Author: Huangshan
“Skyworth does not manufacture cars, but transfers its own trademark (Class 12 transport vehicles) to Kaiao Auto, and in the future, “Skyworth Auto” will officially become a brand under Kaiao Auto.”
The above is the explanation given by Dong Zhaozhi, Executive Vice President of Kaiao Auto Group, when interviewed by the media at the Skyworth Auto brand meeting on April 19th.
Who is Kaiao?
Many people may not be familiar with Kaiao Auto, but its boss is definitely well-known, Huang Hongsheng, the founder of Skyworth Group.
Huang Hongsheng founded Skyworth in 1988, and it is currently one of the largest household appliance manufacturers in the country. In 2011, at the age of 55, Huang Hongsheng started his second venture and entered the new energy vehicle industry by acquiring and reorganizing Nanjing Golden Dragon. Starting with new energy coaches, it became a leading enterprise in this field, and gradually expanded into fields such as logistics vehicles, special-purpose vehicles, trucks, batteries, and parts.
In 2017, Kaiao Auto officially entered the passenger car market, and its brand name was “Tianmei Auto”. Its first pure electric SUV model, the ET5, was launched in 2020.
After the successful transfer of the Skyworth trademark, Kaiao Auto will integrate the Tianmei brand into the Skyworth Auto brand, and in the future, intelligent cars will use the Skyworth Auto brand. Simply put, Tianmei will be renamed Skyworth.
At the press conference, Skyworth Auto has formulated a “2 + 4 + N” product strategy. The BE and CE two pure electric platforms will jointly exert themselves; at least 4 new pure electric vehicle models under the Skyworth Auto brand will be launched from 2020 to 2025, and in the future, it will form a model matrix mainly consisting of pure electric vehicle models, supplemented by hybrid power and other energy power vehicle models to meet different consumer needs.
Skyworth Endorses Kaiao
Although the founders are both Huang Hongsheng, Skyworth Group has developed for 33 years and already owns two listed companies, with a mature and huge system and business, and Kaiao Auto is an independently operated company.
However, precisely because the founders are the same person, in addition to mentioning the transfer of trademarks at the beginning, Skyworth Group and Kaiao Auto will also cooperate in many aspects such as IoT for smart home appliances, smart cabins, offline retail, and charging services, specifically:
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Integrate Skyworth Group’s smart home appliance products with Skyworth Auto to achieve car-home interconnection.
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In the field of smart cabins, integrate Skyworth’s products such as 5G+8K ultra-high-definition display, OLED, massive audiovisual content, and application software.- Both parties work together to create a Car Home O2O experience store, starting with flagship experience stores in the core commercial districts of major cities across the country where customers can buy Skyworth home appliances or cars. At the same time, they will also utilize Skyworth’s national store channels to achieve traffic integration and provide car purchasing experience services.
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Select Skyworth’s offline stores that meet the conditions, install charging stations at the entrance to provide users with exclusive charging services. At the same time, utilize Skyworth’s extensive after-sales network for home appliance installation to provide users with charging station installation and after-sales services.
This reminds people of Huawei’s car selling a few days ago. Nowadays, Skyworth has also taken this road, but the closeness between Skyworth and Kaiwo has a natural advantage compared to Huawei and other brands.
1-3-3-3 Grand Goal
A great ambition may be made of small things.
In the VCR played on the big screen before the event, Huang Hongsheng said: “I will establish great ambitions, climb the peak of my life again, and make Chinese cars benefit the people of the world.”
At the subsequent press conference, Huang Hong-sheng also shouted out a grand goal of “1-3-3-3”, meaning that 10 billion yuan has already been invested in the past, and 30 billion yuan will be invested in the future, with a market value of 300 billion yuan. We will work hard for another 30 years, become one of the top 10 global automobile companies, and cultivate an outstanding entrepreneur team.
At 65 years old, Huang Hong-sheng still exudes his spirit on stage. Starting from going to the countryside to participate in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, he went through taking the college entrance examination to enter South China University of Technology, then started Skyworth, and developed Kaiwo Automotive. He also talked about his original intention to build cars, national brands, and the patriotism of the industry.
In 30 years, Huang Hong-sheng will be 95 years old. It takes courage and confidence to shout out such a grand goal, and at that time, he will surely hope that Skyworth Automotive can be like Skyworth Home Appliances today.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.