Red flag sedan seeks to shift from official car to street car

As the oldest brand in the history of the Chinese car, the red flag sedan has always been the official image in the eyes of people. With the launch of Hongqi H7, China FAW Group hopes that Hongqi will perform well in both official vehicles and the private market. It will occupy a place in the competition for high-end cars and realize the transition from “government car” to “street car”.

On July 15, 2012, FAW owned the Hongqi H7 sedan with completely independent intellectual property rights and achieved mass production on the line, and subsequently successfully entered the government official car procurement market. On May 30 this year, H7 officially listed and entered the domestic high-end commercial vehicle market. On June 17, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi started using the Hongqi H7 for official vehicles. This car, which is positioned as a "high-level administrative business car," has high hopes for the market.

Zhang Xiaojun, general manager of FAW Car Sales Co., Ltd., told reporters that the Hongqi H7 has sold more than 1,000 vehicles in the official car market, received more than 100 orders in the private market, and has delivered more than 30 vehicles.

Although this number of sales is far less than some well-known foreign car brands, it is of great significance to the revival of the Hongqi brand.

In August 1958, in order to use homemade limousines on the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central Government issued a manufacturing task to FAW and the car produced was officially named the "Red Flag." However, due to high fuel consumption and high costs, the Red Flag car was discontinued in 1981.

Since 2008, FAW has launched the “Red Flag Revival” project to revitalize the Hongqi brand and build Hongqi into the benchmark of China’s own-brand high-end cars. FAW has invested high-quality resources, accumulatively invested more than RMB 5 billion in R&D costs, and developed the L and H series of red flag vehicle products to form a technical strength that can cover C, D, and E-class premium cars.

The newly-launched Hongqi H7 sedan has complete independent intellectual property rights, and it has been independently developed from concept design to engineering design. It is the only high-class sedan product that is independently equipped with an independently designed gasoline engine on the domestic market.

Last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "2012 Catalogue of Selected Vehicles for Official Vehicles of the Party and Government Organs (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)", which is fully tilted toward domestic auto brands. More than 400 models selected for the auto brand are all independent brands, and there are no joint ventures such as Volkswagen, Toyota, Buick, etc. The brand's presence. This is undoubtedly an important development opportunity for Red Flag.

Gao Xudong, deputy director of the Technical Innovation Research Center of Tsinghua University, told reporters that the tilt of the national official car procurement on independent brands will play a positive role in the development of Hongqi, not only including its contribution to sales, but also playing a certain role in the private car market. The role of demonstration will help establish a good brand image.

“But the support of the government alone is not enough. The main problem now is how to let the people recognize the brand.” Gao Xudong said.

Zhang Xiaojun also believes that if the Hongqi sedan is to succeed in the future, the official car market and the private market are all very important. The private market is even more important because after all, the official car market is very limited.

An Tiecheng, general manager of FAW Car Co., Ltd., said: "The red flag is not a matter of a few cars or hundreds of cars, but it is necessary to make Hongqi a competitive product. Our products must compete with us. There are quality advantages and guarantees compared to the opponents."

It is reported that before the Hongqi H7 was put on the market, FAW has invested more than 200 test vehicles and accumulated more than 6.5 million kilometers of test mileage. An Tiecheng said that from the Mohe River, the most northern of China, to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and then to Hainan, the Hongqi H7 is well under various road conditions and environmental tests.

Zhang Xiaojun pointed out that in order to win the market, not only should Hongqi carry out high-end brand image, show its long history and advanced technology, but also strengthen the construction of channels to provide high-quality services to customers. At present, Hongqi has established brand exhibition halls in 9 cities across the country, and has established 10 exclusive service areas in accordance with the service standards for high-end products.

Gao Xudong said that China's auto market is very large, and the diversification of the market has also provided a rare opportunity for the Red Flag. The potential for follow-up development of the Red Flag is huge. "The red flag has a special historical position in China, and at least one generation to two generations is very cherished by its history. There is a complex in it."

Gao Xudong said that Hongqi has already realized that it is necessary to do a good job in technology, branding, quality, and follow-up services to win the market. With a certain technological foundation, it will be relatively easy to continuously perfect it. Although brands need to be nurtured slowly, it can be said that Hongqi has now entered a virtuous circle.

According to the plan, Hongqi will also launch two SUVs, a commercial vehicle and a mid-size concierge passenger car in the next five years, which will continue to satisfy the market demand for high-end red flags.