In this era of electrification, intelligence and traditional fuel vehicles, automobiles are not only a symbol of industrial technological achievements, but also reflect the culture, technology and consumers' ardent expectations for a better life in the future. Today, young consumers, mainly post-95s and post-00s, have gradually joined the car buying army, and many car companies have started transformation around the "Z generation".
Lexus chose Wang Junkai as a spokesperson, Yi Qianxi and Yang Yang "cooperated" with BMW and Mercedes-Benz respectively, and Audi cooperated with Wang Yibo to launch the A3 joint version and the Q2L customized version. While luxury brands are scrambling to partner with popular traffic stars, their own brands are also changing to cater to younger consumers. Compared with the "star effect" focused on luxury brands, the approach of independent brands seems to be more grounded, that is, the launch of products with their own sports and modification style kits.
Perhaps it is the mastery of the "traffic code", the independent brand seems to be paying more and more attention to "modification" in the past two years, with four exhausts, large tails, and sports wheels mounted on a variety of mass-produced models. At this year's Chengdu Auto Show and Guangzhou Auto Show, many independent brands have come up with the latest modification plans for their popular products, which are all eye-catching. Today we will briefly take stock of several high-traffic, modification-free popular products launched by independent brands in 2021.
Dongfeng Wind God YiXuan MAX Dark Night Edition
Listing date: December 2021
The Yixuan MAX is a new car launched by Dongfeng Fengshen in 2021, which was unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show, which opened in April this year, and was officially launched in September. From the perspective of market price, YiXuan and the familiar Nissan Xuanyi and Geely Xingrui are market competitors. In December this year, Dongfeng Fengshen launched the Yixuan MAX Dark Night Edition, which contains two configuration versions, named "Dark Night Holy Light Edition" and "Dark Night Dawn Edition". The former is equipped with a 1.5T hybrid, matched with an E-CVT stepless transmission; the latter is a pure fuel version, also equipped with a 1.5T engine, with a maximum output of 140 kW and a peak torque of 300 Nm, matching a 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission.
The MAX Dark Night Edition offers only one exterior finish, black, or for a better modification atmosphere, it's also frosted and adds a gold body wrap, front bumper, and body trim. In addition to the special color scheme, the new front bumper is also newly designed, and the "V" type air intakes on both sides are filled with breathing cheek-type black wind knives, which is very visually impactful. The new car's tires are still 215/50 R17 in size, but are equipped with black multi-spoke wheels, eliminating the need for some owners to change colors later. The rear configuration is more exaggerated, the fixed large size rear wing, the two sides of the four exhausts and the aggressive rear diffuser, visually have to say, really have the taste of racing.
Relative to the exaggerated body appearance, the interior of the new car is somewhat restrained. In fact, in addition to the "black + gold" color matching, the interior of the new car is completely consistent with the ordinary version. It is understood that the new car is equipped with a 12.3-inch LCD instrument and a 10.25-inch touch central control screen, and the fur-turned seat looks more advanced. As the two cars in the top two prices of Dongfeng Fengshen Yixuan MAX, the configuration and functions of the "Dark Night Dawn Edition" and the "Dark Night Holy Light Edition" are actually slightly lower than those of the "Super Burning Cool Dad Edition" and the "Super Hot Dad Edition", so it seems that most of the budget of the new car is put on the appearance.
GAC Trumpchi Shadow Leopard Su Shen Limited Edition
Listing date: September 2021
When it comes to GAC Trumpchi Shadow Leopard, I believe that most netizens who pay attention to automobile information or sports events have an impression. Su Bingtian, the spokesperson of Shadow Leopard, ran an excellent time of 9.83 seconds in the 100-meter sprint at the Tokyo Olympic Games on August 1 this year, breaking the Asian record. GAC Trumpchi Shadow Leopard currently has two models closely related to the spokesperson, in addition to the Shadow Leopard J10 Flyer Edition, there is also a Sushin Limited Edition. The new car is equipped with a more three-dimensional exterior kit, such as a straight waterfall grille, a black rear diffuser, a four-out exhaust, etc. At the same time, as a limited edition model, the car adopts customized elements in many places, such as the pulling of the 9.83S and the exclusive code of the model printed in front of the co-pilot.
In terms of power, GAC Trumpchi Shadow Leopard Sushen Limited Edition is equipped with a 1.5T turbocharged four-cylinder engine with a maximum output of 130 kW and a peak torque of 270 Nm, matching a 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission and equipped with a four-wheel drive system. In addition, the overall configuration of the new car is also at a high level in the car series, equipped with gesture control, facial recognition, unlimited charging of mobile phones, and heating of front seats.
It should be noted that there are not many colors available for the new car, including two themes, namely J16 supersonic red exterior + black interior and J16 Haoyue gray exterior + black and yellow interior. Unfortunately, 983 cars are currently sold out.
