AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/18 Report--

On August 15, Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. announced that Nicholas Yue, the world's top automotive designer, has joined Dongfeng Motor as the executive director of Dongfeng Global styling and Design Center. Nicholas Yue was born in France, graduated from the Swedish Art Center School of Design, has more than 25 years of car design experience, and has held positions at BMW, General Motors, Bowo and Gaohe Automotive, according to an official press release.

Reviewing his work experience, he has deep attainments in the field of automotive designers. During his tenure as chief senior designer at BMW headquarters, he led and participated in the design of electric models such as the 1-Series, 4-Series and 6-Series; as GM-Pan Asia Design Director, he led the design of Buick, Chevrolet global and Chinese models, especially the third-generation Buick GL8, which once became a best-selling model in the Chinese market. In addition, Nicholas Yue served as vice president of design at Bowo and global design director at Gaohe, where he led six smart electric vehicle projects, including Hiphi X/Y/Z.

J.D. Power once pointed out in a research report that the importance of automobile design is second only to car quality and performance, and it is also an important factor affecting potential customers' car purchase decisions, so automobile designers are extremely important for any car company. In the past, the vast majority of international well-known designers preferred to go to multinational automobile manufacturers, but with the change of the pattern of the global automobile industry, in recent years, world-renowned automobile designers have frequently switched to domestic independent-brand car companies, including BYD, Changan Automobile, ideal Automobile, FAW Red Flag, Xiaopeng Automobile and so on. For example, Wolfgang Joseph Iger, BYD's global design director, has served as Alfa Romeo brand design director, SEAT brand design director, Audi group design director, etc.; Li Tianyuan, the chief designer of Xiaomi's first model, SU7, has designed BMW IX; Pontus Fontaeus, the Swedish designer of Haoplatinum, has worked for several supercar brands such as Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Bentley. Juan Malopez, vice president of Xiaopeng Automobile styling and Design Center, has successively worked for Genesis Design, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Audi, Seattle and other automobile brands, and has also designed many world-famous classic supercars.

Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. is a super-large automobile enterprise under the direct management of the central government, formerly known as the second Automobile Factory, which was founded in 1969, and changed its name to Dongfeng Automobile Company in September 1992. In September 2003, the headquarters moved from Shiyan, Hubei to Wuhan. In November 2017, it changed its name to Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd., and currently has its own brand and joint venture brand. Among them, joint venture brands include Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Infiniti, Dragon Motor, while independent brands include Dongfeng Lantu, Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng New Energy, Dongfeng Fashion and so on.

Data show that from January to July this year, Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. accumulated sales of 1.0745 million vehicles, down 3.1% from the same period last year; parent company Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. accumulated car sales of 1.4134 million vehicles, an increase of 12.6% over the same period last year; subsidiary Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. accumulated car sales of 94100 vehicles, up 12.8% from the same period last year.

Among the subdivided brands, the cumulative sales of Dongfeng Nissan (including Dongfeng Infiniti and Qichen) from January to July this year were 368300, down 4.80% from the same period last year. Another Japanese joint venture brand, Dongfeng Honda, sold 252100 vehicles, down 10.54% from the same period last year. In addition, DPCA also showed a significant decline, with cumulative sales of 49200 vehicles, down 12.76 per cent from the same period last year. In terms of new energy vehicle sales, easyJet New Energy fell 78.56% to 12900 vehicles compared with the same period last year, while Lantu car sales increased by 97.50% to 35900 vehicles.

Judging from the sales performance of Dongfeng Motor in recent years, the sales of its joint venture brands have been much lower than before, and the growth of sales of independent brands is also very slow. At present, Dongfeng Motor still needs to launch more new cars with the potential of popular styles to boost sales. After the world's top car designer Nicholas Yue joined, whether Dongfeng Motor's new car can provide a more unique design to make the new car stand out. Wait and see.

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