Roomy: Does RisingAuto Auto Have a Reason to Exist?

As R Auto announces its renaming as RisingAuto Auto, the new brand that has been forgotten by the market is once again mentioned. It is a new brand, born and independent for just over a year.

Despite being viewed as a high-end brand of SAIC passenger cars, it has not had a smooth ride during this year-plus of time. Currently, its two models for sale are not entirely its own, but rather obtained from Roewe.

In fact, R Auto is very contradictory. On the one hand, it hoists the banner of independence, but on the other hand, Roewe’s imprint is too heavy, making the brand’s independence seem somewhat improper. Yang Xiaodong, the general manager of SAIC passenger cars and R Auto’s chief co-creation partner, had to make a decision since the brand and sales were not improving.

He moved R Auto from the Anting base of SAIC passenger cars to the Automobile Innovation Harbor across the street. At the time, Yang Xiaodong gave R Auto the four big characters, “racing to the death.” It meant that one must first destroy before building anew.

Just as R Auto was about to drive away, it unfortunately encountered Zhi Ji’s rapid emergence and encountered resistance, so it was given the name “chicken ribs.” Even now, despite changing its name, it cannot escape the question: “Does it have a reason to exist?”

“A breakout battle, a transformation battle”

In the movie “No Goin Back,” it says, “We understand the truth, but still can’t live a good life.” As a veteran of SAIC, Yang Xiaodong also understands this. Nevertheless, sometimes there is no way.

With no grain left in one’s hand, especially in this era of surging forward, R Auto’s situation is even more awkward than imagined. However, time and the market are bluntly cruel, and they will not wait for you to be prepared, stocking up on grain before erecting high walls.

Using the title of the recently released movie “007: No Time to Die” as a reference to R Auto, it can also be said that it has no time to die. Therefore, at the internal meeting at the beginning of this year, Yang Xiaodong was more anxious than ever, stating that R Auto must win two battles.

“A breakout battle, a transformation battle.”

“When the traditional automotive industry has reached its most critical moment, all strategic decisions need to be accelerated.” When Yang Xiaodong made this statement, he only had two car models obtained from Roewe: the flagship sedan ER6 and the pure electric SUV model Marvel X.

Regarding the two battles he mentioned, transformation is well understood and discussed by all. In terms of breakout, where does one breakout and for whom does one breakout?

According to those from AutocarMax, the first target for the breakout is to remove the Roewe mark. Or, it could be said that Yang Xiaodong must remove the shadow left by Wang Xiaoqiu at SAIC passenger cars and give R Auto a new label.# “R” Brand Takes the Lead in the Transformation of SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicles

This is a military order set by Yang Xiaodong. As an independent brand, “R” car will work together with Roewe and MG to support the overall transformation of SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicles.

As a highly anticipated “high-end brand,” “R” car is regarded as the pioneer of the transformation. At one time, Dongfeng’s Aeolus, GAC’s Aion, and SAIC’s “R” car were seen as the “national team” of traditional automakers’ transformation, ready to confront emerging new vehicle manufacturers head-on.

However, from the chips they hold, “R” car actually does not have the confidence of Aeolus and Aion, which received strong support from the group. The birth of “R” car was a result of SAIC’s creation of a new brand in a situation where they were unsure of the future, mainly because Roewe’s high-endization failed.

In 2018, Roewe launched the luxury electric SUV model Marvel X, attempting to once again establish a high-end brand based on high-end products. The Marvel X, which starts at 260,000 yuan, was even claimed to be another luxury car choice besides the German Big Three. But in the end, the results were not surprising. Due to the lack of product and brand power, it fell into a sales predicament and even experienced a monthly sales of less than 10 units. Carrying the dream of SAIC’s new energy high-endization, Roewe MARVEL X’s defeat meant that the high-end dream had encountered a low point.

At the same time, the popularity of Changan’s high-end car series UNIT also gave SAIC some food for thought. Pursuing high-end brand through high-end car series was a choice. Therefore, under Roewe, there is now “R” brand.

At that time, some comments believed that “SAIC did not think it over when creating a new brand in addition to the existing Roewe and MG brands.”

These past events may not be distant, but for “R” car, it is like a shackle that cannot be torn off from Roewe’s shadow.

For Yang Xiaodong, the breakout battle also has another meaning, which is to find the posture that a new brand should have beyond the tactics left by Wang Xiaoqiu and abandoning the original mode.

2018 can be said to be the highlights of SAIC’s passenger vehicle sales, with a total sales of 700,000 units throughout the year. At this time, no one expected that in the following period, MG and Roewe, which were so successful and built high-rise buildings too quickly, had buried the seeds of defeat in the fierce market competition.

