[car home Information] In 2023, BYD surprised everyone with its annual sales of 3.01 million vehicles, followed by Changan Automobile, which grew steadily in 2023, creating sales of 2.55 million vehicles. Although it has achieved growth, Chang ‘an has obviously not reached the goal set at the beginning of the year. After two years of new brand adjustment, there will be new changes in Changan brand system in 2024. In 2023-2024, how did Chang ‘an’s own brand change yesterday and tomorrow, and what new products will be launched in the future?
● Looking back at 2023
Looking back on sales in 2023
In 2023 after the epidemic, the long-awaited "retaliatory consumption" did not arrive as scheduled, and "volume product" and "volume price" became the key words of this year. Except for a few car companies such as BYD and Chery, the sales of other big car companies are relatively stable, only slightly higher than in 2022, and even car companies have experienced a decline in sales.
Of course, it should be noted that the sales volume of each big group also includes the data of its joint venture company, even the sales volume of non-passenger cars and overseas exports. However, in 2023, the performance of most joint ventures in China was not satisfactory, which also led to a decline in the total sales of large groups like SAIC. Similarly, there are many joint ventures like Changan, such as Changan Ford, Changan Mazda and Changan Lincoln. In the context of the decline in sales of the joint venture company, the sales of Chang ‘an’s own brands are firm, and the total sales volume has not declined. On the contrary, it is not easy to achieve growth. Compared with other big groups, in 2022, Changan Automobile Group was still behind Guangzhou Automobile and Dongfeng, and in 2023, it achieved overtaking. However, it may be difficult to surpass SAIC, FAW and BYD in the short term.
In 2022, Changan Automobile only grew by 2% year-on-year. In 2023, Changan Automobile achieved 8.8% year-on-year growth, and the sales growth accelerated, and finally achieved sales data of 2.553 million vehicles. Among them, the sales volume of new energy vehicles and overseas exports are the most eye-catching, achieving year-on-year growth of 69.2% and 43.9% respectively. Although the growth rate has decreased compared with 2022, the increase in the base will definitely affect the growth rate.
However, Changan Group planned the sales target of 2.8 million vehicles in 2023, and actually only completed 91%. Among them, the anticipated new brands, Deep Blue and Aouita, failed to achieve the expected sales volume, and Deep Blue only achieved 34% of the sales target.
In the planning for 2024, the Group’s sales volume remained at 2.8 million vehicles, but the expected sales targets of Deep Blue and Aouita were both downgraded, with Deep Blue having the largest decline of only 280,000 vehicles, while the remaining mission was handed over to Changan Qiyuan with a sales target of 250,000 vehicles. At the same time, in 2024, Chang ‘an still has high hopes for the fuel vehicle market, including Chang ‘an Gravitation and Kaicheng, which will have sales targets of 1.25 million vehicles and 230,000 vehicles. In addition, overseas markets should also double their sales to reach the goal of 480,000 vehicles.
Looking back on cooperation in 2023
Looking back on 2023, a major event in Chang ‘an was to set up a new joint venture with Huawei. Changan was one of the earliest car companies to cooperate with Huawei, but at that time Changan did not choose Huawei’s highest intelligent car selection solution, but chose Huawei’s mid-range HI(Huawei Inside) model. Aouita, who owns Huawei’s technology, did not enter the vast sales stores of Huawei like Cyrus.
In 2023, Huawei set up a new joint venture company with its car partners. Changan became the first car company to join in the joint venture, and it has more dominance in cooperating with Huawei in research and development. The new joint venture company will mainly engage in the research and development, design, production, sales and service of automotive intelligent systems and component solutions, which almost includes all the most advanced intelligent car selection schemes, and has become an active participant in cooperation, which is simply to achieve overtaking in corners.
The business scope of the joint venture company includes seven areas: intelligent driving solutions for automobiles, intelligent cockpit for automobiles, intelligent digital platform for automobiles, intelligent Che Yun, AR-HUD and intelligent car lights, covering all categories of smart cars at present. Earlier, we learned from relevant people that the brand that the new joint venture company will benefit from may be Deep Blue, and two new products that Deep Blue will launch in 2024 may be expected to introduce new technologies.
In addition, in 2023, Changan continued to deepen its cooperation with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, and established a joint venture company with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, Time Changan, with a designed production capacity of 30GWh, realizing the integration technology of CTV battery chassis into the mass production stage, with a space utilization rate as high as 72.9%. The new generation of Force super-collector drive has been upgraded in an all-round way, achieving working condition efficiency 6 percentage points higher than that of the industry, reducing cost by 15%, and will be mass-produced and loaded soon. Time Changan will empower Changan in 2024, bringing a new generation of hybrid technology to Changan.
In 2023, Changan also reached a long-term strategic cooperation relationship with Ganfeng Lithium Industry, and reached a research and development cooperation based on the next-generation automotive power battery (semi-) solid-state battery and the strategic cooperation of the whole battery industry chain, which will meet Changan’s subsequent new energy strategy. Compared with liquid batteries, solid-state batteries have greater capacity and will solve the battery life problem. This year, Changan also reached a cooperation with Weilai in power exchange business. According to the plan, Changan will unify the battery pack with Weilai and cooperate in the research and development of power exchange vehicle products.
With the above cooperation, Changan not only plays a major role in the joint venture or cooperation, but also can lead the future direction, and further enhances the technical strength of products. The cooperation with head suppliers directly starts on the shoulders of giants. It can be seen that in the future, Changan’s products will advance by leaps and bounds in the field of new energy and smart cars.
Looking back at going to sea in 2023
In 2023, Changan’s overseas exports exceeded the target by 113%, with outstanding achievements. In 2023, Chang ‘an released the "All rivers run into the sea" plan, aiming at world-class automobile brands and achieving overseas sales exceeding 1.2 million units. In addition to developing countries such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, overseas sales markets are also aimed at developed markets such as Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea. In 2023 (|), it made its debut during the Munich Auto Show. In the city exhibition hall of Munich, the cool Aouita 12 also won considerable popularity and attracted onlookers.
"Munich City Exhibition Hall Aouita 12 attracts onlookers"
"Chang ‘an’s first overseas factory, Thailand factory"
In 2023, Changan also established its first overseas factory in Thailand, which will focus on new energy products, and will also build factories in Europe and America. Up to now, Chang ‘an has been exported to 63 countries and regions around the world, and has outstanding performance in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Mexico and other countries.
Looking back on the strategy and adjustment in 2023
After Changan launched the new brands Deep Blue and Aouita in 2022, Changan continued to deepen its strategic adjustment in 2023, but there were successes and failures. In terms of fuel vehicles, Changan launched the new CS75 PLUS family in 2023. In terms of sales volume, this car is still the main sales model of Changan brand, and the launch of the new model has been recognized by consumers. In addition, fuel vehicles of about 100,000 yuan, such as Yidong, UNI-V and CS55PLUS, are still the main sales models of Changan. The first mass-produced car Yida, based on the new generation design concept of long safety, has not completely won the recognition of consumers, although its main price is less than 100,000 yuan, and the price is not high.
"Yida"
New energy is also mixed. In 2023, Changan brought Lumin a fast-charging model. As a boutique mini-car, fast charging is very necessary. In particular, this car can also achieve a battery life of 301km without losing a higher level of seagulls, so Lumin has also become one of the most popular models of Changan brand. In 2023, many car companies began to attack the hybrid market, including UNI-V Smart iDD, UNI-K Smart iDD and CS75 PLUS Smart iDD of Changan. These three cars have good sales performance in the pure fuel vehicle market, but the sales performance of the three hybrid models listed this year is not ideal. I’m afraid the reason is that in the face of competing products, as a latecomer, there is no outstanding product feature, and consumers are naturally preconceived.
