Good quality, good sales, good reputation, ＂made in Chongqing＂ cars are popular in the ＂Belt and Road Initiative＂ market
Moment 1
On January 12, 2023, 500 SAIC Hongyan fire engines departed for Central Asia.
Moment 2
On April 18, 2023, Changan released the "Ocean Inclusion Hundred Rivers" plan.
Moment 3
On June 17, 2023, Cyrus Motors launched its first European Miles Tour.
At the recent Munich Motor Show in Germany, the new model of Changan’s Avita attracted the attention of overseas audiences. (This version of the pictures are provided by the respondents)
20.27 billion yuan
In the first eight months of this year, Chongqing’s automobile exports 232,000, an increase of 23.2%, worth 20.27 billion yuan, an increase of 49.4%. Among them, new energy vehicles exported 8674, an increase of 1.3 times, the value of 1.25 billion yuan, an increase of 2.1 times.
Top 3
From January to July this year, Changan Automobile ranked among the top three Chinese auto exporters. Changan has established a global R & D layout of "six countries and ten places", bringing together engineering and technical teams of more than 17,000 in nearly 30 countries around the world.
195%
SAIC Hongyan’s overall overseas sales from January to August this year increased by 195% year-on-year, and some regions even increased by 255% year-on-year.
More than 70
Sailis automotive products have been exported to South America, Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, and Europe and other more than 70 countries and regions around the world.
On October 15, the head of Cyrus Automobile’s overseas business unit received another urging from King Garment Textile, a dealer in Uzbekistan. "Let’s reach a cooperation as soon as possible." The dealer recently took a fancy to the Cyrus Blue Electric E5 model and is eager to sell it in Uzbekistan. Cyrus Automobile has recently received a lot of orders for overseas business like this.
Coincidentally, just a few days ago, Changan Automobile signed a contract with dozens of Mexican dealers, officially launched the Changan automobile channel network in Mexico, and the scale of the network channel exceeded 50,000 units/year.
"Made in Chongqing" cars are increasingly popular in overseas markets.
Statistics from Chongqing Customs show that in the first eight months of this year, Chongqing exported 232,000 cars, an increase of 23.2% year-on-year. In 2020, Chongqing exported only 91,000 cars. In less than three years, sales have doubled.
Most of these additions come from countries that have jointly built the "Belt and Road Initiative".
Take advantage of the opportunity to go to sea
Show excellent product strength
On October 12, Tanzania, thousands of miles away.
At the SAIC Hongyan KD plant, Hongyan tractors are being assembled, commissioned and rolled off the assembly line. These vehicles are not only sold locally in Tanzania, but also in the surrounding African countries.
"Customers choose our automotive products first because of the growth in demand," said a person in charge of SAIC Hongyan’s overseas division. At present, the construction of infrastructure, logistics, social services and other fields in the "Belt and Road Initiative" countries is accelerating, and the demand for related commercial vehicles and professional vehicles has increased significantly.
In addition to Africa, SAIC Hongyan recently exported 100 smart heavy trucks and 500 SAIC Hongyan fire engines to Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries and regions.
Cars are high-value products, and customers will definitely shop around when buying. Why is "made in Chongqing" favored?
In King Garment Textile’s opinion, Chongqing’s automotive products are of good quality and performance, and have strong market competitiveness. In addition, Chongqing’s new energy automotive products are also excellent in appearance and intelligence.
Take the blue electric E5 model he "likes" as an example. This is an electric hybrid medium-sized SUV, using the Sailis DE-i super electric drive intelligent platform, with a comprehensive cruising range of 1150 kilometers and equipped with HUAWEI Hicar 3.0 intelligence system. Whether it is power, space, configuration, or cost performance, it has great advantages in the Uzbek market.
"It can be said that’made in Chongqing ‘cars are becoming more and more famous in the market of countries where the Belt and Road Initiative is jointly built." PT. PTYUNINA, the Indonesian dealer of Sailis Automobile, said that the quality of these cars is stable, and the factory also uses intelligent technology, which greatly guarantees the production capacity and drives the employment of local workers.
