In the second part of the "Anatomy Salon" series, we decided to talk about "luxury".
In addition to mechs, "luxury" is another keyword of Salon. In fact, the salon has set up a big Flag: to do more than 400,000 luxury pure electricity first brand. Supporting the "first brand" is "the fastest to break 100,000 sales, becoming a benchmark for market segments." ”
A nascent brand expressing its grand ambitions is understandable. But achieving this goal means that Sharon has to defeat the following strong enemies: New Chinese brands such as Weilai, Zhiji and Gaohe, as well as traditional luxury forces led by the BBA.
It seems that Sharon belongs to the former camp, an innovative force that declares war on the traditional forces. But Sharon also said that he "will give the world another answer" and jumped out of the new circle of influence in the inner volume.
How do you break between innovation and tradition? The answer is obviously to achieve differentiation across the value chain, and the core is not the "mecha" layer of clothing, but the "luxury" inside.
Next, we'll explore two issues:
How to define luxury cars in the era of intelligent electrification?
What is the background color of a luxury brand?
01
Luxury ≠ stacked
Before the dragon appeared, Sharon released a poster that read, "Please don't talk below 4 lidars." At the subsequent press conference, the complete hardware information and parameters of the mech dragon were disclosed:
4 lidar, 7 8-megapixel cameras, 4 surround view cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radar, 12 ultrasonic radars, 1 high-precision positioning unit;
Shuang huawei MDC intelligent driving calculation platform, hash rate 400 TOPS;
A Qualcomm 8155 chip;
7 interactive large screens, 4 independent sound zones;
Front and rear dual permanent magnet synchronous motors, maximum power 400 kW, peak torque 750 Nm, 100 km/h acceleration of 3.7 seconds;
20-inch wheels, four-piston Brembo calipers, 100 km stop distance of 33m;
115kWh Dayu battery, CLTC endurance of 802 km; 800V/480kW supercharge, charging 10 minutes can be fully charged 50%.
The above hardware configurations and parameters constitute the high intelligence and high performance of the mech dragon. But many still have not gotten rid of the benchmarking thinking, such as WEILAI ET7 zero hundred acceleration of 3.9 seconds, Zhiji L7 is 3.87 seconds, and the same as the mecha dragon belongs to 4 seconds; the ideal ONE also provides a 4-tone area; the car with the 8155 chip is so many that the ears are grinding out of the cocoon.
Of course, the Mech Dragon 4 lidar has 3 more than the WEILAI ET7 and 2 more than the fully formed Zhiji L7. This may give Salon the confidence and reason to price 400,000+.
However, the "King of Rolls" WM7 has three lidars, NPU has a computing power of up to 1016TOPS, and like the mecha dragon, it can achieve a full-scene end-to-end intelligent driving experience of "high speed + city + parking + interconnection". However, outside of Weima's words, it was revealed that the price of the M7 would not exceed 300,000 yuan; and the Xiaopeng P5 550P equipped with 2 laser cameras only sold for 199,900 yuan.
This raises the question: Why should consumers pay so much more for lidar?
Around the chip computing power, the number of laser cameras and charging power, the automotive industry is experiencing a new "arms race", which is similar to the war between mobile phones and the number of cameras in the previous two years.
Nowadays, the mobile phone side has been flagged, the number of cameras for high-end mobile phones has stopped at 4, and many thousand yuan machines also provide 3-4 cameras.
Why can the Huawei P series shoot the moon, while the thousand yuan machine shoots a night scene? Why does the iPhone use only two cameras, and the photos taken can hang a lot of 4-camera phones?
Lidar is equivalent to a larger bottom camera, which can improve the car's ability to perceive the lower limit. But what really determines the actual experience of smart driving is the algorithm, and the data collection.
There is no need to doubt the strength of the Mech Dragon, because with the powerful Huawei to do support, software is not a problem.
The real problem is that with the decline in hardware costs, lidar will continue to be decentralized, and this arms race will end sooner or later. When the time comes, what will we talk about luxury?
Stacking hardware ≠ luxurious. So what does "luxury" really mean?
02
Luxury has nothing to do with the times
Originally from Austria, Riedel is the world's most prestigious manufacturer of wine glasses and decanters for more than 300 years. Each Riedel glass is clear and transparent, and when poured into it, it can show the true and beautiful color; the delicate tall feet and light walls produce an excellent grip; the knocking sound of the glass wall is crisp and beautiful, like a babbling mountain spring; the rotating wine glass makes full contact with the air to give off a seductive aroma; Riedel designs different shapes of wine glasses for different varieties of wine, which can guide the flow of wine to the most suitable taste sensing area on the tongue.
