Chinese automotive giant Changan Automobile has admitted brands from China can’t draw on heritage-inspired designs as “there is no heritage”.
Speaking with media at the Paris motor show, Klaus Zyciora, global chief executive advisor for Changan Automobile and its outgoing head of design – who was previously the head of design at the Volkswagen Group – said new Chinese brands like Changan’s Avatr, Deepal and Nevo can’t do retro designs like Citroen and Peugeot, as there is “no legacy” to draw from.
“I fully agree and understand that colleagues and capitalising on their legacy and heritage, and you know you look back on what has been successful in the past, what is iconic,” Mr Zyciora said.
“With Changan and other new brands, there is no heritage, so there is no legacy. We just started building it – so maybe in 20 years time we will then look back and say ‘how about an S05? That was actually not bad.’
“But at the moment, we are not able to do that, and it absolutely makes no sense [for us],” Mr Zyciora continued.
“We are bringing something to the table that is very deep from my point of view – value for money and quality, and you can sense that from the exterior and the interior [of our cars].”
Mr Zyciora’s comments come after a number of European legacy brands debuted new vehicles at the Paris motor show with retro-inspired designs, such as the reborn Citroen 2CV and Renault E-Space concepts.
Other brands like Volkswagen are also turning to their pasts for design inspiration, with the new ID. Tiguan electric SUV offering a retro-inspired digital instrument cluster layout inspired by the binnacle of the Mark 4 Golf.
Still, Changan’s executive team stressed the fact that the Chinese brand has been present in Europe for 25 years, opening its first European design centre in Turin, Italy, back in 2001.
Since then, Changan has opened the Avatr design centre in Munich, Germany, and established an R&D centre in Nottingham, UK in 2010, which was later moved to Birmingham.
Currently, the company says it has around 800 European employees, with plans to expand its workforce to 1200 within the next three years.
While Changan doesn’t have a design or engineering presence in Australia, the Deepal brand is already distributed Down Under by independent Inchcape, while the Avatr premium brand has been confirmed for 2027 as a factory-backed operation.
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