The big brother of the automotive circle wants to return to the peak

Author | Wang Xiaojuan

Editor | Chai Xuchen

In recent years, the automotive market seems to be dominated by new forces, which always represent the industry's barometer. However, traditional car manufacturers, after experiencing a decline, have begun to write their own stories of transformation and resurgence, with Dongfeng Motor being one of them.

According to the production and sales report released by Dongfeng Group on January 7, the group's total sales for the entire year reached 2.48 million units, a year-on-year increase of approximately 2.5%. Although this growth rate is not high, it has at least halted the decline and is expected to complete the bottoming out.

Before this rebound in sales, Dongfeng Motor had experienced a continuous decline in sales for seven years. It once reached a peak of 4.27 million units in 2016, second only to SAIC. In the following years, Dongfeng Motor's self-owned brands did not rise, and joint venture brands also faced setbacks, leading to a continuous decline in sales.

Many may still remember the price war initiated by Dongfeng Citroën in March 2022. Since then, Dongfeng Motor's anxiety has become increasingly evident. In the transition to new energy, Dongfeng Motor started later, resulting in setbacks in transformation and difficulty in improving sales.

With declining sales and significant investments in the transition to new energy, 2023 marked the first loss for Dongfeng Group since its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange 18 years ago, with a profit of 10.265 billion in 2022 turning into a loss of 3.996 billion the following year, a direct decrease in net profit of 14 billion within a year.

In the face of this downturn, Dongfeng Motor made a swift leadership change in October 2023, appointing veteran Yang Qing as the chairman of Dongfeng Motor.

In the following year, Dongfeng Motor made efforts in various aspects, especially with significant growth in its self-owned new energy sector, leading to a halt in the decline of sales in 2024, which also means that Dongfeng Group has the hope of returning to profitability.

In the sales structure for 2024, Dongfeng Motor's self-owned brands and new energy vehicle sales achieved good growth.

According to the official forecast data released at the end of the year, it is expected that the total sales of self-owned brands will reach 1.37 million units, a year-on-year increase of 34.3%, accounting for 55% of the group's total sales, an increase of 13 percentage points year-on-year; while the new energy sector is expected to grow even more rapidly, with an estimated total sales of 860,000 new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 70.9%; among them, the sales of self-owned new energy vehicles are expected to reach 810,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 122.5%.

Riding on this trend, Dongfeng Motor has also set a new goal for 2025: to maintain overall sales at 3 million and aim for 3.2 million units. Among them, new energy vehicles will exceed 1 million units, and overseas exports will reach 500,000 units.

To achieve this goal, Dongfeng Motor has also made adjustments in management, shifting its headquarters positioning from strategic control to "operations + coordination," adjusting its formation, and strengthening the operation of its self-owned passenger vehicle business.

Specifically, Dongfeng Motor has made a series of adjustments in areas such as research and development, commercial vehicles, and components, establishing a new energy "4+2" (4 self-owned business units + 2 joint ventures) layout and a "1+n" (R&D headquarters + R&D capabilities of various business units) research and development system In terms of technology, at the end of September last year during the Tech Week, Dongfeng released a series of future plans and officially announced a series of collaborations. Most of these plans and collaborations point towards the current industry's most intense focus on intelligence.

Among them, Dongfeng launched the "New Car, New Technology" Technology Leap 3.0, integrating intelligent driving, smart cockpit, intelligent platform, smart energy, and intelligent manufacturing to achieve "Five Intelligences in One." Additionally, they collaborated with Huawei on the development of a new generation of Tianyuan architecture, which will be equipped in Dongfeng Mengshi and Voyah models by 2025.

Like the industry, Dongfeng is also making extra efforts to expand overseas for more growth. Dongfeng is using Voyah as a lever for its new energy overseas strategy, proposing the "6655" core goal—by 2030, to establish a presence in six continents, enter 60 countries globally, and build a total of 500 sales service outlets, with cumulative overseas sales exceeding 500,000 vehicles.

Since last year, Voyah has begun to showcase or launch some models overseas. For example, on September 13, at the Turin International Motor Show in Italy, the global version of Voyah ZhiYin "Courage" was officially launched, priced at over 50,000 euros (approximately 400,000 RMB).

Moreover, in terms of going overseas, Dongfeng also emphasizes localization. Taking Voyah as an example, the brand has established a local customer operation center in Europe, specifically targeting the European market for dedicated operations.

However, sales must rely on solid models. For instance, with Voyah leading the charge for high-end new energy vehicles under Dongfeng, Voyah's Deputy General Manager Shao Mingfeng stated, "By 2025, the company will launch more than four new or revamped models, aiming to achieve an annual sales target of 200,000 units." They will accelerate layout and innovation in brand, product, technology, channels, service, and overseas expansion.

The industry remains highly competitive, and traditional automakers have awakened from their past stable days, beginning to exhibit the entrepreneurial spirit of yesteryears to seize a position in the industry's future. In the new year, it is worth looking forward to whether Dongfeng Motor can return to 3 million units.

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