Dongfeng established an independent entity “Yipai Technology”, giving it full autonomy to integrate the three major brand resources of Fengshen, Yipai and Nano, and strive to compete for the mainstream of 8-250,000 yuanNew energyMarket.
Drawing on Lantu’s experience in achieving rapid growth through flexible and independent mechanisms, can the new company overcome fierce competition and replicate similar breakthrough performance?
Establishment of Yipai Technology,Reproduction”Lantu”mode？
Recently, Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. Yipai Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yipai Technology”) was officially established. This is not only the birth of a new subject, but also the chess game of the integration of the large passenger car system that has been brewing within Dongfeng for a long time, and it has fallen a key piece.
Dongfeng broke the convention this time, and did not name the new company after its mature brands such as Fengshen or Nano, but directly adopted the name Yipai, which triggered a lot of speculation about brand integration in the industry.
Some voices believe that the nano brand may be included in the unified management of Yipai Technology, while Fengshen will temporarily maintain independent operations, and the follow-up Dongfeng independent sector may be independently integrated. Dongfeng said: “The establishment of the new company is mainly to focus on new energy transformation, and there is no information to disclose on brand integration. However, Dongfeng also revealed,atUnder Yipai Technology, Yipai brand, nano brand, and Fengshen brand will be closely linked.
How the three major brands will evolve in terms of product positioning and differentiation in the future, Dongfeng’s follow-up strategic layout is exciting.
Image source: Dongfeng Motor
Independence is for deeper and better coordination. As soon as Yipai Technology was established, it was entrusted with the important task of promoting the efficient collaboration of “research, production, supply and marketing services”. Its core architecture is designed to improve efficiency: for the first time, the new company has complete closed-loop authority covering independent R&D, with special additions to the styling and development department, production, marketing and supply chain management.
Crucially, Dongfeng has established the decision-making principle of “group management results, Yipai management process”, aiming to give new entities the flexibility and decision-making autonomy to quickly respond to the market. This mechanism is the core essence of the “Lantu model” that Dongfeng regards as a successful model.
To support this independent and efficient operating entity, Dongfeng has poured strong talents and technical resources. Wang Junjun, former CTO of Lantu Automobile and deputy director of Dongfeng Technology Center, was transferred to the general manager of Yipai Technology, and this “post-80s” technical cadre once promoted the “24-hour rotation” system in the Qiankun version of Dreamer to ensure that products are delivered on schedule.
At the same time, Cheng Jun, vice president of Dongfeng R&D Institute, served as the chief engineer of Yipai. With Cheng Jun’s joining, there is also a strategic transfer of the core strength of the R&D Institute – the passenger car development center and the overseas model platform project team will be integrated into Yipai Technology as a whole.
According to the news, nearly half of the personnel of the R&D Institute will eventually be transferred to the new company to ensure that it has independent and strong R&D capabilities.
The depth and breadth of resource integration mark Dongfeng’s complete farewell to the constraints of the past. The core mission of Yipai Technology is to completely reverse the situation of the three major brands of Fengshen, Yipai and Nano in the past of “fighting separately, technology is scattered, and resources are exhausted”. Through the deep integration of the whole value chain such as business and enterprise, R&D, production, supply chain, sales and service, Dongfeng expects to achieve technology standardization and large-scale application, so as to reduce the overall cost, shorten the R&D cycle, and form a joint force.
The strategic goal of the new company is extremely clear: focus on the mainstream new energy market of 80,000-250,000 yuan, take the Yipai brand as the core starting point, and form a differentiated new energy brand matrix covering the whole area of Dongfeng with Lantu (high-end intelligence) and Mengshi (luxury off-road) to achieve coordinated operations.
The success of VOYAH undoubtedly provides a model for the path of Yipai Technology. Looking back on the past, Lantu has gone through six years of exploration, although the process is not easy, but its explosive power after independent operation is remarkable: sales in the first five months of 2025 will reach 46,075 units, a year-on-year increase of 85%.
