BYD F brand, Changan Qiyuan, Chery iCAR, Geely Galaxy, BYD Look Up

　　It seems that the era of 'having more children is easy to fight' has arrived again!

　　At present, this new brand is growing like mushrooms after a rain, with almost everyone owning mainstream independent brands, making the once sharp question of "Is there still a shortage of a brand new in the Chinese market?" instantly powerless.

　　If only a few car companies follow the path of multi brand strategy, there may still be an opportunity to find reasons to question the correctness of this strategy. But when everyone coincidentally chooses the same path, the consensus on multi brand strategy seems to need to be re examined.

　　However, whether it's Geely, Great Wall, or even Chery, these brands are actually typical representatives of past multi brand strategies. They have almost all experienced the pain of multi brand strategy, which has to some extent caused resource waste and even hindered the phased development of the enterprise.

　　However, entering the field of new energy, changes in consumer demand and automotive usage scenarios, as well as the cutting and innovation of brand attributes and cognition, have driven a small number of brands to temporary success, undoubtedly once again pushing the multi brand strategy to a new climax.

　　Over the past 130 years of automotive brand history, does the experience of Mercedes Benz and Toyota brand shaping still have reference value in the new era? Have Chinese brands learned the true meaning from the failures of multiple brand strategies in the past and set out again from what experiences and lessons? In the early stages of the development of new energy, new energy brands are classified as independent brands. However, in the future, after the development of automobiles into comprehensive new energy, will car manufacturers' brands continue to move towards regression?

　　The road of multi brand is in full swing, and what will happen in the future? Each company will come up with different results, and no one even knows the answer.

　　The 2.0 Era of Multi brand Strategy

　　Autonomous car companies like to engage in multi brand strategy the most, and the logic behind it is that different brands compete in different segmented markets to form higher sales and scale effects, which are the core elements of competition and survival in the automotive industry. As He Xiaopeng and Li Bin said, the annual sales of 2-3 million vehicles in the future are tickets to the knockout stage, and a single brand is difficult to support such a large sales volume.

　　Taking BYD, which is currently in high demand, as an example, at the beginning of this year, BYD launched a high-end brand called "Look Up", priced at over 800000 yuan, and released two high-end off-road U8 and sports car U9 products. But soon after, BYD announced that it would launch the F brand, positioned in the range of 400000-600000 yuan between Tengshi and Yangwang, mainly competing with luxury brands such as BBA.

　　Chery, Geely, and Changan have been competing on multiple brand strategy tracks for quite some time in the past, but only BYD remained indifferent and focused on building a BYD brand. Even in recent years, based on the demand for sales expansion, only two series have been separated: Dynasty and Ocean.

　　But as BYD began to become the top Chinese brand and car company, its ambition to restrain its multi brand strategy, which had not been launched for many years, began to explode.

　　Chang'an is never willing to show weakness, and after Chang'an Deep Blue has achieved initial results through extended range, it continues to plan a multi brand strategy. Firstly, Changan Deep Blue was independently transformed into a Deep Blue car, and then the OX series was launched, named Changan Qiyuan. The main products are extended range and pure electric models, and the first product, Qiyuan A07, has been unveiled.

　　It is worth mentioning that the official name Qiyuan is a new energy series under the Chang'an brand, but it adopts a brand new logo and logo. If the logo of Geely Galaxy is still a variant of the Geely logo, then the logo of Chang'an Qiyuan is completely unrelated to the V-mark.

　　Let's take a look at Chery, the founder of multi brand strategy. In early April, Chery also released a new electric vehicle brand - iCAR, positioned as the "new force" of Chery Group and also Chery's first new energy electric brand. According to the iCAR brand plan, its consumer group is young people aged 25-35, with a product price range of 150000 to 300000 yuan, and it is expected to achieve a sales scale of 1 million vehicles by 2026.

　　Geely, on the other hand, launched the Geely Galaxy at the end of February, positioned as a plug-in hybrid and pure electric series, and launched seven products in one go, hoping to change the image of the Geely brand. Although it has been repeatedly emphasized that Galaxy is a product line under Geely and the Geely brand has been added, the brand new logo and sales channels seem to be no different from the brand new to the outside world.

　　In addition, there is a leading independent company, Great Wall, which has not followed the trend. Several independent car companies have launched multi brand strategies in the new energy market, which can be seen as a reflection of Great Wall's multi brand strategy. After all, in the past two or three years, Great Wall has also gone further and further on the path of multi brand, and only paused after problems arose.

　　You can take a look at several top independent car companies, each of which is deeply involved in a multi brand strategy, with success and failure, and now most brands are still happy with both. But there are also brands that summarize their experiences and lessons and choose a new sequence between the new brand and the original brand.

　　Looking at mainstream independent car companies, their brands and sequences have reached over 30, which is overwhelming. It cannot be said that these brands and sequences are all unreasonable, at least they have made Chinese brands stand in the current position of half the country in the Chinese market. These more than 30 brands have made great contributions.

