Unexpectedly, joint venture electric vehicles have also embarked on a path of "exploding orders." On April 27, Dongfeng Nissan unveiled its pure electric sedan, the N7, with a starting price as low as 119,900 yuan, resulting in over 10,000 orders within the first hour of its launch. As a medium to large sedan, the N7's starting price is merely 100 yuan more than that of the compact sedan Xiaopeng MONA M03. He Xiaopeng once remarked that listening to advice is a virtue. It appears that joint venture automakers have taken this advice to heart, showcasing even greater potential.

Recently, GAC Toyota introduced the pure electric SUV Botzhi 3X, bringing intelligent driving with LiDAR within the 150,000 yuan price range. Peng Baolin, Deputy General Manager of GAC Toyota, shared on social media that Botzhi 3X had received over 15,000 orders, with production already scheduled until June. Terminal sales data for the second week of April revealed that Xiaopeng MONA M03 fell out of the top ten in new energy sedan sales, experiencing a 21% decrease. Weekly sales data further indicates that Xiaomi has seen a decline in locked orders for four consecutive weeks over the past two months. While it's difficult to ascertain a direct correlation with joint ventures listening to advice, the recent Shanghai Auto Show has clearly demonstrated a resurgence in popularity and heat for joint venture automakers. If there's one thing joint ventures have learned from their detours in the new energy sector, it's how to manage consumer expectations.

When Joint Ventures Learned to "Stack Materials"

Prior to the N7, Dongfeng Nissan launched its first high-end pure electric SUV, the ARIYA, in 2022. With an official starting price of 272,800 yuan, the ARIYA's market performance consistently fell short of expectations. In July of the following year, Dongfeng Nissan upgraded the ARIYA and reduced its starting price to within 200,000 yuan. However, these price reductions and increased configurations failed to reverse the ARIYA's declining trend. By then, the new energy vehicle market was already dominated by Chinese brands. Terminal sales data for 2024 shows that Chinese brands accounted for 89% of the new energy market. Market education seems to have finally dawned on joint venture electric vehicles in 2025.

First came Botzhi 3X, offering "high-level intelligent driving + LiDAR" for less than 150,000 yuan. Then there was GAC's locally produced P7, which learned from the backlash against Dongfeng Honda's S7 for being "overpriced at 259,900 yuan" and directly reduced its price by 60,000 yuan upon launch, bringing the new car's price within 200,000 yuan. Beyond price reductions, joint venture automakers have not hesitated to "stack materials" once they learned how. On the eve of the Shanghai Auto Show, Buick launched its all-new Xiaoyao Super Fusion Architecture, encompassing three new energy power configurations: pure electric, plug-in hybrid, and extended range. The known configurations on this architecture include a 900V high-voltage platform, the first use of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8755 chips in the cabin, and intelligent driving utilizing the Momenta Flywheel 5.0 large model. In short, everything is top-tier. Towards the end of last year, rumors circulated that "Xiaopeng had poached Nissan's entire seating team, obtaining the true essence of Nissan's 'sofa factory'." Wang Qian, General Manager of the New Energy Brand at Dongfeng Nissan Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., responded that it wasn't that exaggerated, indirectly confirming some personnel mobility.

Today, "refrigerators, TVs, and large sofas" are no longer exclusive to new entrants. Dongfeng Nissan's N7 comes equipped with refrigerators, TVs, and large sofas on new cars priced under 150,000 yuan. Consequently, when the N7 was launched, online reviews hailed it as "more cost-effective than Xiaopeng." During the Shanghai Auto Show, SAIC Volkswagen unveiled its first full-size extended-range SUV concept car, the ID.ERA. A SAIC Volkswagen product expert revealed that in addition to Chinese-led technology participating in the formulation of global vehicle standards, the vehicle will also be equipped with configurations that Chinese consumers favor, such as TVs, refrigerators, and large sofas. The practice of "stacking materials" isn't limited to new energy vehicles; even gasoline vehicles have adopted it. The 2025 Buick Envision S Platinum Edition, launched in March this year, not only starts at a fixed price of 139,900 yuan but also boasts "10% more intelligent configurations."

If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them

In recent years, joint venture automakers have lost ground in the new energy market, particularly in the mainstream price range of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan. During the Shanghai Auto Show, Xue Haitao, Deputy General Manager of SAIC-GM, stated in an interview that the average transaction price of Buick brand vehicles had already exceeded 200,000 yuan, an increase of 50,000 yuan year-on-year. Behind this figure lies the loss of market share by joint ventures in the sub-200,000 yuan segment. As a result, brands such as Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have chosen to actively abandon "premium pricing" and set their prices at the bottom. In contrast, some brands have opted to take another shot at high-end positioning in the Chinese new energy market.

Buick announced the launch of a new high-end new energy sub-brand, Zhijing, with its first flagship model being the "million-level" luxury MPV Buick "Shijia." At the launch event, Cao Xudong, CEO of Momenta, stood on stage for Buick and announced that Momenta had sent a team of hundreds of people to SAIC-GM in 2022 to jointly develop Buick's assisted driving system. During the Shanghai Auto Show, Momenta wasn't the only brand invited as an honored guest. In the SAIC Volkswagen interview room, Cao Xudong sat in the middle alongside Tao Hailong, Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of SAIC Volkswagen. Tao Hailong stated that starting with the concept car ID.ERA unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show, all SAIC Volkswagen products would be equipped with assisted driving systems. As intelligent driving suppliers, similar situations also frequently occur with Huawei.

During the Shanghai Auto Show, Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei's Intelligent Automobile Solutions BU, and Li Fenggang, Executive Deputy General Manager of FAW-Volkswagen Sales Co., Ltd., appeared together in the interview room. Li Fenggang revealed that the FAW-Volkswagen A5L would be the first luxury fuel vehicle to be equipped with Huawei's Qiankun system. To facilitate this cooperation, FAW-Volkswagen had been planning for a long time. He pointed out that the teams of both parties initiated relevant joint development work in 2019. A friend of mine who owns an Audi A6L aged over 45 regrets buying his car too early after learning about the cooperation between Audi and Huawei. Admittedly, one sample isn't enough to prove anything, but it does provide a glimpse of the effects of foreign brands embracing local technology companies, which extends beyond mere technical cooperation.

In summary, every foreign brand is actively embracing local partners. Tadahiro Watanabe, General Manager of Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., stated in an interview during the auto show that Honda must keep up with China's pace in China and deepen cooperation with the local supply chain in key components and intelligent fields. This not only improves efficiency but also helps control costs. These are precisely the keys to balancing scale and profit behind Honda's implementation of "one-price" in China. Indeed, this is the frightening aspect of joint ventures mastering the art of "stacking materials." With their cost control capabilities and accumulated experience in mechanical quality, when it comes to spending money to "stack materials," joint venture automakers may have more firepower than one might imagine.