Dongfeng Motor likely to launch premium brand four months later

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Dongfeng Motor is due to launch its all-new premium new energy vehicle brand H at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in April, 2020, according to a media outlet. The new NEV brand’s position seems close to that of FAW’s Hongqi. The new brand is said to sell products through independent sales channels instead, rather than those of its self-owned passenger vehicle arm.

With a history of 50 years, the Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer has achieved cumulative production and sales of more than 40 million vehicles, including over 18 million units under its own brands. The automaker has begun to seek its own way up amid the consumption upgrade and the mega trends of automotive electrification, connectivity, intelligence and sharing.

(Photo source: Dongfeng Motor)

The Wuhan-headquartered company unveiled a new energy concept coupe dubbed e.π at the Beijing automobile exhibition in 2018. The concept model is capable of sporting around 500km of purely electric range and 1000km of plug-in hybrid electric range, and it can accelerate to 100km/h within 4 seconds, which is likely to be the prototype of the company’s mass-produced H-branded model in the future.     

In recent years, the price of some mid-to-high-end automobile products has fallen to less than 200,000 yuan ($28,586). Privately-held automobile companies Geely and Great Wall Motor have created competitive premium brands Lynk & Co and WEY respectively. Changan Automobile, a state-owned automaker as well, is also making plans to launch high-end in-house brand.