Changan design executive Klaus Zyciora said at the Paris motor show that the company’s newer brands, including Avatr, Deepal and Nevo, lack the long histories that European automakers can draw on for heritage-led designs. Zyciora, a former Volkswagen Group design chief and now Changan’s global chief executive advisor, said the company is focused instead on quality and value. He suggested that Changan may eventually look back at today’s models as part of its own design legacy, but that the company is still creating it.
His remarks came as established European brands presented retro-influenced vehicles and concepts in Paris, including Citroen and Peugeot projects, while Volkswagen has also drawn on past models for details in its electric ID. Tiguan. Changan’s view is that such references make more sense for brands with decades of recognisable history behind them.
The company says it has operated in Europe for 25 years and opened its first European design centre in Turin in 2001. It later established an Avatr design centre in Munich and an R&D centre in the UK, first in Nottingham in 2010 and later in Birmingham. Changan reports about 800 employees in Europe and plans to grow that number to 1,200 within three years. In Australia, Deepal is distributed by Inchcape, while Avatr is due to arrive as a factory-backed operation in 2027.