Drivers familiar with the Great Wall brand know that the success of Great Wall Motor can not be separated from the strong assistance of its sub-brand "Haval". The appearance of "Haval" is like putting on a "Geely suit" for the Great Wall and "eating chicken" in the final with domestic SUV brands.
20/kloc-in March, 2003, Haval brand announced that it had left the Great Wall automobile brand and became an independent automobile brand under the Great Wall.
At that time, domestic independent brands, in order to get rid of the shortcomings of imitating or even copying the design of overseas hot-selling models, began to "dig corners" from international big brands, especially big-name automobile designers. As the saying goes, it is useful for laymen to watch the excitement. Although most of these self-owned brand cars basically adopt foreign mature products, the car design is really "independent research and development", which makes many domestic consumers shout "great" and feel that our own brand has stood up from now on, thus greatly improving the sales of self-owned brand cars in China.
The first generation X6 of BMW is Pierre's masterpiece.
Like several other independent brands in China at that time, Great Wall also hired a design director from Belgium: Pierre Leclercq (hereinafter referred to as "Pierre") from the internationally renowned manufacturer BMW. Before joining Harvard as vice president of design, Pierre had been leading the design work in BMW's M department, and the most striking representative work was BMW's first generation X6.
Pierre, a Belgian, arrived in Baoding at that time and served as the vice president of Harvard, in charge of design; It is said that the Harvard concept cars ConceptB and ConceptR released at the 20 15 Shanghai Auto Show are his first works in the Great Wall.
In other words, on the day when Geely's high-end brand Kelin 0 1 was announced to be listed, WEY officially declared that "WEY has sold over 10,000 yuan a month". Whether this sales volume is true or not, WEY's VV7 and VVV5 series are from Pierre, the designer of Haval concept car.
We think these VV7 and VV5 series are really a bit like the BMW x6, but look closely, they have their own design language, which is really beautiful. The appearance of VV series really makes domestic consumers, especially those of Harvard, shine at the moment, and they can't help but sigh that their own brands can still make such beautiful cars. (By the way, 70% of WEY owners are former Haval owners. )
VV7, the first model of WEY, a high-end brand of Great Wall.
The appearance of Haval makes Great Wall the leader of SUV among domestic independent brands. The appearance of WEY made the Great Wall take the lead in entering a new era of China's own brand cars.
Objectively speaking, WEY is different from other independent brands in China. In addition to the original design and three parts in the car, it also adopts independent research and development products.
Let's start with WEY's engine. When VV7 first went on the market, everyone said that the fuel consumption of this car was high, how to falsify the fuel consumption data, and what car's apparent fuel consumption was inconsistent with the actual fuel consumption. Actually, we are really confused. Why did this problem, which is common to almost all automobile brands at home and abroad, become so serious when it came to WEY's first car VV7? In fact, it is not difficult to understand that shopping malls, such as battlefields, especially in the domestic automobile market with such fierce competition, the appearance of VV7 has moved some cakes of joint venture brands and successfully stirred up the situation of other brands. Perhaps this is the fuel consumption incident of VV7.
The key to independent innovation of automobile industry is to build the "heart" independently. As the "heart" of the car, the independent research and development ability of the engine is very important. As the saying goes: He who wins the engine wins the world. On August 25th, 2006, the first electronically controlled high-pressure rail diesel engine with independent intellectual property rights in China, Great Wall Intelligent Fuel Saving King INTEC, was mass-produced in Great Wall Automobile Engine Factory. Subsequently, this diesel engine was also assembled on Harvard's follow-up products. After ten years of continuous research and development and adjustment, the latest generation engine independently developed by Great Wall will of course be assembled on its flagship model.
The VV7 series is equipped with a 2.0-displacement turbocharged engine, which is a product independently developed by Great Wall.
Thus, a 2.0L turbocharged engine (maximum power 172KW, maximum torque 360N.m) code-named "4C20A" became the power source of WEY's first model VV7.
The book data and actual driving experience are really good, but the fuel consumption of "4C20A" is the same as that of Guangzhou Automobile Chuanqi GS8 SUV, which is slightly higher.
Wei Jianjun named WEY, a high-end brand of the Great Wall, after his surname. Behind his bold decision is his confidence in the strength of the product. Indeed, in recent years, China brand car companies began to constantly break through themselves and go up, and even lost to some joint venture brands in terms of styling design and materials for work. It seems that consumers' concerns about China brand cars are only the core technical strength.
