In 2019, when domestic new energy vehicles were in the ascendant, talking about the future pattern of Chinese car companies, Meituan CEO Wang Xing once asserted that "the future pattern is '3+3+3+3', in addition to 3 central enterprises, 3 local state-owned enterprises, 3 traditional private enterprises, only 3 new car-making forces can stay." ”
Although this remark is very controversial, it has also spurred all new power brands to run for a long time.
The time has come to 2022, and there are still more than three new car manufacturers active at the forefront of the market, which can be seen from the delivery posters released by various car companies at the beginning of the new year.
This year, "Wei Xiaoli" is still the top three, and there has been a significant increase in delivery. Throughout the year, in 2021, Weilai, Ideal and Xiaopeng delivered 91,429, 90,491 and 98,155 new cars respectively, and they were only one foot away from breaking the 100,000 mark. In a single month, "Wei Xiaoli" has also delivered more than 10,000 yuan for two consecutive months.
Not only the increase in sales, "Wei Xiaoli" in charging stations, research and development, production capacity and other aspects of investment has also been able to see the return, it can be said that the once most miserable "electric three fools" have successfully survived the most difficult moments.
In addition to the fight of the head car companies, the second-line new forces that were once stuck in the waist, such as Nezha and zero runners, still insist on being on the front line, especially Nezha, which has also delivered more than 10,000 yuan for two consecutive months, and there is a trend of latecomers taking advantage of the victory to chase and squeeze into the first line.
In addition, the two major new energy vehicle brands that traditional car companies have specially independent of for the new energy track, JiKr and Lantu, have also entered the right track. Although the current number of deliveries is still far from the head of the "Wei Xiaoli", it is worth noting that both ZEEKER 001 and Landu FREE have set a record for the fastest delivery to break 3000.
This is the advantage of traditional car companies' secondary entrepreneurship, which are born with many resources that are unattainable for new car manufacturers.
But the above is not enough to represent all the new car companies. In 2022, more new players will appear on the leaderboards, including many who can pose a threat to the head enterprises.
For example, Huawei, although it prides itself on "not building cars, only helping car companies build good cars", spent more than half of its time releasing the AITO brand new car M5 at the winter flagship conference in December, which still exposed Huawei's "ambition" of cross-border car manufacturing.
Although it has been a while since the initial listing, the discussion of Huawei and the M5 in the industry and the market has not disappeared, but has become more and more intense.
Because at the press conference, "Yu Dazui" quoted the scriptures and demonstrated from various dimensions how the M5 of the Qingjie Circle killed the Million Luxury Car with a pricing price of 250,000 .
On the control, "the chassis of our car is the chassis of the high-end Million Luxury car, and its front suspension is a double wishbone independent suspension, and we see that many cars use The McPherson suspension in order to reduce costs, and the driving experience is not good." ”
"I see that some cars still use 1.3L three-cylinder engines, the engine is at least four-cylinder, you buy a car do not buy three-cylinder, should be equipped with at least four, six, eight, twelve cylinders."
In terms of endurance and energy consumption, "our cruising range is basically three times that of normal electric vehicles, and it is a second to kill a number of pure electric vehicles." ”
Yu Chengdong also said, "Our requirements for the team are to build our car according to the standards of The Million Luxury Car, the appearance, interior, performance, experience, and quality requirements of the Million Luxury Car. ”
Huawei-style marketing rhetoric has become accustomed to in the mobile phone industry, but when it appears in the automotive circle, it will still make people feel uncomfortable. In particular, when the brand's expression is still full of loopholes.
For example, suspension, Yu Chengdong said that the "front double wishbone independent suspension" is a configuration only available in Million Luxury cars. In reality, the zero-run C11, which is priced at 150,000 levels, also uses a front double wishbone independent suspension; for example, the controversy over the "three-cylinder engine"; and for example, the endurance, the M5 uses an extended-range hybrid design, which is essentially a technical path for refueling power generation.
At the time of the press conference, there were already many people complaining about this in the circle of friends, thinking that "Yu Chengdong, who made cars, did not understand cars." But there are also those who believe that the automotive industry needs "barbarians" and must also adapt to the fact that "barbarians are coming".
Compared with the "war of words" of the media, it is clear that consumers are the real "voters". Recently, we visited some Huawei stores and were told that in less than a week of listing, the order of the M5 has reached 6500 units, and such market performance is not eye-catching for a new brand new car priced at 250,000-320,000.
Of course, this is Huawei's unilateral data, and the final sales data needs to be confirmed by the China Automobile Association. At that time, when the Cyris SF5 was on the market, the poster of the order broke 3,000 units on the third day, and the order broke 6,000 units a week, but it turned out that by the end of last year, the total sales of the Cyrus SF5 were less than 6,000.
Perhaps because of the lessons of the Cyris SF5, when the AITO M5 was released, Huawei personally "went down", in this body, in addition to the logo is not Huawei, almost all other parts are printed with the "Huawei" LOGO.
The M5 has a unique and impactful value point, which is the first intelligent cockpit equipped with the Hongmeng system. Hongmeng Intelligent Cockpit interior a 15.6-inch 2K HDR intelligent central control screen, using the latest generation of screen technology, high contrast, clear picture quality, smooth operation.
The mobile phone-like experience of car and machine operation can capture people's hearts for a short time, especially when it appears in Huawei's retail experience stores across the country. According to the plan, from December 23, 2021, the M5 has successively displayed real cars in 180 Huawei stores in 42 cities.
At this time, whether it is Huawei's own operation or Huawei's empowerment is no longer important, experience is better than everything.
Huawei's strength also lies in its strong user base. For various reasons, the public's attitude towards Huawei is mostly full of respect, so that there is greater tolerance for Huawei's products.
Whether it is from the marketing means, research and development strength, or brand foundation, Huawei is an opponent that cannot be ignored. Therefore, it is difficult for such a brand not to be jealous.
In fact, there seems to be not much controversy about whether Huawei builds cars or not. Whether it is as a supplier serving car companies or as a challenger in advance, Huawei's coveting of the automotive industry has long been on paper. Once Huawei personally takes command, the "picture" may be more exciting than it is now.
What's more, at this stage, companies with strength like Huawei and are ready to enter the car circle include giants such as Xiaomi, Baidu and Apple.
In the middle of last year, Xiaomi announced that it would invest $10 billion in cars. As of the end of September 2021, Xiaomi has invested in 62 enterprises in the field of intelligent vehicles. Among them, there are 17 enterprises with intelligent driving layout, 13 enterprises with intelligent electric layout, and 6 enterprises with intelligent cockpit layout.
In the third quarter financial report, Xiaomi said that the current team members of the smart electric vehicle business have exceeded 500 people, and also reconfirmed that the first half of 2024 will achieve mass production of new cars.
On December 27 last year, Robin Li said at the Baidu AI Developer Conference that Jidu's first concept car will be announced in the first half of 2022, and the first car robot will be mass-produced and delivered in 2023. Apple's first electric car "Apple Car", which has been secretly developed for 7 years, is also expected to be released in September next year.
With Internet companies with an absolute mass base such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and Apple joining the car-making industry, the competition for new energy vehicles will become more intense.
Li Bin, founder of Weilai Automobile, also said, "Now that Huawei, Xiaomi, and Apple's plans in the automotive field have become clearer and clearer, everyone will definitely be working from 2022 onwards." In his view, the final moment of this industry will be around 2024 and 2025.
He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, also gave the same judgment - by 2025, the automotive industry will enter the knockout round from the qualifiers.
How will the automotive industry be rewritten? We'll see.