From ASEAN to South America, from Central Asia, the Middle East to Africa to Europe, Chongqing’s auto industry focuses on the construction and improvement of a win-win ecosystem in the framework of the "Belt and Road Initiative", and has gained wide recognition and further established a brand effect. Some countries even came here and took the initiative to invite Chongqing car companies to settle down.
Previously, in order to attract Chang’an to build factories in the local area, Thailand has introduced a series of industrial policies including tax relief, consumer cash subsidies, and investment support.
Changan’s layout in Thailand also has many benefits: not only can it further expand its share in the Thai automobile market, but also it can play a leading role in South East Asia and enhance its international competitiveness.
The head of Changan Automobile’s overseas business said that at present, the tariff and non-tariff barriers of key products such as the joint construction of national automobiles have been further reduced, the circulation cost of auto parts has been reduced, the industrial chain and supply chain have been integrated, and the digital economy and green economy cooperation have promoted the application of intelligent networked new energy vehicles. These have opened up a broad space for Chongqing’s auto industry to "go overseas".
According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to July this year, domestic automobile exports 2.533 million, and Changan Automobile ranks among the top three Chinese automobile export enterprises. Russia, Saudi Arabia and Peru are the top three markets for Changan exports, reaching the export level of 40,000, 20,000 and 10,000 vehicles respectively.
The results of other Chongqing automakers are also very impressive. SAIC Hongyan’s overall overseas sales from January to August increased by 195% year-on-year, and some regions even increased by 255% year-on-year; Sailis Automobile exported cars through the new western land-sea channel, from 200 boxes in 2019 to 5,000 boxes in 2022, an increase of 25 times; Ruilan Automobile also exported more than 3,000 cars to the countries that jointly built the "Belt and Road Initiative" in the first half of this year.
Relying on hard power
Support overseas strategy
It is not easy for "made in Chongqing" cars to come this far overseas.
From being unknown in overseas markets to gaining market recognition, Changan Automobile has undergone seven or eight years of difficult progress.
At the end of 2015, Changan Automobile’s entry into the Saudi market was met with a "blow": due to the lack of full-chain sales experience in the early stage, the lack of after-sales management capabilities, and the lack of dealer experience, Changan’s business in Saudi Arabia was once difficult, and local users once looked down on Chinese brands.
After learning from the pain, Changan Automobile aimed at the localized needs of the Middle East market and worked hard to "fight a big battle".
For example, in order to better adapt to the local climate and road conditions, Changan technicians drove into the desert to conduct localized extreme heat tests. Over the course of several years, they "lost countless layers of skin", greatly improving the reliability of the product.
At the same time, based on the consumption characteristics of the local population and culture, Changan has personalized the products to make the cars more practical and intelligent.
The preparation is in place. Changan promised to provide a 5-year 150,000-kilometer long quality assurance policy for automobiles, and later the UNI series provided a 6-year 200,000-kilometer long quality assurance policy. Changan’s image as a "trusted Chinese brand" began to be established in Saudi Arabia.
Today, Changan’s users in the Saudi market have exceeded 60,000, and the annual sales volume has increased from several hundred to more than 30,000. Changan has also become the first Chinese brand to enter the top ten sales in the Saudi automotive market.
Changan won the Saudi market, ultimately relying on industrial accumulation and core technology. Through hard work, Changan has built a global R & D layout of "six countries and ten places", with 16 technology and Product Research & Development centers, 17 technology companies, and an engineering and technical team of more than 17,000 people from nearly 30 countries around the world. Whether it is the whole vehicle, chassis, engine, transmission, Changan can fully develop independently.
It invests 5% of its sales revenue in research and development every year, allowing Changan Automobile to give industry people a thumbs up in its capabilities in new energy, intelligence, styling design, and intelligent manufacturing. At present, Changan’s footprint has spread to more than 70 countries and regions around the world, forming a number of key 10,000-level core regional markets including the Middle East, North Africa, Central and South America, and Asia Pacific.
Sailis Automobile’s "going to sea" experience is similar to that of Changan. Since 2016, the company has laid out the research and development of high-end electric vehicles, investing more than 10 billion yuan in the past six years, and has nearly 3,000 core technology patents in the fields of chassis, power, body, safety, etc. It has realized lean, flexible, digital, intelligent, customized and ecological production of multiple models.