The luxury MPV Dreamer created by it is the world’s first to be equippedHuaweiThe MPV of Qiankun Intelligent Driving ADS3.0 and HarmonyOS Cockpit 4.0 has continued to lead the market segment since its launch in September 2024, with the average price of a bicycle exceeding 390,000 yuan, becoming a high-end benchmark for Dongfeng Motor.
The core value of the VOYAH model lies in the decision-making power closer to the market, a more agile response mechanism, and a more focused resource investment through independent entities. Yipai Technology is a reproduction and extension of this successful logic.
Dongfeng’s ambition in the new energy track not only requires Lantu’s banner in the high-end market, but also urgently calls for a “fist force” that can expand its territory and fight efficiently in the largest and most competitive mainstream market of 8-250,000 yuan.
The birth of Yipai Technology is far more than the establishment of an independent company. It carries Dongfeng Motor’s deep expectations for the independent passenger car business, especially the breakthrough of new energy transformation. By deeply integrating resources, learning from success genes, and focusing on mainstream tracks, Dongfeng is trying to forge a new subject with more combat effectiveness and market sensitivity internally.
When the resources are completed and the model verified by Lantu is promoted, whether Dongfeng can truly achieve systematic breakthroughs in the field of new energy, Yipai Technology will become the most critical touchstone.
The east wind broke the game
The official establishment of Yipai Technology is not a simple brand restructuring, but a profound revolution launched by Dongfeng towards efficiency after more than ten years of twists and turns in the “big autonomy” strategy and the foreshadowing of initial integration in 2023.
From the unification of the management structure to the complete decision-making power and resource allocation power given to independent legal entities, the birth of Yipai Technology marks that Dongfeng’s independent passenger car business has moved from “physical integration” to “chemical reaction”.
Looking back on the journey of Dongfeng Autonomous Passenger Car, the “big autonomy” strategy was once a grand idea of aggregating forces.
In 2011, Dongfeng tried to twist its scattered joint ventures, independent and parts sectors into a rope through this strategy to end the situation of fighting independently.
However, the ideal is plump and the reality is skinny. As the core lineage, Dongfeng Passenger Car Company has an extremely complex system, and several helmsmen have been rotated in the past ten years, and it has never been able to form a strong strategic focus. Even though Dongfeng Passenger Car has always been the most important existence on the group’s independent territory, it is difficult to burst out with due energy in the fierce market competition.
The turnaround began in 2023. In the face of the new energy wave and the fleeting transformation window, Dongfeng launched the “Three-Year Action for Transformation and Upgrading”.
In August of the same year, Dongfeng made a key move: to establish Dongfeng Passenger Car Sales Co., Ltd. and Dongfeng Passenger Car Manufacturing Headquarters, and implement the “three concentrations” of marketing, manufacturing, commodity planning and project management for the three major brands of Fengshen, Yipai and Nano – commercial enterprise concentration, manufacturing concentration and marketing concentration. This initiative aims to compress the management hierarchy, improve decision-making efficiency, and unlock synergy potential.
The reform has had an immediate effect, and Dongfeng’s own brand sales will reach 1.37 million units in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 34.8%, accounting for more than half of the group’s total sales, and a beautiful turnaround.
Image source: Dongfeng Motor
However, under the growth trend, it is still necessary to continue to break through key areas. The influence of new energy brands needs to be improved urgently, and the market popularity needs to be activated for a long time, and there are broad opportunities to create “explosive” products that detonate the market. At the same time, the “iron triangle” mechanism of “business-enterprise-R&D-sales”, which drives product success, has significant room for optimization in terms of collaborative efficiency and cost control.
At the same time, the sudden change in the external environment has forced Dongfeng to completely focus on itself. The original restructuring plan with China Ordnance Equipment Group, becauseChina Ordnance Equipment GroupThe separation of independent central enterprises has changed.
The external cooperation path is blocked, and strengthening internal independent capacity building has become the only and necessary choice for Dongfeng. The key to breaking the game is whether it can achieve a qualitative leap in efficiency and coordination. The establishment of Yipai Technology is Dongfeng’s general attack on the core pain points.
