n In order to imitate the Saifu project of the Toyota 4Runner model, Great Wall Motor, where Wei Dajun is located, recruited troops and set up an automobile research and technology center, which now has more than 100 employees.

Under the vigorous research and development of Great Wall Motors Research and Technology Center, the Saifu project overcame many difficulties and was finally listed as scheduled.

Equipped with the 491QE multi-point EFI 2.3L engine, the four-wheel drive chassis adopts a torsion bar structure, the ground clearance is as high as 230 mm, the frame is thick and the trunk area is large, so that it has won a lot of attention as soon as it was unveiled.

On May 18, Great Wall Motor held a grand launch ceremony in the capital and announced the final price of the Saifu model.

"We looked at the current state of China's car market and found that there is no cheap utility off-road vehicle for consumers to choose from. Therefore, the Saifu model came into being, as the first domestic independent multi-functional CUV model, I believe it will shine in the market. ”

For emerging models such as SUVs, different companies call them differently, and there is no common name for the time being. Therefore, in order to be different, Wei Dajun deliberately used the CUV title that is rarely heard in China.

"The price of the two-wheel drive version of the Saifu CUV is 84,800, and the four-wheel drive version is 89,800!"

It can be said that Saifu's positioning is still very accurate, and it is still aimed at the market of less than 100,000, which is a large proportion of China's consumer market.

The biggest highlight is that the price is 89,800, and you can buy back a car with strong off-road ability, which has attracted the attention of many hard-core off-road people.

Despite the imperfect assembly process, the 491QE engine is stable and reliable, and the Great Wall Saifu CUV grabbed a lot of market share as soon as it was launched, the most obvious of which is to squeeze out the original Shouqi Jeep BJ2020's own land.

For this reason, Great Wall Motors also suffered a slap from Shouqi.

BJ2020 is a model that sells very well as Shouqi Jeep's own car brand, but as soon as the Saifu is launched, the sales volume will fall down, and the circle of playing off-road will soon change to a larger and more practical Saifu model.

In order to safeguard the interests of the region, the Capital Vehicle Management Company suspended the listing of Saifu in the capital on the grounds that the configuration and appearance of Saifu's products did not conform to the registration announcement.

This forced Great Wall Motors to improve the assembly process and create more refined products to be sent to the capital for inspection, which delayed the capital market for nearly half a year, but Saifer's sales in other regions did not receive a similar impact.

Soon, the Saifu CUV replaced the pickup truck and became the main source of profit for Great Wall Motors.

"It seems that the SUV market is quite promising in China, and even the Great Wall's Saifu is so easy to sell, and our Chinese 'Tang' prospects are very exciting. ”

The listing of Great Wall Saifu naturally aroused the attention of Zhonghua Group.

The S1 project, in the consideration of its two designers, was finally named "Don"!

"Chinese culture is most famous for the Tang Dynasty, and I think it's good to call it Tang. ”

George persuaded Zhao Chunlei and decided that S1 would be called the Chinese "Tang".

The production line in Jiangzhou is being renovated and 30,000 units will be reserved for the production of the Zhonghua Tang, which has already been tendered for parts and will be launched in the third quarter.

However, due to the difference in process costs, the price of the Chinese "Tang" should be significantly higher than that of the Saifu, and it will also be higher than that of the Chinese "Qin".

Chery hung the tail mark of "SAIC Chery" to add a lot of advantages to the Fengyun sedan, although suppressed by the second generation of the Chinese "Qin", but Fengyun was still able to maintain monthly sales of about 5,000 units.

Although the Fengyun sedan has brought a lot of profits to Chery, the growth space of the market has seen the ceiling, and it is in urgent need of new models to help.

In 2001, shortly after Chery's R1 sedan project began, they planned a new model layout.

At present, the most profitable cars in the market are the mid-level sedans represented by the Honda Accord and Volkswagen Passat, stimulated by their success, Chery planned to start a new mid-level car journey at that time, hitting the high-end market with a price of 200,000 yuan.

"If you want to make money, you have to look at the mid-level sedan market, and the profit of a mid-level car can be as high as ten small cars!"

The prototype of the Huaxia QQ came from Daewoo Automobile's Matiz sedan, so Chery also set its sights on imitation of Daewoo Automobile's products, a mid-level sedan called Daewoo Magnus (American Baron).

Specially built for the Asian market, this mid-class sedan is 4.7 meters long and has a handsome shape that meets the aesthetics of the Chinese.

A project called the B11 within Chery was quickly established, and they began to plan to develop Chery's mid-class sedan project using the Daewoo Magnus as a simulation object.

Originally, it was hoped that the micro sedan "Rarity" could bring tens of thousands of sales to the company, but due to the impact of General Motors' lawsuit against Huaxia QQ, the micro car model was temporarily forced to be removed from the shelves, and Chery Automobile turned its attention to the mid-level sedan market.