MG 6 Pro
Listing date: August 2021
As a compact sedan, the mg 6 Pro currently on sale has a launch date earlier than the Dongfeng Fengshen Yixuan MAX Dark Night Edition and the GAC Trumpchi Shadow Leopard Sushen Limited Edition, which was officially launched on August 12 this year. The new car contains a total of four configuration models, and the power also adopts the power configuration of the 1.5T turbocharged engine + 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, with a maximum output of 133 kilowatts and a peak torque of 285 Nm, which is close to the fuel version in the Dongfeng Fengshen Xuan MAX Dark Night Edition.
Retaining some of the iconic elements of its own brand, MG 6 Pro has been interpreting the "track gene, sports king" through bright color matching and exaggerated accessories from beginning to end. Similar to the Dongfeng Fengshen Yixuan MAX Dark Night Edition, the front grille of the car adopts a bright black design, which forms a visually impactful "big mouth" after extending to both ends. The hub has a simple five-spoke design, the size is one circle larger than the Dongfeng Fengshen Yixuan MAX, and the internal calipers are also sprayed with bright red.
Coming to the rear of the car, the first thing that comes into sight is that the bright black fixed tail wing on the upper edge of the tailgate, the small slipback design with rounded taillights, makes it more recognizable in many compact cars. The tail exhaust adopts a more common bilateral single-out layout, and although the visual impact is slightly weaker than the four-out exhaust, compared with the classic small steel guns such as the Volkswagen Golf GTI and the Ford Focus ST, the double exhaust should be "enough".
Euler White Cat Little Wildcat Edition
Euler is an electric vehicle brand under Great Wall Motors, which has launched a variety of models including good cats, white cats, black cats, and many retro models including ballet cats, lightning cats, and punk cats. In the middle of August this year, Euler officially launched the white cat small wild cat version, although the name is a bit awkward, but the new car can be regarded as the white cat's "official reform" product, the starting price of the current model is 75,800-84,800 yuan, which is cheaper than the above several cars.
Compared with the normal version of the White Cat, the Little Wildcat version has a very track-like appearance. Unlike some of the individual modification cases we've seen, the Little Wildcat version features a more conservative two-tone design, with rose gold side skirts and front bumpers evoking a unique texture against the gray body. In addition, the new car is also equipped with two-color aluminum alloy wheels, and the central mesh position adds a sporadic check pattern to make the overall appearance more refined. When it comes to modified models, the rear of the car can not be ignored, its top is equipped with rose gold tail fins, the middle is a ribbon LED taillight, and the bottom bumper shape and details echo the front face.
Different from the above three models, Euler White Cat Little Wildcat is a pure electric vehicle model, after excluding the luck component, it will be easier to get on the card than the fuel car in Beijing and other cities with a queue lottery purchase restriction policy, and it is obviously more advantageous in the young consumer market that buys a car for the first time. In terms of power configuration, the new car is equipped with a low/high power electric motor with a maximum power of 35 kW and 45 kW, and a peak torque of 125 Nm and 130 Nm, respectively. In this era of 800 kilometers and 1000 kilometers, the endurance of the white cat small wild cat version is not dominant, only 360 kilometers and 401 kilometers are two choices, but in the segment of micro-electric vehicles, such endurance has basically been able to meet the travel needs of the city.
Cyber Tank 300
"Can I still buy the Cyber Tank 300?" That's part of what I said last week when I overheard a guy on the side of the road calling. Cyber Tank 300 is a configuration version of the Tank 300 model, the car declaration map was exposed in the second half of this year, and with the announcement of the price in August, the starting price is 308,000 yuan, which is the most expensive version of the current Tank 300 series. It is worth mentioning that the delivery of the Cyber Tank 300 was originally scheduled for December 11, but it was delayed, and it was reported that the new car would be officially delivered on December 27.
Compared with the tank 300, the appearance of the Cyber Tank 300 can show more personality, and the appearance of the painting and color matching has a strong sense of futurism. However, there are also many netizens on the appearance of the car, the wheel hub of this car is a little small, and it is better to change it to a larger one. The interior layout of the new car is basically the same as that of other versions of the tank, the main difference is the color matching, a large number of chrome parts and the "white + black" interior make the overall look very high-tech and luxurious.
In terms of power configuration, the Cyber Tank 300 and the current tank 300 use the same 2.0T engine, the maximum output power can reach 167 kilowatts, the peak torque can reach 387 Nm, and the transmission system matches an 8-speed manual transmission.
In addition to the above five products, the independent brands also exhibited a number of modified models at major domestic auto shows in 2021, such as BYD Yuan PLUS, Beijing Off-road BJ40 and Dongfeng Fengguang 500, and exhibited their respective "modified" versions at the Guangzhou Auto Show. In fact, the development of the domestic automobile modification industry is relatively slow, in addition to some people are not interested in modification, but also by the restrictions of policies and regulations. Although the modification restrictions have been relaxed in recent years, there are still strict requirements for the size specifications of the modification parts.
From this point of view, the "official car" launched by major car companies has a lot of peace of mind for young consumers who like to modify. Consumers do not have to worry about whether the modified parts are compliant, whether there will be quality and safety problems, and they can directly mention a product with a modified style from the dealer. In the face of an increasingly large number of young car buyers, many independent brands are constantly adjusting and transforming, most of the "official car reform" is in the early stage of listing, and it will take time to verify whether it can become a breakthrough.