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our reporter chen jingbin reports from guangzhou

under the impact of new energy vehicles,dongfeng nissanthe main selling model ofnissan sylphy, and were forced to participate in this increasingly fierce "price war".

as the "price war" intensifies, a rumor about the price of sylphy falling to 40,000 yuan has spread rapidly recently. there are even reports that some dealers are offering discounts of up to 53,000 yuan, with the lowest selling price falling to 55,600 yuan. in foshan, guangdong, some dealers even claimed that if consumers choose to pay in installments, the price can be as low as 42,800 yuan.

it is worth noting that the sales of sylphy are also continuing to decline. the sales data of sedans in august showed that sylphy has fallen to seventh place, while previously this model has long been ranked in the top four of the sales rankings.

faced with the dual challenges of price pressure and sales volume, dongfeng nissan has to pay more attention to the operating conditions of dealers. a relevant person in charge of dongfeng nissan revealed to a reporter from china business news that how to help dealers reduce pressure, stabilize the system, and enhance confidence has become the current top priority. to this end, the company has launched a series of support policies covering sales, after-sales, marketing and other aspects based on market demand and the specific conditions of dealers, aiming to jointly cope with this dilemma.

the difficulties faced by nissan sylphy actually reflect the challenges faced by dongfeng nissan in the process of new energy transformation.ariathere is a gap between the new energy models and the top-selling models in the market. nowadays, whether dongfeng nissan's new energy transformation can be successful and recognized by the market is still full of uncertainty.

major car models face difficulties

in the fierce "price war" in the chinese automobile market, dongfeng nissan sylphy was caught in the double dilemma of falling prices and declining sales.

on july 8, dongfeng nissan announced through its official wechat account that the sylphy series (including the classic edition) has launched a limited-time discount. among them, the starting price of the sylphy enjoy edition is 99,800 yuan, and the starting price of the sylphy classic comfort edition is 69,800 yuan. however, before this, the official guide price of the sylphy enjoy edition was 119,000 yuan to 174,900 yuan, and the classic comfort edition was 108,600 yuan to 122,600 yuan. this means that the price has dropped significantly, and the price of some models has fallen below the 100,000 yuan mark, or even as low as 70,000 yuan.

despite the large price cut, the sales of sylphy have not seen a significant increase. the latest passenger car sales data for august 2024 released by the china passenger car association shows that the sales of sylphy in that month were 23,800 units, and the ranking dropped from sixth in july to seventh. previously, the model had always been in the top four in the sales list. the decline in sales reflects the embarrassing situation of sylphy in the current market.

lin xianping, secretary general of the institute of culture and creativity at zhejiang university city college, pointed out that the sales of traditional fuel vehicles such as dongfeng nissan sylphy have dropped sharply, mainly due to intensified market competition and consumers turning to new energy vehicles. with the encouragement and support of the chinese government for new energy vehicles, the popularity of new energy vehicles has continued to increase, and consumers' acceptance of new energy vehicles has also increased. in addition, new energy vehicles have advantages in environmental protection, energy saving, and intelligence, which have also attracted more and more consumers. therefore, in the face of the rise of new energy vehicles, it is still difficult for traditional fuel vehicles to regain their competitiveness in the market.

in this market environment, rumors about the price of sylphy dropping to 50,000 yuan or even 40,000 yuan spread like wildfire. to verify the news, the reporter contacted several dongfeng nissan 4s stores in foshan. a dealer in chancheng, foshan said: "you can't buy a bare car for 40,000 yuan, and the minimum loan is about 70,000 yuan. these rumors are mostly exaggerated by some second-hand car dealers in douyin live broadcast rooms to attract traffic."

although the actual price reduction of sylphy did not meet market expectations, it can be seen from the current price performance and sales changes that dongfeng nissan and nissan china are facing major challenges.

the sales data released by nissan china in august 2024 further revealed the grim situation in the chinese market. the data showed that dongfeng nissan's sales in that month were 46,479 vehicles, a sharp decline of 28.39% year-on-year. in addition, the light commercial vehicle business (zhengzhou nissan) was not spared, with sales falling 7.25% year-on-year to only 2,725 vehicles. as of the end of august 2024, nissan china's cumulative sales for the year were 435,603 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 9.80%.

