Written by | Zhao Lingwei
Edit | Yu Jie
Produced | Automotive Sankei
"I believe it when I say that this is handmade Geng (b station handicraft area million fans up master) knocked out." This is a video report on the mech dragon at the Guangzhou Auto Show, and the netizens praised the comments.
Some people say that "the mecha-style car is the deformed product of over-design", does not pursue the driving experience, and is only responsible for marketing; others say, "Now that homogenization is serious, there are novel designs that should be supported".
In any case, the mecha dragon in the hot discussion center is undoubtedly the one that is out of the circle at this year's Guangzhou Auto Show. Push the popularity of the Great Wall Salon higher, and its mission is half completed.
Car companies strive to be different because in the strange circle of performance and intelligence, car companies have not been able to roll up. Users have become numb to the parameters piled up into mountains, and the investment of car companies has become an embarrassing effort that only changes quantitatively and qualitatively.
It's better to change to a more eye-catching track roll.
Since the Tesla Cyberruck era, a series of designs that should be connected with electrification and intelligent concepts have been exposed to the concept cars of various brands. Car design dares to try more and more strange shapes, some of which are considered good-looking by a certain group, and finally become "weird and good-looking".
As these designs slowly rationalized toward mass production, there are questions about whether such out-of-the-box designs are sensational or real needs. For example, the mech dragon at the Guangzhou Auto Show triggered a hot discussion, but this not only quickly established the niche image of the salon, but also made the popularity of the mech dragon soar rapidly.
In addition, Gaohe Hiphi Z, Changan UNI-T, etc. have adopted mecha elements, is the mecha wind a product of overdesign, or is it a valuable attempt?
"Skin this down", very reasonable
The car shape has been hitting the face for a long time.
Zheng Sulin, styling director of Dongfeng Group Passenger Car Company and chief styling technology of the technology center, told Autosemonics, "The homogenization of today's automobile design has made people unaware, from the carriage era to box cars, to Beetle cars, to ship cars, to fish cars, to wedge cars, the reason is the optimization of ergonomics and fluid mechanics, and from linear mechanical aesthetics to fluid sculpture aesthetics, to soul movement aesthetics, to diamond cutting aesthetics, to Scandinavian minimalist aesthetics, to conflict aesthetics, to pluralistic coexistence, It was as if the design style had come to an end and seemed to be at an impasse."
How to break this deadlock?
Zheng Sulin said, "Retro style may be a targeted design opportunity point to create competitive shapes and differentiated innovations."
Let the car design return to the linear mechanical aesthetics that originated in the 1970s and were popular in the early 1980s, and simultaneously integrate into the scientific and technological wind of this era, that is, the current mecha style.
But another designer told us, "The Great Wall is now eating the sweetness of niche cars, so try more, which is very good for the company itself." As for consumers, it may be that the target group is indeed too small."
This is a niche market, the salon brand knows it very well, and Wen Fei, CEO of Salad Zhixing, also said it truthfully: "Instead of getting 10% of the market share in the market with 90% of the market capacity, it is better to take 90% of the market share in the niche market of 10% of the market capacity."
The Salon brand will focus on the 400,000-800,000 time in the future, the entry-level mecha dragon will be priced at 488,000, and the limited number of 101 new cars will be sold out in 4 hours.
WenFei announced the price of the mech dragon
It can be seen that such a niche brand does not lack consumers, but the loyalty and stickiness of future users may be higher.
Not only the Great Wall Salon captured the design inspiration of the mecha style, this hardcore element has always existed tepidly in the automotive circle, but the trend element wheel zhuang, this year the mecha wind sat in the main seat.
For example, in September, Changan UNI-T's 2022 remodeled model strengthened the mecha wind route and became a dark horse in the new cars launched in the past two years; the newly unveiled Hiphi Z made a group of "secondary two teenagers" in the 80s and 90s pick up the former cosmic science fiction dream.
Hiphi Z
But in the eyes of designers, these small fights are "actually just some mechanical elements, not very similar to mecha, but at least the topic", and this is their new value that is different from other brands.
As for whether the mecha design of a specific product is good," this question is a matter of opinion, and even designers cannot define it.
So, the heavily armed Great Wall Mech Dragon, the mech and not fully mech of Chang'an UNI-T, all in the futuristic High Hephi z... Together, they create an atmosphere of "mecha wind dominating the future market".
However, some people question that the blind pursuit of such a mech design is too cumbersome. For example, the installation of double exhaust pipes for pure trams, and even some designs that hinder the heat dissipation function of the car, all for "modeling".
In this regard, Zheng Sulin believes that "today's technology to cope with the retro mecha style of linear mechanical aesthetics is not a problem at all, as long as the market has demands and customers have needs, it can be achieved." The key to the cost of the manufacturing process depends on the sales target and achievement of the mecha wind preset, and the real cost will consider its balance in terms of the embodiment of the scientific and technological wind."
In this era of "three views follow the five senses", bo out of the shape has probably become one of the most reliable shortcuts out of the circle.
From the concept of the cyberbook to the mass production of mechs, this year's car companies have worked hard
The reinvention of the car's exterior has long been traced. When traditional functional vehicles evolve towards intelligent electric vehicles, the elements of products from the inside out are facing nirvana-like rebirth.
In 2019, tesla Cyberruck made its debut — the car that didn't look like a car at all. The two high-strength armored glass that were easily smashed by Tesla's chief designer at the press conference were like breaking the lifeless streamlined and rounded classical design of the car, and the car companies were "hardened".
Tesla Cyberruck was smashed through the glass
That year, at the BMW Group #NEXTGen Future Summit, the BMW Group announced that it would accelerate its expansion plans for electric products, and the concept on display was already very cyberpunk.
The BMW Vision M NEXT Concept is another "cyberpunk" style design after the 2016 BMW Vision Next100 and the 2018 Vision iNext concept. As a result, BMW has basically fixed the design style for nearly 50 years.
BMW Vision M NEXT concept car
The future and the end of science fiction is probably cyberpunk. However, the handsome concept cars mentioned above have not yet been mass-produced on the market.
But this aesthetic pokes at the times.
"This retro trend of mechanical aesthetics, originality is not high, but unique, high recognition, to the design style of a new reincarnation, to the consumer group of new cognition, this masculinity to the young group who are keen on neutral beauty to bring new visual impact, in a sense to awaken the dream in the hearts of this group of Internet natives," Zheng Sulin said.
Cyberpunk, although the look and feel explodes, still exists only in the conceptual stage. Last year, Lynk & Co 06 focused on functional wind, which became the first step in cyberpunk's "mass production".
Under the sharp lines, the soul of the car company is getting softer and softer.
For example, from the beginning of its birth, Lynk & Co has regarded itself as a "user enterprise", creating interactive scenes of various trend parties and automobile events to attract users to participate in brand co-creation; the Great Wall has begun to go out of the circle from the "big dog" network name competition, playing with users every day and digging out their real needs.
Mecha wind is not only the product of cyberpunk "lower mortal", but more like a reincarnation certificate of the car company's "lower mortal".
"Users" are the most talked about by today's car companies. Through several years of hard work, they have become more aware of who the basic disk of their products is and who to please. Especially under the wave of youth and personalization, the automobile market has been subdivided into more sectors, no matter how narrow the field is being carefully studied. After all, to cater to the user's personality, the important thing is to "cater".
And users like to look at the car company roll, the car company more volume, the user can enjoy better products and services.
Write at the end
Is the mecha wind a car company self-deprecating?
To say no, it is because its marketing volume itself is a value; to say yes, then the life and purchase volume of this "internet celebrity" is indeed difficult to predict at present.
Relying on such a slightly controversial action to attract attention, the reason behind it is that the various tracks of the automotive industry are rolled up, and the niche of the market is getting smaller and smaller.
However, stripping away the cocoon and finding the need to subdivide is one thing, and developing more dimensions with innovative tools is also a way.
The success of the "mecha style" concept is still inconclusive, and the deeper meaning is that innovation awakens the valuable curiosity of users. When hardcore parameters numb the audience, a reasonable sense of freshness becomes the best traffic password.