Wang Xiaoqiu’s shocking words during the launch of Roewe i5 have already indicated some foreshadowing. “If we cannot achieve the goal, at the end of the year, everyone will be laid off, not a single one left!” This goal was to find ways to achieve sales of 750,000 units and ultimately exceed 700,000 units.To ensure “quantity assurance,” SAIC passenger cars have put all their cards on the table, especially the Roewe brand. Their high-end strategy has failed and hot-selling models like the RX5 have declined. Without the support of core technological expertise, risks have become apparent.

The turning point came in July 2019, when Wang Xiaoqiu, born in 1964, rose to the position of CEO of SAIC Group. Yang Xiaodong, born in 1970, took over as CEO of SAIC Passenger Cars, succeeding Wang Xiaoqiu.

With a daunting situation and goals ahead, Yang Xiaodong found it difficult not to keep up, but even after mastering SAIC Passenger Cars for a year, he was unable to completely break away from the existing framework. Riding on past achievements, R Automobiles, established in May 2020 as the “new starting point for SAIC’s electrification road,” faces predicaments.

This year, SAIC Passenger Cars lowered its sales target for R Automobiles from 30,000 to 20,000 units. Although the vehicle has been on the market for more than a year, it cannot be considered a complete failure in the long run, but rather fell far short of expectations.

This breakout battle is not easy to fight. Failing to win this breakout battle means there is no way to talk about “transformation”.

However, the breakout battle has not yet begun, and IM emerged. On January 13th of this year, the IM brand was launched, with Wang Xiaoqiu in charge.

With new power to carry the high-end banner, R Automobiles became somewhat embarrassed.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Perhaps, the fate of the R Automobile store located in Beijing’s Raffles City, which closed its doors, awakened SAIC’s thinking about how to rebuild R Automobile. Perhaps, other automakers’ transformation of high-end brand names also gave SAIC some inspiration. Alternatively, the emergence of IM made the existence of R Automobile more awkward, forcing it to rethink its way of survival.

After one year of independence, SAIC Group began to rethink the R Automobile brand.

On October 30th, SAIC Group announced that it would invest in and establish RisingAuto Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. and split R Automobile from SAIC Group to operate and produce vehicles under RisingAuto Automotive. Wu Bing, CEO of Xiangdao Travel, will become CEO of RisingAuto Automotive.

As expected, Yang Xiaodong will join the board of directors of RisingAuto Automotive, much like Wang Xiaoqiu in IM.

It seems to be an unspoken rule in mentality that changing the brand logo and name signifies a new start. Renaming itself “RisingAuto Automotive” also signifies that R Automobile is attempting to restart.

Some people say that RisingAuto Automotive, which is supported by the “national team,” missed the best development period, while others say that RisingAuto Automotive’s independent operation is an opportunity for Yang Xiaodong to break the brand’s background of the “post-Wang Xiaoqiu era.”

In a rapidly changing era, no one can continue to walk into the future with the marks of the past.Just like the time when Mulally saved Ford by cutting off all brands and only leaving “One Ford,” which deprived Ford of viable assets for its transition in the following years. Carlos Ghosn, who was once acclaimed as the best automotive CEO worldwide after 2000, single-handedly pulled Nissan out of the quagmire of losses but left a significant hole in the era of electrification.

Future generations cannot rest on the laurels of their forebears.

Feeyan is operated independently and is similar to Geely’s ultimate brand for realizing independent operations and being responsible for profits and losses. However, when it comes to group high-end brands, SAIC Group’s IM Automobile usually comes to mind.

After SAIC separated R Automobile as a new energy sub-brand, it teamed up with Alibaba and local governments to create a brand new new energy sub-brand, IM Automobile, also responsible for independent operations and profits and losses.

“IM and Feeyan can be seen as a competition between Wang Xiaoqiu and Yang Xiaodong,” said a seasoned industry media insider. Although Feeyan Auto has to take on the mission of breaking through the high-end electric and intelligent new track like IM, they’re both quite similar in the SAIC Group’s structure.

“R Automobile and IM Automobile have emerged successively in the past year and a half, forming the core of SAIC’s independent and new energy transformation in the polar regions.” Also, based on their orientation, IM positions itself as “high-end,” while Feeyan is “mid-high end.”

A slight difference in expression can make a big difference.

Over the years, looking at the path Roewe has taken, you can see that SAIC Passenger Cars has tried to emulate Volkswagen’s seamless layout of various market segments in building a brand. However, it’s not something that every automaker can achieve to clearly differentiate their car model prices on the market.

So, concerns haven’t dissipated since the birth of IM. Whether it’s caused by the awkward existence of Feeyan Auto or SAIC pushing two new energy sub-brands at the same time, is it necessary?

