[Aika Auto 2019 Guangzhou Auto Show Original]
On November 22nd, Mr. Dongchun Li, Executive Deputy General Manager of EXEED Star Road Marketing Center, was a guest of Aika Automobile during the Guangzhou Auto Show. In response to our doubts about the development speed of Starway, he told us that as a high-end brand of Chery, all the development of Starway is based on the strong strength of Chery Automobile, and the completion of product layout within one year is also due to the technical precipitation of Chery in the past 22 years. The following is a record of the conversation:
Aika car:What kind of information does Starway want to convey to consumers at the Guangzhou Auto Show, and what products or strategic highlights are there?
Dongchun Li:At the Guangzhou Auto Show, Starway brought the entire SUV family’s product portfolio. The first car is the TX series listed at this year’s Shanghai Auto Show, and the second car was pre-sold at the Chengdu Auto Show. LX, which was officially listed on October 8, is also on the booth today. Most importantly, this time we bring the VX concept car. It is expected that the production car will be launched in the first half of next year. This car has made some deepening on the design language of "wisdom and sense aesthetics". The VX concept car has added the element of strength on the basis of the previous design. This is a product that is positioned in a medium and large SUV. The length of the car is close to 5 meters, and the wheelbase has reached more than 2.9 meters. The body is relatively large. From the adjustment of the grille to the design of the side style, the elements of strength are reflected.
At the same time, the label of Starway is intelligent, and we are still ahead in the market in terms of intelligent configuration at present. For example, Lion 3.0 Xiongshi Zhiyun system can include deep face recognition, realize face-brushing payment, voice interaction, and have the function of learning and understanding, which is rare in other cars.
Aika car:Judging from today’s press conference, Starway unveiled the VX concept car, the new version of TXTXL, and the previously listed LX, and launched such a powerful product matrix in just one year after the brand was established, which really highlighted the "Starway Speed". I especially want to know, what supports this star speed?
Dongchun Li:Star Road TXTXL has launched three cars in half a year since it was listed in April, and the speed is really very fast. At the same time, the VX concept car released today is also expected to be mass-produced in the first half of next year, which is equivalent to a year from A-class SUV to medium-sized SUV to medium-sized SUV. The whole layout will be finished in one year.
At the same time, the development speed of Star Channel is not inferior to that of product layout. At present, the number of Xingtu terminal stores, the number of 4S stores has exceeded 100, and the service network has exceeded 200. By the end of next year, the number of our terminal stores will reach 200, which is also a very fast layout speed.
So, what supports this speed? First, Starway is a high-end brand of Chery, and all its development is based on the strong strength of Chery. Second, Chery has been developing for 22 years since 1997, and there is a lot of precipitation in technology research and development. Third, Chery has reached about 8 million users at home and abroad, and has a very rich user base. Fourth, our entire R&D capability, especially in technology and modeling, has spread all over the world. We have a technology R&D center in Silicon Valley, USA, and a modeling R&D center in Europe, including Shanghai and Brazil, which is also the basis for ensuring that Starway stays ahead from design to technology. Fifth, in terms of recruiting talents, we also recruit very professional and leading talents from all over the world in various fields. For example, in terms of design, we recruited the designer of BMW, and many classic models of BMW came from him. So many foundations and the advantages of resource integration ensure that Starway can launch so many products at such a fast speed.
Aika car:At present, in addition to the SUV product matrix, in terms of product strategy, will Starway have more abundant plans in the future?
Dongchun Li:The future star path will definitely reach a state of balanced development. At present, we cut into the SUV market, mainly because the whole SUV has developed rapidly, and the advantages of independent brands in SUV are still relatively large. At present, the passenger car market has a total sales volume of about 20 million vehicles a year, including about 10 million cars, 8.5 million SUVs, and the rest including MPV, new energy and other vehicles, with a total of more than one million vehicles. About 85% of the sales data of cars are joint venture cars, but 50% or slightly higher sales in SUVs are created by independent brands. Therefore, it will be relatively easy to cut in from the SUV. Of course, Starway has a long-term plan for the future, including cars and new energy sources. If there is the latest news, we will share it with our media friends in time.
Aika car:Looking forward to more surprises from Starway, we saw that Starway also brought us a brand-new version of TX/TXL series at the scene. Would you please tell us about these new products?
Dongchun Li:It has been 7 months since TX/TXL was put on the market, and these two cars have their own characteristics. In terms of size, TX length is 4690, TXL is 4.8 meters fast, TX is a little more than 2.7 meters on the wheelbase, and TXL is going to be 2.8 meters. At the same time, there are some differences between the two cars in terms of configuration combination, which gives customers more choices. Today, we released several new versions, which further enriched various configurations on the basis of the original TX and TXL models.
For example, through the customer feedback of TXTXL in the past seven months, we found that the configuration still needs to be optimized. For example, customers have certain requirements for electric trunk, 360 HD images and seat materials. So, this time we all made some adjustments. No matter from design to final configuration combination, including color, it is ultimately customer-centered, and we will match according to this.
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2019 Guangzhou Auto Show: EXEED Starway VX concept car released