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After more than ten years of rapid growth, China's auto market has experienced a year-on-year decline for two consecutive years, which also means that in the market that once "lying and winning" has passed, brands that increasingly lose their own strength will eventually become niche. Eight years ago Dongfeng Nissan brought its first model D50, and eight years later Dongfeng Qichen ushered in a new turning point again, bringing a brand-new product Qichen Star.

If eight years ago, when the joint venture brand still had an absolute advantage, most domestic models could be hung up by virtue of the word "joint venture", even as a second-tier joint venture brand, it could also have good sales. At the same time, even if it is not a joint venture, the endorsement created by the joint venture can also win the favor of many consumers.

In 2010, Dongfeng Qichen also became a better joint venture independent brand under the task of promoting automobile industry restructuring, supporting independent innovation of enterprises and implementing special technical transformation mentioned in the Automobile Industry Adjustment and Revitalization Plan issued by the State Council.

With Nissan's model and brand advantages and Nissan's strong distribution network system, help it fight its way out. Although Dongfeng Nissan endorsement, Dongfeng Qichen car sales are not too good, but also not bad. After all, all Qichen cars have the words "Dongfeng Nissan" on the tail, just like today's Jetta brand.

According to the best-selling compact sedan Qichen D60, monthly sales of Qichen D60 exceeded 10,000 vehicles in December after its launch in November 2017. In terms of SUV models, the Qichen T70 has maintained stable sales since its launch in 2014, reaching 9764 units at its peak in December 2016.

After all, relying on Nissan, Qichen can obtain more than 80% of Nissan's technology, including engine, gearbox, chassis, interior decoration and even internal production supervision system, which is undoubtedly to buy Nissan cars at domestic prices for consumers, so it can also play a certain brand effect.

However, Qichen officially became independent after February 2017, which seems to be the wrong choice for everyone. Because without Nissan's endorsement, Qichen will gradually be marginalized, and the technology will still be the old one of Nissan, so that it has no great advantage. Sales have declined for two consecutive years, down 6% year-on-year to 134,000 vehicles in 2018 and 123,000 vehicles in 2019, down 8.6% year-on-year. According to the data of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales volume of Dongfeng Qichen completed 334 vehicles in February 2020, down 93.33% year-on-year.

However, in fact, with the rapid development of domestic automobile market and the rise of domestic independent brands, both joint venture brands and joint venture autonomy have gradually become difficult, and the brand effect is gradually polarized. For example, Dongfeng Renault, which realized joint venture later, announced its withdrawal from fuel market not long ago. It can be seen that in the current market, the endorsement of joint venture is not the most valued by consumers.

For Qichen, the identity of joint venture autonomy may still be a drag. Although it was previously owned by Dongfeng Nissan, in fact, it could not get much substantial help from Nissan. If it were independent from Dongfeng Nissan, it would also significantly enhance China's voice and realize the transformation and development of Qichen.

Today, Dongfeng Qichen Star officially launched, the new car launched a total of 5 models, positioned in compact SUV, the price range of 1096 - 149,600 yuan.

The whole vehicle has undergone a new transformation from exterior to interior, with a brand-new V-Galaxy star family front face. On the side of the body, the new car waistline uses a design technique that rises from front to back to create a unique sporty feeling. In addition, the rear of the new car adopts a through-tail lamp set design, but the shape is a little different from what is often seen on the market. The length, width and height of the whole vehicle are 4691/1905/1694mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2756 mm.

The interior is also the mainstream large screen design, with a huge 15.6-inch touch screen in the center, greatly reducing the physical buttons of the central control panel. However, large-area leather wraps are adopted in the center console, front center passage and inner side of door panel of the whole vehicle, so that the grade feeling of the vehicle is obviously improved.

In terms of power, it is equipped with a 1.5T turbocharged engine and will provide 1.5T and 1.5T+48V power options, with a maximum engine power of 190 hp and a maximum torque of 260 N·m. In terms of transmission system, the new car is matched with a 6-speed manual or 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

The new car comes from the brand's brand-new VSA intelligent module architecture, but Dongfeng Nissan also admits that the VSA architecture is actually supported by the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance and is not completely independently developed. Moreover, there is also a saying that the 1.5T carried by Qichen is from Shenyang Mitsubishi, and the 7-speed gearbox is from Germany Getrak, so it is speculated that Dongfeng Qichen independently developed not many parts.

That is to say, Dongfeng Qichen after independence still has a lot of "takenism", and it is only natural that the price is higher than most autonomous SUVs. But now Dongfeng Qichen, which has no Nissan halo, is already a real independent brand. Without completely independent technical support, the starting price of 110,000 yuan is higher than most independent brands like Haval H6 and Chang 'an CS75, so does Qichen Star still have advantages?

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