SAIC Group has also attempted to provide more specific positioning. IM is an intelligent pure electric brand, while Feeyan is a smart electric brand. The key words for the positioning of the two brands are “user-oriented, data-driven, technology company.”

In other words, IM only makes pure electric cars, like Tesla and NIO, while Feeyan Auto will follow a path similar to the Voyah brand and consider some range-extending and plug-in hybrid models. How to handle the relationship between IM and Feeyan Auto will test the wisdom of Wang Xiaoqiu and Yang Xiaodong.Yang Xiaodong once said that “IM Auto is a brand jointly promoted by SAIC Motor’s partners, while SAIC itself needs to take off with ‘two wings’, because one wing can’t fly, and only two wings can fly.” The other wing is Flyin Auto.

However, IM Auto, defined as a “new user-oriented automotive technology company,” has just started and has not yet reached maturity. According to the plan, the first intelligent pure electric sedan, L7, will be launched at the end of the year and delivered in 2022. In order to ensure that the first model hits the target, greater resources need to be allocated.

It is reported that Flyin Auto in the initial stage will still rely more on the research and development, manufacturing, and service resources of SAIC Group and will be produced by the passenger car company. Avoiding dispersal of efforts by digging multiple wells, perhaps Flyin Auto still cannot obtain sufficient resources before IM Auto is delivered.

To do things that Tesla cannot do?

Self-revolution is always more difficult.

“The traditional car market is fighting a breakout battle, the decisive point is product plus cost-effectiveness, and the goal is to expand the base. The new energy vehicle market needs to fight a transformation war, the decisive point is software plus user experience, and the goal is digital transformation.”

Yang Xiaodong said that intelligence will become an important label for Flyin Auto. However, the large pattern established by SAIC Group in fuel vehicles will be a double-edged sword, and the past glory often becomes the biggest obstacle to transformation.

This opportunity for Flyin Auto is also only once, and it is important to be prepared for a fight to the death.

In addition, since its independence, more than a year of brand building has been lackluster, and Flyin Auto has proposed many concepts, such as “technology to realize imagination,” but obviously, the stark reality has not fulfilled these not very plump imaginations.

However, at the “R Brand Co-creation Ecology Conference” held on March 18th, Yang Xiaodong once again emphasized, “Innovation must be full of uncertainty and risk, but technology must lead the imagination of everyone.”

Compared with the past, Yang Xiaodong’s tone is more firm. This is due to the release of the new technology brand “R-TECH High Energy Intelligent Body,” which covers many achievements such as intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, and three-electric technology, which gave him some confidence in doing a good job of Flyin Auto.

Under this technology brand, the new car ES33 is highly anticipated, and the intelligence label far exceeds the two models currently on sale.

The model adopts the Luminar LiDAR solution, is equipped with the Continental PREMIUM 4D imaging radar, and will also be the first to apply the NVIDIA DRIVE AGXOrin chip. It is expected to be officially mass-produced and launched in the second half of 2022.

However, this intelligent solution is not ahead of its time.## L3 Autonomous Driving, LiDAR, and Computing Chips
In the current era of intelligent electric vehicles, as automakers are piling up different chips and trying to break through the barrier, every company is vying for the rule-making power of the new era players.

However, self-revolution and the creation of technological advantages are not easy feats.

According to its plans, Flyvee Motors mainly targets the market between 150,000 and 300,000 yuan, which can be described as a “battleground”. Meanwhile, XPeng Motors is able to accommodate this price range well, and is striving to occupy more technological high points through mass production.

Flyvee faces a situation similar to that of NIO when it first entered the market. However, Flyvee Motors is facing difficulties such as a weak brand reputation, a small product line, and a shallow user base.

Furthermore, IMaoni focuses on the high-end pure electric market above 300,000 yuan, a market where NIO and Ideal have already laid the groundwork and surpassed the threshold of 100,000 units. Therefore, the difficulty of IMaoni’s establishment cannot be underestimated compared with Flyvee.

Although SAIC emphasizes that IMaoni and R-Automobile will not overlap, there are indeed some technical overlaps between R-TECH Energy Intelligent System and IMaoni, such as NVIDIA Orin computing chips, multi-perception fusion solutions, SOA software architecture, and user co-creation.

Survival is only in frontline operation. If one wants to firmly establish their position in the market, ES33 is crucial. With technological advancements such as intelligent driving, it may approach the price range where IMaoni is positioned.

However, it is clear that Flyvee Motors has not thought about competing with IMaoni, as it has chosen Apple as its benchmark. Yang Xiaodong once said, “We want to do what Tesla can’t do, but what Apple can do.” If Musk sees this, he would undoubtedly ask, “What can’t I do?”

Regardless of the outcome, Flyvee Motors, after its name change, is already prepared to “run for their lives.”

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.