Summary: Plans to restructure Great Wall brand structure

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - An announcement made by Great Wall Motor President Wang Fengying last week that the logo for the Haval line of SUVs will be updated this year signifies that the manufacturer is finally getting ready to revamp its brand structure. Similar statements concerning streamlining of the Great Wall sales network seem to further point to this conclusion.

Great Wall has previously hinted at the possibility of separating its three major brands: Haval (SUVs), Voleex (sedans) and Wingle (pick-up trucks). However, actual plans to distinguish the brands have not been implemented as of yet.

According to a report appearing on Gasgoo.com (Chinese), Su Hui, industry analyst and former general manager of the Beijing Yayuncun Car Market, said that he believes that Great Wall is hoping brand restructuring will help improve its overall market presence. "Although among domestic own brand manufacturers, Great Wall's performance in recent years has been very good, when compared with international enterprises, the gap is still very large," Mr. Su said.

In 2011, Great Wall sold a total of 370,000 vehicles (excluding pick-up trucks), placing it fifth among domestic manufacturers. Compared with 2011's best performing domestic manufacturer, Chery (600,000 units sold), Great Wall's performance was very commendable. However, when put alongside multinational companies, whose sales figures for the year were in the millions, Chinese manufacturers are clearly lacking.

For manufacturers with a full range of models to offer, it is a natural choice to allocate products into different sub-brands. However, Mr. Su points out that other manufacturers in the past have implemented similar plans without much success. "Establishing a new brand requires large investments in terms of manpower and money in order to gain social acceptance," he stated. Mr. Su worries that, in the process of restructuring its sub-brands, Great Wall may lose more than it gains.

According to an official statement, Great Wall believes that brand restructuring is inevitable. "The current sales network is clearly not able to satisfy growing demands for [Great Wall] sedans, SUVs and pick-up trucks," Manufacturer Deputy General Manager Shang Yugui said.