『Lumin』
In terms of new brands, Aouita and Deep Blue did not reach the expected sales volume. Although both Deep Blue and Aouita launched the new products Deep Blue S7 and Aouita 12 this year, it became increasingly difficult for consumers to win the market in the face of the crazy price war in the market this year and numerous new products. Aouita’s high price makes many consumers flinch. Although Deep Blue also launched a smart driving version this year, the price/performance ratio has been further improved. However, with the launch of Changan Qiyuan, the difference between the two brands is not obvious, resulting in brand involution. Although Chang ‘an Qiyuan’s first product is eye-catching, there is even a "oil-to-electricity" product in the follow-up, which is really puzzling.
『Deep blue S7』
In the face of problems, Chang ‘an will also usher in new structural adjustment. In 2024, Changan will launch a brand-new Gravitation (internal code name, including the current V-mark, Auchan brand and UNI series), and basically merge most of the current fuel passenger cars. In the future, Changan V-mark will be adopted uniformly, and its name is still expected to be called Changan Automobile (to be officially announced later). In terms of new energy, Deep Blue and Aouita have shown that they will focus on the middle and high-end direction, at least they have been supported by Huawei. Qiyuan has also been defined as a smart electric brand by Changan, but the current direction is not clear enough, more like a collection brand of low-end new energy vehicles. However, the official said that Changan Gravity is the cornerstone of the company’s current development, and Changan Qiyuan will be the cornerstone of the company’s future development, and heavy smart cars will be launched in the follow-up of Qiyuan. Kaicheng will still focus on Changan commercial vehicles.
Not only will the product line be adjusted, but also the personnel will be adjusted in 2023. Zhu Huarong, Party Secretary and Chairman of Changan Automobile, will serve as Chairman of Aouita Science and Technology, and Wang Jun, President of Changan Automobile, will also serve as Chairman of Deep Blue Automobile. The strategic position of the new brand will usher in a new adjustment. Changan pays more attention to the new brand. According to Zhu Huarong’s words, it is "important people give people money, and technology gives technology." In addition, in 2023, Klaus Chijola, head of global design of Volkswagen Group, became the vice president of Changan Automobile, in charge of the global design business of Changan Automobile. Chang ‘an, which has always paid attention to design, is going to make a big move this time.
● Looking forward to 2024
Looking forward to new technologies and trends in 2024.
In 2023, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in Chang ‘an is 481,000, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in 2024 is 750,000, and the sales volume of new energy vehicles in 2025 is 1.2 million. By 2020, the sales volume of new energy vehicles will reach 3-3.5 million, accounting for 60%-70% of the total sales volume of the Group. In other words, new energy will be the top priority of Chang ‘an development in the future, and also the main source of incremental sales development. It can also be seen from the brand composition that in the future, Chang ‘an will have three new energy brands: Aouita, Deep Blue and Qiyuan, and new energy vehicles will also be launched in the future.
In order to achieve the goal of 55.9% year-on-year growth of new energy vehicles in 2024, Changan officially announced at least eight brand-new new energy products as support. On the technical level, CTV battery chassis integration technology will be mass-produced in 2024, which is a new mainstream technology. Its principle is basically close to that of Tesla and BYD, but the structure is slightly different. This technology can improve the safety of the car body and battery, and at the same time, it can have more space to arrange more battery modules, which further increases the battery life of new cars.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the first standard battery cell of Chang ‘an, a joint venture company between Chang ‘an and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, was officially rolled off the production line. It will integrate 4C fast charging technology, so that it only takes 10 minutes to charge the power from 20% to 80%. Although its charging speed may not be as good as that of the ideal MEGA (charging 500km in 12 minutes), it is enough for ordinary models and has already achieved industry leadership, while the 5C technology is used for people like MEGA. We look forward to seeing relevant technologies get on the bus in 2024.
