Shen Hui, Chairman of WM Motor: Bringing Cutting-edge Technology to Consumers| Exploring The Way 2022

Shen Hui, founder, chairman and CEO of WM

Titanium Media Note: "Exploring the Way 2022" is a year-end planning topic of Titanium Media, inviting TOP entrepreneurial leaders in various industries to review the industry changes and corporate growth in the past year, while talking about new logic and looking forward to 2022. In this article, Hou Kangning, President of ZOHO China, talks to the Titanium Media App "Pathfinding 2022" column, and the following is Hou Kangning's outlook for the future of the industry.

Looking back on 2022, it can be summarized by three words: "full outbreak", "rise of domestic products" and "intelligent iteration".

In 2021, the development of new energy vehicles exceeded expectations, and sales volume ushered in a comprehensive explosive growth. From January to November 2021, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China reached 3.023 million units and 2.990 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.7 times year-on-year.

In terms of market penetration, it reflects a leapfrog breakthrough. As of November, the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles for the whole year increased significantly from 5.3% in 2020 to 13.9%, an increase of 162%. Among them, in November, the retail penetration rate of domestic new energy passenger cars exceeded 20%, reaching 20.8%.

It can be found that the new energy market is opening a new round of outbreak after years of precipitation. At the same time, the new forces have also achieved a staged rise in car manufacturing. According to the data of the Association, in November, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in domestic brands was 33.2%; the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in domestic luxury vehicles was 24.6%,, while the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in mainstream joint venture brands was only 3.9%. This shows that in the mainstream and luxury markets, users have full recognition of domestic brands, and when China's electric vehicles start to fully explode, this user recognition will become a catalyst for the rise of domestic brands.

According to IHS Markit data, the market penetration rate of China's intelligent networked vehicles in 2019 is about 35.3%, with the upgrading of autonomous driving and networking technology, the market penetration rate will reach 75.9% in 2025, and China is expected to become the world's largest intelligent networked vehicle market.

"Science and technology inclusive" allows everyone to have a smart electric vehicle that is "affordable and used"

I personally believe that the most valuable decision is the "technology inclusive" vision we established at the beginning of the establishment of WM, that is, to benefit the people with cutting-edge technology, so that everyone can have a "affordable, useable" intelligent electric vehicle. At present, China's new energy vehicles are accelerating their penetration, and the mainstream market will usher in a new outbreak, which is an opportunity for WM and the home advantage of domestic brands. Last year, we achieved new breakthroughs in many ways around this vision.

In terms of enterprise development, in the past year, WM completed a new round of financing of 457 million US dollars, which is the new force with the highest amount of us dollar financing. This round of financing will continue to accelerate WM's "technology inclusive" strategy, and the financing will be used for the research and development of driverless driving and other intelligent technologies and products, as well as the expansion of sales and service channels, etc., in order to maintain WM's core advantages in intelligence.

In terms of market sales, in December 2021, WM delivered 5,062 smart pure electric vehicles, and delivered a total of 15,114 intelligent pure electric vehicles in the fourth quarter, setting a record high in single-quarter sales! In 2021, WM delivered a total of 44,157 smart pure electric vehicles throughout the year, close to the sum of cumulative deliveries in the past three years. Since its delivery, WM has delivered nearly 90,000 intelligent pure electric vehicles, ranking first in the first echelon of new car-making forces.

In terms of product planning, the SUV + sedan matrix describes that the "science and technology inclusive" strategy has fallen again. WM unveiled the first full-scenario intelligent pure electric sedan WM M7 on the basis of the zero-contact intelligent interactive pure electric SUV WM EX5, 250,000 yuan large six-seat pure electric SUV WM EX6, and super-computing power evolution intelligent pure electric SUV WM6.

In terms of hard technology research and development, WM continues to implement forward-looking technologies in terms of intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving. WM W6 is equipped with AVP unmanned autonomous parking system, which truly realizes the function of unmanned autonomous access to the garage, and pioneers the application of self-developed SOA technology, with high-level custom scene programming functions. WM M7 is the world's first to carry 3 independent zoom high-precision super-vision lidar, equipped with 4 Orin-X top automatic driving chips, with a maximum computing power of 1,016TOPS, and takes the lead in realizing the full coverage of intelligent scenes for "all-scenario parking - urban roads - intercity high-speed" vehicles.

In terms of charging and replenishment, WM is laying out the travel replenishment system to improve the coverage of charging piles. With WM's access to Hong Kong EV Power charging piles in December 2021, it has become the first new car-making force to implement the layout of charging piles in Hong Kong after Tesla. It covers 65 public charging stations and 333 public charging piles in Hong Kong. Up to now, WM's layout in the field of public charging has covered 32 provincial-level administrative regions and 361 cities across the country, providing users with more than 440,000 charging piles through the "Instant Passenger" APP.

Looking forward to 2022, the mainstream market will usher in a new round of outbreak

Under the carbon peak and double carbon action, the popularity of new energy vehicles will accelerate, and the market structure will accelerate from the current "dumbbell type" to "spindle type", that is to say, the mainstream market will usher in a new round of outbreak. For car manufacturers, it means a new round of brand development and market growth opportunities. As the only new force of intelligent pure electricity focusing on the mainstream mid-range market of 150,000-250,000 yuan, WM has a first-mover advantage in the accelerated "spindle era".

Entering the era of intelligent electric vehicles, the logic of car manufacturing has undergone essential changes. The industry generally believes that the era of software-defined automobiles is coming. WM's thinking is that the competition in the market will be more intense in the future, and it is the core of competitiveness to continue to pay attention to user needs and continuously improve user services and operational capabilities. Based on the above concept, WM strategically put forward the "user-defined car" and adhered to the concept of "universal benefit of science and technology", formed an SUV + car layout in the mainstream electric market, and created "safe and reliable, stable quality, excellent experience, reasonable cost" smart travel products and services for users.

WM W6 is the first mass production model based on the concept of "user-defined car" in China, and it is also the first mass production model in China to realize the application of SOA technology, and has developed scene programming functions in a targeted manner, so that users have the most interesting scene programming intelligent experience. In the second half of next year, WM Motor will officially launch the all-scenario intelligent pure electric car - WM M7, which is WM's first all-scenario intelligent mobile space, representing WM's new intelligent product development concept.

(This article was first published on the Titanium Media App, the content is the first-person expression of the interviewee, and the reporter |.) Wang Zhenchao)