After talking about the engine, let's talk about WEY's gearbox. Great Wall didn't choose the foreign brand gearbox that matched mature in the past on WEY VV7, but put the self-developed 7DCT gearbox on the new car for the first time.
In the early years, the gearbox technology of China brand car companies was not mature enough, so they had to purchase directly from foreign manufacturers. The most common way was to buy gearboxes from Japan, Europe and America. What's even more embarrassing is that some independent brands obviously have more powerful and fuel-efficient engines, but they can only be equipped with imported backward 4AT gearboxes. There is only one reason for this phenomenon: the most advanced gearbox technology is a magic weapon for foreign automobile manufacturers to maintain their competitiveness. Who will easily "hold hands" this trick?
In order to break this technical deadlock, Wei Jianjun decided to independently develop the gearbox. "The engines are out, and I am afraid I can't get the gearbox?" But what kind of automatic gearbox do you choose to develop? This makes Wei Jianjun very embarrassed. As early as 20 14, Great Wall people held many technical seminars on gearboxes.
Finally, they chose DCT. There is a simple reason. The structure of the dual clutch gearbox is relatively simple. Many technical foundations come from manual gearboxes. Only the clutch module, electromagnetic hydraulic control system with automatic shift and so on are added. The most important thing is actually the software, that is, mastering the control logic of the gearbox. Generally speaking, the research and development of dual-clutch gearbox is relatively difficult.
Therefore, Wei Jianjun went abroad to recruit the great god in gearbox field. After screening, Gerhard Henning became the best candidate. Gerhard Henning has more than 20 years of experience in automatic gearbox research and development. He once worked for Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, and served as the head of the automatic gearbox research and development team. Mercedes-Benz's latest 9AT gearbox came from him.
Great Wall chose DCT gearbox and invited former Mercedes-Benz 9AT R&D engineer Louis.
The arrival of Henning has enhanced the R&D ability of the Great Wall automatic gearbox, but the mass production of a product still needs people who really start to put the R&D goal into practice. Similarly, Wei Jianjun also invited foreign "old driver" Louis to control the production of this 7DCT gearbox.
"Old driver" Louis has more than 40 years of experience in gearbox production. He previously worked for Ford's gearbox company in Europe and was responsible for the production of Gertrak DCT gearbox. In 20 14, it was dug by Volkswagen to Dalian factory in China, responsible for the production of Volkswagen DSG gearbox. After working in Dalian for less than four months, Great Wall found this senior expert and invited him to the Great Wall Baoding Xu Shui Gearbox Factory.
Good design, good engine and good gearbox, I believe the future WEY will be the same as the Great Wall brand. As a private enterprise in China automobile industry, Great Wall has really embarked on its own independent research and development.
But the latest news is that Pierre, vice president of WEY design who worked in the Great Wall for nearly four years, took the lead in leaving to join Kia. What does this mean? According to industry insiders, Pierre's departure was largely due to "dislike" that the headquarters of the Great Wall was located in Baoding, rather than disagreement with the company.
Why do you say that? For design talents, especially top design talents, they attach great importance to an atmosphere of social discussion. Good design is not a dream, but a spark generated in conversations with peers and even different industries. Baoding lacks this designer atmosphere and is doomed to keep Pierre.
In Baoding, it is difficult to buy a reliable cup of espresso. How can we keep an international talent like Pierre?
With good design and technology, should we choose a good place to design or set up our own automobile design headquarters for the next Great Wall? Wei Jianjun promised Pierre to set up WEY design headquarters in Shanghai, but it was delayed. I believe this is one of the reasons why Pierre left.
Is there any good coffee in Baoding?
In a word, it is easier said than done. At first, Harvard, which insisted on breaking its own ceiling, has become the iconic banner of the Great Wall and even its own brand. Nowadays, with the birth of WEY brand, the Great Wall has completely become a "showstopper" in the eyes of many joint venture brands in China auto market. WEY not only broke the price ceiling of independent brands, but also successfully stood on the same starting line with joint venture brands. Only in this way can it really lift the spirits of consumers in China.
WEY is really a car worth buying, no matter what the outside world says. WEY is here, and I look forward to the future WEY becoming better.
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