　　It is certain that times have changed, and the models and ideas of multi brand strategy are also undergoing fundamental changes. Twenty years ago, domestic brands struggled to succeed on the path of rising prices because the Chinese automotive market was immature, consumer mentality was immature, and technology was not enough to impress consumers. But with the progress of Chinese cars in traditional three major components such as powertrain and chassis, they bravely attack joint venture brands. Of course, it also coincides with the rise of China's China-Chic, the soaring national self-confidence, combined with the rise of the internal momentum of the enterprise, the ingenious product positioning, and the birth of such a new force as LinkedIn.

　　Including Great Wall, which is deeply rooted in the SUV market, although Wei Pai did not establish a foothold in the mid to high-end market, tanks and Great Wall Cannons have also developed independently with the recognition and promotion of Haval's existing SUV foundation and customer base group, becoming objects of competitive learning and imitation in the market.

　　Especially BYD, which has become the market leader, based on its strong brand and market recognition, Tengshi's initial success in the mid to high end market has provided greater confidence and spiritual support for the promotion of BYD's F brand and hope.

　　Obviously, unlike Chery's Ruilin and Weilin, Geely's Emgrand, British, and Global Hawk, new energy and independent brands in the new era have explored a completely different new path of multi brand strategy from the past, which can be called the 2.0 era of multi brand strategy.

　　Finding the right train of thought for a false proposition is also a true proposition

　　Looking at the global automotive market and years of experience in automotive development, multi brand strategy is not a good thing, and even more people believe that multi brand strategy is a false proposition for automotive brands.

　　From the perspective of global giants such as Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, or Toyota, as well as the historical development trajectory of automotive companies, the creation of automotive brands is not achieved overnight. The story of the American market from multiple brands to the final three major automobile groups tells the outside world that when market competition enters a mature stage, there are not many automobile companies and brands that can ultimately survive.

　　Indeed, unlike traditional clothing, food, daily life, and electronic consumer goods, cars are the bulk consumer goods second only to houses, with long purchasing decisions and low consumption frequency. Brand trust has a significant impact on consumer purchases, which means that investment in the brand is a continuous and long-term accumulation process.

　　So the vast majority of experienced automotive groups do not rush to adopt a brand new name. They focus on iteration and inheritance, just like millions of golf and Corolla. These names represent classics and are precious assets of automotive brands.

　　As cars enter a new era, as intelligence and electric power provide more scenarios and experiences for cars, the upgrading of taste and cognition, and the novelty of the world naturally drive brands and consumers, achieving a division between the new and old worlds. Just like many brands launching new cars with a new name, the underlying reason is to let the outside world know that this car is completely different from the previous one and must change consumers' stereotypes of past products.

　　So, with the continuous emergence of new car model names and new car brands, for the rapidly developing Chinese brands and the Chinese market, they do not have the deep brand burden of Mercedes Benz and Toyota. Compared to the latter, which has been invested for over a hundred years, Chinese brands still have many new opportunities and possibilities on their way forward. A group of horse races will eventually have rankings and champions.

　　Therefore, placing a multi brand strategy in the new era seems to require a dialectical approach. It is not a fierce beast in the face of the changing times. Faced with the exploration of multi brand strategies, Chinese brands and car companies have more freedom to expand and expand than the long-standing multinational car groups.

　　However, countless cases and practices have also proven that not all car companies and brands are suitable for multi brand strategy. The failure of Guanzhi and the success of Lingke, the lukewarm and unpopular nature of Xingtu, and the unique brand of Tank's category are enough to illustrate the problem and gap. The lack of one is indispensable in terms of timing, location, and people.

　　And all of this needs to be built on external recognition of the company as a whole. Just like the outside world believes that Geely made Lingke because of the support of Volvo technology, without the progress of Geely 3.0 era, there would be no further upward movement of Lingke; The reason why the Great Wall built tanks is due to years of accumulation of off-road genes. Without the affirmation of many users of the H6 series, there would be no different paths between the Wei brand and tanks; The birth of BYD F and Yangwang would not have received the same attention from consumers if it had not been for years of deep accumulation of new energy technologies such as blade batteries and DM-i hybrid systems.

　　There is also a definition of multiple brands, as well as differentiated settings in terms of positioning, audience, and price among different brands. If 1+1 ≤ 1, it is destined that the multi brand strategy of this enterprise will come to an end. Many times, seeing others succeed or fail is not as profound, and only when one truly experiences the unforgettable pain can one know whether this path can be taken and whether it is suitable to take.

　　So Geely and Changan define the new energy branch in sequence, to some extent, to leave a way for the long-term future. Otherwise, the most realistic question is whether there will be a conflict with Jikron after the comprehensive new energy transformation of Lingke in the future? Will Chang'an Qiyuan bring some food distribution and obstacles to Deep Blue on the new energy track? After a few years of high concentration in the automotive market, brands will inevitably return, leaving behind the most precious parent brand.

　　Coincidentally, the brutal market competition forced them to do everything possible to solve the current survival problems. At this time, multi brand may only be a survival skill.