Reported by Pulsestacks on May 22
"It's a kind of freedom, an experience of facing everything head-on. The sunlight on your face, feeling the engine's pulse, everything feels so real."
"I love the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair. Even though I don't have much hair left, that sensation is still indescribably wonderful."
"Perhaps you storm off from work in a fit of anger, go for a little run, and after not running far, suddenly realize that all the pressure and anxiety have disappeared, and now you are free."
The 2013 documentary "Why We Ride" directed by Bryan Carroll portrays the "knightly sentiment" in speed, sunlight, family, friendship, and the liberating wind, so vivid and concrete.
Here, the spirit of challenge, courage, passion, freedom, and perseverance of the knights is no longer just an image.
This spiritual force that underpins motorcycle riding culture, in every twist of the throttle, resonating with the roar of the engine, ignites a "fire" in those moments.
Great Wall Motors Chairman Wei Jianjun and his 40-year-old "old buddy" Happiness 250
Wei Jianjun, the "auspicious age" Chairman of Great Wall Motors, is also a motorcycle rider. He enjoys riding in the mountains along the Longxi Road by the Yishui Lake and will honk at fellow riders coming from the opposite direction as a gesture of greeting.
Forty years ago, Wei Jianjun acquired his first motorcycle, a single-cylinder, air-cooled, two-stroke, 239cc Happiness 250.
The prototype of this motorcycle is the JAWA250 motorcycle produced in Czechoslovakia (although produced in Czechoslovakia, the true prototype was a military motorcycle from Germany during World War II). In 1959, the Shanghai Bicycle Factory selected the JAWA250 for replication, successfully producing the first batch of 5 prototype vehicles in 1960. Initially, they were mainly used by the military, public security, postal, and telecommunications departments, and in the 1980s, they began to target the civilian market.
In an era dominated by 100cc motorcycles, the Happiness 250 truly lived up to its "time" with its large displacement.
Being a high-displacement rider is a "conditionally passionate" pursuit.
The "conditions" are not just about economic foundations.
In fact, motorcycle riding is not an easy sport: it requires better physical coordination, high levels of concentration, and the ability to anticipate road conditions ahead;
It is not a "comfortable" sport: without the protection of a high-strength steel shell, riders have to face the scorching sun and rain; without collision prevention systems or airbags, all safety is in their own hands, requiring constant focus and respect for speed.
In simple terms, it requires wealth, skills, principles, and foresight. These are the conditions that give direction to this "passion".
Great Wall creates "soulful" motorcycles, but it is "conditionally" so.
"Soul" Knight: Wei Jianjun, Chairman of Great Wall Motors
Apart from the founder's passion and love, Great Wall's confidence in entering the motorcycle industry lies in having both the funds and the technology.
In the fiercely competitive automotive market, Great Wall Motors achieved a total operating income of 173.212 billion yuan in 2023, with a net profit of 7.023 billion yuan. In the just concluded first quarter of 2024, Great Wall Motors delivered its best quarterly financial report ever, with revenue of 42.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47.6%. The net profit attributable to the parent company was 3.228 billion yuan, a 17-fold increase year-on-year, with both unit revenue and gross profit reaching a quarterly record high.
Great Wall Motors Q1 2024 Financial Report
In the first quarter of 2024, Great Wall Motors' research and development expenses amounted to 19.60 billion yuan, representing a 27.73% year-on-year increase.
Great Wall Motors' continuous investment in research and development has led to numerous technological breakthroughs in the Chinese automotive manufacturing industry, such as China's first 3.0T V6 high-displacement turbocharged engine, 9-speed automatic transmission, and 9-speed dual-clutch transmission, filling the gap in China's high-end powertrain sector.
It is these accumulated technological advancements that have made it possible for them to manufacture engines that rival 8-cylinder high-displacement motorcycle engines.
The H8+8DCT Powertrain
Great Wall's flagship model features a unique powertrain with an 8-cylinder engine and an 8-speed DCT transmission. It incorporates Great Wall's most advanced technologies in suspension, infotainment, audio system, lighting, and intelligent connectivity.
The front face design is inspired by the "Chinese Lion Dance," with the front and rear lights complementing each other when the headlights are on. The dynamic car language feature is the finishing touch, with the slowly opening eyes of the lion exuding a sense of ceremony. This lighting system is from Mandel Optoelectronics, a subsidiary under the Great Wall Motors group.