Intelligentization is also the key direction of Changan, and its partners include Huawei and Horizon. According to the official saying, the goal is to become a world-class leader in the automobile intelligent driving system and parts industry, promote the global leadership of China’s intelligent automobile industry, and make every effort to build core competitiveness in three areas: intelligent driving, intelligent networking and intelligent interaction. The ambitious but real exhibition in 2024 will mainly be Qiyuan E07, which will be released in 2024, which will be the embodiment of Changan’s intelligence, and Changan Qiyuan will also focus on becoming a digital intelligence brand in the future.
After brand integration, in 2024, Chang ‘an will have four passenger car sections: Aouita, Deep Blue, Qiyuan and Gravitation. Obviously, in terms of technology, new energy vehicles will take the lead, and only Gravitation will continue to take over the market share of fuel vehicles. However, according to relevant sources, Gravity will also launch plug-in hybrid models in the future, and it is expected to be equipped with new power developed on the basis of hybrid platforms, and will use the latest battery products of Times Changan (a joint venture with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited), which is obviously different from the smart iDD launched on the fuel vehicle platform last year, and the technology is iterative.
"Chang ‘an Gravitation Brand-new SUV』"
This can be seen from the declaration drawing of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in the previous paragraph. Changan applied for the declaration drawing of a brand-new V-standard SUV, with the length, width and height of 4730/1890/1680(1660)mm and the wheelbase of 2795mm respectively. It is a plug-in version, which is equipped with a plug-in system based on a 1.5L naturally aspirated engine with a maximum power of 72 kW.
Gravitation is just a brand-new integrated name of several existing sequences, which will still be presented in a unified way with Chang ‘an V standard. The brand-new models followed by Gravity will also have the latest technology of Changan in intelligence, but the positioning is indeed slightly lower. In addition, in order to ensure the needs of overseas markets in the future, gravity will continue to exert its strength in the fuel vehicle market and continue to develop new technologies. This year, gravity will also have more than one brand-new model.
Looking forward to new products in 2024
In terms of follow-up new energy products, according to the official plan, the first extended-range pickup hunter in Chang ‘an will be delivered in the first quarter of 2024. Previously, this new car has announced the pre-sale price range of 13.99-21.69 million yuan, which will be a mid-to high-end pickup truck, suitable for urban consumers who want to buy a second expansion car. The exterior looks more design-oriented, similar to an SUV. At the same time, an external power supply is added at the container for outdoor camping, which reminds us of the radar RD6 released last year. The interior of the car is basically the same as that of a passenger car, focusing on the construction of materials and having a dual screen design.
"Chang ‘an’s first extended-range pickup hunter"
In terms of power, this is an extended-range vehicle, which can achieve a battery life of 1031km under CLTC working conditions and meet the needs of long-distance travel. 0-100km/h accelerates for 7.9 seconds, which changes the problem of poor power of pickup trucks in the past. More importantly, in terms of comfort, the suspension structure with front double wishbone and rear multi-link integral bridge is more comfortable than the traditional pickup truck with leaf spring. In addition, it can also have a pure battery life of 180km, and the cost of using the car is more economical.
Deep blue G318』
In the second quarter of 2024, Deep Blue G318 will be launched, which adopts tough design, and will have a variety of off-road modification schemes, such as electric pedals, luggage racks, camp lighting, external spare tires, towing devices, etc., and the vehicle can also turn around in place. However, we learned from relevant people that this car may adopt a load-bearing body structure, and the price is about 300,000 yuan. Its body size is 4915(4998)/1985/1885(1960)mm, and its wheelbase is 2880mm, which is close to the size of the tank 400. In terms of power, it will be equipped with an extended range system with a total power of 316 kW, which is also close to the tank 400, and adopts front and rear dual-motor four-wheel drive.
