Dongfeng withdrew its employees but not its investment. Can the lonely Dongfeng Yulon still have fun?

It is reported that Dongfeng Motor Corporation, as one of the shareholders, will withdraw its management team from Dongfeng Yulon, but will still retain its investment in the joint venture. In other words, Dongfeng Motor Corporation has "withdrawn people" from Dongfeng Yulon, but has not "withdrawn its investment".

This is the second time that Dongfeng Corporation has made internal adjustments after it finally divested Zhengzhou Nissan for RMB 788 million.

A Dongfeng Motor Corporation insider revealed that Dongfeng Motor Corporation will withdraw its personnel from Dongfeng Yulon but not its investment. "In the future, Dongfeng Motor Corporation will only participate in the operation of Dongfeng Yulon as an investor, and Yulon Group may take the lead in internal management and decision-making."

Currently, some work is being handed over within Dongfeng Yulon, and some Dongfeng personnel have returned to the headquarters group. It can be seen that some of Dongfeng Yulon's future performance will still be included in the assessment of Dongfeng Company, but the internal decision-making power, management power, and market planning will be gradually transferred to Yulon Group, which means that Dongfeng Yulon is slowly being separated from the "territory" of Dongfeng Company's large independent planning.

On April 18 this year, Dongfeng Motor Corporation held a meeting, which kicked off the personnel changes, involving changes in several important senior positions. Chairman Zhu Yanfeng said that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Dongfeng "must realize that synergy is Dongfeng's greatest advantage, and Dongfeng must focus on developing its own brand". Some analysts believe that the adjustment of the Dongfeng Yulon segment can be regarded as the implementation of the spirit of this meeting. This also means that Dongfeng Motor Corporation will integrate resources for the grand synergy strategy in the independent segment.

Many people believe that the adjustment of Dongfeng Yulon segment is directly related to its sales volume. In 2016, Dongfeng Yulon achieved less than 60% of its target sales volume, becoming the most loss-making business unit within Dongfeng Group. In the first five months of this year, Dongfeng Yulon's cumulative sales volume was less than 7,500 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 60.33%.

In terms of products, Dongfeng Yulon has proposed the 510 plan, which will launch at least 10 new models by 2022, and even gave a detailed timetable. Among them, the first to be launched on the market will be a new small SUV in October this year, which is mainly aimed at young consumers. From 2018 to 2019, 4 new models will be launched successively, covering SUV and MPV series, and a 7-seater SUV will be launched first. From 2020 to 2022, 5 full series products built on a new modular platform will be launched.

At the 2017 Shanghai Auto Show, Dongfeng Yulon Luxgen's new small SUV was officially unveiled. The new car is a brand-new product based on the Rui 3 platform and is equipped with PSA's 1.6THP engine.

However, despite having a clear product layout and planning, this does not seem to have saved Dongfeng Yulon from its decline.

As the only joint venture car company with Taiwan at a 50:50 ratio, Dongfeng Yulon, which was only established in 2010, was once very aggressive. In 2012, just two years after its establishment, Dongfeng Yulon achieved profitability, and Luxgen became Dongfeng's most powerful independent sub-brand.

But these were short-lived. In 2014, Dongfeng Yulon's growth slowed down. Since 2016, the sales of the Luxgen brand have come under increasing pressure, and sales began to decline, failing to meet the annual sales target.

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.