Price Drop: Can Venucia Recreate Dongfeng Nissan's Success?

On October 25th, Dongfeng Qichen held a "Qichen Brand Technology Open Day," where they tested the new Dongfeng Qichen VX6 model and its Lu Ban battery under extreme conditions such as being submerged in deep water, passing through fire corridors, battery puncture tests, and scraping the chassis, demonstrating various safety performances.

The newly tested Dongfeng Qichen VX6 was launched 10 days prior, with a price range of 112,900 to 145,900 yuan, a starting price 22,000 yuan lower than the previous Qichen VX6 model. Despite the price reduction, the vehicle's intelligent car system has been enhanced. It is reported that the new Qichen VX6 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip and comes with the Beacon OS 2.0 in-car system.

As the first model of Qichen's pure electric platform, Vita, the significance of the Qichen VX6 for the electrification transformation of Dongfeng Qichen and Dongfeng Nissan is self-evident. In November of the previous year, Qichen launched its first pure electric model, the Qichen VX6. However, the actual sales of the internally anticipated Qichen VX6 have been disappointing. According to Jie Lan Lu data, from January to August 2024, the average monthly sales of the Qichen VX6 were about 820 units; in comparison, the Dongfeng Nissan Qichen Big V DD-i hybrid version, which was launched in May of the previous year, had an average monthly sales figure of around 1043 units during the same period.

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For the Qichen VX6, it is imperative to boost sales, and Qichen has chosen to further lower the price. In April of this year, the Qichen VX6 underwent its first round of revisions, mainly adjusting the exterior colors and prices of the old model, reducing the starting price from 141,900 yuan to 128,900 yuan. In this round of revisions, Qichen's starting price has been further reduced to 112,900 yuan, while also enhancing the intelligent car system.

As a joint venture's independent brand under Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Qichen experienced a period of glory after its inception in 2010. At that time, there were not many players in the domestic car market, and the market was encouraging the launch of Chinese independent brands. With the support of Dongfeng Nissan, Qichen was able to quickly capture the market under the banner of an independent brand. On April 23, 2012, its first model, the Qichen D50, achieved sales of 41,805 units in its first year on the market. From 2013 to 2016, Qichen's annual sales exceeded 100,000 units.

In 2017, as sales increased, Dongfeng Qichen bid farewell to Dongfeng Nissan and became an independent brand, on par with Dongfeng Nissan. After "breaking away" from Nissan, the brand struggled with insufficient influence, and its prices and product strength could not compete with Great Wall and Geely at the time. During the three years after Qichen's departure, its sales continued to decline from 2018 to 2020. In 2020, Dongfeng Qichen's annual terminal sales were 79,000 units, a nearly 44% decrease compared to the peak sales of 143,000 units in 2017.

At the end of 2020, Qichen rejoined the Dongfeng Nissan system, transforming from an independent brand into the second brand under Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company. After Qichen's return, "Dongfeng Nissan will leverage Qichen's flexibility as a 'joint venture's independent brand' to take the lead and try, striving to find Dongfeng Nissan's 'second growth curve,'" said Yamaguchi Takeshi, Vice President of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. and General Manager of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company.

The transformation of China's car market towards new energy has given Dongfeng Nissan a sense of crisis. After Qichen was incorporated into Dongfeng Nissan, the official stance of Dongfeng Nissan regards Qichen as the "pioneer and practitioner of Dongfeng Nissan's electrification and intelligence."

However, Qichen's actions towards electrification have been a few steps behind the sense of crisis. In fact, within two years after Qichen's return, the main focus was on promoting the Qichen Big V, which was still a fuel car, and the sales achievements at that time were mainly created by fuel cars.

Before the launch of the Qichen VX6 in November 2023, the "oil to electricity" model of new energy transformation also attracted criticism for Dongfeng Qichen. From 2019 to 2020, Dongfeng Qichen introduced new energy models such as the Qichen D60EV and Qichen T60EV, but their sales were not satisfactory and could not support the expectations of the brand's transformation. Public information shows that in 2020, the cumulative sales of the Qichen D60EV were 6,622 units, with an average monthly sales figure of about 550 units.On December 30, 2022, the Venucia brand began to announce a comprehensive transformation towards the new energy sector and ceased the development of fuel-powered vehicles. In contrast, BYD officially stopped the production of fuel-powered vehicles in March 2022, with a total annual sales volume of 1.869 million units for the year; in the same year, new force automakers such as NIO, XPeng, and Zero Run all crossed the annual sales threshold of 100,000 units, known as the "life and death line."

Almost a year later, in November 2023, Venucia announced its full entry into the new energy race and launched the Venucia VX6 pure electric model and the Venucia Daxiong hydrogen energy model, clearly defining its commitment to three technological paths: plug-in hybrid, pure electric, and hydrogen energy. At the brand's press conference at that time, Venucia also introduced three major technological brands: the Vita native pure electric platform, Luban battery, and V-Joy intelligent space.

This year marks the fourth year of Venucia's return to Dongfeng Nissan, with self-developed batteries, pure electric platforms, and intelligent cockpit technologies already integrated into their vehicles. The brand's new energy transformation strategy is becoming clearer. At the "Venucia Brand Technology Open Day," Venucia introduced that it is currently adopting a "three vertical and three horizontal" new energy technology route layout, derived from the Dongfeng Nissan Technology Center's layout of plug-in hybrid, pure electric, and hydrogen energy power technology routes, and focusing on intelligent cockpits, intelligent driving, electronic architecture, and software.

However, against the backdrop of joint ventures falling behind, the pressure for Venucia to break through is not small. Currently, the models available for sale on Venucia's official website include five new energy models such as the all-new Venucia VX6 and three fuel models, targeting the market segment of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan. This market is usually the comfort zone for GAC Aion and BYD, and as a major player in ride-hailing services, Venucia needs to face direct competition from the two. According to official data disclosed, some models from Aion and BYD, such as the BYD Yuan Plus and Aion Y, have maintained monthly sales of over 10,000 units since the beginning of this year.

At the 20th-anniversary celebration of Dongfeng Nissan in June 2023, Dongfeng Nissan stated that it would officially commit fully to new energy and recreate a Dongfeng Nissan to challenge the leading joint venture new energy camp in terms of sales volume. From Dongfeng Nissan's official statement, Venucia is the "pioneer" for Dongfeng Nissan's transformation towards new energy. According to the plan, by 2030, Venucia will have the system capability to sell 300,000 units annually and gradually challenge the goal of 500,000 units per year. For the current Dongfeng Venucia, the task ahead remains arduous.