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Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dongfeng Co., Ltd.") announced that it will incorporate Dongfeng Infiniti as an independent business headquarters into the management system of Dongfeng Nissan, together with Nissan and Qichen brands. Infiniti will become the third brand of Dongfeng Nissan.

According to the data, Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. was established on June 9, 2003. it is a large automobile joint venture jointly funded by Dongfeng Motor and Nissan Motor, with a registered capital of 16.7 billion yuan, and each side holds 50% of the shares. Previously, Dongfeng Co., Ltd. had seven business divisions, namely, Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company, Dongfeng Qichen Automobile Company, Dongfeng Infiniti Automobile Co., Ltd., Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile Co., Ltd., Dongfeng Auto parts (Group) Co., Ltd. And Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. Equipment company.

In order to further improve the company's operating quality and promote the coordinated development of its business, Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. decided to integrate Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company and Dongfeng Qichen Automobile Company, as well as Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. Equipment Company and Dongfeng Automobile parts (Group) Co., Ltd. After the integration, there are only five major divisions under Dongfeng Co., Ltd., namely, Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company, Dongfeng Infiniti Automobile Co., Ltd., Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile Co., Ltd. And Dongfeng Auto parts (Group) Co., Ltd.

According to the latest announcement issued by Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., Dongfeng Infiniti will be brought into the management system of Dongfeng Nissan as an independent business headquarters, and together with Nissan and Qichen brands, Infiniti will become the third brand of Dongfeng Nissan. This also means that Dongfeng Infiniti will no longer be the independent division of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., but will become the third brand under Dongfeng Nissan, and Dongfeng Nissan will have three brands: Nissan, Qichen and Infiniti.

Dongfeng Infiniti insiders said, "Infiniti returned to the Dongfeng Nissan system, is due to many reasons." On the one hand, the market in China is small, and if it continues to operate as an independent joint venture, the cost is too high; second, it is also related to Nissan's global strategic adjustment.

Data show that Dongfeng Infiniti is a joint venture brand jointly funded by Infiniti and Dongfeng Motor in 2014, but the development of domestic Infiniti is particularly slow. According to Dongfeng Infiniti's official website, there are six products currently on sale, including Q50L, QX50, Q60, QX60, Q70L and a new generation of QX60, among which Q50L and QX50 have been on the market for many years with average market performance. In other words, the current QX50 and Q50L are still the mainstream models of Dongfeng Infiniti, but it is difficult to support their future development. According to the data, Infiniti sales rose 3.4 per cent year-on-year in 2016 to 41600 vehicles, falling for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019, to 48400, 47200 and 42300 respectively, and fell to 25700 in 2020, down 26.66 per cent from the same period last year. According to FIFA data, Infiniti sold 6785 QX50 vehicles and 1978 Q50L in the first three quarters of 2021, which means Dongfeng Infiniti sold 8763 vehicles in the first three quarters, with an average monthly sales of less than 1000 vehicles.

Infiniti missed the opportunity for development after it was made in China, launching only two domestic models after six years in China, and its brand influence, product competitiveness and brand service are far inferior to those of the same level of luxury brands, and even wander on the edge of the luxury market. At the end of 2021, QX60, the third domestic model of Dongfeng Infiniti, officially started pre-sale. The official pre-sale price range is 45-660000 yuan, which is the first medium and large SUV under Dongfeng Infiniti. The powertrain uses 2.0T+9AT combination and the maximum power is 252hp. However, netizens' approval for the pricing of new cars is not high. 45-660000 yuan can buy good models from BBA or second-tier head brands, while Infiniti, a luxury brand owned by Nissan, is obviously less and less sought after by the market.

Of course, what kind of development Dongfeng Infiniti will usher in after it becomes Dongfeng Nissan brand is also what we look forward to. Prior to this, Gao Zhenghao, executive deputy general manager of Dongfeng Infiniti Automobile Co., Ltd., said that the Chinese market is one of the most important development areas of Infiniti, and Infiniti needs to constantly strengthen its internal skills and promote the introduction speed of new products. Constantly enrich the product matrix.

Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. said that Infiniti will make full use of Dongfeng Nissan's full value chain advantage to explore new travel business models, contribute to Infiniti in electrification, self-driving, mobile Internet and shared travel services, while further tapping opportunities in the luxury car market.

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