If it was half a year ago, if someone asked who was the "leader" of the new car-making forces, I believe that many people in the industry would not hesitate to answer "Wei Xiaoli"; but this question has become very interesting today.
In November, when the new energy vehicle market was frequently reported, in addition to Xiaopeng, Ideal, and Weilai continuing to play triumphant songs, Nezha Automobile, which was not obvious in the past, set a new record for delivery with an excellent report card of 10,013 new cars (an increase of 372% year-on-year and 24% month-on-month), and quietly gained a foothold in the first echelon of new car-making forces.
Although it is regarded as a "dark horse", the sudden emergence of Nezha Automobile is not without signs, since the listing of Nezha V series at the end of 2020, Nezha Automobile has continued to speed up, and has maintained a good momentum of steady increase in delivery for a long time. From January to November this year, Nezha Automobile delivered 59,547 units, an increase of 393% year-on-year, and its cumulative production and sales have exceeded 80,000 units since the start of sales in November 2018.
If this scale of production and sales can be stabilized, it means that the annual sales volume of Nezha Automobile can break through the industry's recognized "life and death line" - 100,000 vehicles, so as to obtain a higher right to speak in the industrial chain, more reasonable control of procurement costs and rhythms, and is of far-reaching significance to the healthy development and continuous growth of enterprises.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the sales volume of Nezha Automobile is "responsible" - the Nezha V series positioned in the "70,000-level intelligent technology cabin" contributed 7,027 vehicles in November alone, accounting for more than 70% of sales, of which individual users accounted for 91%, and the choice of ordinary consumers is undoubtedly the best proof of Nezha Automobile's breakthrough in the field of personal consumption.
Everyone must ask, compared with the huge investment of "Wei Xiaoli", and even the menacing traditional car manufacturers, is it "lucky" that Nezha Automobile can stand out of the crowd? Why continue to be invincible in the increasingly fierce market competition?
Nezha's "rise" is not a fluke, and the industry card slot is accurate and unique
Looking back at history, whether it is the initial announcement of car manufacturing by a number of new start-ups, or whenever a small number of "players" who have experienced "big waves" rushing out of the siege encounter setbacks, there is no shortage of cynicism inside and outside the industry, such as "kill Teslas in minutes", "new car-making forces can't live in 20XX years", "electric vehicle popularization is too early" Voices are still in the ears. However, in the context of global "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality", the speed of traditional fuel vehicles losing territory is much faster than imagined, and traditional car companies in the process of urgently transforming to electrification, intelligence and networking, whether it is product design, function setting, or marketing strategy, user operation, channel construction, invariably borrow from the new car-making forces they once "looked down on", because they found that the new forces are really replacing the tradition and opening up a new development model step by step.
The reason is that at the brand level, the younger generation of consumer groups are no longer eager for traditional brands recognized by their parents, and the personalized temperament brought by new power brands is more favored; and at the technical level, compared with intelligence, which is the core area of the "second half" competition of new energy vehicles, the advantages of traditional car companies in traditional manufacturing and handling performance obviously cannot make up for their gap in intelligence in the short term.
The four members of the "10,000-car club" in the new car-making forces are precisely the "high-end players" who define new energy vehicles with concepts such as "technology", "intelligence" and "futurism", and in the process of development, they can highlight the unique personality of their own brands through products and marketing strategies, so as to grasp the definition of products (that is, "what is a good smart electric vehicle") in their own hands, which is more than one floor higher than those car manufacturers who will only follow the trend and play "price wars".
As we all know, thanks to technological progress and the brand image improvement brought about by years of continuous promotion, electric vehicles have ushered in explosive growth this year, and the market segment and product structure have appeared in the "small and micro car field is basically occupied by electric vehicles" and "the luxury car field is increasingly dominated by electrification" Of the "two-end crowding" phenomenon, and the new forces represented by "Wei Xiaoli" are currently the most competitive models, are concentrated in the high-end market of more than 200,000 yuan, which makes the choice of the people-friendly route at the beginning. Nezha Automobile, which concentrated on challenging the biggest battlefield of traditional fuel vehicles in the price range of 100,000-200,000 yuan, seemed to be somewhat "maverick".
