relevant information with three major questions.

First, is it a Chinese characteristic that "having more children will lead to more fights"?

In 2022, Changan Automobile Group's sales reached 2.346 million vehicles, setting a new high in the past five years, with independent brands contributing 80%. In 2023, Changan Automobile has set a goal of hitting 2.8 million units. As for how many Changan, Auchan, Deep Blue, Avita, Kaicheng and overseas markets have to achieve, Changan Automobile directly displays the breakdown target on the big screen. Straightforward and clear.

In the past two decades of rapid development of the auto market, the thinking of "having more children will lead to more fights" has stimulated domestic auto companies to overcome numerous difficulties and continue to expand their brands. Even though the market has been complicated in the past two years and under the opportunity of new energy transformation, everyone is not willing to shrink and gather easily. Some even "get poorer and love children more", forcing new forces to start preparing for a second child. So are the independent brands developed by Changan considered too many? Compared with several "national brands", its brand matrix is ​​indeed too rich, but compared with Geely, Great Wall, and Chery, it is actually quite satisfactory.

Judging from the sales volume in 2022, it is actually a big challenge for Changan to achieve several indicators in the PPT, especially Deep Blue and Avita, which will have to shoulder the 500,000 task soon after their debut. The Yali is very big. I don’t know how the partners in the audience will settle the accounts after seeing Changan’s decomposition goals, and whether they can come up with a pattern of joint creation, joint responsibility and then sharing. Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, has told everyone: "Falled brands will give living brands more room for development." It depends on how you choose!

For 2025, the flag set by Changan Automobile is that the group sales will reach 4 million vehicles, the Changan brand sales will reach 3 million vehicles, and new energy sales will account for 35%.

Second, in the future, what is high-end and what is mainstream?

When it comes to products, just distinguishing between high, medium, low, and 369 can stir up consumer nerves and make people enjoy it. Premiumization is the long-term pursuit of Chinese brands. Every year, there will be car companies that feel good about themselves and think: "Well, I can do it!" In the author's opinion, building a luxury car worth millions and setting a price on the car A million (and then it doesn’t matter how much it sells for), both are great things.

Changan also has millions of small goals. At this global partner conference, Changan did not talk about high-endization. Instead, it emphasized the need to integrate existing fuel vehicle brands, (at the same time) promote electrification transformation, and stabilize the base sales of 1 million. It bluntly stated that "the stock will increase. The increase needs to be grabbed.” How to rob? The OX sequence is coming.

According to the brand structure organized by Changan, the current Changan passenger cars (CS series SUVs, Eado, Yida, etc.), UNI series and Auchan belong to the "classic series" of the Changan brand, while the newly launched OX series is positioned in the "new mainstream" "Electric Sequence" will be different from Deep Blue and Avita, and is expected to be launched in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

Since the OX series is about volume, we can superficially think that mainstream means not too expensive. According to Changan, before 2025, the OX series will launch 5 products, with sales exceeding 800,000 units.

A while ago, Changan launched the Force technology brand and shared its technological achievements in intelligent range extension. At this conference, Changan held another Changan Smart Electronics iDD technology conference - this is not a preview, but a notification. From the consumer point of view, if you want to buy Changan passenger cars next, such as CS75 PLUS, CS55 PLUS, UNI-V, etc., it is OK to choose blue or green.

Third, how to find the balance point of technology/scale/profit?

Talking about money hurts feelings, and talking about feelings hurts money, so everyone likes to talk about "ecology." In recent years, many founders and investors in the automotive industry have been killed by ecology. According to general knowledge, the automobile industry cannot escape the effects of economies of scale. Moreover, the financial threshold is high, the technical threshold is also high, it is becoming more and more involved, and raw material prices remain high... Therefore, without scale, be cautious. Talk about ecology.

When a car company's production and sales reach one million levels and it coincides with strategic transformation, its trouble is not to build an ecosystem, but to "knead" the ecosystem. Automobile manufacturing is closely linked. Automakers like Changan Automobile already have a fairly stable supplier mechanism. The rising period is not suitable for making big moves against old friends. However, at this conference, leaders of Changan Automobile did not lack encouragement in their words. . In addition to the "close and close" relationship at the level of integrity, Changan said it would "carry out new cooperation and establish new connections with old friends."

If you don’t invest money in technology, your products won’t be competitive; if your products can’t be sold, you won’t be able to scale up; if you can’t scale up, you won’t be able to reduce costs; if you don’t have enough profit margins, you won’t have money to develop technology... this It's an endless loop. Strong suppliers can accept small profits but high sales, but whoever makes small profits first or sells more depends on what you can get, who you choose to play with, how you play, and whether you can afford it - Chang'an The idea is "something to do and something not to do."

[Write at the end]

In this partner conference, Changan Automobile did not lose its role as a leader of the OEM, but also conveyed the geek spirit of a technology company. "If you don't plan for the eternity, you can't plan for the moment; if you don't plan for the overall situation, you can't plan for a region." On the road to transforming into a smart and low-carbon travel technology company, Changan is both bold and careful.