At present, Sailis automotive products have been exported to more than 70 countries and regions around the world such as South America, Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, and Europe, and have gradually established more than 1,000 marketing service networks, 3 marketing service centers, and 8 KD assembly plants overseas.
SAIC Hongyan relies on the three core technologies of battery, electronic control and electric drive to build two product matrices of hydrogen energy heavy trucks and pure electric heavy trucks and a one-stop new energy solution of "high performance, high efficiency and zero pollution". At present, the company’s overseas market has expanded from the traditional South East Asia and Africa to South America, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Behind the success of car companies lies the overall international competitiveness of Chongqing’s automotive industry.
The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Economic and Information Commission said that at present, Chongqing has formed a "1 + 10 + 1000" advantageous automobile industry cluster supported by more than ten vehicle enterprises and thousands of supporting enterprises, and the development of the intelligent networked new energy automobile industry is generally at the leading level in the west.
Compared with other international automobile brands, intelligent networked new energy vehicles have become the biggest advantage for Chinese brands and "made in Chongqing" to participate in international competition.
Speed up the layout
Build a world-class
Overseas development is in full swing, but Chongqing’s automakers are level-headed and looking to the farther future.
The relevant person in charge of Changan Automobile said that under the current trade model of Chongqing and even Chinese automobiles, overseas dealers are mainly responsible for brand promotion, and the path of brand internationalization is still unclear. A unified overseas brand value system and operation management system have not been formed, and the global brand power is still weak.
"The industrial chain layout depth of Chongqing Automobile’s’new track ‘is not enough." Qu Yunchao, a market observer, said that for example, the core technology of battery cells is not well mastered, the layout of high-tech barrier components such as power semiconductors is insufficient, and battery raw materials are not involved. There are certain risks in cost control ability and supply chain stability.
In response to the above problems, what solutions does Chongqing’s automobile industry plan?
In April 2023, Changan Automobile released the "All Rivers of the Sea" plan, which caught the attention of industry insiders.
In the future, Changan will focus on accelerating the product and production capacity layout, launching no less than 60 global products by 2030; continue to build smart, low-carbon, design and other brand labels, and strengthen the overseas construction of the dark blue brand and Avita brand.
In addition, Changan plans to establish more than 20 localized marketing organizations in overseas markets by 2030, with the number of overseas outlets exceeding 3,000, and accelerate the layout of five regional markets in Europe, America, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
With leading car companies at the vanguard, "Made in Chongqing" Automobile is fully committed to exploring overseas markets, deploying overseas production capacity, and building a world-class.
In the future, Sailis Automobile will take advantage of the product advantages of SERES electric vehicles and Dongfeng Scenic passenger cars to establish a marketing company in Europe and a sales and service center in Africa and America. The company will also rely on the Indonesian production base to give full play to the advantages of localized manufacturing and the customs union of ASEAN countries, and radiate South East Asia and surrounding markets with Indonesia as the center, laying a solid foundation for internationalization.
In the future, SAIC Hongyan will be guided by meeting market demand and establishing a global brand, and steadily promote the transformation from single trade to production localization, from traditional energy to "traditional energy + new energy" two-wheel drive transformation, and from localized trade to localized operation.
In fact, many car companies in Chongqing also share a common desire – to leverage overseas markets to optimize their product mix and make their cars more profitable.
"We need to use overseas markets to support the transformation of the’new track ‘." The relevant person in charge of Cyrus Automobile said that at present, the company’s export models have jumped from low-end micro-commercial vehicles to high-end smart electric vehicles, and the export unit price has increased from 5,000 US dollars to a maximum of more than 40,000 US dollars (the retail price of Cyrus 5 end point exported to Europe is more than 60,000 US dollars).
The reporter learned from relevant municipal departments that, under the impetus of the "Belt and Road Initiative" initiative, our city is formulating plans to promote the international development of the "Made in Chongqing" brand, and will promote the exchange of product access policies and mutual recognition of standards and regulations with key overseas countries or regions in the future.
At the same time, Chongqing will also strengthen overseas financial service support, expand financial support services in key export markets, and help international automobile logistics enterprises improve their competitiveness, so that "Chongqing-made" vehicles can gain a firm foothold and make great strides in the joint construction of the country.