Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Liao Wei
"I bought it because I didn't have a choice."
Recently, a high-he-he-car owner, Mr. Li (pseudonym), revealed to Times Finance the reason for his purchase of High-he-He HiPhi X. Another car owner believes that Mercedes-Benz BMW has become a "street car", which can be seen everywhere, and he hopes to meet his curiosity.
Although the reasons are different, according to times financial observation, the owners of Gaohe HiPhi X have a common label - "not bad money".
"In the past November, Gaohe Automobile has delivered more than 700 units in a single month, with an average transaction price of 700,000 yuan, which is equivalent to about 7,000 units of ordinary electric vehicles sold a month." Ding Lei, chairman of Huaren Express (the parent company of Gaohe Automobile), recently said at the roundtable of the 2021 China Entrepreneurs Boao Forum.
On December 13, Gaohe Automobile told Times Finance that "since the delivery of Gaohe HiPhi X, sales have risen steadily, and as of November, the cumulative delivery of more than 3,300 vehicles nationwide has been completed."
It is worth mentioning that unlike today's spirit, when Gaohe HiPhi X debuted at the 2020 Beijing Auto Show, its official guidance price of 570,000 yuan to 800,000 yuan was questioned by public opinion, and many netizens even directly asserted, "Who will spend 800,000 yuan to buy a domestic car?" Or an electric car."
However, since the opening of national user delivery in May this year, the delivery volume of Gaohe HiPhi X has gradually increased, and its sales in September once surpassed some pure electric models of luxury brands such as Porsche Taycan, Mercedes-Benz EQC, Audi e-tron, etc., ranking first in the domestic sales list of luxury car brand electric vehicles of more than 500,000 yuan.
The achievements of Gaohe HiPhi X in the market segment have refreshed the Chinese people's understanding of independent brands, and also derived a new question - who is buying Gaohe?
Source | Chinese Express official website to buy it because there is no choice?
"I need a car with a high value that can be used for home and business, and has strong performance." Mr. Li, the owner of the car, said, "The ElfaBek GL8 and the like are not very good, the ES8 home flavor is too heavy, the EHS9 looks good but it is too old-fashioned, Cullinan can't afford it, and I only drive a tram and don't drive a gasoline car."
After many studies and comparisons, Mr. Li believes that the only models that meet his requirements are Tesla Model X and Gaohe HiPhi X, and finally Mr. Li chose the latter. He believes that although the model X has a good driving sense and software, when it buys a car, the old model of the model has been on the market for a long time, the interior is a bit simple, and the new model needs to wait for a long time. The High He HiPhi X is a new model, the shape, driving sense, sense of technology, power compared to the Model X is not much different, the service attitude and owner rights are also good, and the founder Ding Lei's domestic automobile industry sentiment bonus, the highest comprehensive score, but mainly because there are not many choices.
Source | The official website of China Express
"I also have a Tesla Model 3 at home, and now my wife is driving it." Mr. Lee said. Times Finance noted in the Gaohe HiPhi APP that there are many car owners who have similar experiences to Mr. Li, and the Gaohe HiPhi X is usually not their first car. Many owners of Gaohe HiPhi X do not care about the retention rate of products and car brands, they buy cars more out of interest and curiosity.
"Now Mercedes-Benz BMWs are street cars." Some car owners even said bluntly, "What does the 1 million car represent now?" Buy a car yourself happy, (Gaohe HiPhi X) open a three or five years and then sell 100,000, 200,000, just spend 100,000 yuan a year."
"Our cars are available in users all over the country and have been delivered to more than 100 cities." Gaohe Automobile said, "The first car owners have a stable personal life, and their family situation is also very happy, most of them have two or three children, and there are elderly people on it." Some of the owners have their own businesses, and there are also financial freedom and business, and all aspects are still very balanced."
It is with the support of such a group of early adopters who are not bad money that as of November, The High He HiPhi X sold more than 3,300 vehicles.
"Since its launch on the market in May this year, The HiPhi X has maintained an average delivery rhythm of more than 500 units per month." For the average transaction price of 700,000 yuan in November, Ding Lei also said, "This has created two new records in the Chinese auto market: the highest monthly sales of Chinese independent brand products with a transaction price of more than 500,000 yuan; the highest monthly sales of new energy electric vehicles with a starting price of more than 500,000 yuan, surpassing Porsche."
