As the overseas expansion of automobiles accelerates from products "going out" to brands "going in" and industries "taking root", the globalization competition of Chinese automakers has reached a new historical development stage.
On the eve of the highly anticipated World Cup opening, a cross-border cooperation between cars and sports was officially announced. On May 22, Changan Automobile and the Portuguese Football Association signed a global strategic cooperation agreement with the theme "Stay in the game (Always In the Game)", officially becoming the global official partner of the Portugal National Team.
At the signing ceremony, the two parties not only released the co-branded film "Voice of Changan" but also completed the overseas delivery of the first Deepal S05 plug-in hybrid model (PHEV) in Europe. Immediately after, Changan Automobile's thousand-kilometer long-term test in Europe commenced.
Of note, Changan Automobile is the first Chinese car brand to reach an official cooperation with a top European football national team. This means the cooperation between the two parties will by no means stay at the superficial level of "sports marketing", but rather break overseas barriers further by leveraging "football" as a universal global cultural language, accelerate value going overseas, and convey the strength of Chinese automotive intelligent manufacturing. For Changan Automobile itself, this is also a key step to comprehensively promote the "All-Inclusive" Plan 2.0 and assist in the implementation of the "1445 Global Strategy".
Why the Portugal National Team? What Does Changan Automobile's Linkage with the World Cup Aim For?
In the eyes of laymen, this cooperation is inevitably understood as "leveraging World Cup traffic for marketing", but that would underestimate Changan Automobile's strategic considerations too much.
Automotive manufacturers partnering with sports IP have never been about chasing temporary traffic, nor for short-term exposure, but rather to leverage the natural emotional connection of "football" to fully open the cognitive entry for global consumers.
In the past few years, the sales growth of Chinese automakers overseas was indeed very fast, but they all face a realistic issue that consumers still stay at the product cognition stage regarding Chinese automobiles. In other words, they know Chinese cars are cheap and highly equipped, but lack long-term brand recognition. If this continues, Chinese brands will find it difficult to achieve mindshare among global users in a short time.
Football, as a borderless universal cultural symbol, possesses extremely strong global communication power and mass foundation. At the same time, the Portugal National Team is one of the most influential national teams in the world football circle. From the Figo era to the Ronaldo era, it has maintained global attention for a long time.
Therefore, after binding with the Portugal National Team, overseas users will naturally pay attention to Changan Automobile through top European sports IPs. This not only helps Changan Automobile quickly break through brand cognition barriers in the European market but also achieves the upgrade of its own global brand image.
It should be known that the competition faced by Chinese automakers overseas today is not only from traditional multinational automotive companies but also includes Tesla, Hyundai, Kia, and an increasing number of new energy brands. For Chinese automobiles, quickly building brand awareness is the urgent task.
In addition, to truly enter the European mainstream market, relying solely on cost-performance ratio is far from enough. It also requires certain technical strength and brand accumulation to win the long-term trust of local users.
Changan Automobile well understands this complete methodology of going overseas. Therefore, after the official announcement of cooperation, it quickly launched the European long-term test, verified hardcore product strength, and with concrete actions closely followed the fundamental principle of "Systematic Going Overseas" in the "All-Inclusive" Plan 2.0, achieving a dual breakthrough from brand to product, making this partnership with the Portugal National Team even more "resounding".
Spirit with the Same Origin, Ideas at the Same Frequency, Two "National Teams" Joining Hands to Go to World Class Together
In this cooperation, there is another key word worth paying attention to, which is "Stay in the game (Always In the Game)". On the surface, this is an expression in the sports context, but in fact, it is also an attitude of Changan Automobile towards the globalization strategy.
Nowadays, the competition in the Chinese automobile market has entered the "long-distance race" from "short-term explosion". Especially in terms of globalization, Chinese automakers' overseas acceleration has significantly sped up, but there are not many companies that can truly build systemic capabilities overseas.
Changan Automobile never acts as a "short-terminist". It always emphasizes one point: "No overseas, no Changan; no base, no overseas". The meaning is very simple, Changan Automobile's export is not just selling cars out, but must take local rooting as the ultimate goal.
Currently, Changan Automobile has divided the global market into eight major regions and constructed a "152" global layout. The overseas sales network has expanded from 63 countries in 2020 to 118 countries and regions, with a cumulative total of 1124 overseas sales outlets. At the same time, Changan Automobile is continuing to promote the construction of overseas manufacturing systems, including Thailand Rayong factory, Brazil factory, and other localized production bases, which have entered the "Industrial Going Overseas" stage.
According to the "All-Inclusive" Plan 2.0, by 2030, Changan Automobile's overseas sales target will reach 1.5 million - 1.8 million vehicles, and aim for the global automobile brand TOP 10. Especially with the export of Deepal S05 to Europe, the process of Changan Automobile building a global brand narrative has been fully accelerated, making it more confident in achieving higher overseas goals. In this process, the cooperation between Changan Automobile and the Portugal National Team will undoubtedly become an extremely important bonus point.
After the cooperation was announced, many people feel that this cooperation is highly fitting and has triggered deep resonance in the automotive circle and sports circle. On the one hand, the Portugal National Team represents long-term accumulation, continuous struggle, and breakthrough against the trend. On the other hand, the development of Changan Automobile in the past few decades has also experienced the whole process of the Chinese automobile industry from weak to strong. Especially in the new energy transformation cycle, Changan Automobile is also one of the few traditional large automotive manufacturers to complete the reconstruction of the new energy system. Therefore, the two parties can be said to be unprecedentedly consistent in their spiritual core.
In fact, whether it is football or the automotive industry, it requires day-by-day persistence and the confidence to rush towards the future to "Always In the Game", always laughing till the end. This is also the most important enlightenment that Changan Automobile and the Portugal National Team bring to us.
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