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When it comes to luxury brands, consumers first think of BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and other brands. however, DS, as a French luxury brand, is rarely mentioned by consumers. With the miscalculation of French cars in the domestic market, the performance in the market still does not improve in 2019.

According to sales figures, the DS sold 3867 vehicles in 2018, compared with 1712 for DS in the first half of this year. Since entering the Chinese market, DS sales have declined year after year and do not seem to fit in with the Chinese market, with sales reaching 27000 in 2016, the peak after entering the Chinese market. Sales have declined since then, to 16100 in 2016 and 5800 in 2017.

However, in the face of such dismal sales, PSA still said it would not give up the Chinese market. In order to save the Chinese market, DS said that it will continue to develop traditional fuel vehicles in China, hopes that the sales of 2020 DS7 models can be greatly increased, and plans to work with Chery to develop new energy vehicles.

DS, a car brand owned by PSA Group, was introduced to China in 2011. In 2014, the brand is independent and sold as a French high-end car. However, during the eight years from 2011 to 2019, DS sold well in the French market, but it was very poor in China, and it has not yet formed a reputation for luxury brands.

DS said there are two main reasons for the sluggish sales in China, one of which is poor marketing and publicity, which does not show the craftsmanship and French tone of luxury brands. The second is the operation and financing problems of the joint venture Changan Peugeot Citroen.

But generally speaking, both luxury brands and ordinary brands are fighting a price war in the domestic market. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus and other brands have launched entry-level models, while the pricing power of DS is not as good as that of Volkswagen. Secondly, PSA does not have enough market accumulation in China, nor does it have enough comprehensive strength.

The 020 DS7, which was launched not long ago, is considered by the industry to be the key to a back-to-back battle in the Chinese market, but judging from the current situation, pinning its hopes on DS7 to improve the overall sales of DS is unlikely to be realized.

DS7 still continues the cash design style, there is no new bright spot on the body appearance, the 2020 DS7 and entry-level DS6 prices overlap again, the signing price is 208900, the latter 206900, in addition to the six-speed gearbox is not liked by consumers, in Honda, Toyota and other brands have introduced 8AT, 9AT, 10AT gearbox to ordinary models, DS still does not have enough advantages.

DS directly competes with BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA and Audi Q3, but the price of DS7 is much cheaper than BMW, so it faces competition from Lexus, Acura and Infiniti, behind which are Toyota, Honda, Nissan and other big brands. According to the analysis of industry insiders, it is not easy for 2020 DS7 to support up to now.

Since the introduction of the DS brand, it has lost more than 1 billion yuan by 2016. In this case, Changan Automobile once again signed an agreement with PSA to send 3.6 billion yuan to DS.

Recently, it was revealed that Chery is working with DS to develop new energy. In China's new energy luxury car market, it seems rare, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and other brands have just made efforts, DS also seems to have a glimmer of hope to break through the difficulties. According to the industry, DS mainly takes a fancy to Chery's new energy technology, and DS wants to use Chery to make up for the defects of fuel cars.

DS is now at the crossroads of the Chinese car market, and if left, car sales are sluggish, production capacity is idle and empty money is serious; if they leave, the companies of the two countries have invested a lot of money in the brand, but now they are threatening to give up at a loss. who should bear the consequences?

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