This is by no means a simple continuation of the “three concentrations” in 2023, but a substantive operation that has been upgraded from unified management of the group to a complete decision-making chain and resource allocation power.
An industry analyst pointed out pointedly: “In the past, the three major brands fought separately, and the application of technology was scattered, making it difficult to form a joint force. After this integration, Dongfeng is expected to achieve technology standardization and large-scale application, shorten the R&D cycle, and improve market response speed. ”
The independent Yipai Technology has been entrusted with the core mission of tackling tough problems: to eradicate the chronic diseases that could not be eradicated in the previous stage of integration, such as low efficiency, poor coordination and high costs, and to build a deeply integrated and efficient combat platform for the three major brands.
Dongfeng’s strategic choice is clearly in line with industry benchmarks. Local state-owned enterprise giant GAC Group implemented the “Panyu Action”, integrating the marketing forces of Trumpchi, Aion and even Haobo, and promoting the tilt of all-factor resources to the independent front line. Geely Holdings, a leading private car company, has established a new ZEEKR Technology Group, deeply integrates ZEEKR and Lynk & Co brands, implements “dual brand drive”, fully integrates the manufacturing system and supply chain, and builds an integrated and strong consortium.
The independent operation of Dongfeng Yipai Technology is the crystallization of the same destination as GAC and Geely – on the new track of new energy, which requires rapid response and flexible decision-making, only by breaking the old shackles and operating with independent and focused entities can we maximize the vitality of innovation and market combat effectiveness.
Dongfeng Group has high hopes for Yipai Technology. In the future, this new independent entity will rely on the group’s deep brand accumulation, technical reserves and industrial chain advantages to continue to optimize brand and channel construction, and adhere to user-centered polishing of products and services. More importantly, it will integrate the resources of the whole value chain with a more flexible operating mechanism and compete for the initiative in the brutal battle of the new energy market.
What Yipai Technology carries is the surging momentum of Dongfeng to accelerate the pace of transformation and upgrading and realize the strategic blueprint of “three leaps and one new”.
The establishment of Yipai Technology is Dongfeng’s face to the pain points of the past and declares war, and it is also a key strategic card for the future new energy decisive battle. In China’s auto market, which is full of giants, only by completely opening up the two veins of Ren and Du and realizing the optimal allocation of resources and the agility and efficiency of decision-making can Dongfeng truly release its power as an automobile “national team”. The independence of Yipai is a key leap for Dongfeng to break the deep waters, and this race about efficiency and the times has just entered the most intense stage.
The way to break through in the low-end new energy market
atNew energy vehiclesIn the wave of 80,000 to 250,000 yuan, this battleground is not only the absolute main battlefield of domestic automobile consumption, but also the Red Sea with the most fierce competition. BYD, Geely, GAC Aion and a number of new forces are fighting fiercely here.
Yipai Technology, a subsidiary of Dongfeng Company, is trying to open up its own waterway in this sea area and compete for the key space for future survival and development.
Dongfeng’s 2025 sales target of “anchoring 3 million units and challenging 3.2 million units” is like a high-hanging battle flag, of which new energy vehicles crossing the threshold of one million units are a key battle.
The integrated new system allows resources to be concentrated and the goal is more focused – to deeply cultivate the mainstream market and release synergy potential. The three major brands of Fengshen, Yipai and Nano have been given a clear and complementary strategic positioning under the new structure: Fengshen sticks to the basic market of 100,000-150,000 yuan with reliable hybrid technology; Nano focuses on smart pure electricity, with the edge of Nano 06 pre-sale orders exceeding 10,000 in 1 hour, and strongly develops the blue ocean of national cars below 100,000 yuan; Yipai, on the other hand, shoulders the mission of Dongfeng to break the game in the mainstream mid-range electric market, facing strong opponents such as BYD Han, GAC Haobo, and Xpeng P7.
Image source: Dongfeng Motor
However, to gain a foothold in the mid-range market surrounded by strong competitors, it is not enough to rely on existing products alone. Dongfeng is well versed in technology sinking and inclusiveness are the key weights to win the future.
