Independent car brands strive to get rid of the cottage

With the fierce competition and the improvement of its own strength, autonomous car brands have shown increasing emphasis on design and R&D. The joining of overseas designers will help independent car companies bid farewell to “imitation era”, but whether they can really develop new vehicles approved by Chinese consumers still deserves attention.

Unexpected change

At the Shanghai Auto Show held in April this year, Chinese and foreign auto brands brought in thousands of new cars, making people dazzled. Many attentive visitors have discovered that the new car design of its own brand has been greatly improved, and the fashion is not only completely out of sight of the shadow of foreign brand products.

For independent brands, this is undoubtedly a major change. In the past, self-owned brands lacked experience in designing and developing new vehicles. The development of new vehicles is often the selection of the most pleasing peer products in foreign brands, and the design of their own products based on the dissection of the latter.

It is conceivable that based on this "reverse development" of the product of course it is difficult to get rid of the shadow of the imitated models. At the same time, the appearance of many new cars that were able to escape the imitation of traces marks a new start for Chinese manufacturers, from "reverse development" to "positive development." “The era when China’s big brothers imitated foreign cars has become a thing of the past.” There are foreign media evaluations.

How can the design and development of independent brands be upgraded so quickly? The answer is not complicated: There is not a big leap in the design level of independent brands, but these new cars are almost all from the hands of mature European designers.

Joining the competition

Last week, the former Mercedes-Benz designer Peter Arcadipi joined Beijing Automotive Group and was named director of design, which triggered widespread concern in the industry. In fact, in recent years, the main car companies have been racing to “knock out” overseas famous designers. From Chery, Geely, Brilliance, Great Wall, JAC, to Qoros, the mainstream independent brands have almost tried, and the potential opportunities and salary of the independent brands are high. It also attracts more and more designers to join.

Prior to the “scouring” of Peter Arcadipan, Beiqi had also scooped up Ferrari’s original designer Fiola Wandi to join Beijing Automotive as the chief designer of Beiqi’s stock last year.

In the same way, Chery also welcomed GM designer Jam esH ope and Porsche former designer H akan Saracoglu as foreign designers in 2012; Brilliance also employed D imitri V, an Italian car designer Pininfarina company designer. Icedm ini served as design director; former chief designer of Volvo, P eterH orbury joined Zhejiang Geely Group as senior vice president, in charge of design work; former BMW Group M IN I design director G ertV olkerH ildebrand, is now the new brand Guanzhi car design team A member of Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. also signed the former Mercedes-Benz designer A ndreas Deufel as the head of the design department.

Controversy

“China is already mature and is gradually developing its own design language,” said Gert Volker Hildebrand, a former M IN I design director. This is an important reason for him to join Kuan Zhi.

The designer Haka Na Saracoglu, who Chery had hired from Porsche, said that the company is repositioning itself and will base itself on independent design and brand value in the future. "Chery is not just the QQ model. My team and I will change people's understanding of Chery," said HakkanSaracoglu. This will be what he wants to do.

“The overwhelming majority of Chinese consumers tend to choose cars that have an international sense of design and appearance when buying cars, especially those that are expensive,” said Peter Arcadipan, a former Mercedes-Benz designer who joined Beiqi. . He will lead BAIC's R&D team to develop a series of world-class products for BAIC and compete with famous brands such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Overseas designers join professional auto companies with professional experience and are, without exception, ambitious. The reason why independent brands are willing to spend a lot of money on them is obviously optimistic about the prospect of cooperation. Bing Yumin, chairman of Brilliance Automotive Group, said that the reason why they use international talent is because they can bring about changes immediately, and relying on independent development is too slow.

However, there are also different views on hiring foreign designers. BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu repeatedly stated that the Chinese people like what kind of car, of course, the Chinese designers know best. BYD has been adhering to independent development for many years. From the “Qin” debuted at the Shanghai Auto Show, its design progress can be seen.