Approaching the end of the year, it is time to review and summarize. In 2020, the Chinese auto market has experienced a bleak, but it also ushered in a counterattack rebound in the difficult situation. Starting in April, the automotive industry has resumed work and production from the production side to the sales side, and it took 8 months to catch up with the previous 12-month performance.

       According to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to November, the production and sales of automobiles were 22.372 million and 22.470 million, down 3% and 2.9% year-on-year, respectively. The decline continued to narrow by 1.6% and 1.8% respectively from January to October. %. It is worth mentioning that in November, the sales of Chinese brand passenger vehicles completed 950,000, accounting for 41.4% of the total passenger vehicle sales, and the share increased by 2.1 percentage points over the same period last year.

        Judging from the overall characteristics of the automobile industry in 2020, there is a key word that cannot be ignored, that is, "high-end". From independent brands to automobile groups, high-end brands and high-end products are planned as their own strategies. The high-end brands that set off early have made little progress. Has the era of high-end Chinese cars come?

WEY is in urgent need of explosive models, and the tank 300 may be responsible

          In the camp of high-end self-owned brands, the first ones that went out of the circle were the three major brands of Qoros, WEY and Lynk & Co respectively launched by Chery, Great Wall and Geely. When Shiyishiyi, today's Qoros has invested heavily in performance for many years but failed As expected, Chery has long been sold to Baoneng. However, Great Wall and Geely, under the pressure of their own brands under the pressure of joint venture brands, have worked out a way out for high-end brands.

         The two high-end brands, Lynk & Co and WEY, were born at a similar time and are most often compared. In just four years, the two used to chase after me, but today there is a clear gap.

         According to official statistics from auto companies, in November this year, WEY brand sales were 9,122 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 12.71%; cumulative sales from January to November were 68,469 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 24.47%. In comparison, the Lynk & Co brand sold 22,798 vehicles in November, a year-on-year increase of 61.33%; cumulative sales from January to November were 150,603 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 28.44%.

        Intuitively, the reason why Lynk & Co has a clear advantage over WEY is the launch of a well-positioned "explosive" product. From sedan to SUV, from performance label to coupe SUV positioning, five products have been launched. . The WEY brand has launched three products in the VV series in the past four years. Some models have been selling well for a while, but are now on a downhill road. WEY desperately needs a new product that will ignite the auto market.

         After a long period of brewing and 30 billion yuan investment in research and development, WEY finally ushered in a new product, the tank 300, which is positioned as a smart luxury off-road SUV priced at 175,800-213,800 yuan. Before the launch, the Tank 300 has already revealed some explosive potential. According to the WEY brand, after the first appearance of the Tank 300, the pre-sale order exceeded 10,000 in 20 days.

         From the perspective of Great Wall Motors, there are three “excesses” in the WEY brand tank 300: over-investment, over-development, and over-allocation. The surprise brought by over-exposure is a breakthrough. From the perspective of gender ratio, age car purchase or regional market, the tank 300 is all Obtained results that the WEY brand could not get in the past. At present, 30% of tank 300 orders are female users. The average age of car owners is 30 years old, and orders are concentrated in first- and second-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou.

Entrepreneurship is back, and the track for high-end brands has narrowed

          With the delivery of the tank 300 order, the sales of the WEY brand will usher in a round of growth. Li Ruifeng, senior vice president of Great Wall Motors and CMO of the WEY brand, was full of confidence in the prospects of the Tank 300 in an interview with the media. "Since this car (Tank 300) is built, it is a new engine for the WEY brand and product strength." He said, “With this model and the friendly forces in this field, we believe that this market share will gradually expand. Although it is still far from forming a large-scale urban SUV market, we think this market will become The focus of many major airports has also become a hot spot for many target shopping groups to buy."

        From the perspective of subdivisions, the Tank 300 has created a new subdivision and may create a new path in the Chinese auto market. However, looking at the entire industry, players from all sides are eager to try and prepare for entry. Last week, Lantu Automobile, a high-end brand of Dongfeng Group, released its first mass-produced car. The Zhiji car jointly built by SAIC and Alibaba will be unveiled in January next year. In addition, Changan Automobile will join forces with Huawei and CATL Launching a new high-end brand, seeing the track is becoming crowded.

       The Tank 300 may be a tipping point for WEY, but continued growth still requires different iterations and transformations in terms of products, brand image, technology, etc. Only by continuous improvement can the "2025 WEY brand year set by Great Wall Motors Chairman Wei Jianjun" be realized. The sales volume reached the target of 300,000 vehicles.