Dongfeng’s profound technical accumulation – self-developed technologies such as Tianyuan architecture and Mach power are its solid backing. But the real “trump card” in the hands of Yipai Technology is the strategic bundle with the technology giant Huawei.
It is reported that from the signing of a comprehensive intelligent vehicle strategic cooperation agreement in January 2025, covering the three core areas of intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving and electric, to the rapid promotion of DH joint co-creation projects in the second quarter, and then to the substantive implementation of Dongfeng Passenger Car Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. in Chengdu in April, every step demonstrates the determination of deep binding. It is understood that the future cooperation new car will be produced at DPCA’s Chengdu plant, and this new company will take on the heavy responsibility of sales, channels and user operations.
This model has a clear path: learn from Huawei’s successful experience in empowering the world, create a set of standards, replicate a set of playing styles, and integrate a set of resources to achieve independent operation. Its core goal is to point to the key pain points: how to efficiently and high-quality “sinking” Huawei’s cutting-edge intelligent technologies (such as Qiankun intelligent driving system and HarmonyOS cockpit) on high-end models to achieve true “inclusive technology”.
The hot sales of Nano 06 have initially confirmed the market attractiveness of the technology inclusive strategy, and Yipai urgently needs to amplify this demonstration effect on higher-end product lines and transform Huawei’s empowered intelligent experience into its core weapon to challenge the mainstream mid-to-high-end market.
The innovation of channels and service networks is another tough battle that must be won. In the face of electrification transformation, the traditional distribution system is facing great challenges. Yipai Technology is accelerating the laying of hundreds of sales and service networks focusing on new energy, and at the same time promoting the accelerated capability transformation of existing dealers to achieve seamless switching of “oil and electricity sales”.
The flexibility of the mechanism and system is a significant advantage that distinguishes Yipai Technology from the traditional system of Dongfeng. Independent operation gives it greater decision-making space and agility in terms of rapid product iteration, flexible pricing, marketing innovation, etc., allowing it to more keenly capture the pulse of market changes and user needs.
The deeper core competitiveness lies in the establishment of Yipai Technology, and Dongfeng is focusing on creating a closed loop of the whole value chain covering “research, production, supply, marketing and service”. This integrated model can greatly accelerate the implementation process of technology from the laboratory to the mass-produced vehicle, effectively control costs, and is the core capability barrier to cope with the rapidly changing new energy market and achieve rapid iteration.
It can be said that this integration is the deep integration and independent operation of resources in the true sense of Dongfeng Da’s independent passenger car sector, and its potential is worth looking forward to.
The ultimate goal of integration is to improve the systematic ability to create explosive star models. In the future, with the support of concentrated investment in R&D resources and efficient coordination of marketing systems, Yipai Technology is expected to concentrate its efforts to launch more “fist products” with high attention and explosive order power in the mainstream market, completely reversing the status quo of insufficient brand presence.
On the whole, Yipai Technology’s journey in the mainstream battlefield of 80,000-250,000 yuan is a systematic battle integrating strategic focus, resource integration, technology sinking and model innovation. Whether it can successfully transform high-end technology into competitiveness in the mainstream market, continue to create phenomenal explosive models, and make the renewed channel network operate efficiently directly determines whether it can truly break through the waves in the tragic Red Sea and become the mainstay of Dongfeng Group’s sprint to the 2025 million new energy goal.
Epilogue:
Dongfeng integrates low-end brands through Yipai Technology, accurately reproducing the essence of the “Lantu model” at the mechanism level, and has significant opportunities in terms of market, resources, and technology.
However, in the face of complex brand integration, fierce market competition and the challenges of the implementation of cooperation models, its success is by no means easy, let alone smooth. The key to whether Yipai Technology can truly achieve explosive growth in the “Landia style” lies in the execution efficiency of its resource integration, its ability to continuously create explosive products, and the final results of its cooperation model with Huawei. This will be the core battlefield to observe the success or failure of Dongfeng’s independent new energy transformation.
