As the forerunner of pure electric mini-vehicles, the hot sales of Hongguang MINI EV have been seen by everyone. Immediately after, Euler Black Cat, Reading Mango, Punk Duoduo, Sihao E10X and other models rushed in, all wanting to get a piece of the pie in this field.
In November, small ants, Sihao E10X and other latecomers also achieved more than 5,000 sales. Even lesser-known products such as Zero Run T03 and Reading Mango have achieved good sales results.
The micro-pure car represented by the Hongguang MINI EV has proved with solid sales that the micro pure tram market is still a "blue ocean". Chery, which has been struggling in the domestic market for many years, will obviously not let go of this good opportunity.
Therefore, Chery is named after the "QQ", which once opened up the mini car market, and brings a new pure electric mini car - QQ Ice Cream.
But unlike models such as Euler and Dolphin, which have taken pains to create their own unique styles and selling points, Chery is more like trying to sell its own cars through the product features of the Hongguang MINI EV.
First of all, from the appearance, the two cars are the same in shape, Chery QQ ice cream is nothing more than a slight change in details, covering the car logo I believe many people will be "silly and unclear".
Ironically, on the only slightly recognizable headlight of QQ Ice Cream, some netizens said, "Isn't this headlight the new Land Rover Defender?" "In contrast, it does seem to be a bit of a god...
In terms of body size, QQ Ice Cream has a length, width and height of 2980/1496/1637mm and a wheelbase of 1960mm, and the length, width and height of the Hongguang MINI EV are 2920/1493/1621mm, and the wheelbase is 1940mm. QQ Ice Cream seems to be a little bigger than the Macro MINI EV at every level. Chery intends to be, I believe that clear-eyed people can see it. Of course, the possibility of coincidence is not ruled out.
Let's look at power and battery life. QQ ice cream motor maximum power of 20kW, peak torque of 85N·m, battery capacity of 9.6kWh, 13.9kWh, cruising range of 120km, 170km; Hongguang MINI EV equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous motor, the maximum power of 20kW, peak torque of 85N·m, battery capacity of 9.3kWh, 13.9kWh, the corresponding cruising range of 120km, 170km, respectively.
In addition, QQ Ice Cream also optimizes the charging efficiency, of which the charging time of the 120km endurance version is 6 hours, and the charging time of the 170km endurance version is 8 hours, which is better than the 6.5 hours and 9 hours of the Hongguang MINI EV.
It is not difficult to see that QQ Ice Cream is slightly stronger than the Macro Mini EV in terms of battery capacity and charging efficiency, which seems to be a bit too coincidental.
In general, the all-round "benchmarking" including styling, Chery seems not to want to sell ice cream, but "Chery MINI EV 2"
And this kind of "raw and rigid" operation is actually Chery's usual means. As early as 2004, chery QQ, the "ancestor" of Chery QQ ice cream, was caught in a plagiarism storm.
During the 2004 Shanghai Auto Show, some media reported that Chery QQ did not meet at the Shanghai Auto Show because it was suspected of plagiarizing Chevrolet SPARK. This is also the beginning of chery QQ plagiarism storm.
In fact, Chery QQ copied not Chevrolet SPARK, and is very similar to SPARK's predecessor MATIZ. Chery QQ and MATIZ are not only very similar in shape, but also have similar publicity to the outside world. In 2002, SPARK's predecessor MATIZ won the title of "the world's most beautiful car", and QQ seems to be not inferior, calling Chery QQ praised as "the world's coolest car".
What is more worth mentioning is that Chery QQ, which is suspected of plagiarism, was listed earlier than SPARK, which owns complete intellectual property rights of MATIZ. Under the influence of Chery QQ's preconceptions, SPARK has been at a disadvantage before it is listed. Moreover, Chevrolet SPARK, which is assembled with fully original imported accessories, certainly does not have a price advantage, and the opportunity to subvert Chery QQ in the follow-up is slim.
In this situation, Chevrolet obviously could not swallow this breath.
In 2004, South Korea's GM Daewoo Automobile and Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of General Motors, formally sued Anhui Chery Automobile's QQ car for plagiarizing GM Chevrolet Spark models, violating China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court accepted the case. At the same time, GM Daewoo also applied to the Patent Reexamination Board of the State Intellectual Property Office of China for the invalidation of the design patent of Chery QQ car, and demanded that Chery compensate it for 80 million yuan as compensation.
However, GM Korea did not win the case. In the end, Chery QQ, which had just been listed for 49,800 yuan, was very hot, and the Chinese did not even know that there was a Chevrolet SPARK car.
What cannot be ignored is that the lower price of Chery QQ does allow many families to own their first car. However, this controversial means has also put a "plagiarism expert" hat for the Chery brand, and the brand image has been quite affected.
Today, Chery seems to want to use similar methods to seize the market share of Hongguang MINI EV. But unlike before, the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV was not the Chevrolet SPARK of the time.
Hongguang MINI EV has long dominated the list for a long time, and Chery QQ's success that year was as a "defender", and the cost performance was much higher than that of the same level of models. However, Chery QQ Ice Cream, which is a latecomer, can only be regarded as a high-imitation "challenger". It is obviously unrealistic to subvert the Hongguang MINI EV, which has already exceeded the 45,000-unit mark in monthly sales.
After all, the Hongguang MINI EV, which has been affirmed by consumers in terms of shape, quality and performance, has become famous and has an extremely solid market position. Moreover, the attributes of the Hongguang MINI EV are no longer limited to simple scooters, but more like the "trend items" pursued by young people. This sentiment is not something that Chery QQ ice cream can break by being slightly higher in size and other aspects.
It is true that Chery QQ ice cream products are indeed strong, and the price of the new car is close to that of the Hongguang MINI EV, and the overall competitiveness is not bad. Although it is difficult to shake the status of Hongguang MINI EV, monthly sales of more than 10,000 vehicles are still expected.
What needs to be worried now is how Chery's brand image, which is once again caught in the plagiarism storm, will be affected. QQ ice cream, which is more cost-effective than Hongguang MINI EV, can withstand market considerations like Hongguang MINI EV.