At present, Deep Blue has two models of 200,000 yuan on sale, SL03 and S7. In addition to G318, a 200,000 yuan product and a 300,000 yuan product are planned in the future. In the third quarter, Deep Blue will launch a model code-named C857. It is reported that this is a compact SUV, and its positioning may be below S7. If so, it will be involved in the current mainstream price range of fuel compact SUV market, and it will also become a moving model of Deep Blue in the future, helping Deep Blue to increase its current sales volume and achieve the goal of doubling the sales volume of 280,000 units.
In the third and fourth quarters of 2024, Aouita’s second SUV E15 and medium-sized coupe E16 will be unveiled respectively, and the government has set an annual target of breaking 200,000 bicycles, which means at least 17,000 bicycles in a single month. Rumor has it that these are two models that benchmark Tesla Model Y and Model 3, that is to say, the price is lower than that of the previous 11 and 12. The official position of E16 is medium-sized, and it can be roughly believed that its smaller size and lower price guarantee the improvement of sales. The sales level of 17,000 units is close to the current sales level of Model 3, which means that its price may be in the range of 250,000-300,000 yuan. At the same time, it is reported that Aouita will focus on extended-range vehicles in 2024, and the news has been confirmed by the official account of Aouita, which means that E15 and E16 will have pure electric vehicles and extended-range vehicles. At present, Aouita’s sales performance is obviously not up to expectations, and the way of extending the range and lowering the selling price will undoubtedly break the current unfavorable situation.
Changan Qiyuan will present two brand-new models E07 and C798 in the fourth quarter, both of which will pay more attention to intelligence. They are based on SDA architecture, and the official explanation is a "software-defined car" product, which has been instilled with a very interesting idea. You can customize your car like Lego, "the hardware is pluggable, the scene can be arranged, the ecology can be on demand, and the system can evolve". However, these words are too magical. Let’s wait for the official explanation, but at least they do make me grow some grass.
『Qiyuan E07』
『Integrated technology of CTV battery chassis』
Qiyuan E07 is not only the first model with SDA architecture, but also the first model with CTV battery chassis integration technology. The whole chassis looks quite flat, and more importantly, the chassis is made of aluminum alloy, and the integrated cast aluminum design reduces the weight of the whole vehicle. The vehicle adopts three-in-one motor and front and rear double motors. The maximum power of two-wheel drive model is 252kW, and the maximum power of four-wheel drive model is 440kW. The car body is equipped with air spring and variable damping shock absorber, and the height of the car body and the soft and hard suspension can be adjusted. In terms of body size, the length, width and height of the new car are 5045/1996mm/1640mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 3120 mm.
"Photo taken by Qiyuan E07 (CD 701) in October 2023"
More interestingly, Qiyuan E07 draws lessons from Tesla Cybertruck’s design concept. The official said that it can switch between SUV and pickup truck at will, and then the window can be completely opened, becoming the appearance of pickup truck, and the tailgate is opened in the same way as pickup truck. There is no specific information about the intelligence of the new car. However, the official said that it is equipped with a central computing platform with a total power of more than 1000 TOPS, which has high computing power and can cope with higher demand. The car coupling system supports users’ customization and co-creation. According to the plan, this car will be smarter and meet the needs of users, but we still need to wait until the new car is officially released. Qiyuan E07 will also redefine Qiyuan brand, and the subsequent products will be more intelligent and become the main intelligent undertaking brand of Changan.
Write at the end:
Among the large groups with the background of state-owned enterprises, Chang ‘an’s performance has always been obvious to all, and it is often compared with private car companies such as Geely, Great Wall and BYD, which proves its forward-looking and rapid transformation in strategic change. We saw that in the past 2023, all the "fashionable" words appeared in Changan, such as joint venture, new brand, going to sea and so on. In 2024, Changan Automobile will usher in a new transformation, with rapid changes in intelligence and new energy, and rapid empowerment through new brands. At the same time, in the fuel vehicle market, Changan still adheres to the image of "Big Brother" and continues to meet the needs of consumers. (Text/car home Qin Chao)
