From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 60 Xingchen Automobile Logo Design

Song Guoqiang, the manager of the vehicle design department, brought over a sample of the car logo design.

Previously, the company had limited resources.

The design department, vehicle architecture department, and engineering technology department have been merged into the vehicle performance R&D department.

And now.

Because of the increased development, the design team underwent a round of expansion and became independent, with Song Guoqiang, the original design engineer, taking the lead and being responsible for the overall vehicle styling design, as well as interior and paint design.

To know.

The logos on the previous Starry Sky 01 and 02 were not designed at all, and even the interior was made using generic molds from the supply chain in order to save costs.

But it's different now.

As a formal car manufacturing company, the car logo is a clear point of recognition.

A good car logo design, even if it's not particularly aesthetically pleasing, at least won't create a negative feeling or resemble certain things too much, ultimately leading to an abstract direction.

Many domestic car companies, because they were established too early, were lucky to even sell their cars in the early 2000s. The lack of aesthetic appreciation in the general environment meant they never considered this point.

This led to the car logo being criticized for being ugly and not presentable.

Like the postmodern design that became popular a few years later.

In summary, the sources of sophistication are nothing more than a few:

Minimalist, profound, precise geometry, white space, and perfectly curved corners.

Adhere to the mindset of not seeking merit but avoiding mistakes.

Xu Yi used stars as a concept and had the design department design more than a dozen car logos according to his requirements. After repeated revisions, the final product was obtained.

The car's logo is very similar to the later Polaris logo, inspired by the North Star. The cross star logo is formed by two "L" shapes facing each other to create an intersection of orbits.

The design is simple and highly recognizable, with sharp lines and no unnecessary decorations.

Aside from names like "Xiaopeng" and "Nezha," which are often criticized because of their company names.

Car logos generally don't cause much discussion.

Most of the new energy vehicle companies that subsequently became popular in China designed their vehicles based on this concept: simple and clear.

……

Not everyone will like it.

But at least it better suits the aesthetics of younger audiences, and you can see a certain sense of design.

This is Xu Yi's assessment.

enough!
There's no problem dealing with the current environment.

When launching models in the million-level range in the future, similar to traditional car companies, they can also spend money to hire designers to redesign and refine the car logo.

"Let's choose this one for the car logo."

Xu Yi nodded.

In addition to the logo design, the company also underwent an internal restructuring.

First, Xingchen Automobile Factory was officially renamed Xingchen Automobile Company, which is solely responsible for the sales and after-sales service, channel management, and marketing of its automobile business.

Also.

A new company, "Xingchen Technology," was established and is wholly owned by Xu Yi. It is responsible for controlling most of the equity and voting rights of Xingchen Automotive, as well as controlling core assets such as R&D patents, brand/IP, and managing fixed assets such as factories and equipment.

All technology patents are applied for in the name of Star Technology, including internal server data and user data to be owned in the future.

To put it bluntly, the core concept is the same old "technology company controls assets, sales company bears the risks" model.

In addition, both Xingchen Technology and Xingchen Auto have similar agreements such as the "Agreement on Concerted Action", "Veto Clause", and "Equity Repurchase Agreement".

The specific provisions include: the founder and investors agree to vote on major decisions (such as mergers and acquisitions, capital increases), the founder retains the right to veto asset sales, patent licensing, and business transformation (even if the shareholding is less than 50%), and if the investors fail to achieve an IPO or key sales targets within 3 years, the founder can repurchase the shares at the original price plus 8% interest... This ensures that Xu Yi's absolute control and the founder's absolute position will not be shaken in any way.

Currently, Xingchen Motors has only developed one model, the "Xingchen Mini," but it has already registered more than 200 related patents, and the number is still increasing over time.

A large portion of these are design patents, while only a small portion are technology development patents.

……

By the afternoon.

"Mr. Xu, the organizers of the Shanghai Auto Show have replied, saying that they have secured an empty space in the T3 exhibition area."

Yu Nian has been busy with the promotion and launch of the new car recently.

Nowadays, mainstream automakers only use a few channels to promote and release new cars.

Advertising, online platforms, press conferences, and offline store promotional activities.

Unlike internet-connected mobile phones, traditional car manufacturers also need a considerable scale to hold a product launch event.

Otherwise, no one would pay attention or care at all.

Furthermore, it needs to be combined with extensive online promotion to generate a certain level of pre-launch buzz.

Xu Yi did want to hold a press conference.

Thus.

The system's affix buff effects can definitely be utilized.

However, after careful calculation, it was found that to hold an event that could attract the public at this stage, it would require at least a comprehensive online promotion across all platforms, a strong invitation to offline media and car reviewers to participate in dissemination and exposure, and even a top-tier celebrity endorsement to boost popularity. This would cost at least ten to twenty million yuan.

These costs are not a problem for them.

But there's another problem.

As an entry-level car, the Star Mini is not very suitable for a high-profile launch event or publicity campaign.

First of all.

Many car companies hold press conferences only after they have completed the initial sales accumulation and have developed their own platforms and technological reserves.

Even someone as powerful as Lei Jun (CEO of Xiaomi) took more than three or four years from announcing his first foray into car manufacturing to actually getting the car factory and R&D almost done.

They just held their first official technology launch event.

They started touting their self-developed platform, battery, motor and electronic control technologies, and other selling points of the car.

In this way, whether you are a car owner or a passerby who is attracted by the sights, at least you will have something to watch.

No matter what, it's the kind of show that's entertaining.

Many car companies invite celebrities not only to launch new platforms and technologies, but also to launch two or three new models, as well as some corporate culture or automotive industry records, maximizing the promotional effect of the launch event.

Simply put, having a selling point is just the most basic requirement; the key is to have technology and a high-end image!

Currently, their Star Cars only offers the Star Mini model.

It’s really too little.

In comparison, offline channels for promotion and public appearances are the fastest way for microcars.

On the offline channel side, in addition to opening up directly operated 4S stores, we directly utilized the car dealerships that originally sold old man's cars with high customer traffic for ready-made promotions. Secondly, we also opened up car dealerships in other cities as supplementary sales channels.

If you're looking for a public appearance that also attracts more media attention, the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show is an excellent choice.

……

　Ahem... Due to the overwhelming number of complaints about its ugliness, the car logo image has been deleted for now. We'll release a better design concept image later.

　　……

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(End of this chapter)