AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/18 Report--

Toshiaki Otani, executive vice president of Baoneng Automobile Group, sent an internal email to all employees on February 18, according to the Daily Business News. Toshiaki Otani revealed in an email that five models of Baoneng's Qoros brand will be released and listed in 2021, and the high-end car brand and the first electric car in preparation will be released and put on sale this year, for high-end brands such as Standard Tesla and Ulai.

It is understood that Qoros will launch five models, including a brand new A + class sedan, two add-on electric models, and two annual models of the SUV Qoros 5S and Guanzhi 7. Among them, the wheelbase of the new A+ class is close to that of the Toyota Camry; two add-on electric vehicles are based on Baoneng xEV platform, and the first model was launched at Baoneng's Xi'an base on November 8 last year and will be officially launched this year; in addition, the Quan Zhi 5S and Guanzhi 7 will also usher in a change this year.

Compared with the Guanzhi brand, what attracts more attention is the latest development of the Baoneng high-end brand. In fact, as early as September last year, Junming Otani, executive vice president of Baoneng Automobile Group, revealed that Baoneng Automobile Group was planning to set up a high-end car brand that would be higher than Qoros and focus on new energy vehicles. In the email, Vice President Junming Otani said that this high-end brand will be launched within this year, and the first model will also be released and launched this year, mainly targeting Tesla, Lulai and other first pure electric products.

Data show that Baoneng Group's entry into the automotive industry began in March 2017, when Baoneng Automobile, with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan, was established. In December 2017, Baoneng Group announced that it would buy a 25% stake in Guanzhi Automobile for 1.6 billion yuan, officially entering the auto industry. A month later, Kenon Holdings, the parent company of Qoros, announced that Baoneng Group had invested 6.63 billion yuan to buy a 51 per cent stake in Qoros, becoming the controlling shareholder of Qoros.

However, it is also difficult to be optimistic after Baoneng Group entered the auto industry. After Baoneng Group acquired Qoros, Qoros sales increased from 15000 in 2017 to 63000 in 2018, an increase of 320% over the same period last year, but most of the new cars were "produced and sold" through Baoneng's affiliated companies. there are very few in the actual consumer market. Cumulative Qoros sales fell 64 per cent to 21900 in 2019 and 33.26 per cent to 14600 in 2020.

In September 2020, Qoros launched the Quan Zhi 7 model, and the new car has been improved in appearance, interior and power to varying degrees, and is regarded as the key model of the "back battle" of Quan Zhi. However, Guanzhi 7 also failed to become the "savior" of the Qoros brand, with sales of 7641 vehicles in 2020, with an average monthly sales of 2500 vehicles.

In addition to the Guanzhi brand, Bao Neng Automobile also spent 1.63 billion yuan at the end of 2019 to copy the bottom of Changan PSA, which was held by Baoneng Automobile's wholly-owned subsidiary Qianhai Ruizhi in May 2020. Changan PSA has formally completed the industrial and commercial change, and its name has been changed to "Shenzhen Baoneng Automobile Co., Ltd.". At present, the brand new DS model DS9 has been offline in Baoneng Automobile production Base.

Since 2020, independent high-end brands such as BAIC Polar Fox, Dongfeng Lantu and SAIC Zhiji have been released one after another. Chang'an and the Great Wall are also planning high-end brands, coupled with the layout of car brands such as Lulai, Xiaopeng, ideal and Tesla. Competition in the high-end new energy vehicle market is becoming increasingly fierce. For Baoneng, which makes cross-border cars, it also plans to launch new brands to compete with other brands in the new energy market, but with the impact of domestic stock competition, the survival space of marginal independent brands is gradually declining. Baoneng plans to launch high-end brands at this time, and its chances of winning remain to be seen.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat