Continue to defend the title, it is worth looking forward to.
Author | Ding Yi
Edit | Wen Liang
Since the beginning of this year, the new energy vehicle market has continued to break out, and a number of new car-making forces have successively achieved single-month sales of more than 10,000, and their performance is remarkable even if they look at the entire automobile market.
Recently, the retail data of China Automobile Data Terminal shows that in November this year, ideal ONE won the sales champion of medium and large SUV sales with a volume of 13438 vehicles, which suppressed the sales volume of SAIC Volkswagen Tuang.
At the same time, according to the data of the Association of Automobile Associations, in the high-end luxury SUV market in November, the ideal ONE also overpowered Mercedes-Benz GLC, Audi Q5, BMW X3 and other models with the delivery of 13485 units, becoming the second sales volume in the market segment after Tesla Model Y.
Behind this eye-catching achievement is the ideal car's consistent in-depth insight into user needs at the level of product creation such as drive system, intelligent experience, and vehicle design.
Extended range electric system, rooted in real needs
As we all know, the ideal ONE uses an extended-range electric system. Different from several other new power players who focus on building pure electric vehicles, this ideal choice has always been "controversial", not only did not gain the favor of the investment market, but also encountered a lot of "car critics" complained.
But if we turn back the timeline to 2019, when the ideal ONE has just been launched, we will find that the drive system design of the extender is the right choice for the ideal car that "only makes one car in three years", which is rooted in the current needs of users.
According to the data, as of December 31, 2019, less than 25% of households in China's first-tier cities had parking spaces suitable for installing home charging piles. At the same time, the ratio of new energy vehicle ownership and public charging piles is only 17.1:1. Public charging infrastructure such as charging piles has not yet been popularized, and it is impossible to fully meet the energy supply needs of car owners.
At the same time, limited by the development of battery technology, the car battery at that time had certain disadvantages in charging efficiency, battery pack energy ratio, environmental adaptability and so on.
The lack of performance of the battery itself and the lack of superimposed energy replenishment facilities make the mileage problem the primary reason why car owners are reluctant to buy pure electric vehicles.
In the face of this realistic contradiction, ideal car at that time without fear of peer pressure, chose to launch a fuel-replenished, electric-driven range extender new energy SUV, which effectively alleviated the owner's mileage anxiety at the same time, but also opened up the market for it.
According to the official website information, the range extender electric system used by the ideal ONE mainly provides car owners with a 188-kilometer cruising range to meet the daily commuting of the city with a battery pack of 40.5kWh. At the same time, with the support of fuel range extenders, the overall range of NEDC can be extended to 1080 kilometers. Its energy distribution is almost perfectly suited to the daily habits of car owners.
According to the data, about 83% of the ideal car owners travel no more than 100km in a single day, and most car owners will use pure electric priority driving mode in the city.
On the other hand, although the mileage problem makes people prohibit new energy vehicles, its economic, environmental and other advantages also make it difficult for car owners to give up.
The range extender design of the ideal ONE does not make it lose the fundamental advantages of new energy vehicles. Although fuel is used, the ideal ONE takes into account the energy cost of the owner while achieving long endurance.
The data shows that more than 80% of the mileage of the ideal car owner in the city is pure electric driving, and the cost of traveling per kilometer is less than 1 cent. In long-distance sections such as high-speed roads, car owners will open the range extender. Therefore, the refueling frequency of the ideal ONE is only 1.2-1.3 times / month, and the energy expenditure is significantly lower than that of general fuel vehicles.
It can be said that the ideal ONE's seemingly conservative extended-range electric design not only brings owners almost the same energy efficiency as fuel vehicles, but also allows them to enjoy the economic benefits and driving experience of new energy vehicles. It is not surprising that the ideal ONE has obtained such a bright sales performance in the new energy vehicle market and has become the first choice for smart luxury electric vehicles in Chinese families.
Intelligent, ideal pragmatic style and chips
When "stacking" became popular in the intelligent car circle, Ideal Auto always focused on the creation and improvement of an ideal ONE product. Based on its family positioning, the scientific and technological attributes presented by the ideal ONE are obviously more inclined to take care of the humanized and pragmatic style of the passengers of the whole car, rather than blindly "show off".
In terms of intelligent cockpit, ideal ONE through the whole car four-tone area intelligent voice control, the industry's first four-screen interactive design and other configurations, so that from the parents and elders of the seventy or eighty to the kindergarten children can easily interact with the ideal ONE, to achieve a more convenient and more entertaining car control and entertainment interactive experience;
In terms of intelligent driving, Ideal Auto has made a product commitment of "family safety is only standard, not optional". Through the standard ideal AD assisted driving system, it provides owners with full-speed domain adaptive cruise, automatic emergency braking, automatic visual parking and other functions, effectively alleviating driving fatigue and stress, and bringing a safer and more convenient driving experience. Recently, Ideal ONE upgraded its driver assistance system through OTA 3.0. The new navigation assistance driving function realizes the functions of lane-level navigation, autonomous up and down ramp, and autonomous overtaking under the coverage of high-precision maps, which completes the last short board for the ideal.
From the actual effect, the ideal ONE also does create a comfortable smart mobile space for home users. According to the survey, 92% of users said that in non-driving situations, they would prefer to stay in the ideal ONE car for a longer time than other brands.
In addition to the pragmatism close to the needs of users, Ideal Car also realizes that intelligent technology will be a key chip for future competition.
The popularity of the smart driving track in recent years is obvious to all. Capital is frantically pouring in, advanced automatic driving is accelerating the landing on the car, and the core value of the car is gradually shifting to automatic driving. The automotive industry is likely to usher in a new reshuffle as a result, when the deer dies in whose hands, success or failure or all tied to intelligent driving.
Before the 2021 ideal ONE was listed, compared with opponents such as Weilai and Xiaopeng, which had already launched NOA and NGP, the ideal car that hit the world with only a model launched two or three years ago seemed to be a bit behind in intelligent driving.
But in fact, through the continuous independent research and development and investment behind it, the chips in the ideal hand are increasing.
Prior to this, founder and CEO Li Xiang also made it clear that Ideal Auto will continue to strengthen the full-stack self-development capabilities of intelligent driving system software and hardware, including perception decision-making and planning, operating system, hardware design, etc. In the future, Ideal Auto will continue to invest more than 10% of its research and development expenses for more important technology research and development other than products, and the size of the relevant research and development team in this sector will also be expanded to 600 people by the end of this year.
In terms of its intelligence, the product creation of ideal cars not only shows a pragmatic style rooted in the present and responds to the practical needs of users, but also does not limit its future-oriented vision.
Back to manufacturing and design itself
In fact, no matter how novel the concept of smart electric vehicles is, users still have to return to the most original essence of the car when choosing. As a mobile vehicle, the primary indicator of car quality is always safety, especially for car owners with strong family attributes.
The ideal car positioned for the user by the family always puts travel safety in the first place.
Ideal ONE is currently the only medium-sized SUV in China that has achieved the best results in the China New Car Evaluation Regulations (C-NCAP), China Insurance Auto Safety Index (C-IASI) and China Auto Health Index (C-AHI). Specifically:
Ideal ONE received a five-star rating on the 2021 C-NCAP test with an overall score rate of 92.2%. Among them, the score rate of occupant protection sub-item was 94.73%, the score rate of pedestrian protection sub-item was 72.89%, and the score rate of active safety sub-item was 100%;
In the China Insurance Auto Safety Index, ideal ONE obtained G (excellent) in the safety evaluation of occupants in the car, G (excellent) in the safety evaluation of the layman, and G (excellent) in the safety evaluation of vehicle assistance;
In the China Automotive Health Index, ideal ONE received double five-star evaluations in the two ratings of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) & odor intensity (VOI) and vehicle electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in the car, and became the recommended model of the 2020 China Automotive Health Index;
In addition, design details such as spaciousness, flexibility, and comfort that are closely related to the interior space are also important factors that family cars pay the most attention to. Ideal Car is also based on family positioning in terms of interior space design and manufacturing process, which responds to the strongest demand for cars used by users.
The data shows that 86% of the ideal ONE users are more than two generations of home users, and 88% of user households are composed of three or more people. Based on the above family structure, Ideal ONE eliminated the seven-seat layout in the upgraded model launched in 2021, retained the six-seat design, and increased the legroom of the third row by 41mm, effectively improving the use of space inside the car and the convenience of movement of passengers.
The six-seat interior layout has earned the ideal ONE a multi-generational home. According to user surveys, more than 40% of ideal ONE users use the third row of seats at least once a week, of which 54% of car owners say that children will like the third row of the ideal ONE because they can have their own independent space. The electric six-seater model has become a leading trend in the industry for a while because it is widely recognized by users.
In addition, the independent electric massage seats installed in one or two rows in the car, as well as the heated steering wheel, three-zone air conditioning, HIFI audio, luxury interior and other luxurious configurations are also the main reasons why car owners choose the ideal ONE.
epilogue
On the whole, Ideal Auto has been closely related to the demand for family cars from the product development stage. Its ideal ONE, which "three years as a day", starts from the real car use scene, takes design and manufacturing as the shield, takes the extended range electric and intelligent experience as the spear, brings a comfortable experience that exceeds the needs of users, and is indeed worthy of the crown of medium and large SUV sales and the eye-catching achievements of high-end luxury SUV sales.
Today, the new energy vehicle market is still growing, and the market penetration rate is increasing year by year. In the face of the industrial development trend of gradually improving the charging infrastructure and gradually shifting the core of competition to advanced automatic driving, the ideal car that strides into the growth period has also been planned in terms of pure electric product matrix, capacity expansion, channel expansion, etc.:
In terms of products, five new models are scheduled to be launched in the next two years, including products for a new generation of extended range platforms and models with high-voltage pure electric platforms;
In terms of production capacity, the two major production bases in Beijing and Changzhou are under improvement and construction, and it is expected that the standard design capacity will reach 500,000 units per year by the end of 2023;
In terms of channels, the number of physical sales stores in major cities across the country is still rising. At present, Ideal Automobile is promoting the goal of reaching 200 retail stores by the end of the year and covering about 100 cities as planned. The number of retail stores is planned to double to 400 in 2022;
Based on its unique insights, it is worth looking forward to how the ideal car rooted in the present and future will respond to the needs of users and continue to defend its title.
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