Car stuff (public number: chedongxi)
The author | Wooden rice
Editor| Xiaohan
Another new car-making force has come, this time they specialize in B-end models.
Chedong December 16 news, yesterday the new force of car-making box cars released its two new cars in Beijing.
Among them, it is quite noteworthy that these two new cars are not ordinary family cars for ordinary consumers, but focus on B-end tracks, that is, vehicles dedicated to traveling cars such as taxis and online ride-hailing cars.
Like their brand names, these two cars are square, indeed like a box, and from the perspective of the interior space design and the intelligent service system equipped with the vehicle, they are completely built for the travel vehicle. Among them, the BM-400 wheelbase is 2850mm, NEDC has a range of 420km, and is mainly in the market of private cars, online ride-hailing and taxis, and is scheduled to achieve mass production in 2023; the BM-600 wheelbase is 3100mm and neDC has a range of 600km, which is aimed at the mid-to-high-end rental market and is expected to be mass-produced and listed in 2024.
▲BM-400
Box Auto was founded in 2013, the company has more than 200 professional automotive design engineers, the core team members are from BAIC and other well-known automobile design, research and development and vehicle manufacturing enterprises, with many years of design and development experience in dozens of models.
Its founder and president Zhang Shuguang, who is also a veteran engineer from BAIC, said that box cars will always focus on the B-end in the future, and use the self-developed octopus platform and high-DO system to create a "blockbuster car" comparable to Tesla in the C-end market for the B-end market.
As a new car company with relatively small exposure before, Box Car has come up with two new cars at the same time, but also played the slogan of being the king of the B-end track. At present, there are few car-making forces focusing on the B-end track in the new car market, and I believe that there will be more new cars similar to box cars entering this market in the future.
First, only do B-end cars The intention order has exceeded 40,000
In fact, before yesterday's press conference, Che Dong was also invited to participate in a media appreciation meeting held by Box Car in advance last week, and had a communication with its product team and founders.
When asked if he would consider entering the C-end market in the future, founder Zhang Shuguang affirmed: "We don't sell cars, we just want to focus on the B-end track." ”
▲Box Car founder Zhang Shuguang
At yesterday's press conference, the word "focus" was also mentioned repeatedly, and it can be seen that box cars have been determined to create a "blockbuster" in the B-side market.
So is there a market on the B-side? What are the advantages of box cars focusing on the B-side?
Zhang Saidguang said: "Solving the existing pain points and problems in the B-end travel market is the original intention of the box car brand. ”
Through field research in many cities across the country, Box Cars found that the vast majority of taxis and online ride-hailing cars on the market currently use low-grade or reduced versions of family cars, while the car needs of different groups of people and different scenarios are obviously different, and the travel needs of contemporary users to upgrade are far from being met.
For example, in the travel car, there is a situation where the use of the passenger seat is extremely low, but it consumes a lot of space and cost; when passengers travel, they often face the problem of narrow space in the car, large parts cannot get on the car, pets cannot get on the car, and need to buy mineral water or rain ponchos outside the car.
As a result, the box car uses an L-shaped seat layout in the car to give passengers more space to ride. For example, in the BM-400 model, the rear C seat can be flattened, which has the feeling of a high-speed rail business seat.
▲The interior of the vehicle adopts L-shaped seat arrangement
In addition, in response to the pain point of high maintenance costs of operating vehicles, the box car team has incorporated "low-cost wearing parts replacement" into the product definition. Under the premise of doing a good job of standard parts and standard interfaces, 75%-80% of the slight scratches of the box car can replace the cover parts such as front and rear bumpers, and this process can be completed independently by the driver, which can greatly reduce maintenance costs.
Zhang Zhiguang also said that these two box cars will also become a "business card" of urban travel culture. Box cars can carry out different creative displays according to different city flowers, unique colors, etc. in the landing city. At present, Box Auto has reached an intention order for BM-400 models with many online booking platforms and local governments, and has accumulated 42,000 pre-sales.
Second, the self-developed octopus platform chassis is equipped with a travel service system in the car
It is reported that BM-400 and BM-600 are based on the modular chassis of the "Octopus" 1.0 platform developed by Box Car, which has a common number of parts of up to 95%, which can flexibly customize different bodywork, adapt to different spaces, and compatible with battery modules of different capacities.
▲Octopus 1.0 platform
In addition, Box Car is expected to complete the construction of the "Octopus" 2.0 platform in May next year - this platform will support front-drive, rear-drive, four-wheel drive three-drive forms, using CTC technology, directly installed on the chassis of the battery. The suspension completely inherits the first generation platform, and adopts the skateboard platform blessing of line control and wire steering at the same time, further realizing advanced intelligent driving functions.
▲Octopus 2.0 platform
In simple terms, Octopus's 1.0 platform is currently built for manned vehicles, while the 2.0 platform offers more possibilities for assisted driving.
Zhang Deguang introduced that in the future, the "Octopus" 2.0 platform can be exported to industry partners separately, providing the overall engineering outsourcing service of "chassis + body + system" for the demand side. Specifically, the demander can design the upper body and interior space by himself, and the box car provides the chassis body design, the completely open source wire control interface and the rich sensor installation design, so as to further expand the scope of car manufacturing and realize the extension of the car concept.
On the other hand, the box car also created a customizable intelligent interaction system - HIGH DO. This system can be said to be a new service system covering the city, operating enterprises, drivers, and passengers.
It is reported that through this system, passengers can realize large-screen games in the car, live broadcasting, on-demand, singing K and other entertainment services. In addition, with the help of this system, the vehicle can also access smart cities and smart transportation, and can provide consumer experiences such as urban propaganda advertising services and urban specialty orders in the car.
▲Box car intelligent interaction system - HIGH DO
Conclusion: The new car market will be more lively
With the continuous development of the new four modernizations of automobiles, the new car market is also pouring in more new players.
Whether it is the whole vehicle, shared travel, or the field of focusing on the B-end track like a box car, I believe that the market for new cars will be more lively in the future.