In fact, as early as 2015, when China's new energy vehicles were still in the early stage of cultivation, industry experts, including Ouyang Minggao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle Hundred Association, pointed out to the point that compared with the high-end electric vehicles that can be arbitrarily "heap configuration" and "heap battery", small and micro electric vehicles with the advantages of low purchase threshold, low cost of use, broad applicable scenarios, and less affected by subsidies also have greater market potential, so it is more conducive to the realization and popularization of intelligence.
Today, not only in China (2021 January to October 2021 small electric passenger car market share of up to 45%), including Germany (52%), France (62%), Italy (63%) and other Developed Countries in Europe, the booming small and micro electric vehicle market confirms this assertion, these cars with higher and higher appearance and longer mileage have become the "main force" to promote the popularity of new energy vehicles.
However, we should also soberly realize that electric vehicles are not equivalent to smart cars, such as Hongguang MINIEV, small ants and other high-market share of some "net red" products, in essence is still just a scooter, its intelligent functions, scientific and technological experience and those high-end new energy vehicles are still different from the cloud mud. In the next three to five years, the evolution of electric vehicles to intelligent electric vehicles has been the consensus of the industry, and whether it can bring consumers a real intelligent experience will become an important criterion for measuring whether an electric vehicle is good enough. Cars below 150,000 yuan account for about 70% of the total sales of all models in China, if this market is not opened, it means that smart electric vehicles will always be niche products, is a "toy" for a small number of people, and cannot be used by the majority of the people. Therefore, how to make intelligence a "new national standard" and achieve "equal rights in science and technology" is the most important topic for automobile practitioners.
The so-called "equal rights of science and technology", in short, refers to "one of the essences of scientific and technological progress, in fact, is a kind of equal rights, real technological innovation, should allow more people to enjoy the changes brought by technology to life." This view that science and technology benefit the public is being recognized by more and more people of insight. The "equality of science and technology" advocated by Nezha Automobile is not just as simple as adding intelligent configuration to entry-level electric vehicles, but hopes to shape the new order of the automobile industry from all angles such as research and development, manufacturing, marketing, and service, so that every consumer can enjoy the most advanced scientific and technological achievements brought by intelligent electric vehicles in the budget space and use scenarios he expects.
There are indeed different price ranges in the automobile market, and the "2021-2027 China Automotive Industry Competition Pattern Analysis and Investment Prospect Planning Report" released by Zhiyan Consulting shows that 49.2% of the sinking market users have a car purchase budget of 100,000-200,000 yuan, a budget of 500,000-100,000 yuan of car buyers account for 27.1%, and a budget of 300,000-500,000 yuan accounts for 7.1% of the car buyers. Mid-range cars in the range of 100,000-200,000 yuan are more favored by young people, which reflects the improvement of the consumption level of the market, the consumer's pursuit of vehicle durability and the balance of cost performance. Nezha Automobile adheres to the original intention of building cars for the people, and provides more intelligent experience and technological enjoyment in addition to daily car functions in the price range of 100,000-200,000 yuan. Think of what the people think and meet the needs of the people, in this sense, Nezha Automobile can be called a technology company with great ambitions.
Daniel Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Nezha Automobile
As Daniel Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Nezha Automobile, has repeatedly emphasized on many occasions, since its inception, Nezha Automobile has taken "making high-quality intelligent electric vehicles within reach" as its corporate vision, always adhering to the original intention of "building cars for the people", making Volkswagen products intelligent and making high-end products popular, and the Nezha V Pro, which was just listed in early November, is a vivid embodiment of Nezha Automobile's practice of the values of "science and technology equality".
Define the "threshold" for smart electric vehicles, where is the strength of Nezha V Pro?
