news

tencent auto "high beam"

author: liu kanshun editor: liu peng

changan automobilewe are increasing our investment in the middle east and africa markets where we have been cultivating for 30 years.

since entering the middle east and africa market in 1994, changan automobile has sold more than 400,000 vehicles in the region. in saudi arabia, the core country of the middle east and africa market, changan has become the number one chinese brand and one of the top ten global brands. in the next six years, changan plans to increase its annual sales in overseas markets to more than 1.2 million vehicles. the middle east and africa are the key to this plan.

on august 31, the 2024 changan automobile brand middle east and africa conference was officially held in riyadh, the capital of saudi arabia. changan automobile brought uni-s (cs55 plus in china) and new models to the middle east and africa market.UNI-V(2.0t) two fuel models, and changan automobile president wang jun also released the changan brand,dark bluecar,avitathe three major brands, as well as plans to accelerate localized operations and service upgrades, will help changan automobile renew its brand image in the middle east and africa.

wang jun, president of changan automobile, said that in the middle east and africa market, changan automobile and more than 50 partners have completed the construction of more than 100 touchpoints. not long ago, changan’s largest flagship store in the world was built in riyadh. therefore, changan automobile will gradually launch 10 new models including uni-s and the new uni-v (2.0t version), and will also provide new energy products such as deep blue and avita in the future.

as saudi arabia has been vigorously developing new energy and renewable energy in recent years, it plans to achieve the vision of producing 500,000 electric vehicles annually by 2030, of which new energy vehicles in the capital riyadh will account for as much as 30%. changan automobile hopes to seize such development opportunities. at the press conference, changan automobile brought changan e07, deep blue s07,dark blue g318、avita 11、avita 12and other main new energy vehicles.

in addition to the release of new models, changan is accelerating localized operations and related service upgrades in the middle east and africa markets. changan automobile president wang jun said that changan automobile will launch smart cloud services to further deepen strategic collaboration with dealer partners and increase user response speed by 50% by establishing spare parts centers and technical service support centers in the middle east.

at the same time, changan automobile will also build a professional maintenance team in the local area to jointly improve work skills, service levels and management capabilities. in addition, changan will also accelerate local operations and establish a subsidiary in the middle east to explore diversified cooperation such as joint ventures, financial services and logistics distribution.

"localization" has become an important keyword in changan's overseas expansion, and is also an important part of changan automobile's overseas strategic plan of "embracing all rivers". changan automobile chairman zhu huarong once said: "overseas localization and in-depth layout of the industrial chain are the winning magic weapon for chinese brands to go global"; president wang jun also said: "the most difficult part of globalization is cross-cultural management. we pay more attention to long-term and localization, and what kind of value we can provide to local users."

annual sales in overseas markets to exceed 1.2 million units by 2030

according to changan's official data, from january to july 2024, the overseas sales of changan automobile's own brand were 228,607 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 67.6%.

based on the "open to all" plan announced by changan automobile in 2023, it will build a "1+5+2" global development layout and form the "four ones" overseas development goals, aiming to achieve better performance and sales in the global market. according to the plan, it is expected that by 2030, changan will enter more than 90% of the global market, including five major regional markets in europe, america, the middle east and africa, asia pacific, and the cis, and establish more than 20 localized marketing organizations, with annual sales in overseas markets exceeding 1.2 million vehicles.

changan automobile president wang jun repeatedly stressed that the middle east region is an important part of changan automobile's global development layout of the "sea of ​​​​inclusion" plan. in recent years, changan automobile has introduced more than 10 models in the middle east, including passenger cars, pickup trucks and commercial vehicles. at the same time, changan automobile's sales in major middle eastern markets such as saudi arabia and the united arab emirates have also achieved a leading position among chinese brands.

in southeast asia, changan automobile held a brand southeast asia launch conference in november 2023, launching deepa (deep blue) ls07 and l07, as well as changan lumin (glutinous corn) models. it also planned the changan thailand factory and is about to realize localized production in southeast asia. subsequently, in july 2024, it held a brand latin american launch conference and launched deepa (deep blue) s07. at the same time, it will also provide a new smart electric vehicle experience based on local needs.

the brand's middle east and africa launch event launched uni-s and the new uni-v (2.0t) fuel-powered models, and indicated that it will introduce brands such as deep blue auto and avita in the future to gradually boost the development of the local new energy market. subsequently, changan automobile will hold a brand launch event in europe in october, focusing on the entry of new energy models into the market, as well as expanding overseas markets such as australia and new zealand, so as to further accelerate the rapid development of the "sea of ​​​​inclusion" plan.

chinese brands win the middle east market with cost-effectiveness

changan automobile entered the middle east and africa market as early as 1994, and experienced explosive growth after 2015. changan automobile said that it has long been a mainstream brand in the middle east and africa with its pickup trucks and commercial vehicles.

data shows that changan automobile has accumulated more than 60,000 users in the saudi arabian market, with a compound annual growth rate of 150%. the brand's sales volume has entered the top 10 in the saudi arabian automobile market. in the first quarter of this year, changan automobile sold 7,813 units in saudi arabia, ranking ninth with a market share of 4%. changan's main models in saudi arabia areCS95, its high cost-effectiveness has enabled it to gain a place in the market.

according to the top10 car sales data in the first quarter of 2024 in the saudi market, the best-selling car brand in saudi arabia is not mercedes-benz,bmwluxury brands such astoyota, korean car hyundai. the sales volume of chinese cars in saudi arabia is also expanding further. currently, there are 3 brands (MG, changan, geely) entered the top ten of the sales list.

japanese cars still have the largest share in saudi arabia, with toyota alone accounting for 26.6%, but their overall market share is declining. before 2015, the market share of japanese cars was above 60% for many years, but by the end of 2023, this figure had dropped to 53.5%. toyota, which ranked first, is also shrinking, with a share of 30% last year and 26.6% in the first quarter of this year.

although the overall market share is still behind japanese and korean brands, the gap is gradually narrowing. in 2023, chinese cars achieved an overall growth rate of 57.2% in saudi arabia, and the market share reached 16%, becoming the car series with the largest growth rate in the saudi market.

a local dealer told far beam: "the reason why the streets are full of japanese and korean cars is that they entered the saudi market earlier, have a longer and closer cooperation with the local government, and can get priority in obtaining local policy approval and dealer cooperation. the reason why hyundai kia (korean) cars account for a higher proportion is that their models have more advantages in configuration. however, in recent years, chinese brands of cars have gradually become more popular in saudi arabia, mainly because of their higher overall cost performance."

"we are more optimistic about new energy vehicle models of chinese brands, mainly extended-range hybrids, which can provide better power and driving feel than fuel vehicles. of course, new energy vehicle models of chinese brands are also more in line with the development of saudi arabia's vision 2030. therefore, we are also more willing to carry out long-term cooperation with changan automobile." the local dealer added.