faced with this grim situation, nissan president and ceo makoto uchida publicly stated that the rapid rise of chinese automakers and increasingly fierce market competition have made nissan's business in china face unprecedented challenges. uchida pointed out that the needs of chinese consumers are complex and changeable. if nissan continues to use past strategies, it may be difficult to adapt to market changes. therefore, nissan is deepening cooperation with local companies and adjusting its strategy to respond to challenges in a more flexible way. he also revealed that nissan plans to cooperate with local companies todongfeng motorthe groups strengthened collaboration, jointly developed new models, and explored exporting china-made cars to the european market.

zhang xiang, secretary general of the international association for intelligent transportation technology, believes that traditional fuel vehicles still have opportunities in the process of the rapid rise of new energy vehicles, but they must actively transform and not stick to the old ways. he pointed out that some joint venture brands with better performance, such as volkswagen, have launched a number of new energy vehicles in the chinese market, while nissan's investment in this field is relatively lagging, and it still relies on the core technology of fuel vehicles to make profits, which is obviously unsustainable in the fierce market competition.

transformation is difficult to gain market favor

in the face of increasingly fierce competition in china's new energy vehicle market, although dongfeng nissan has expressed its willingness to transform to new energy, its focus is still on the intelligent upgrade of traditional fuel vehicles.

"in the face of market challenges, dongfeng nissan is committed to maintaining integrity and innovation in product transformation, which aims to not only stabilize the sales of fuel vehicles, but also rapidly promote the transformation to new energy. at the same time, the company is accelerating the pace of intelligent upgrades of fuel vehicles, and through cooperation with top technology companies, it will comprehensively improve all aspects such as interior, configuration, chip computing power and software experience. we hope to upgrade from 'same price for oil and electricity' to 'same intelligence for oil and electricity', so that the vehicle's intelligent system and power system can be more closely integrated." said a relevant person in charge of dongfeng nissan.

although dongfeng nissan emphasized its investment in the field of intelligence, reporters found that dongfeng nissan's competitiveness in the field of new energy is obviously insufficient.

zhang xiang pointed out that dongfeng nissan's competitiveness in the field of new energy vehicles is obviously insufficient, and the fundamental reason is that it has not developed a new electric vehicle platform, but has relied on the "oil-to-electric" approach. this approach has led to a large gap between nissan's electric vehicles and china's local new energy vehicles in terms of technical parameters and performance.

dongfeng nissan's new energy vehicles, such asvenucia v dd-i super hybridthe ariya and the nissan ...

lin xianping further pointed out that dongfeng nissan has deficiencies in technology research and development, marketing and market strategy. on the technical level, dongfeng nissan needs to increase r&d investment to improve key technical indicators of new energy vehicles such as endurance, charging speed and intelligence level. at the same time, in terms of marketing strategy, the company needs to strengthen the promotion of new energy vehicles to enhance consumer recognition and acceptance of its products. in addition, dongfeng nissan should enhance its market appeal by launching more differentiated and personalized products.

although dongfeng nissan plans to invest more than 10 billion yuan in the next three years to develop core control, powertrain and platform technologies, and plans to launch seven new energy vehicle models by 2026, these initiatives are still at the planning level and have failed to have a real impact on the current market landscape.

dongfeng nissan's future technological layout, including battery-chassis integration, 800v ultra-fast charging, ultra-integrated electric drive system, large-model cockpit and intelligent chassis, has demonstrated technological prospects, but whether dongfeng nissan can break the market dilemma through these technologies in the short term still faces huge challenges.

zhang xiang believes that if dongfeng nissan wants to make a breakthrough in china's new energy vehicle market, it must make a bolder strategic transformation. he suggested: "nissan needs to formulate a long-term development plan for the chinese market, shift its research and development focus to china, and take advantage of china's resource advantages and strong supply chain system. if it continues to rely on japan's local development system, dongfeng nissan will find it difficult to gain a competitive advantage in the chinese market."

in addition, zhang xiang also stressed that dongfeng nissan must set a clear timetable for the gradual withdrawal of fuel vehicles from the market and gradually replace traditional fuel vehicles with new energy vehicles. he believes: "if dongfeng nissan does not carry out large-scale technological and product innovation and continues to rely on outdated models and technologies, its survival space in the chinese market will become smaller and smaller in the future."