AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/29 Report--

According to sources from SAIC, SAIC plans to invest in the establishment of Feifan Automotive Technology Co., Ltd., according to the Financial Associated Press. The original R brand of the passenger car branch will be operated by Feifan Automobile in the way of an independent company. Feifan Automobile will dig deep into the middle and high-end electric car market. In terms of personnel, according to relevant sources, SAIC has internally announced that Wu Bing, CEO of SAIC Mobile's strategic brand "Hengdao Travel", will serve as CEO of Feifan Automobile.

According to earlier media reports, SAIC submitted an application for trademark registration of "Shanghai Auto Feifan" and "Feifan" on July 22 this year. From the trademark registration application, we can see that the applicants are all Shanghai Automotive Group Co., Ltd., which belong to the 12th category of international trademark classification-means of transport. Trademark / service items cover the common areas of trademarks in the automotive industry. It is understood that on April 20, 2020, SAIC Roewe exposed the new R logo. Roewe said that the new R standard will become the exclusive logo of middle and high-end new energy models, covering Roewe new energy products. In May 2020, SAIC Roewe officially announced the launch of the "R standard" and "new lion standard"double standard" strategy. The SAIC R brand mainly promotes new energy vehicles, and there are currently three models, the first is the ER6 compact car, the second is the MARVEL R medium-sized SUV, and the third is the ES33 of the concept car.

Yang Xiaodong, vice president of SAIC Group, once said that the R mark carries the historical mission of the independent brand of SAIC passenger cars. However, under the background of the hot performance of the new energy vehicle market this year, there may be a gap between the sales of the R brand and the expectations of the market. The R brand sold 1807 vehicles in September and 8296 in the first nine months of this year, according to the CAS. The two models, the ER6 and MARVEL R, sold 1310 and 497 respectively, a far cry from SAIC's sales target of 20, 000 this year. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Federation of passengers, has said that when the joint venture brand new energy high-end cars have not been effectively launched, the high-end development of independent brands of new energy is still relatively advantageous, and it is a development opportunity for independent brands. Compared with overseas brands, independent high-end new energy brands have strong local advantages of location and traditional industrial chain, but have disadvantages in technology and intelligence.

It is worth noting that in the increasingly fierce automobile market, many independent car companies are facing increasing pressure from joint venture car companies to reduce prices. A number of traditional car companies have launched new energy brands one after another, hoping to get rid of the dilemma of their product positioning in the middle and low end. However, the road to independent high-end brands is not easy, products, technology, design and corporate image are insurmountable dilemmas.

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