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A few days ago, the Lanshan DHT-PHEV, a brand new model owned by Wei Brand, was officially unveiled. The car is located in a medium and large SUV, equipped with a plug-in hybrid system composed of a 1.5T engine and motor, with a comprehensive range of more than 1200 kilometers and a fuel consumption of 6.7L for 100 kilometers. It is understood that the car is expected to go on sale in April and is expected to sell for between 30 and 350000 yuan.

In terms of appearance, the Blue Mountain DHT-PHEV uses a semi-enclosed grille, the front is in the middle of a closed design, the bottom is a trapezoidal heat sink, and the vertical LOGO is embedded directly above the grille. At the same time, the new car adopts the popular split headlamp design on both sides, with long and narrow LED lights at the top and horizontal headlights at the bottom. At the same time, the details of the imitation air intake are added on both sides of the headlamp, which forms a right-angle shape with the headlamp group, which looks more design. This kind of modeling is different from the existing design style of Wei Brand, but it tends to the design style of new power products.

On the side of the car body, Blue Mountain DHT-PHEV is in line with the market's understanding of medium and large SUV, and the overall feeling is very heavy. The outer outline of the window is also decorated with matte chrome strips, and the exterior rearview mirror is designed in the same color as the car body, with hidden door handles and electric side pedals. In the rear part of the car, the new car taillights are designed in a through-and-through style, the headlights at both ends show a "Y" shape, the middle is inlaid with the brand logo of "WEY", and the word "Wei Brand Blue Mountain" is at the bottom, which is surrounded by a through decorative strip and a bilateral exhaust layout. In terms of size, the length, width and height of the new car are 5156/1980/1805mm, the wheelbase is 3050mm, the positioning is medium and large SUV, and the six-seat layout of 2'2'2 is adopted.

In terms of interior decoration, the Blue Mountain DHT-PHEV is equipped with a large suspended screen running through the center console, in which the dashboard is 12.3in, while the central control screen + co-driver screen is 27in, which can support 4K resolution, 5-point touch, anti-glare, anti-reflective, anti-fingerprint and so on. The steering wheel of the car adopts a new design, the multi-function key area is decorated with a black highlight panel, and the outer outline is a matte silver chrome strip. At the same time, the car also adopts a shifter mechanism, the sub-instrument desk area is planned to have two storage spaces, it is also equipped with a mobile phone wireless charging panel, and the central armrest box adopts a split design.

In terms of power, Lanshan DHT-PHEV will be equipped with a plug-in hybrid system composed of a 1.5T engine and front and rear motors, with a comprehensive output power of 380kW and a comprehensive torque of 933N ·m; the transmission system matches a two-gear DHT transmission, with a pure electric mileage of 180km under WLTC conditions and a comprehensive mileage of more than 1000 km WLTC.

Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor, once said: "Wei Brand bet on my last name, only success can not fail." But at present, Wei Pai, which has been established for six years, can not hide its decline after several twists and turns.

Wei Brand was born in November 2016. after the launch of the company's founder Wei Jianjun, the VV series sold more than 10,000 cars a month, but as the prices of joint venture brands fell and independent brands launched high-end products one after another, sales of Wei Brand fell rapidly, falling 21.53% to 78500 vehicles in 2020 compared with the same period last year.

In 2020, Wei Brand launched Tank 300, which sold well on the market, and developed strongly in the market segment, but Great Wall Automobile stripped Tank 300 from Wei Brand and established a sub-brand-Tank, which greatly weakened the competitiveness of Wei Brand products. In 2021, the annual sales of Wei Brand was 52200, down 28.1% from the same period last year, ranking at the bottom of the Great Wall passenger car brand.

In order to break the situation, Wei Brand began to adjust its strategy from 2021, defining its brand positioning of "new generation smart car" and introducing coffee intelligent platform and intelligent hybrid DHT scheme. In May 2021, Wei Brand launched a medium-sized SUV Mocha, which is the only fuel car product that Wei Brand currently sells. Since then, Wei Brand has launched new energy vehicles with lemon hybrid DHT technology, including Mocha DHT, Macchiato DHT/ Macchiato DHT-PHEV, latte DHT/ latte DHT-PHEV and so on. The overall model is mainly named "Coffee", while the previously launched VV series has been discontinued.

At present, the transformation of Wei Brand new energy direction is not smooth. In 2022, Wei brand sales fell 37.66% year-on-year to 36381 vehicles, making it the biggest decline in the Great Wall brand for three years in a row.

According to Li Ruifeng, chief executive of Great Wall Motor, Wei Brand adopts a multi-category strategy at the product level. In addition to the coffee series already launched, it will also launch fashionable retro models this year, as well as high-end new energy MPV.

The multi-model concept is to believe that there is always a model that can succeed, but this is bound to distract the resources and energy within the brand and consume it in wave after wave of ineffective product releases. At the same time, Wei Brand has made three strategic adjustments in the short period of six years since its establishment. From high-end fuel cars to hardline off-road SUV, and then to today's new energy vehicle brands, consumers can not form a complete understanding of the brand.

In fact, the competitiveness of Wei brand products is not weak, the early Wei brand design positioning and design appearance are strong, recognized by male consumers, but now Wei brand mainly plays young people, naming and design style has also changed, user group positioning has also become blurred. For Wei Pai, the transformation of both high-end and new energy is a challenge, and it is not easy for Wei Pai to overcome two major problems at once.

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