The "Shanghai" and other old cars have a pessimistic outlook on the road to revitalization

Recently, the 233 batch of "Vehicle Production Enterprises and Products" announcement issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, SAIC Group's Shanghai brand cars and Beijing Automotive Group's Beijing brand cars are impressively listed. The auto market, which has made the situation a bit calm after the year is surging, has once again returned to high-profile domestic traditional brands that once disappeared.

The old-fashioned national sedan was born in Shanghai in 1963. It was produced by the Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Factory. For a long time, the Shanghai-brand car was the symbol of the Chinese sedan industry, as was the Hongqi sedan. At that time, the Hongqi sedan was mainly used as the national leader. Cars, and "Shanghai" achieved planned mass production. In 1991, due to production costs and other reasons, the Shanghai sedan began to stop production and made way for Shanghai Volkswagen, a joint venture company. So far, Shanghai brand cars have already withdrawn from the historical stage for 21 years.

"Shanghai brand car"

Since then, SAIC Motor has launched a new generation of household cars Roewe. At the same time, the industry’s call for the revival of the “Shanghai” brand has never stopped. With the support and attention of the government and the public opinion for independent brands this year, the “Shanghai” brand has ushered in the opportunity for rejuvenation. It is reported that at the Beijing auto show in April this year, SAIC will launch a new generation of Roewe flagship models and adopt the "Shanghai" and "Roewe" dual brand strategy.

In the same announcement, it was also revealed that the "Beijing" brand, a brand with a similar history, was returned. From the first car made in China in 1958 to “Beijing 212” which has been popular in the country for more than 20 years, the history of “Beijing” as a brand has never been interrupted. It is also one of the few auto brands in China that has a history of more than 50 years. Classic brand.

"Beijing 212"

Compared with the return of the Shanghai sedan, Beijing Auto Group’s Beijing brand car is one step closer to the market. In this announcement, there are 3 models of Beijing brand cars. The previously disclosed BC301 models have been renamed as “Beijing Auto E Series” and have been named as Beijing Auto E150 according to the different displacement of 1.5L and 1.3L engines. And E130, and will be officially listed for sale in March this year.

"Beiqi BC301"

The cause of the incident is that SAIC and Beijing Automotive Group have owned their own brands and have matured after years of development. Why should these old national brands be launched?

Ten years after China's accession to the WTO, Chinese auto companies have attracted a period of rapid development. The output has increased from 2 million to 18 million, of which the number of self-owned brands exceeds 10 million, surpassing that of the United States and Japan to become the first in the world. Last year, after the cancellation of the government subsidy policy for autonomous vehicles, the self-owned brands achieved a total sales volume of 6,112,200 units for the full year, a year-on-year decrease of 2.56%.

According to senior automotive analysts, this time to recall national brands is to cater to the needs of independent brands and to promote their own brands. It is also the need of manufacturers to maintain their emotions.

Different brand names in the era are limited. However, the analysis of the status quo and prospects, "return plan" is likely to be the manufacturers wishful thinking. Recalling the glory of the old brand comes at a time when domestic materials are poor and economically backward, so as long as we introduce a car of its own output, the country is full of jubilation. Nowadays, the material for reform and opening up is extremely rich and varied, and people’s ideology and concepts have also changed. Not to mention that many foreign brands each occupy the top of the hill, and China’s own internal regional culture is also very complicated. For example, Beijing brand cars, Guangdong or Shanghai people may not buy it. Not conducive to its promotion in the national market. Moreover, the international mainstream car brands are also rarely named after names, and the rare names Fiat and Butyak are not destined to be bankrupt or disappear.

If manufacturers want to rekindle the classics, to wake up the memory and then evoke people's desire to buy, then it is not practical, after all, the current owner and the brand has been separated from the brilliant period of several generations.

The image project is escorted by policies From the Shanghai brand car that appeared in the announcement, the product information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that the three listed models of the CSA7200, CSA7300, and CSA7240 are the same as those of the Roewe brand model. This means that the Shanghai brand car will carry out relevant transformations on the technology of the Roewe brand. For SAIC Motor, which already owns two independent brands of Roewe and MG, this “replacement” style return is an imperative and wastes market resources.

"Roewe 750"

Another news that the sudden resurrection of the Shanghai brand car has been strongly promoted by the Shanghai municipal government. Shanghai brand new products will be positioned in high-end commercial vehicles and administrative vehicles, but not directly into the market. This practice of boosting the local automobile old brands through government procurement is first of all worthy of recognition, but how long can this “special supply” operation last? If the official market is so big, does it really have to wait until it becomes the "standard" for the national official car to see the prosperity of the "Shanghai Card"?

Saying so much is not to sing the classic Chinese car, but it is deeply loved. It is worried that the launch of the old brand will be treated in the market. Neither car owners nor Chinese people are willing to see it. We all hope that these national brands can be recognized by the market and become famous brands in the automotive industry. However, these should be built on excellent quality, good culture, and suitable sales. Let the nation become the world.