"We firmly believe that based on saturated R & D investment, the support of the intelligent circle of friends, and the blessing of Internet technology, 100,000 yuan can also create a smart car." Daniel Zhang this is not false, as a pure electric SUV priced at only 76,900 yuan (long-endurance smart fun version) and 80,900 yuan (long-endurance smart version) after subsidies, this price point is quite close to the people even in the "star-studded" small electric vehicle market, but the "god operation" of Nezha V Pro has just begun.
With high-performance chips and the hard core support of up to 14 high-precision core sensing devices, Nezha V Pro can achieve richer intelligent driver assistance functions, including the leading L2 intelligent driver assistance system in the same class, covering core functions such as full-speed ACC adaptive cruise system/LKA lane keeping system/LDW lane departure warning system/AEB automatic emergency braking system, in addition to being equipped with FCW front collision warning system, BSD blind spot warning system, etc. DDW fatigue driving prompt system, TSR traffic sign identification system, TLR traffic light recognition system, SGW front car start prompt system, HBA far and near light automatic switching system and other auxiliary driving functions. The very practical automatic parking assistance system (APA), one-button remote control parking function, etc. are also readily available, so that the majority of urban users can easily control a variety of scenarios and working conditions, while bringing convenience to driving, but also improve driving safety to a certain extent.
Judging from the mainstream 100,000 yuan level electric vehicle models currently on the market, even if it is the Euler black cat, zero-run T03 and other competitors known for their intelligence, they are still much inferior to Nezha V Pro in terms of the richness of intelligent driving assistance functions; even with small fuel vehicles such as Gac Motor Honda Fit at the same price, Nezha V Pro can still win.
Nezha V Pro is also equipped with a newly upgraded 14.6-inch intelligent central control large screen, you know, the pre-priced "net red" tank 500 black samurai version is equipped with such a large screen, which is generally equipped with about 10 inches of screen for the same level of friendly business models is undoubtedly a "dimensionality reduction blow". It is worth mentioning that Nezha V Pro is also equipped with the only 360 information security protection of the same level, which can fully ensure the smooth operation of the car machine, protect the privacy and safety of the owner, and bring users a more relaxed and worry-free car experience. And this is only the first step for Nezha Automobile to build an intelligent security protection system, and subsequent users can also get more functions through OTAs, and experience intelligent travel life more easily and more securely.
The connotation of "science and technology equality" is far more than this, Nezha Automobile also pays great attention to the realization of "intelligent safety equality" and "driving performance equality" when creating this intelligent product. In terms of battery life that everyone is most concerned about, Nezha V Pro is equipped with H-EPT 3.0 constant temperature battery management system, which increases the mileage while extending battery life, especially making winter battery life more secure; and in terms of power and driving, Nezha V Pro not only uses a 70kW high-power motor, but also is equipped with ESC body stability system to prevent the vehicle from understeering or oversteering during rapid turning, dodging or avoidance, improving the safety and handling of the vehicle, and escorting the user's driving safety.
Looking at the experience of the development of the global automotive industry, emerging car companies in the rapid rise stage can often achieve key breakthroughs with a certain star model, in the past, Toyota relied on corolla to "become popular", and then Tesla relied on the Model 3 to "suppress the crowd". The Nezha V Pro is also such a phenomenon-level product, which is not only of great significance to Nezha Automobile itself, but also sets a new benchmark for the "intelligent pure electric SUV within 100,000 yuan" for this market segment. It is no exaggeration to say that this also gives new "players" who want to enter the small and micro electric vehicle market in the future a lot of "problems", if you can't launch a higher level of intelligent functions than Nezha V Pro, you are embarrassed to tell consumers that you are a smart electric vehicle.
Nezha re-evolved, from "science and technology equality" to "experience equality"
With a high-standard manufacturing base, a strict quality management system, a perfect product development verification standard system, and a strong production and manufacturing capability, Nezha Automobile has been able to ensure a stable delivery ability in 2021, when the "core shortage" is not only " and the raw material fluctuations are large, which is also where its confidence in practicing "scientific and technological equality" lies.
