Author | Chai Xuchen Editor | Zhou Zhiyu Faced with the trend of new energy electrification and the loss of market share under price wars, joint venture car companies have been "Renovating" their famous cars in an attempt to mount a strong counterattack. On May 30, SAIC Volkswagen's Touareg L Pro was launched. The car, which is said to be "the smartest gasoline car", had been preheated for nearly two months prior to its launch. The launch invited representatives from DJI Car and Tencent Travel, as well as the person in charge of iFLYTEK, all of whom attended in person to demonstrate the strength of its smart driving and smart cabin. As a "meritorious model" of SAIC Volkswagen, Touareg has been synonymous with Volkswagen SUVs for the past 15 years and was once the best-selling joint venture SUV. With a monthly sales volume of nearly 20,000 units for a long time, it occupies a 20% share of SAIC Volkswagen. SAIC Volkswagen hopes that the new Touareg will become a disruptor in the current market, from gasoline car intelligence to a stable price system with value-added buyback policy. In the view of Yu Jingmin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of SAIC Volkswagen, new energy vehicles still have range anxiety and gasoline cars have an advantage that needs no explanation, but the biggest difference between them and electric vehicles lies mainly in their appearance and intelligence. After fulfilling the core needs of contemporary consumers, this once "famous car" seems to be reborn. Thus, from DJI's advanced intelligent driving solution to iFLYTEK's smart cabin voice assistant, this 200,000 yuan-level SUV brings together the strengths of various parties, aiming to break through the industry's perception that gasoline cars are less intelligent than electric vehicles. The launch of the new Touareg marks the beginning of SAIC Volkswagen's counterattack. In a post-event interview, Yu Jingmin mentioned several times that due to external cooperation and the accumulation of joint venture partners, SAIC Volkswagen's technology center is actually ahead of many independent brands, but unfortunately the rhythm is too slow. The company will now accelerate its efforts to catch up and even surpass in electric, hybrid or gasoline cars. Yu Jingmin revealed to Wall Street News that the new Touareg is the first gasoline car product in the Pro series, which is focused on intelligence, and that the Passat and Touareg Pro versions will also be introduced within the year. While polishing its technology, it is also preparing for the intelligence of its A-class cars. A counteroffensive war ignited by a gasoline fueled chariot seems to be brewing rapidly. But to be fair, SAIC Volkswagen's intelligence still lags far behind new forces such as Huawei, Xiaopeng, and Ideal. At the same time, in the current context where BBA is crazy about price cuts and the BMW electric car at over 180,000 yuan is setting a new industry low price, the 236,800 yuan Touareg L Pro seems somewhat out of step and the counterattack is difficult to achieve. In response to the challenge, SAIC Volkswagen has given a three-year 20% discount buyback plan. Users no longer need to worry about the fluctuation of vehicle purchase costs and second-hand car prices. SAIC Volkswagen locks in the difference between the purchase and final selling prices of users' vehicles, in a move to crack the price war. This also buys precious time for SAIC Volkswagen to speed up product and intelligence catch-up. This is the backdrop of the efforts to win back the former "king" of the Chinese car market.

In today's weather is good. Today's weather is good.

As the domestic new energy competition enters the elimination round, a latecomer in the "new force" is still fighting to get on the table.

On the evening of July 17, the eight-year-old Volkswagen Anhui finally launched its first model- ID.UNYX (With the public). Although it is also a pure electric ID. family of Volkswagen, this new A-level SUV shows a different style from the models of Volkswagen North and South (FAW -Volkswagen, SAIC-Volkswagen).

It became the first model to use the golden Volkswagen logo, and the body was decorated with gold in many places, which is unique in Volkswagen’s global product line. In terms of styling, Volkswagen borrowed design inspiration from the Tavascan of its performance brand Cupra and gave it a coupe style. Intelligence was also upgraded, with the help of iFLYTEK and other "foreign aid", with a new interactive interface and standard L2-level intelligent driving system.

With the halo effect, ID. With the public has become the Volkswagen ID family model with the highest configuration and the best localization adaptation. With its birth, Volkswagen wants to completely open up the electric vehicle market, integrate into the Chinese market, and join hands with new forces.

However, the market has doubts about it being "out of sync."

Priced at 209,900-249,900 yuan, ID. With the public is the most expensive model on Volkswagen's MEB platform, even higher than the ID.6 of FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen. Compared with competing products such as Tesla Model Y, Xiaopeng G6, Zhiji LS6, JiKe 001, and BYD Tang EV, the advantages of ID. With the public are mainly reflected in design and the label of a "purebred" Volkswagen, while electric motor power, energy supplementation speed, and intelligent configuration are difficult to compete with domestic cars in the same price range.

