With confusing positioning and monthly sales of less than 7,000 vehicles, is the Shanhai series the key answer to Jetour's transformation?

Having more children means more fighting, and this seems to be the norm for mainstream domestic car brands.

BYD has four major brands, namely BYD, Fangchengbao, Denza and Yangwang. The BYD brand has two major series, namely Dynasty and Ocean. Geely has multiple sub-brands, namely Geely, Volvo, Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Lotus and so on. The same is true for Chery, which has multiple sub-brands, namely Chery, Jetour, Xingrui, iCAR and so on.

The multi-brand strategy has had mixed results. Geely's development is relatively balanced, and it has been able to gain some ground in the new energy market; but other manufacturers may not be able to do so.

Taking Chery's Jetour brand as an example, in July 2024, Jetour had only four new energy vehicle models on sale, namely Shanhai T2, Shanhai L9, Jetour Monkey King plug-in hybrid version, and Jetour X70 plug-in hybrid version. The best performing one was Jetour Shanhai T2 with monthly sales of 5,175 units. The four models combined had monthly sales of less than 7,000 units.

This achievement is not even comparable to competing with BYD, Geely and Changan, let alone among the new forces.

Chery has accumulated a certain amount of core technologies in new energy. Take the Jietu Shanhai L9 as an example. This car comes from Chery's Yaoguang 2025 strategy, adopts the Kunlun off-road platform, is equipped with Chery Kunpeng C-DM technology and Lion smart cockpit, and has everything a mainstream new energy vehicle should have.

The best performing model in the Jetour new energy vehicle family, the Shanhai T2, adopts a classic square box shape, has a maximum power of 280kW, a comprehensive range of up to 1,300km, and a relatively affordable price, making it very attractive to users who like light off-road.

It can be said that Chery has the ability to build a new energy vehicle with good performance.

As early as October 2023, Chery released the Yaoguang 2025 strategy at Chery Technology Day, which covers five core technology areas: Mars architecture, Kunpeng power, Lion technology, Galaxy ecology, and Dazhuo intelligent driving. At the same time, it also launched the LION AI big model, which is a complete set of new energy core technologies. All these technologies can be used in Jetour.

The Jetour brand also had a good customer base before. In July 2024, the sales volume of the Jetour brand reached 41,106 units, breaking the 40,000 monthly sales mark for the third time this year. The cumulative sales volume from January to July reached 264,661 units, a year-on-year increase of 97.7%.

It has brand influence, a certain customer base, technical support from Chery, no shortage of development funds, and is determined to transform. Judging from its book strength, Jetour has the foundation for a successful transformation. Why are its new energy sales so flat?

First of all, it should be noted that Chery is a very special car manufacturer. Its sales figures are very good, but about half of them are exported. In fact, in 2023, the domestic sales of the Jetour brand were only over 200,000 vehicles, with an average of less than 20,000 vehicles per month. In the fiercely competitive Chinese market, a brand with an average of less than 20,000 vehicles per month can only be regarded as a second-tier brand.

At the product level, there are also certain problems with Jetour's new energy vehicle models.

The four Jetour new energy vehicle models currently on sale are all SUV models, and their product positioning is not clear.

The Jetour Monkey King plug-in hybrid version is actually a gasoline-to-electric model, positioned as a compact SUV with a starting price of 149,900 yuan; the Jetour X70 is also a plug-in hybrid SUV, positioned as a mid-size SUV, but the starting price is also 149,900 yuan. The two cars actually form internal friction.

Both models of the Shanhai system are positioned as off-road vehicles and are priced at more than 160,000 yuan. The main difference is that the Shanhai T2 adopts a square box appearance, while the Shanhai L9 adopts a conventional shape. These two models are actually in conflict, and the user groups they face are actually quite close.

It can be said that the four new energy models launched by the Jetour brand do not have any focus, and they feel like a hammer in the east and a stick in the west. The Jetour brand has always been positioned in the "travel +" market, but the new energy models launched do not seem to follow this positioning.

In fact, the problem of confusing brand positioning under Chery is not only found in the Jetour brand. So far, Chery is the only mainstream brand that has not formed a family-style design language and family-style naming method, which can easily cause user cognition confusion and dilute brand influence.

Taking the main brand Chery as an example, its SUVs are mainly named Tiggo, its sedans are mainly named Arrizo, its new energy SUVs are called Fengyun T series, and its new energy sedans are called Fengyun A series. These were originally good names, but suddenly some incompatible models such as Tanso 06 and Omenda were mixed in.

Jetour itself is a good example. It has a total of 7 models on sale, including those named X series, Shanhai, Dasheng, and Traveler. Even if one of the models becomes a hit, it is difficult to form a long-term influence.

When it comes to Jetour New Energy, what kind of car do consumers think of? At present, its main attention is brought by the Shanhai series models that focus on the off-road market, but off-road vehicles are difficult to become mainstream models, and Jetour's models previously did not have the "off-road" gene.

At the same time, although Chery has a good grasp of its core new energy technology and has launched core equipment such as the C-DM system, it actually did not form a real system until October 2023. By then, BYD has become the global champion and Geely has basically established a firm foothold.

In the field of new energy core technology, accumulation is needed. Chery's new energy business itself is relatively backward. The series of core technologies it launched in 2023 only made up for the shortcomings and reached the average level of mainstream car companies. However, in the Chinese market, simply reaching the mainstream level is obviously not enough for Chery, a giant car company, to turn around.

Think about it, what can Jetour get from Chery?

The most direct one is the C-DM system, but the plug-in hybrid systems of other manufacturers are already relatively mature. BYD has even upgraded its plug-in hybrid technology to DM 5.0. These technologies of Chery are difficult to support the transformation of the Jetour brand.

This involves a classic question: Is a multi-brand strategy good or bad?

Judging from the example of Jetour, multi-brand operation is not necessarily a good thing, and transformation is also relatively difficult.

Since the establishment of the Jetour brand, it has hardly created any hit models, which has led to its low brand influence. The so-called "travel +" market segment may be just an imagination. What Jetour models can do, Chery's other SUVs can also do, so there is no need to list a sub-brand specifically.

In addition, if the Jetour brand wants to transform, the first challenge it faces may not be other brands, but Chery itself. There is no obvious price difference between Jetour and Chery; Jetour said it wanted to enter the travel + market, but in fact this imagined brand feature did not become a reality, so Chery's plan of "each doing its own job" turned into internal friction.

Chery's newly built Shanhai T2 is a good new energy vehicle model, proving that Chery is still very capable. If it can use this car as a starting point to continue to focus on the "travel +" market, staggered with Chery's other brands, or simply transform into a professional off-road platform like a tank, the speed of transformation may be greatly accelerated.

Chery is not "panic" in the domestic automobile market, perhaps because it has huge overseas sales to support it. However, in China, Chery's multi-brand strategy needs to be adjusted. Sub-brands need to have product features, specific potential users, and strong technical support. Only in this way can the transformation be completed.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.