"There are two main reasons why Gaohe surpasses luxury brands, one is to completely get rid of the shadow of traditional fuel vehicles and bring consumers a new experience; the other is to understand consumers' preferences and invest in them as a local company." On December 10, for the market performance of Gaohe Automobile, Ren Wanfu, a senior automotive industry analyst, told Times Finance. Another industry insider analyzed that "the founding team of Gaohe has the experience and resources of localization automobile distribution, and it is easier to form a sales system than the general foreign traditional brands." ”
Early adopters must have the consciousness of "checking for leaks and filling in the gaps"
Generally speaking, consumers need to be mentally prepared to "check and fill in the gaps" for new brands or new products before becoming early adopters. As a new brand that was established not long ago, HiPhi X is the first new car launched by this new brand, and the delivery time is not long, and with the passage of time, there will naturally be a variety of problems emerging.
"Gaohe HiPhi X does not have a rear entertainment system, lidar cannot be upgraded, computing power and chips are outdated next year, B-pillar does not have a side-view camera, and chassis performance may not be as good as BMW's tuning of the same size chassis." Some high-end car owners have previously written in the APP.
The car machine system is too monotonous and there is a caton phenomenon, the fluency is not as good as Weilai Xiaopeng, and the problems such as map display screen and voice control are not easy to use are also the problems reflected by many High-he-He HiPhi X owners. According to Mr. Li, "there is a problem with the cockpit memory setting of the driving habits of the HiPhi X".
In addition, Gaohe's service system is also imperfect. According to the information shared by Mr. Li, he was once troubled by problems in Gaohe's service system. It is understood that it called the Gaohe Rescue Service after the car ran out of power on September 25, but the trailer arranged by the Gaohe Rescue Service tow Mr. Li's car to an area 80 kilometers away for charging, instead of the nearest special call charging station (4 kilometers). Although the Gaohe after-sales commissioner later contacted him and promised to compensate for the losses caused by the lack of service, it was indeed several times for Mr. Li.
According to Mr. Li, the main reason why it will be towed to 80 kilometers away for charging is that the after-sales service claims that it needs to go to the charging pile of official cooperation. It is understood that at present, Gaohe Automobile has carried out interconnection cooperation with third-party operators such as the State Grid, China Southern Power Grid, and Telai, but the non-self-operated sites of third-party operators do not support the interconnection function for the time being.
In addition, some Gaohe HiPhi X intended to consumers, "The reason why we are still waiting and seeing is mainly because the energy network outside the city is not perfect." Recently, some car owners have reflected that "some third-party charging stations have a poor sense of experience, and it is recommended that Gaohe Automobile lay self-operated fast charging stations in Shenzhen and other cities" "I hope that the company's services can keep up with the follow-up, and the service is not discounted."
At present, Weilai, Xiaopeng and other leading new forces regard the energy network as an important part of their core competitiveness, and spend huge sums of money to improve the energy network. The data shows that NIO currently has 700 substations. As of October 31, 2021, Xiaopeng Supercharg's free charging service has opened 1734 stations, basically covering the core main urban areas of the country. According to the official website of Gaohe Automobile, it will build more than 100 Gaohe charging stations by the end of 2021, covering 19 core cities across the country.
There is not much time left for Gaohe
"There are still many places where Gaohe needs to make up lessons." Some insiders said, "Gaohe's products want to continue to do, in addition to the creation of the product itself, it also needs to make more efforts in the optimization of the energy network, software development, and service system, but these need a lot of money."
In addition, the new forces of head car manufacturing also plan to conduct self-research in core areas such as chips and automatic driving systems, achieve controllability in other important components, and form their own characteristics and core competitiveness on this basis, such as Weilai's power exchange system and user operation, Xiaopeng's automatic driving assistance system, etc.
Although Gaohe Automobile enters the high-end luxury market with intelligence as a breakthrough, it is also committed to building a "three wisdoms" (smart car, smart transportation, and smart city) enterprise. However, according to the official, its intelligent driving assistance system was jointly developed with Bosch, Aptiv and so on. At present, the biggest impression of Gaohe to the outside world is its high price and sci-fi product modeling, and the brand is relatively niche, unlike "Wei Xiaoli" has a certain influence in the market.
