The new central state-owned enterprise, Chang'an, has also realized the need to generate online buzz.

Traffic power.

At the media communication meeting of China Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd. on July 30, 2025, this was a term repeatedly mentioned by senior executives such as Zhu Huarong, the Party secretary and chairman of the group, and Tan Benhong, the deputy Party secretary and director. Put simply, in order to achieve the ambitious goals after Changan Automobile was upgraded to a central - state - owned enterprise, this Chongqing - based automaker is planning to vigorously generate traffic.

"By 2030, China Changan Automobile aims to achieve an annual production and sales scale of 5 million vehicles, with new - energy vehicle sales accounting for over 60% and overseas sales accounting for over 30%. It will strive to rank among the top ten global automobile brands and become a world - class automobile brand." If you have no concept of the medium - term goals officially announced by Zhu Huarong, you can refer to its peers. In 2024, BYD, which was at the peak of its success, sold 4.27 million vehicles.

To accomplish this task, the new Changan needs the market explosive power derived from traffic.

There are many good cars, but not enough blockbusters

In the first half of 2025, Changan Automobile delivered a fairly good performance. Data shows that from January to June this year, Changan Automobile's sales reached a new high in the past eight years, reaching 1.355 million vehicles, among which new - energy vehicle sales were 450,000, a year - on - year increase of 48.8%.

However, Changan Automobile still faces great pressure in the second half of the year because the record - breaking sales in the first half have not even reached half of the annual target for 2025. It is reported that Changan Automobile's goal for this year is to achieve annual sales of 3 million vehicles, including 1 million new - energy vehicles, and the annual revenue is expected to exceed 350 billion yuan.

To reach such an annual target, Changan needs blockbuster models, which is exactly what it currently lacks relatively.

If a monthly domestic sales volume of 10,000 vehicles is set as the qualification line for a blockbuster model, among Changan's four major passenger - vehicle business segments, including Avita, Deepal, Changan Qiyuan, and Changan UNI, only a few models such as Changan CS75 PLUS, Eado, and Changan Lumin met the standard in the first half of this year. Looking specifically at these models with monthly sales of over 10,000 vehicles, the CS75 PLUS and Eado in the fuel - powered camp are both family products with over 10 years of accumulated good reputation. The Changan Lumin, a new - energy small car priced at around 70,000 yuan, has successfully stood out with its unique appearance and well - balanced product strength.

In fact, Changan had no shortage of high - profile good cars in the first half of the year.

In just April, three new models, the Avita 06, Deepal S09, and Changan Qiyuan Q07, entered the market one after another. In terms of product strength, these new cars all have eye - catching selling points. For example, the Avita 06 has pulled the brand's price threshold below 200,000 yuan and leads in core product features such as pure - electric driving range. Another example is the Deepal S09, which is the first 6 - seat large SUV in the market priced below 280,000 yuan equipped with Huawei's assisted - driving system.

However, these new cars have not yet become blockbusters. Terminal retail data shows that the Avita 06 reached a monthly sales peak of 6,386 vehicles in May and dropped to 5,842 in June. The sales of the Deepal S09 have been continuously increasing since its launch in April, reaching 3,250 in June. The Changan Qiyuan Q07 also maintained an upward trend after its launch and is the closest to the monthly sales threshold of 10,000 vehicles, with a sales volume of 9,546 in June.

"I've driven all of Changan's new models launched in the first half of the year. The cars themselves are quite good, but they lack market popularity. For example, as far as I know, many owners of the Qiyuan Q07 didn't know about the car at first. They were attracted by its appearance on the road, then got to know it, and finally bought it." On July 30, a senior car reviewer familiar with Changan Automobile told Yuan Auto.

How to turn good cars into blockbusters has become the most pressing issue for Changan Automobile to consider at present.

How was the "Evil Glutinous Corn" created?

When it comes to the question of how to create blockbusters, Changan Automobile can actually study its own Lumin carefully.

As mentioned above, the reason why the Changan Lumin has achieved blockbuster market performance with an average monthly sales volume of over 10,000 vehicles is not because of its positioning as an affordable new - energy small car with a top - end price of less than 70,000 yuan, but because of its unique appearance, which has even inadvertently become a cross - circle topic - the "Evil Glutinous Corn".

Glutinous Corn was the former name of the Changan Lumin. It was given the title of "Evil" because the shape of its headlights is distorted in an interesting way from the perspectives of the rear - view mirror and reversing camera. To onlookers, it is both meme - worthy and easy to resonate with. By entering "Evil Glutinous Corn" on platforms such as Xiaohongshu or Douyin, you can easily find a series of secondary - creation content based on the Changan Lumin. Most of the content has thousands of interactions, and the overall exposure may be in the hundreds of millions.

Of course, the Changan Lumin's success in standing out is a pleasant surprise that is hard to come by. However, delving into its underlying reasons, it is because of its unique design, which has attracted attention and successfully leveraged traffic. Looking back at the blockbuster new cars that have broken through in the entire automotive industry in the first half of the year, many of them have this common feature.

The Xiaomi YU7 has been the focus of discussion in the automotive circle since its debut because its appearance is reminiscent of the Ferrari Purosangue. The XPeng MONA M03 MAX has further boosted the popularity of the vehicle series and even the entire brand with a variety of new colors full of girlish charm, such as Starry Twilight Purple, and the appropriate choice of brand ambassadors.

In contrast, Changan Automobile has no shortage of design capabilities; in fact, it has always been strong in this aspect. However, whether it is Avita, Deepal, Changan Qiyuan, or Changan UNI, the exploration of design topics has only stayed at the original level. To implement the "seize traffic power" mentioned by senior executives, the key lies in how to package topics based on original designs that can resonate with target users and even the entire market.

Changan may only be short of a bit of topic imagination to mass - produce blockbusters.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Yuan Auto". Author: Yuan Meihui. Republished by 36Kr with permission.