A few days ago, Dongfeng Fengguang released the official map of the new pure electric car Fengguang MINI EV, which is expected to be listed in the first quarter of 2022. This means that another blockbuster car company has entered the MINI EV market.
From more than a year ago, Hongguang MINI EV entered the market under the pressure of the epidemic, and now car companies of all sizes want to share a piece of the pie, it seems that the mini car market has flourished overnight.
Kung Fu Cars took stock of it, and there are many manufacturers who build such micro-electric vehicles. In addition to traditional automobile manufacturers and new energy vehicle manufacturers, there are many new forces entering the game. The features are very similar, the two-door design of the same color.
Why is this market suddenly heating up? Let the kung fu car take everyone to see it together.
Luo Yonghao, a famous anchor with goods, had a famous saying when he built a mobile phone before, selling mobile phones is not to make money, just to make a friend, and everyone laughed. However, in the automotive market, something really happened just to make friends, and that was the Hongguang MINI EV.
More than a decade ago, the domestic mini car market actually flourished. BYD, Chery, Geely, the early years are also from the mini car to start to build cars, Chery QQ3, BYD F0, Geely Panda these cars, have also been famous. Of course, there are Alto and the Big Dipper, which were also very popular.
What impressed Kung Fu Cars the most was a niche car, that is, Nissan Machi. At that time, it was definitely a boutique car, the shape was extremely cute, many people bought it to modify, and the engine performance was excellent, and the quality was stable and reliable.
However, with the upgrading of domestic consumption, these cars have gradually been "killed" by large cars. After all, 60,000 to buy a car, or 80,000 to buy an A-class family car, this account many people will calculate. The characteristics of fuel vehicles are doomed to be lower the cost of the smaller it is, for example, Chery once mentioned that the cost of the 1L engine is not low at all.
Many years later, the Hongguang MINI EV finally appeared, with a new pure electric platform, it pulled the cost of micro cars to a lower level, and almost really "did not make money". The price of the original Hongguang MINI EV is 288-38,800 yuan, coupled with the green card exemption from purchase tax and the first-tier city card, it is simply "no money" in the eyes of many users, and quickly became a hit. It only went public in mid-2020, and as a result, it sold 120,000 units that year, completely detonating the market.
What's more frightening is its profit margin, according to SAIC-GM-Wuling's 2020 annual financial report, the net profit of a Hongguang MINI EV is only 89 yuan, which is really "making friends"? Of course not. In fact, the biggest significance of Hongguang MINI EV is not how much money it makes for the group, but brings a huge amount of new energy points.
You can take a look at SAIC-GM's recent move, launched a new "Avatar" 1.5T engine, a large number of dual-clutch transmissions replaced by a higher fuel consumption but better stability of the 9AT gearbox, behind this, it is the Hongguang MINI EV brought a large number of new energy points to support.
What is even more frightening is that from January to November this year, the cumulative sales of Wuling Hongguang MINI EV have approached 340,000 vehicles, and sales have shown a trend of continued outbreak. In the automotive industry, once the scale is doubled, the cost is expected to be reduced by about 5%, which means that for every Hongguang MINI EV sold this year, there may already be a profit of about 1500 yuan.
It is equivalent to revitalizing the fuel sequence of SAIC-GM-Wuling through such a move, and at the same time making money, it is reasonable for other car companies to be hungry.
It's easy to get in, it's hard to make money
But then again, it's not so easy to make money. In fact, if we look at the sales of Hongguang MINI EV, its delivery volume in the past four months is 41188 units, 35176 vehicles, 47834 vehicles and 40395 vehicles. Yes, its delivery volume has quietly reached the 40,000 level, and if there is no accident, it will break out further in the future.
The same level of models of other car companies has not yet been able to sell more than 10,000. This also includes small ants that have been in the game for a long time, running E-Star and so on. As for the back, it's even harder.
This reason is not complicated, first of all, from the technical level, the same cost, it is not easy to reach the level of Hongguang MINI EV. Its MINI body only needs to occupy half a parking space, but the practicality is quite good, with a four-seat design and even a rear-down trunk volume of 741L. And its turning radius is only 4.2 meters, which cannot be done without excellent adjustment strength. The efficient electric drive system makes it cost as little as 5 cents per kilometer, which is also powerful enough.
Coupled with low-temperature pre-heating charging and battery insulation, lithium batteries meet IP68 waterproof and dustproof standards, and provide an ultra-long warranty of 120,000 kilometers for 8 years. It is already quite difficult for opponents to achieve a similar level to it, let alone surpass its level and set a lower price, which is very difficult with the existing level of technology.
Another point is its impact on car culture, what is everyone's impression of cars in the past? Many people think that only people who can't afford a big car will buy a car. The Hongguang MINI EV really achieved "small and not LOW", its female car owners accounted for more than 60%, and the proportion of post-90s car owners reached 72%, and set off a wave of modification. This shows that in the minds of the hipsters a few years ago, this was a very playable car.
Even some shopping malls do activities, they pull out the Hongguang MINI EV out of the "platform", and alloy toy cars and splicing blocks will also use it as a "prototype". This kind of tide feeling is not available in other late-entry models.
So don't look at the Hongguang MINI EV that made money in the end, that's because it's the one that eats crabs. If the car behind is only satisfied with imitating it, it is really difficult to reach a similar level.
Young people choose two-door cars for the first car, and I see the line
But then again, for the new energy industry, the mini car market may really be a blue ocean, which is promising. Especially for young people who do not have a sufficient budget to buy a car, it is still very cost-effective to buy a two-door car at a price of about 30,000.
First of all, the starting cost is naturally low, not only the price is low, the purchase tax is exempt, and the subsequent use of the car and maintenance costs are also lower. Like the Hongguang MINI EV, the cost of stepping is less than a thousand yuan, which is something that fuel vehicles can't do anyway. And although the general horsepower is not large, because the motor can output the maximum torque at the first time, their 0-50km/h acceleration capacity is not bad, and the driving experience of daily commuting is far better than that of the same level of fuel vehicles equipped with 1.0L three-cylinder engines.
After starting a family, they can also continue to serve as the second car in the family. After all, it is still very convenient to buy a dish in the city, or pick up and drop off a child. Now many cities are promoting "mother-and-son" parking spaces, that is, a half-size parking space, which can just accommodate a large car and a small car, which is equivalent to a parking space.
Therefore, with the innate advantages of electric vehicles, the follow-up market is still very promising.
But for car companies, a rush to enter the market is not necessarily a good thing. First of all, we must think clearly where our advantages are, after all, so many big factories have entered the game. If you want to go, you have to have a point to impress the user, and it is not enough to rely on "imitation".
Kung Fu shoots
The rise of the micro-electric vehicle market is indeed the trend of the times, the early years of the sale of micro cars, now Hongguang MINI EV can sell more than 40,000 units a month, indicating that consumers' recognition of this kind of car is indeed getting higher and higher.
But so many car companies have rushed in, and Kung Fu Cars are not very optimistic. In particular, they do not show their advantages at all, from the naming, from the design, from the promotion method, there is a bit of a "East Shi Gong" feeling, it is difficult to believe that this is to create a blockbuster posture.
For young people's first car, will you choose a two-door car?