According to public reports, the dual-arm front suspension used by the Soul Motorbike is a breakthrough structure that surpasses Honda's patented technology. It is developed and produced by Jingcheng Gongke, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Great Wall Motors. The frame is made using an integrated die-casting process. In terms of intelligence, it features a 12.3-inch LCD touchable liquid crystal instrument panel and a car-grade 8155 chip, supporting OTA remote upgrades. It is equipped with EPB automatic parking, walking speed mode, intelligent voice control, rear warning system, blind spot monitoring, and other technological configurations, which can be understood as an intelligent cockpit of a car without a roof.
The Great Wall Soul Motorcycle and Tank 700Hi4-T
Wei Jianjun bluntly stated that the development of the Soul Motorcycle completely follows the research and development process in the automotive field, and in terms of performance, quality, and service, it is built to the standards of high-end passenger cars. "In the motorcycle field, the only company that can build motorcycles like this may be the Great Wall Soul."
This is a "dimensional reduction attack" on the Chinese motorcycle manufacturing field, as well as a leapfrog in the Chinese motorcycle manufacturing field.
Wei Jianjun openly stated that Great Wall is determined to inscribe "soul" into the history of high-end motorcycles in China.
"China lacks high-end heavy motorcycles, does not have its own high-end motorcycle brand, and lacks its own motorcycle culture. Motorcyclists have always chosen brands like BMW, Honda, and Harley. While paying tribute to these excellent motorcycle brands, I have also been thinking that China should have its own high-end motorcycle brand."
China is a major producer and seller of motorcycles, with an annual output and sales exceeding 20 million units, accounting for nearly half of the global motorcycle production and sales. Its products are exported to over 180 countries and regions worldwide. In other words, for every two motorcycles sold globally, one is manufactured in China.
Unfortunately, China does not have its own high-end motorcycle brands.
In the late 1990s, Chinese motorcycles surged into the Southeast Asian market with low prices, once capturing an 80% market share in Vietnam. Data shows that at that time, a Japanese brand motorcycle (using a 100cc engine as an example) was priced at around $2,000 in the Southeast Asian market, while Chinese motorcycles were priced at around $700-800, and some even as low as $500. This "rock-bottom" or even "dirt-cheap" pricing strategy pushed Japanese brands to the edge of the market.
After rapidly dominating the Southeast Asian market, Chinese motorcycle companies did not focus on technological and quality upgrades but intensified the "price war," often sacrificing quality. Frequent breakdowns, major repairs every three years, and scrapping after five years became the indelible stereotype of Chinese motorcycles in the local market. There were even rumors of some companies disassembling used Japanese motorcycle engines, reassembling them with steel pipes, repainting them, and selling them for $100 to make huge profits before disappearing.
Over 20 years later, the quality of Chinese motorcycles has made significant progress, but this improvement is limited to basic transportation vehicles. In the category of high-end motorcycles with medium to large engine displacements, which are expected to dominate 80% of the motorcycle industry's profits in the future as a leisure and recreational lifestyle choice, the presence of Chinese brands is almost negligible.
The launch of the Great Wall Soul fills the gap in the Chinese brand's absence in the mid-to-large displacement motorcycle market, opening a door to the high-end market for the Chinese motorcycle industry.
Among the world's leading automotive companies, only a few produce both cars and mid-to-large displacement motorcycles - BMW, Honda, Suzuki, and Peugeot.
Great Wall Motors is the fifth company globally and the only one in China to showcase top-tier two-wheeled heavy machinery as a complete vehicle manufacturer.
The Soul Motorbike has opened a historic moment in the history of Chinese motorcycles, while also providing a window for the public to rediscover the technological strength of Great Wall and the passionate aspirations of its founder.
This is a "hardcore empowerment" that is difficult to replicate by any "roof climbing" or "door opening" type of sensational marketing. The topicality, attention, and positive energy brought by the Great Wall Soul are once again a forward-looking victory for the "traffic master" Wei Jianjun.
In conclusion:
A sincere, passionate, and mechanically inclined helmsman, full of love for the beauty of machinery, is an irreplaceable business card for an automotive brand. In the wave of the automotive industry going all in on "learning from Xiaomi" marketing, "Soul Knight" Wei Jianjun has found the right way to engrave into the DNA of Great Wall.
