Beijing, May 10, 2024 (reporter, Jiang Peng) On April 16, 2024, Lantu Automobile held a brand launch in Italy, bringing 100 new cars to be sold out, but more important than the product’s popularity is that it became China’s first high-end new energy vehicle national team to enter Italy.
"Today, Lantu Automobile officially landed in Italy, marking a new level in terms of speed and quality for Lantu to go overseas. Starting from Italy, Lantu will continue to polish its brand, deeply cultivate the southern European market, and rely on Dongfeng Group’s strong overseas resources to continuously make breakthroughs in the European market, promote the overseas landing of the whole value chain, and build a world-class Chinese brand." Lu Fang, CEO of Lantu Automobile, said on the spot.
This has become a microcosm of Lantu going overseas. Since its launch in 2022, Lantu has successively entered Norway, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and other European countries within two years, with a total export of nearly 10,000 vehicles, deeply cultivating the European market.
This is also a representative automaker in the trend of Chinese brands going overseas.
(Picture provided by the manufacturer, issued by China Central Broadcasting Network)
Since 2022, with the advantages of the new energy industry and technological advantages, Chinese brands have accelerated their overseas layout, including Chery Automobile, BYD Automobile, and Great Wall Motor, which have accelerated their overseas gold rush. Among them, those who have gained a lot, such as Chery Automobile, sold more than 900,000 overseas in 2023, accounting for nearly half of the total sales.
Landmap chose Europe as the bridgehead of its globalization strategy.
On April 26, 2024, at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show, Lantu Automobile released the Let’s VOYAH "Total Lantu" overseas strategy, establishing the core goal of "6655" – by 2030, it will be deployed on six continents in the world, enter 60 countries around the world, and build a total of 500 sales and service outlets. Overseas sales have exceeded 500,000 vehicles.
"We will set up an operation center in Europe, and we chose this as our first stop because this is the core area of the traditional car market," Shao Mingfeng, assistant general manager of Landmap Automotive and general manager of the sales company, said in an interview.
In fact, Chinese brands have been going global as early as the last century.
In 1997, Great Wall Motor brought the first pickup truck to the Middle East, and in 2001 Chery sold the car to the Syrian customers who came after it, opening up the internationalization. The European market, as a testing ground for the technology and product viability of automobile companies, is also a key area for building international brands and distribution networks. It once won the favor of Chinese brands, including GAC Trumpchi, NIO, SAIC MG, etc.
However, it is found that more independent brands, including Chery Automobile and Great Wall Motor, have gained from South East Asia, South America, Africa and other markets, but not much in automotive powerhouses such as Europe.
Nowadays, except for MG in the UK market and many Chinese brand players gathering in the Russian market, other core key regions in Europe have not achieved much. Under such circumstances, why did Lantu Automobile choose the European market as a bridgehead? At the 2024 Beijing Auto Show, CCTV and other media conducted further communication and interviews with Lantu executives. The following is the interview content, slightly edited:
QOverseas markets, especially in Europe, are constrained by a variety of factors. How do you consider going to Europe at this time?
Lu FangMany companies such as BYD and Chery are accelerating their expansion into Europe. Lantu exports new energy vehicles to Europe because there is a demand for new energy vehicles in the European market, and China has the ability to provide high-quality new energy vehicles.
In fact, with the exception of Tesla in the United States and a few brands in Europe, most countries lack new energy vehicles, especially products with both electrification and intelligent technologies, which has formed an obvious local market supply and demand contradiction. The current Chinese market has strong new energy vehicle production capacity, leading new energy technologies, and abundant new energy vehicle products. Therefore, in the short term, the global supply and demand contradiction needs to be resolved through Chinese exports to meet the needs of global users for vehicle upgrades.
This export trend is likely to continue for the next decade or even two. Historically, Japan, Germany, and the United States have all gone global with automotive products, exporting their industrial manufacturing capabilities. Now, China has developed to this stage, and it will also follow this path. This is why we entered the European market. Of course, the European market will continue to grow for some time to come.
(Picture provided by the manufacturer, issued by China Central Broadcasting Network)
QHow to build Landmap’s overseas channels?
Shao MingfengLandmap will set up an operation center in Europe, jointly established by the import and export team of Dongfeng Company and Landmap, which is also our first overseas operation center. Landmap has formulated the "6655" plan, that is, by 2030, it will cover six continents, enter 60 countries around the world, build 500 sales and service centers, and overseas cumulative sales will exceed 500,000 vehicles. We chose Europe as our first stop because it is the core area of the traditional automobile market. Europe as the first stop is an important starting point for our overseas expansion. In the future, we will set up operation centers in more places to promote the global layout of Landmap.
QWhat are the basic strategies for going to sea?
Lu FangIn the era of win-win cooperation, Lantu will continue to give full play to the advantages of the industrial chain, go to sea together, not be the "king of the world", do not take the old road of "going to sea at a low price", and build a sustainable win-win ecology with excellent partners around the world in terms of channels, services, ecology, etc., and will always adhere to the technical concept of "heart-warming technology", integrate good technology into users’ lives, create a better car experience for users, and become a world-class brand that is deeply loved and trusted by users around the world.
(Picture provided by the manufacturer, issued by China Central Broadcasting Network)
QCan you talk about it in detail?
Lu FangBrand competition is cultural competition, and the lowest gene of Chinese culture has never been life and death, but beauty and harmony, which is the cultural gene we want to carry when we go overseas.
Landmap not only allows products to go global, but also a kind of trade. What’s more important is how to build a new automotive ecosystem together with the local value chain and industrial chain.
Landmap has not been going overseas for a long time, but while we are thinking about how to explore the European market, we should also consider how to build a closer relationship with local users and the local ecosystem in the future. This is a reflection, exploration, and experimentation in the strategy of going overseas.
It is easier said than done because it is a long-term process to understand the local society, politics, economy, culture and user requests overseas. Our goal is to achieve ecological win-win with overseas markets.