Tasting wine with such wine utensils, not only people's five senses are fully mobilized, but also the limbs, tongues, and brains will naturally slow down, and naturally enter a relaxed and calm state, that is, enjoy the state of "luxury".
"Luxury" is a feeling. Smell, touch, sound, and aesthetics are perceived by the five senses and transmitted through the nervous system at high speed, which in turn stimulates the cerebral cortex and produces a feeling of respect, elegance, beauty and confidence.
So, when we enjoy the experience of luxury cars, we are essentially enjoying the design, ride, cockpit, music, fragrance together. In the era of intelligent electrification, although the weight of technology is getting heavier and heavier, the essence of luxury has not changed.
Many car brands, including Salon, are facing a new issue: how to organically integrate technology and luxury in the new era.
The newly released Project MAYBACH concept car is a masterpiece. Innovatively positioned in the off-road GT sports car, the exterior design combines the classic elements of the Maybach and Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the body posture is stretched, the wheels are as close as possible to the four corners, the same as the 18th century European luxury horse-drawn carriage; the central control panel still uses many solid chrome buttons, exquisite craftsmanship, like a work of art; the LCD instrument is placed in the center of the steering wheel, taking into account the minimalist aesthetics and functional ease of use; two wide leather seats pay tribute to the "1919 armchair" born at the same time as maybach...
On the occasion of the brand's centenary, this concept car not only condenses the thick and glorious history of Maybach, but also shows Maybach's obsession with interpreting the "luxury" feeling in the new era.
Although Sharon is a new brand, it is responsible to carry the brand and product image with "mecha", with differentiated characteristics, and also expresses the desire to try to lead the luxury pure electric market. The appearance of the mecha dragon is very "mecha", but the interior design is still taking the minimalist road of the big screen, which is similar to other brands of pure electric products.
The "mecha" sense of the mech dragon is not thorough enough.
Huge robotic arms, turning gears, exposed harnesses... Our fascination with the mechs in Pacific Rim stems in large part from the "mechanical" cockpit and control. If the mech dragon can inject more "mechanical feeling" into the cockpit, it will hopefully completely get rid of the homogenization of this car, giving the driver the feeling of driving a real mecha - "mecha luxury".
Hopefully, starting with the second product, Salon can think more from this perspective.
03
The background of luxury is culture
The Project Maybach concept car was designed by Virgil Abloh. Recently, the fashion superstar has fallen, bringing endless regrets to trendy fans.
Virgil Abloh is the founder of the Off-White brand and the first artistic director of the black menswear collection in LV history. One is a street brand, the other is a traditional luxury brand, how does Virgil Abloh dominate the development of two different dimensions of brand development?
The answer is to connect them together.
In Off-White's clothing, you can see visual symbols from the rough streets everywhere: zebra crossings, large arrows, graffiti, etc., while ensuring quality with ready-to-wear craftsmanship from Milan; after 2018, LV's classic old flowers and checkerboard grids have been integrated with chains, graffiti, reflections, and gradient elements to become more street.
Standing at the intersection of the world of urban authenticity and luxury jewelry, Virgil Abloh combines high-end craftsmanship with topical decorations and symbols that make Off-White one of the most sought-after trend brands of this era, allowing LV to enter the Gen Z cultural circle.
The Slovaks are dead, and it is more than commercial success that we have responded that Virgil Abloh's greatest contribution was the powerful and vivid infusion of black culture in the fashion world, which was originally dominated by whites.
Culture is the background of "luxury".
Since the advent of the modern automobile industry, "luxury car" has been defined by European and American brands. Behind the luxury brands led by BBA, it is actually the expansion and dominance of European and American culture. Although China's auto industry has made great progress, it has always been absent in the luxury car market.
At present, the opportunity to belong to Chinese brands has come.
The automobile industry is in the transition period of the new and old eras, China's new energy automobile industry and market are leading the world, and China has no shortage of powerful and dreamy automakers. This gives Chinese brands a great opportunity to break through the luxury car market.
On the other hand, Chinese culture is broad and profound. For the salon, whether it is to draw nourishment or inspiration from it, it is inexhaustible and inexhaustible. Contemporary Chinese young people are also showing a variety of traits, such as ancient style, geeks, sustainability, and even "lying flat" are forming culture.
If the salon can properly integrate Chinese culture into products and brands, it will not only broaden the user base, but also may bring a different voice to the luxury car market - the voice that belongs to China.
At the press conference, Wen Fei said that the salon's small goal is that "every product is a classic model after a hundred years". Countless classic cases tell us that the works that can travel through time and survive in the world all contain a deep culture.
Injecting culture into the brand base is the only way for salons to realize their dreams of luxury.