Dongfeng Infiniti Motor Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as Dongfeng Infiniti), jointly established by Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, is officially inaugurated. Dongfeng Infiniti is an independent wholly-owned subsidiary of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture between Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Dr. Daniel Kirchert, Managing Director of Infiniti China, is appointed as President of Dongfeng Infiniti; Mr. Lei Xin, former Deputy General Manager of Strategic Planning Department, Dongfeng Motor Corp., is appointed as Executive Vice-President. Dongfeng Infiniti will independently operate the Infiniti brand under the principles of “One Strategy, One Brand, One Team, One Channel” to achieve corporate growth.
The establishment of Dongfeng Infiniti represents a substantial upgrade of the ever-stronger strategic partnership between Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, as both sides are determined to jointly expand in China’s luxury car market with a vision for a win-win future.
“The opening of this new facility is the beginning of our manufacturing expansion. Infiniti needs additional capacity to fuel the expected growth which will be driven by our expanding portfolio,” said de Nysschen. At the same time, this plant is an excellent demonstration of the strong collaboration we have with Daimler AG. “It will leverage the technologies, expertise and highest level of manufacturing standards from both companies, which, in turn, benefit from the synergy and economies of scale of this joint effort.”
Xu Ping, Chairman of Dongfeng Motor Corp. said, “The establishment of Dongfeng Infiniti will realize the extension of Dongfeng Motor Corp.’s value chain into luxury segment while Dongfeng’s leadership position in China’s mainstream auto industry, its well-established brand and social images, and rich local resources will surely help Infiniti’s healthy growth and long-term development.”
“The mature and robust strategic partnership between Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd has created enormous value for both partners and is one of the most successful cases for cross-country cooperation in auto industry,” commented Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. “I believe drawing on the valuable experience of the two parties, Dongfeng Infiniti is bound to be a success that will also boost Infiniti’s strategy to build a global premium brand.”
Jun Seki, President of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd, said “After 11 years’ development, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd has become the largest auto joint-venture project in China featuring deepest and broadest cooperation. With the new platform of Dongfeng Infiniti, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd formally enters into the field of luxury automobile business. As Dongfeng Infiniti joins hands with Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company to realize local production of Infiniti cars, Infiniti’s development will reach a new high in China.”
Dongfeng Infiniti, once in operation, will be fully responsible for managing Infiniti business in China; meanwhile as Dongfeng Infiniti’s important partner, Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company will give play to its strengths to advance together Infiniti’s localization strategy in China. Dr. Daniel Kirchert, President of Dongfeng Infiniti, said “The establishment of Dongfeng Infiniti is a leap forward as well as a new start in Infiniti’s development in China. Based on the achievements already scored, we will double our endeavors to build Infiniti into a mainstream premium auto brand in China which is truly rooted here and loved by Chinese consumers.”
Dongfeng Infiniti has set a dedicated Board of Directors that exercises the highest decision-making power on behalf of shareholders. Dongfeng Infiniti President reports directly to the Board. Members of the first Board of Directors include: Xu Ping, Chairman of Dongfeng Motor Corp., Zhu Fushou, Managing Director of Dongfeng Motor Corp., Jun Seki, President of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd, Ren Yong, Vice-President of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd, one incoming senior executive from Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, incoming President of Infiniti Motor Co., Ltd, George Leondis, Vice-President of Infiniti Motor Co., Ltd, Dr. Daniel Kirchert, and Mr. Lei Xin. Xu Ping serves as Board Chairman.
Operation model for Shared Vision, Shared Success
One Strategy – Infiniti will consolidate and further develop China as its second global volume hub and continue to deepen its localization strategy in the four areas of brand, product, production and management. Infiniti’s mid-term target in China is to raise its annual sales to 100,000 cars by 2018, over half of which are locally produced models.
One Brand – Dongfeng Infiniti produces and sells all products under the Infiniti brand with locally produced models bearing the Dongfeng Infiniti badge and imported models Infiniti badge.
One Brand – Dongfeng Infiniti is committed to building the Infiniti brand in the long-term: customers of both locally-produced cars and import ones enjoy Infiniti’s unified global quality standards, brand experience and after-sales service.
One Team – Dongfeng Infiniti will build a team that works towards the same objective in concerted actions, innovative in thinking and bold in exploring the untested, to comprehensively advance the Infiniti brand’s development in China. Dongfeng Infiniti will keep the existing team of Infiniti China; some senior executives with rich joint venture experience from Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd will join Dongfeng Infiniti; in the meantime, Dongfeng Infiniti will expand, diversify and enrich the company culture by having more experienced local talents onboard.
One Channel – With inception of Dongfeng Infiniti, all Infiniti-branded cars, including locally-produced models and imported ones, are sold through one dedicated distribution network. All existing Infiniti dealers remain in the new company’s dealer network. Dongfeng Infiniti will also take full advantage of Dongfeng’s strong market penetration capabilities and resources to attract new dealer investors who meet Infiniti standards to join the network. Dongfeng Infiniti guarantees the unified Infiniti service standards offered to all customers.
The establishment of Dongfeng Infiniti and the upcoming start of production of the first localized Infiniti model in November represent the full materialization of Infiniti’s localization project in China, and will inject new energy into Infiniti’s growth drive. Locally produced Infiniti cars will come from the Xiangyang Plant of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company. The first batch includes two models tailor-made for China: the hi-tech premium sports sedan Infiniti Q50L and the long wheel-based SUV Infiniti QX50. Xiangyang Plant implements Infiniti’s global manufacturing standards and is on a par with the Tochigi Plant in Japan according to an internal assessment. With local production in China, Xiangyang becomes Infiniti’s third global production base after Tochigi in Japan, and Smyrna in USA.