General Motors acquired Daewoo Motors, and the intellectual property rights of Daewoo Magnus were also acquired by it, but Chery has already started the development of mid-level cars with it as an early target.

At that time, Daewoo Automobile had not yet gone bankrupt, and Chery planned to replicate the successful experience of Fengyun Sedan, and introduce the Daewoo Magnus into China after localization, so as to continue to become a new vitality in the field of mid-level cars, and set an annual sales target of 30,000 yuan.

Now halfway through the work, the situation suddenly changed, and General Motors came in, like a tiger guarding its food, and patrolled its prey to avoid theft.

What to do?

If Chery stops here, it will not only waste its initial investment, but also lose the opportunity to rise in the mid-class car.

"I suggest that the B11 continue to be developed, but under the advice of legal experts, we should avoid designs that are easy to cause intellectual property disputes.

The same is true for the R1 Rarity, which needs to avoid the pitfalls of intellectual property rights and resume sales as soon as possible.

Don't you see that the models involved in the Zhonghua Group have been sold, first make money to complete the original accumulation, and then say, when the lawsuit is over, the daylily will be cold!"

Chery CEO Zhan Xiaqiu is worthy of serving in the government for many years and is very courageous, Chery Automobile can't afford to wait now, he instructed to move forward in accordance with the established internal plan.

As a result, the B11 project advanced rapidly, and a mid-class sedan called "Son of the East" landed in Chery Automobile.

On June 6, the Capital Auto Show officially kicked off, and all the car brands entering China participated in it, striving to use this event to expand their brand influence.

However, the stars of the exhibition belong to China's own brands, Great Wall Motor's Saifu CUV, Chery Automobile's mid-level sedan "Oriental Son" and China Motor's SUV Zhonghua "Tang" have become the biggest highlights, and are called the domestic three musketeers by reporters who came to cover the auto show.

One has created the concept of CUV in terms of hardcore off-road, and for the first time a Chinese independent brand has truly entered the field of utility vehicles. Although imitating Toyota's models, Great Wall has made many localized improvements, especially the standard of four-wheel drive off-road vehicles below 100,000 yuan.

The other is that the independent brand has once again hit the mid-level sedan market, following the Brilliance sedan, another mid-level sedan with a length of more than 4.7 meters has been launched. By circumventing domestic patent laws, Chery has transformed the Daewoo Magnus into a look-alike. It's like the front of the car refers to Lexus, the rear refers to Volvo, and the body is still Daewoo. As for the interior, it combines products from Daewoo, Hyundai and Toyota. The wisdom of the Chinese style perfectly solves the litigation of intellectual property rights.

The last one was the first year of the domestic urban SUV, and the concept of SUV appeared for the first time in the Chinese market. Compared with the CUV of the Great Wall Saifu, the SUV name of the Chinese "Tang" is more acceptable.

Compared with the previous two, the achievements of China Automobile are even more amazing.

The "Water Drop Ripple" grille and the chrome trim strip of the front fog lamps in the shape of Jade Ruyi, as well as the design of the concept of broken bridge remnant snow and three pools reflecting the moon in the interior, show strong Chinese style elements and become the automobile design language of Zhonghua Group with independent intellectual property rights!

This is a design boutique that people can't forget when they see it, and China Motor began to take off the plagiarized hats that were worn on their heads one by one by virtue of their birth.

While other Chinese auto brands are still imitating foreign models, Zhonghua Group has quietly taken the lead and begun to move towards independent R&D and design.

"It's incredible that Chinese can design such mature works!"

Soon, the booth of Zhonghua Group became the place with the largest crowd of onlookers at this year's auto show, and many foreign exhibitors came to see this Chinese "Tang" prototype car, which is known as bringing China and international automotive design level closer overnight.

"Compared with the Chung Hwa Group, our Saifer is still a primary school student, and they are already far ahead of us. ”

Wei Dajun of Great Wall Motors said to his subordinates after reading it, every time he compared with Zhonghua Group, he always felt a deep gap.

"After we go back, we will also start the research of the SUV project, and the SUV of China Automobile is one step ahead, and we will soon catch up with them. ”

Zhan Xiaqiu, the CEO of Chery Automobile, decided to go back to develop SUV models after seeing it.

"Is your Zhonghua 'Tang' a concept model, and will it still be so beautiful after mass production?"

Interested visitors asked about the fact that many of the auto shows were concept cars, and after mass production, they were unrecognizable.

"It is basically a mass-produced model, and it will be officially launched in China before the end of the year, and we promise not to disappoint consumers. ”

Knowing that it is a mass-produced type, many consumers who are interested in buying a car hold on to it, just to wait for the official launch of the Chinese "Tang".

Through the Capital Auto Show, the Zhonghua "Tang" began to become one of the most anticipated models of the year by consumers.