Written by | Zhao Shi
Like suddenly breaking through barriers, Changan Qiyuan's growth momentum this year is particularly strong. From January to May, cumulative sales of Changan Qiyuan exceeded 132,000 units, up 85% year-on-year, with May sales reaching 34,528 units. Against the backdrop of a double-digit year-on-year decline in the domestic new energy market, this performance stands out remarkably.
The new Qiyuan Q05 (hereinafter referred to as Qiyuan Q05) deserves special mention. May sales exceeded 19,300 units, launching a hit mode with sales breaking the 10,000 unit mark for 3 consecutive months—March: Q05 delivered 12,600 units; April: surged to 16,800 units, topping the list of domestic compact pure electric SUV sales.
▲ May 28, New Qiyuan Q05 Launches in Thailand
Not only exploding orders domestically, the Qiyuan Q05 also rose to fame quickly in the Southeast Asian market, Changan Qiyuan's first entry. On May 28, Qiyuan Q05 (NEVO Q05) launched in Thailand, and within just 3 days, orders broke through 3,000 units.
This means Changan's narrative of "anchoring on global mainstream products to conquer overseas markets" has received its first official certification on the Qiyuan brand.
Central Enterprises Going Global, The Real Stature
Don't look at the Thai market as small, it is a realm that Chinese auto companies must compete for!
Thailand is located in the center of Southeast Asia. Relying on its unique port hub advantages, it not only directly radiates the ASEAN market of 600 million people but can also conveniently cover right-hand drive markets such as Australia and the UK.
And Rayong Province, as Thailand's most mature manufacturing base, can be called a "Global Accelerator" tailored for Chinese auto companies. Thailand's largest deep-water port, Laem Chabang Port, is located to its north. From shipping from Rayong factories to goods finally reaching shelves in Australia, the entire process takes about 5-6 weeks if everything goes smoothly.
Interestingly, although the Chinese new energy brands you can think of, almost all chose Thailand as their first stop for going global, the Chinese auto companies that truly took root in Thailand, built factories locally, and officially started production are only 7 companies including BYD, Changan, Great Wall, Chery, etc. In this list, Changan is the only central enterprise-level company.
It is worth noting that unlike private enterprises with flexible mechanisms, Changan, as a central enterprise, requires stricter approval and risk assessment for heavy asset investment and factory building overseas. In other words, private enterprises going global is a market behavior, while Changan going global is a national strategy. Its success or failure directly reflects the competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing in the global industrial chain.
This is the real weight of central enterprises going global!
Top-level strategy also determines that Changan going global is not simply selling cars overseas, but must follow the new model of "base going global, ecosystem going global" which reflects the overall output strength of China's manufacturing industrial chain and has greater long-term value.
Taking the two overseas factories already in production as examples:
Changan Thailand Rayong Factory, initial annual capacity of 100,000 units, local part localization rate over 50%, future capacity will expand to 200,000 units, localization rate will exceed 90%.
Changan Brazil factory officially started production in March this year. First phase planned annual capacity of 90,000 units, total investment 8 billion Reais (about $1.52 billion). Brazil is not only the largest economy in South America but also a strategic anchor radiating the entire continent, and has been promoted to China's second largest export destination. Building a factory here is not only a transfer of capacity but also a systematic output of Chinese manufacturing, technology, supply chain, and services.
Worth noting is, although the Changan Europe factory is not settled yet, from two key signals—Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez specially met Changan Chairman Zhu Rong during his visit to China in April, releasing cooperation sincerity in a high profile, and the schedule of Qiyuan Q05 launching in Europe in the fourth quarter, the time for Changan's official announcement is not far off.
In summary, we can clearly see Changan's going global path: using bases as fulcrums, using ecosystems as links, with Southeast Asia, South America, and Europe narrating in synergy. The intention is clear—what Changan wants is not only to "go out" but also to quickly "go up".
Changan "Core Lineage", Carry the Flag and Set Out
For Changan going global, the key to determining its success or failure is Qiyuan going global.
Some might refute me, Changan has three major new energy brands: Qiyuan, Deepal, Avatr, why emphasize the importance of Qiyuan going global in particular?
The most fundamental reason is just one, Qiyuan is Changan Auto's main brand new energy, its status is equivalent to BYD, Geely Galaxy, it can be simply understood as Changan New Energy's only "core force".
From the perspective of enterprise attributes, Deepal and Avatr both belong to central enterprise mixed-ownership reform pilot enterprises, with external capital and market-oriented shareholders participating behind them. Going global decisions need to consider the balance of interests among multiple parties.
And Qiyuan, from equity to strategy, from brand to product, is completely controlled and led by Changan—its success or failure cannot be explained by any external reason, 100% represents Changan's true capability.
So, Qiyuan going global is not an ordinary overseas market expansion, but represents central enterprises, represents Chinese manufacturing to set standards on the global stage.
In this battle, Qiyuan cannot lose, nor can it afford to lose.
Having clarified the strategic essence of Qiyuan going global, we now look at its specific operational logic:
At the technology level, Qiyuan achieved 100% self-research of core technologies, this point has an essential difference with Avatr which has extremely high "Huawei content", Deepal with high-level assisted driving externally connected to Huawei, and other brands with mixed technology.
At the product level, Qiyuan started developing "global mainstream products" adaptable globally from the product definition stage—not building the car first then fixing and selling abroad, but considering global market needs synchronously at the blueprint stage: left-hand drive and right-hand drive, different charging standards, regulatory certification for each country, localization language and ecosystem services, etc.
The new Qiyuan Q05 is undoubtedly the first successful case under this logic, started deliveries domestically at the beginning of the year, launched in Thailand in May with explosion of orders, entered Uzbekistan in June, entered Central and South American market in August, reached Europe in October—one car, sold to three continents within a year, this is the typical "global mainstream product" global strategy.
At the brand level, Qiyuan's brand logos and model naming overseas are very standardized, for example, Qiyuan Q05 is uniformly called NEVO 05 in Thailand.
Behind this, hides Changan Qiyuan's clear brand design logic: with unified brand image + standardized product naming, conveying a clear signal to overseas markets: NEVO is Changan's new energy, Chinese technology standards are NEVO's global standards.
The deeper significance lies in this replicable, output-able, rootable global brand system, what the world remembers is not a Chinese car, but a Chinese brand.
Final Thoughts
For Chinese brands going global, it is not a choice question, but a must-answer question.
On one hand, the rapidly growing overseas market and the fierce fighting under domestic zero-sum game stock form a sharp contrast. Data shows, from January to April this year, cumulative exports of Chinese new energy vehicles reached 1.38 million units, up 120% year-on-year.
On the other hand, Chinese auto companies, Chinese brands need to test their systematic strength through global competition. Strong technology does not equal strong brand, only brands can cross the cycle.
For Changan Auto, Qiyuan is the world-class brand it strives with all its might to put on the global stage no matter what. This is Changan's mission as a central enterprise, and also Qiyuan's mission as the core lineage of a central enterprise.
At this stage, Chinese people know and choose Qiyuan because of Changan, but with the comprehensive landing of Changan's "base going global, ecosystem going global" strategy, this logic will be completely reversed—in the near future, global users will re-understand Changan because of Qiyuan, because of NEVO as a calling card.
Copyright Statement: This article/video is Xianwai Bang exclusive original manuscript, please do not reprint without authorization