"The price of Gaohe HiPhi X and the brand power of Gaohe Automobile determine the limited audience of its products." Some insiders pointed out that "if you want to become bigger and embark on a positive cycle track, you will eventually need a model that can go in quantity." Ding Lei also has similar ideas, which has said in public: "Although the entry point is the high-end market of 600,000 to 800,000 yuan, what Gaohe Automobile hopes to do is to let Chinese brands cover from high-end to entry and build good cars that everyone can afford."
On November 6, Gaohe Automobile's second flagship mass production model, Gaohe HiPhiZ, was unveiled. According to reports, Gaohe HiPhiZ plans to open reservations with next year's Beijing Auto Show and delivery in 2022. However, according to the configuration of its exposure, some netizens predict that the pre-price of Gaohe HiPhiZ may still be more than 500,000 yuan, which is also contrary to the previous industry expectations.
"After Gaohe gathers high-end potential energy, it is a waterfall development, and we will penetrate into various segments of the automotive market such as the middle and high-end." In this regard, Gaohe Automobile said, "We will launch products in different market segments, but the volume and price are not the first consideration." The first thing we think about is its usage scenarios, its needs. We deeply know that behind the volume is supported by product ideas, user scenarios, and user needs. Only if this is done correctly can we go to the quantity."
"HiPhi's high-price positioning is to differentiate itself from the existing major new energy brands, but high-priced products like this need a cycle to transform into market awareness of high-end brands, so that consumers can accept it." If you can't maintain the high quality level for a long time, it is easy to form a word of mouth collapse in the later stage. Some industry veterans told Times Financial Analysis. Ren Wanfu also said, "Whether it is high-end or low-end, it is most important to be able to break through the shackles and find a path suitable for the development of enterprises."
For the development prospects of Gaohe Automobile, many car owners expressed optimism. Mr. Li told Times Finance, "If we can solve the problem of software talents, or have strong third-party cooperation, Gaohe Automobile may have certain prospects, and its ability to integrate and mass produce hardware of the whole vehicle is relatively strong." In addition, among its own brands, Gaohe HiPhi X has no competitors. The only one who can restrict Gaohe Automobile is its founder Ding Lei, the founder of 'Wei Xiaoli', who has an Internet background, but he is lacking, and the execution of product requirements in software is tested."
It is worth mentioning that although Gaohe HiPhi X ranks at the top of the sales list of new energy electric vehicles with a starting price of more than 500,000 yuan, it seems to be at ease, but it is actually a lot of challenges. Ren Wanfu said, "Gaohe's current performance is mainly in the digestion of historical orders, the performance is controllable, and it remains to be seen whether it can maintain the existing advantages in the future."
At present, in terms of independent brands, BYD plans to launch a high-end model priced at 500,000-800,000 yuan, and Great Wall Motor Salon Zhixing also hopes to be the first brand of 400,000-800,000 luxury pure electricity. As for the luxury camp, mercedes-benz, BMW, Audi and other traditional giants are also accelerating the electrification transformation, and there is no intention of handing over the luxury pure electricity market to people.
In addition, in terms of new car-making forces, Weilai, Ideal, and Xiaopeng have been successfully listed, and Nezha, Zero Run, etc. are also seeking listing, intending to raise more money to support their own development. However, Gaohe Automobile has not been reported for financing, and only reached a credit cooperation of 5 billion yuan at the Bank of Communications a few months ago.
As for whether it will be listed, Gaohe Automobile said, "We have always maintained a healthy comprehensive balance of funds in the development of the company, which is a significant advantage of Huaren Express Gaohe Automobile." Since the establishment of the company, Huaren Express Gaohe Automobile has always maintained a benign financing credit and capital balance. At the same time, the various businesses of Huaren Express Gaohe Automobile are advancing smoothly as planned, the capital reserves are sufficient, the efficiency of capital use is very high, sales, service operations, and the development of new models are all advancing synchronously, and all aspects of funds are well balanced."
"Sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat", especially in the highly competitive new energy automobile industry. In this context, the window period for Gaohe Automobile to truly establish its brand and play an influential role is not large.