(Yicai) April 20 -- Dongfeng Nissan, a 50:50 joint venture between Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Motor and Japanese auto giant Nissan Motor, must humbly learn from rivals faced with challenges posed by new forces in the electric vehicle market and focus on surviving, according to its deputy general manager.

Auto JVs need to break market stereotypes in brand image and quickly follow up and iterate on new electric models, Zhou Feng, who is also deputy GM and executive vice president of Dongfeng Motor, said in a recent interview with Yicai.

"We are earnestly studying companies like Li Auto and Huawei Technologies, which lead in vehicle intelligence technology," Zhou noted. "Behind this lies a sense of openness, as the Chinese market is large enough to make inclusiveness the norm."

Dongfeng Nissan aims to establish itself as a "new JV force," with the key point being a shift in mindset by no longer fixating on what the boss says every day but understanding what customers think, he stressed. This is the strategic framework the company needs amid the evolving competitive landscape, he added.

The mindset can be summarized in one word: GLOCAL (Global + Local), combining the brand's JV heritage with localization to build cars for Chinese customers, utilizing Chinese tech, resources, and matching the speed of the local market, Zhou said.

For example, Dongfeng Nissan used to take four years to develop a new vehicle several years ago, but the cycle was shortened to 24 months last year, while the company works to cut it to 18 months this year, Zhou pointed out. Platformization, modularization, and the reuse rate of electronic architectures serve as a crucial tech foundation for improving the overall development speed, while also ensuring more stable quality, he added.

In an era of technological advancements where new advancements emerge daily, greater attention needs to be paid to auto software updates, he noted. For example, Dongfeng Nissan's over-the-air upgrades should be more convenient and should continuously evolve in line with tech progress, he pointed out.

In addition, Dongfeng Nissan should learn from new players and become a user-oriented company, striving to change the public's perception of the company as outdated and traditional, Zhou stressed.

Dongfeng Nissan has an internal team of 400 customer experience officers who regularly invite car owners for meetings with manufacturing, research and development, business, and design teams to provide feedback on new products, Zhou said. They identify any areas of dissatisfaction, while the carmaker uses the feedback to make improvements, he added.

"We have been listening to young customers, communicating in a way that they are willing to hear, rather than speaking from our own perspective to say what we want," Zhou said.

There are hundreds of car models competing in the Chinese market, but it is not necessary to focus too much on how strong the competitors are, he pointed out. Dongfeng Nissan is particularly concerned about whether its models can "resonate with customers," so it is better to spend more time understanding its clients instead of getting caught up in competing on price, equipment, or certain product features, he stressed.

"We do not advocate for a 'price war' among carmakers, but rather a 'value war,'" Zhou noted. "The industry's transformation continues, so everyone must keep moving forward."

Dongfeng Nissan announced the release of an electric sport utility vehicle, the NX8, earlier this month after launching two key new EV models last year, the N6 and the N7, which somewhat broke the market's skepticism that it "cannot excel in new energy vehicles."

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev