There is a question in Zhihu "What is the level of independent brands"?
This is a difficult question to answer and must be answered from a historical perspective. Any castle-in-the-air answer that doesn't trace back to history can't accurately reflect the real situation of independent brands.
Twenty years ago, the concept of independent brand did not appear.
Let's go back to 20 years ago. In 2000, when its own brand was deserted, Chery was striving for a car license. The second-hand production line imported from Ford is tottering, and the cars that get off the assembly line in advance can only be sold in Anhui Province because they can't get official permission. Li Shufu of Geely Automobile runs all over the country, hoping to be admitted to a prospective student. Li Shufu saw great opportunities in the automobile industry, but due to industry restrictions, private capital could not enter, and Li Shufu's Geely automobile was difficult to produce; At that time, BYD was producing batteries, and it still had three years to get a car license; Changan Automobile is still producing vans, and it is also called the four kings of bread industry with liuzhou wuling, hafei automobile and Changhe Automobile.
At that time, it was the longest time for the Great Wall to cultivate the automobile industry. Rupika produced by Great Wall has ranked first in China market for several years in a row, and has been exported overseas in large quantities. In China's national automobile industry, he took the lead in mastering the technology of manufacturing high-quality cars. Even Great Wall Motor is still far behind Toyota Volkswagen. Two years later, Great Wall Motor's first SUV officially went offline. Later, Great Wall Motor named this pickup SUV, and everyone knows the story later.
In short, 20 years ago, independent brands had almost nothing. Today, the all-round brand in the market has not yet been born, and the passenger car market is basically controlled by joint ventures. Independent brand doesn't even have a concept. The gap between independence and joint venture is like the gap between babies and adults.
10 years ago, independent brands became synonymous with shanzhai.
Then the history reached 20 10 years ago.
At this time, compared with 20 years ago, the independent brand has made obvious progress, launched a very difficult exploration, encountered various setbacks and difficulties, kept paying tuition fees, and kept taking detours. At this time, Chang 'an, Great Wall, Geely, Chery and BYD all went through hardships to get passenger car licenses. Geely and Chery occupied the low-end market at low prices. In order to survive as much as possible, they were forced to have more children. Chery launched five brands in one breath, and Geely sold dozens. BYD was the most successful one at that time. An F3 swept the rivers and lakes, and its monthly sales once exceeded 30,000, ranking first in the automobile market. BYD F3 was also a true portrayal of its own brand at that time: the appearance of the cottage Corolla, the poor quality is irritating, Mitsubishi 4G 18 engine.
In short, the independent brands at that time lacked design ability and could only copy; Poor quality control, poor brand image, lack of core technology, can only buy engines. The only exception may be the Great Wall. In 20 10, the Haval CUV of the Great Wall (the predecessor of Haval H5 today) has become the main SUV. A year later, Haval H6, which really killed the market, really went on the market, and the Great Wall was on the eve of the outbreak.
Comprehensive evaluation shows that the independent brand of 20 10 is qualitatively improved compared with that of 2000. At least they got a birth certificate and the right to live. After several years of exploration, they have a preliminary understanding of the market. They are still very, very weak. They don't know how to design beautiful cars They are either mature models (including Haval CUV) or "ugly as shit" like Chery QQ6. They also have no core technology, and generally use Mitsubishi engines. Of course, they are also trying to reverse-produce their own engines, but neither the technical level nor the reliability is worth mentioning, and the data is not joint venture. The worst is quality control. In addition to the Great Wall, the inferior quality of Chery, Geely and BYD makes independent brands synonymous with low-end.
Compared with the joint venture brand, the independent brand at that time was like a child who just learned to walk, stumbling and stumbling, which completely threatened the status of the joint venture. This joint venture does not regard its own brand as a threat at all.
Nowadays, independent brands are fighting back against joint ventures with all their strength.
Time goes forward again, to 2020, which is now.
After 20 years' growth, independent brands have changed a little compared with 10 years ago and 20 years ago. Just a few days ago, the independent brand launched two new cars, one is the first high-end model UNI-T in Chang 'an, and the other is the Great Wall WEY. The annual modified model of VV6. WEY brand was born three years ago. Before the birth of WEY brand, Haval brand under Great Wall has been the champion of SUV for decades, and led its own brands to launch a big counterattack in the SUV field, and finally occupied a comparative advantage. This is the first time that independent brands have a comparative advantage in the strategic market. Then, the Great Wall, which was not satisfied with the low-end market, launched WEY, Geely launched Kelin, Chery launched Starway, BYD launched Dynasty Series, and Changan launched Gravity.
10 years, independent brands have mastered the methods of manufacturing high-quality cars, the core technologies of engines and gearboxes, and the know-how of designing cars with artistic beauty. Independent models have successively broken through the ceiling of 80,000 yuan,100,000 yuan,150,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan.
UNI-T and WEY just listed? Take VV6 as an example to see what level the independent brand has developed. UNI-T and WEY? The design of VV6 is completely original and artistic. Even if my dad had a magnifying glass, I couldn't find any traces of the fake. Especially WEY brand, the vertical elements drawn from the brand LOGO have spread all over the car, forming a family totem element, and its artistic charm and formidable gas field are not lost even compared with Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X3 and Audi Q5L.
Among the most important core power systems, UNI-T and WEY? VV6 has mastered all the core technologies. UNI-T is equipped with Blue Whale 1.5T engine independently developed by Changan. The injection pressure of this engine is as high as 350b, the thermal efficiency is over 40%, and the maximum torque is 300 Nm. For example, the maximum torque of Honda Crown Road's 1.5T engine is 243 Nm. WEY？ VV6 is equipped with a 2.0T engine, and the maximum output torque of this engine is 387 Nm. For example, the maximum output torque of the 2.0T high torque version of Mercedes-Benz GLC is 370 Nm, and that of BMW X3 is 350 Nm. We quote these data, not to say that the engine technology of our own brand has surpassed BMW, Mercedes-Benz or Honda, but to say that at least in the core indicators of core technology, our own brand has initially possessed the strength to compete with the world's top level, which was unimaginable 20 years ago or 10 years ago.
In terms of quality control that consumers are most worried about, independent brands have made great strides. In recent years, Great Wall Motor has become the Whampoa Military Academy, and the quality control ability of the independent camp has reached or even exceeded the level of the joint venture. 10 years ago, you bought a BYD F3, and there may be various problems in less than one year. Now, if you buy a Song pro, you usually drive 65,438+10,000 kilometers without moving a screw. WEY, a subsidiary of Great Wall, ranks first in the independent camp in the 20 19 new car quality ranking; In the comprehensive ranking including joint venture models, it is second only to Lexus and Mazda, and exceeds Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Toyota.
Write it at the end
In a word, the comprehensive strength of independent brands is still not as good as that of joint ventures. Two Volkswagen, two General Motors, two Honda and one Nissan still dominate the passenger cars in China, but independent brands such as Changan Great Wall Geely Chery and BYD are no longer the stumbling children. Even though they are not as good as joint ventures in terms of enterprise scale, profit level, brand image, engine fuel consumption, chassis tuning, vehicle lightweight and many other specific technologies, on the whole, they have grown into strong young people and are still thriving. They may not have the strength to fight against Toyota Volkswagen at present, but they have been saving their strength for the day of decisive battle.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.