Not only that, this company also has a deep self-research ability that cannot be underestimated, and the full-stack self-developed intelligent safety car platform unveiled at the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show - "Shanhai Platform" is the advanced strength of Nezha Automobile to "build cars for the people" and practice "scientific and technological equality". In the future, Nezha Automobile will invest "100 billion people", that is, in terms of manpower investment, improve the gold content of the talent team, and will form a team of no less than 1,000 people, dedicated to the research and development of intelligent technology.
Interestingly, it is the high recognition of Nezha Automobile's pursuit of the values of "scientific and technological equality" and the ability of "craftsmen" that has attracted the "olive branch" from 360 and other partners. In October this year, Nezha Automobile announced the completion of the D1 round of financing of 4 billion yuan, that is, 360 Group led the investment of 2 billion yuan (accounting for 50% of the overall financing amount), CCB International, CITIC Securities Investment, Shenwan Hongyuan Hong Kong New Energy Industry Fund, Jifu Venture Capital and other investment institutions to follow the investment. When talking about why it is necessary to form a "car-making CP" with Nezha Automobile, Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 Group, stressed that the two sides will not do luxury cars, hoping to use the power of science and technology to make smart cars that the people can afford, and at the same time make them inferior to products with prices several times higher than it in terms of performance, experience and safety.
Huawei, Horizon, SenseTime... In the growing circle of friends of Nezha Automobile, the arrival of the Ningde era is also of great significance. On November 8 this year, Nezha Automobile and CATL officially signed a strategic agreement. In addition to participating in the D2 round of financing, CATL will strategically invest in Nezha Automobile. In addition to providing the core guarantee of power batteries, it will also jointly develop innovative integration technologies for new energy vehicles with Nezha Automobile.
The latter one has also aroused the high attention of the power battery industry, and the industry has speculated that the power battery high-efficiency group (Cell To Pack) technology and the more sophisticated CTC "Cell to Chassis" technology in the Ningde era are expected to be installed on Nezha cars in the future. Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde Times, once revealed that CTC technology can make the cruising range of electric vehicles reach more than 1,000 kilometers, so that the cost of new energy vehicles directly competes with fuel vehicles, and such a powerful "black technology" leans forward, which undoubtedly makes Nezha Automobile's future products more and more promising.
From Nezha V Pro, it is not difficult to find that the "science and technology equality" values pursued by Nezha Automobile are being realized step by step through "equal driving performance", "equal rights in riding space", "equal rights in human-computer interaction", "right to use costs", "intelligent safety equal rights", etc., and with the continuous upgrading of Nezha Automobile's full life cycle service capabilities, the "puzzle" of "service quality equality" is also being improved.
In terms of marketing innovation, Nezha Automobile comprehensively improves the user experience and service quality through the mode of direct operation and parallel to the city partner model, and full online and offline coverage. By the end of 2021, the number of Nezha Auto directly operated stores will reach nearly 70, and the number of city partner franchise stores will exceed 260. It provides a broad platform for reaching users with products and services at zero distance.
On the other hand, Nezha V Pro provides new car buyers with three lifetime free car services - lifetime free triple electric warranty (limited to the first non-operating private car owner, the annual mileage does not exceed 30,000 kilometers), lifelong free road rescue, lifetime free car network traffic (monthly 5G traffic), to provide Nezha car users with a full range of car protection. As the trump card service of Nezha Automobile in the construction of the travel ecosystem, Nezha power-up service is accelerating with the support of partners such as State Grid, Star Charging and Little Orange Charging, and has completed the layout of Nezha power-up in 100 cities across the country, with 1525 free charging stations and 14399 DC charging piles, thus bringing users more complete and convenient charging services.
Let high-quality service is no longer the "privilege" of luxury cars and high-priced products, with the power of science and technology, let the experience beyond the expectations of the people come to the smart electric vehicle with a more affordable price, which is the goal of Nezha Automobile's evolution from "science and technology equality" to a deeper "experience equality", and this will surely bring a more exciting future for smart electric vehicles!