And Volkswagen Anhui's channel deployment is still in progress.

To highlight brand independence, Volkswagen Anhui chose to build a sales network from scratch. The first batch of more than 40 stores will be built in 20 cities, and it will gradually increase to 70 cities from next year. In comparison, Xiaomi Auto has entered 29 cities and opened 59 stores at the beginning of its listing, and plans to cover 50 and 86 cities with sales stores and service outlets respectively by the end of this year.

This is mainly because Volkswagen Anhui currently has few models and still needs time to sprint at full speed. According to the plan, the four A-level pure electric models following ID. With the public, and the two B-level models collaborated with Xiaopeng will be introduced to the market in 2026.

"What is crucial for Volkswagen Anhui at the moment is not how many sales will be achieved by 2024, but to establish the brand and create the category." said Stefan Mecha, CEO of Volkswagen Brands China and Sales Director of Volkswagen China.

Because, Volkswagen, which retreats for advances, urgently needs to reshape itself in China.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Volkswagen's entry into China. Today, Volkswagen North and South are still in the top tier of the market, but they still cannot escape the pressure of fluctuation in size. Under the impact of new energy and intelligence, even Volkswagen's ID family, which is the fastest-moving and highest-selling pure electric brand among joint ventures, cannot offset the shrinking of its own oil vehicle basic market.

According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the retail sales of FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen in the first half of the year decreased by 8% and 4.1% year-on-year, respectively.

To stabilize the situation, Volkswagen North and South have launched the "oil-electricity-intelligence" strategy to make up for the shortcomings of intelligence and stabilize the share of fuel vehicles. At the same time, the pure electric models are continuously offering discounts to maintain competitiveness in rapidly changing markets. However, under the trend of domestic brands and new energy penetration both exceeding 50%, this is ultimately a temporary expedient measure.

In Volkswagen's view, the newly established Volkswagen Anhui is exploring the way for the two joint ventures to turn around, while reshaping the brand image that has been eroded by price wars.

In 2016, the Volkswagen Group signed a contract with JAC to establish a new energy vehicle joint venture, becoming Volkswagen's third Chinese joint venture. At that time, Tesla Model 3 had not yet gone offline, Xiaopeng was still in its infancy, and the MEB platform had not been launched yet. Volkswagen had already laid the groundwork for heavy investment in the new energy race.

Subsequently, the Volkswagen Group increased its capital and expanded its shares, took a 75% stake in this company, obtained all its management and operational rights, and renamed it Volkswagen (Anhui). Compared with Volkswagen North and South, Volkswagen Anhui has a higher inclusion rate, and its orientation is completely geared towards the Chinese market, focusing on localized research and development. It is regarded by the industry as Volkswagen Group's "pro-son" in China and also Volkswagen's own "new force of car-building."

And Volkswagen continues to deepen its integration into the Chinese auto industry ecosystem.

Volkswagen Technology, which was established by Volkswagen with an investment of 1 billion euros in Anhui, is the largest R&D center outside Wolfsburg headquarters and the only R&D center dedicated to intelligent connected vehicles. Its main task is to develop customized models for the Chinese market and compress the development cycle and costs of new products by 30%, to achieve the ability to compete side by side with Chinese local automakers.

Apart from local research and development, Volkswagen Group has also established digitized sales services and parts companies to penetrate the domestic supply chain. It has cooperated with Xiaopeng, Horizon Robotics, and Gotion High-Tech, the first two focusing on smart hardware and software, while the latter concentrates on cell supply.

Product research and development, market positioning, channel innovation, and localization of the supply chain are all starting from scratch. Volkswagen Anhui is the new anchor point of Volkswagen Group in the Chinese market.

If this path succeeds, Volkswagen Anhui's model is likely to be replicated by North and South Volkswagen, and the automotive industry giant may welcome a second spring in the Chinese market, even contributing back its experience to the global market.

According to Volkswagen Group's plan, it intends to launch more than 30 pure electric models in the Chinese market by 2030. It will sound the charge horn with this plan.

Starting from now, Volkswagen Anhui and the ID. platforms have two years to research and develop the platform and validate the market. However, under the situation where the pattern is close to solidification, this will also be Volkswagen's last opportunity to achieve a complete counter-attack and leap forward again.

This "new force" with the heavy responsibility of brand revival must fight to the death.