Infiniti 2015 Hangzhou first domestic model will be M series

According to information from people familiar with the matter, Infiniti’s domestic schedule was basically set for 2015. The first model to be launched was the M-Class of its luxury business sedan, while the domestically-made location was greatly upset—Hangzhou, not the media. Guess the flowers and Zhengzhou. This coincides with the argument that the general manager of Infiniti China’s China Business Unit Lu Zhengyu recently put forward the “5-year plan to make Infiniti a first-class luxury brand”.

“We are indeed discussing the plan to produce Infiniti in China, but there is no final timetable.” This is Nissan’s president Carlos Ghosn’s response to the media’s scrutiny on the day the Dongfeng limited release of the medium-term plan. According to the above-mentioned sources, Nissan was originally scheduled to release Infiniti’s domestic news in August, and Renault’s national production rate first leaked the wind to disrupt the news’s rhythm of disclosure. The above news was still not confirmed by official sources before the press release.

The biggest upset of the production area Infiniti's domestically-produced project was the only surprise that the choice of place of origin was not universally estimated Huadu and Zhengzhou. The above source said that tentatively scheduled for Hangzhou.

Looking at Dongfeng’s current production capacity in Hangzhou mainly comes from two parts: one is a joint venture project with Yulon, and the other is Dongfeng Hangzhou Automobile Co., Ltd. (“Dongfeng”), which has gradually faded from people’s perspective.

Dongfeng Yulon's first-phase production capacity at the Hangzhou plant is 120,000 vehicles and 200,000 engines. The subsequent planning will reach a capacity of 240,000 vehicles. Dongfeng Hangzhou Auto is a subsidiary company of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., which produces Dongfeng’s mid- to high-end bus and passenger car chassis. The planned annual production capacity will reach 300,000 vehicles in the future.

Through the equity exchange at the beginning of last year, Dongfeng Hangzhou Auto was incorporated into Dongfeng Yulon as a whole, and the original production base for Dongfeng-Hangzhou Commercial Vehicle was also allocated to the overall capacity of Dongfeng Yulon. This means that in the future, the landing of Infiniti will need to be carried out by Yulon.

If the above information is true, the popular bases such as Huadu and Zhengzhou are likely to be reserved for Renault’s domestic and Kai Chen expansion in the future.

As for how to carry out equity coordination and set up agencies to meet Infiniti's domestic demand, it is reported that the current discussion is based on the model of FAW-Volkswagen and Audi, to establish a special business unit in China, while restructuring the equity ratio. Among them, Nissan will transfer some of its 50% stake in the hands of Infiniti, but the specific number of transfers is still being negotiated.

In fact, Infiniti's domestic production has been secretly deployed since last year.

In July last year, Nissan announced that it had adjusted the original Nissan China Import Vehicle Division to the headquarters of Infiniti China and had greater acceptance of Infiniti's global business unit management. Subsequently, Nissan was the general manager of the business unit after he had hired Lu Zhengyu, who had previously served as Sales Director of Ferrari China. At the same time, Lu Zhengyu directly reports to Saito Chei, vice president of Nissan Motor Co., which is responsible for Infiniti's global business.

In the first five months of this year, Infiniti’s sales growth in China was 132%, which was higher than the average increase of 70.3% in China’s luxury car market over the same period. This means that the pace of domestic production has quietly approached.

In the second half of the year, the M series Nissan hopes that Infiniti will occupy 10% of the global luxury car market. At the same time, when releasing the medium-term plan, it also announced that it will select two overseas production bases to produce Infiniti in the future.

According to the sources mentioned above, a senior executive of the Dongfeng Motor Group recently met with General Manager Lu Yingyu of the Infiniti China Business Headquarters. The result of the negotiations was the first model to lock the M Series. "The M department currently accounts for about 15% of the total sales volume of the entire department, but next will introduce some marketing strategies to fully increase the proportion of the M system." The source said that the M series will start from the second half of this year Including key promotion.

Why didn't you choose the G system or the hot FX system? At present, China sells M models with M25 and M37, priced between 498,000 and 658,000, and FX prices are one grade higher than it, between 789,000 and 1.208 million. He said that the low price threshold of the M-Series was the factor of its selection. "The FX of the first domestic-made models chose such a high price that it was too risky."

In addition, the M-Class is located in an executive-level luxury business sedan. The main competition models are the new BMW 5-Series Li, the Mercedes-Benz extended E-Class, the Audi A6L, and the Volvo S80L. Choosing M-series means that Infiniti will enter the largest share of the domestic luxury car market.