Changan Automobile recently announced at the Beijing Auto Show that its research and development centers in Beijing, in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, and in Jiangxi province are now up and running, signifying that Hafei and Changhe, two vehicle brands which Changan acquired from Aviation Industry Corp of China, have been incorporated into the automaker’s R&D system.
With the completion of this project, Changan has expanded its presence into seven regions across three countries as the automaker previously had set up four R&D centers, in Chongqing and Shanghai, China as well as in Europe and Japan..
Changan Automobile president Xu Liuping says that the automaker has developed an integration strategy, and has deployed the strategy as part of its capacity layout in Hafei and Changhe. Xu added that the integration strategy will serve to bolster the market positioning of the three brands.
Changan Automobile recorded sales of 728,000 complete vehicles during the first quarter of this year, up 75 percent from a year before. Operating revenue increased 82 percent year on year to $5.88 billion, with market share up 2.1 percentage points to 15.8 percent, ranking the carmaker second within China’s domestic automotive sector. For the quarter, Hafei and Changhe registered growth rates of 31 percent and 67 percent, respectively.
Xu states that Changan’s R&D spending accounts for 4.5 percent of its annual sales revenue. The establishment of the global R&D system provides a solid foundation for the automaker to grow its proprietary brands, especially in the new energy sector. The automaker plans to produce 100,000 new energy vehicles by 2012, and expects the figure to reach 300,000 in 2015.
Furthermore, Changan is on track to expand their partnership with Ford and expand the scope of their joint venture project in China. Both sides have agreed to speed up activities under their partnership in the field of new energy vehicles both in China and in other markets around the world, yet details of the arrangement are still under discussion. As for the joint project between Changan and PSA, Xu said that negotiations are still in process, however no details were disclosed.
