Abstract: With solid technical hard power, the blessing of Huawei's soft power can play a role
Text | Yan Jin
From fuel to electric, from electric to intelligent, this is the hottest topic of discussion in the automotive industry today, and this newly established automobile brand has taken it a step further and proposed the concept of smart cars from smart to smart.
On December 2, 2021, the car brand AITO was launched, AITO means Adding Intelligence to Auto, that is, bringing intelligence into the car and making the car smarter. On December 23, AITO's first smart luxury SUV, the M5, was released, with a pre-price of between 250,000 and 320,000 yuan.
The difference between smart cars and smart cars lies in whether there is "extension" and "thinking". Extension is the internet of everything, and thought means from executing instructions to giving suggestions in reverse.
AITO, which put forward the concept of smart cars, is confident. First of all, the innate hard core, AITO is the handiwork of Xilis under Xiaokang Shares, and Xilis is the pioneer brand that is the first in China to master the core three-electric technology and electric drive range-increasing technology; followed by Huawei's "joint name" blessing that has been deeply involved in the communications industry for more than 30 years, AITO Q&I M5 is the first model equipped with Huawei's latest HarmonyOS intelligent cockpit.
In addition, Xilis and Huawei have greater ambitions to build AITO into the world's leading brand of new energy vehicles within five years. This is not only the confidence of Xilis in its own strength, but also the confidence in China's new energy vehicle market.
▲ Sales of new energy vehicles in 2021
Source: China Automobile Association
According to data from the China Automobile Association, in 2021, China's new energy vehicle sales will be 3.521 million units, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years. Among them, the sales volume of new energy passenger cars was 3.334 million units, an increase of 167.5% year-on-year. CICC judged that the global vehicle electrification has broken through the critical point, or entered a period of steep growth, and the penetration rate of New Energy Vehicles in China will reach 20% in 2022, corresponding to sales of 5 million vehicles. However, in the chaotic battle of pressure, randomness and uncertainty, strength is the fundamental driving force behind consumption upgrading and brand evolution.
Cyrus's innate hardcore
"Low-key power faction" is the best adjective of Cyrus.
In fact, from 2014 to 2016, when the first new car-making forces were born, Xilis was involved in the field of electric vehicles. But when others went down to build cars, Xilis took a different path and chose to sink down and first do a good job in the three core technologies of electric vehicles (batteries, motors, and electronic controls).
At a time when basic charging facilities have not yet become as popular as gas stations, the launch of an electric car means trying to soothe users' mileage anxiety. Starting from infrastructure, long time is slow to achieve results, so most car companies choose to start from the car itself, launch higher capacity batteries, or launch different technical solutions such as plug-in hybrid and extended range.
After 6 years of technology accumulation, Xilis has also launched its own advantageous technology - pure electric drive range extended range platform, which can achieve thousands of kilometers of ultra-long endurance. So far, Xilix has more than 1,000 technical patents, becoming one of the few enterprises in China that independently master the core three-electric technology, and taking the lead in developing pure electric drive range extender technology.
Xilix's latest pure electric drive range extender platform (DE-i) combines efficiency, safety and intelligence. In terms of high efficiency, the pure electric drive range extended range platform (DE-i) can achieve 4 seconds of 100 km/h acceleration at the same time, but also achieve lower energy consumption and longer endurance: 1 liter of fuel generator 3.2 kWh, 20% higher than the industry, WLTC comprehensive working conditions endurance of more than 1000 km. In terms of safety, each cell in the CTP module design battery PACK uses independent fireproof packaging technology, which is no longer anxious about the accident of battery fire. In terms of intelligence, the pure electric drive extended range platform (DE-i) supports OTA upgrades to continuously improve AI learning capabilities.
Xilis, which holds the core technology of electric vehicles in its hands, also firmly grasps the technology of producing cars: smart factories with Industry 4.0 standards.
The collaboration of more than 1,000 robots can achieve 100% automation of key processes and 24-hour online monitoring to ensure high-quality output of automobile quality. For example, the stamping workshop is equipped with the world's most advanced blue light detection, the detection efficiency is three to five times that of the three coordinate detection of traditional automobile factories, and the detection accuracy reaches 0.05 mm; the painting workshop uses the country's first seven-axis robotic arm automobile production line.
Therefore, for Xilis, who has already cultivated his internal skills, entering the game to build a car at this moment is a natural move after the technology is mature.
Huawei's blessing
With the inherently solid foundation of Cyrus, Huawei's soft power blessing can play a role. After all, if you want to see a higher view, it is not as simple as building just one floor top floor. If you want to see the scenery on the top floor, you need Cyrus and Huawei to jointly create a ladder.
Taking AITO's first model, the Q&I M5, as an example, the latest HarmonyOS smart cockpit equipped with it is one of the important means to achieve smart cars, making the car as easy to use as mobile phones.
On the one hand, the HarmonyOS smart cockpit expands the types of applications and application terminals.
Huawei's open Hongmeng ecosystem can bring a wealth of apps and convenient services, and when the mobile phone and the car are the same Huawei account, it can realize the natural connection and seamless flow of navigation, music, video, and changlian services between the mobile phone and the car. On the application terminal, the smart car is no longer a two-way interaction between people and cars, but a multi-directional interaction between people, mobile phones, smart homes, smart watches and other devices, realizing the real car connection of all things. It is worth mentioning that the M5 is the first model in the industry to realize the unlocking of the watch without sense, and users can use the Huawei watch to unlock the vehicle through Bluetooth or NFC.
On the other hand, the HarmonyOS smart cockpit has played a new trick in the same common voice assistance, intelligent security, mobile payment and other functions.
One of the features of the M5 voice assistant is Xiaoyi intelligent reminder. Xiaoyi can continuously learn and recommend corresponding services and applications according to the user's usage habits and scenarios. For example, when the car enters the tunnel or the air quality outside the car is poor, Xiaoyi will remind you to open the internal loop; when the amount of fuel/power is too low, Xiaoyi will take the initiative to prompt that there is a gas station/charging station nearby, and when the car is about to arrive home, Xiaoyi will remind you that there is no express delivery, and provide a pickup code and so on.
The smarter the car, the more important the position of safety. Wisdom means that the work that should be done by the person is more entrusted to the machine, and in the process, there will be potential security risks, such as network security, driving safety, privacy security, and so on.
Huawei's HarmonyOS is the first operating system in China to meet the highest functional safety ASIL-D level certification certificate, in the field of driving safety, HarmonyOS will judge whether fatigue driving is based on the user's closed eyes, and carry out corresponding reminders; in terms of privacy and security, when the application or service calls for the microphone, camera, geographical location and other privacy permissions, the system will be reminded in real time in the status bar, and the user can close the camera, microphone, location and other sensitive permissions with one click.
In addition, Q&I M5 also pioneered car sense payment, breaking through the traditional mobile phone scan code payment method, and can complete payment through face recognition verification. In the future, users can also use the exterior camera to scan the QR code of the parking lot, and cooperate with the face payment function in the cockpit to achieve rapid payment. This also avoids cumbersome operations to a certain extent and enhances the safety of driving.
Enter the first echelon within five years
In the past year, new brands have entered the field of new energy vehicles.
In March 2021, Xiaomi Group issued an announcement that the smart electric vehicle business was approved. In November, Avita Technology, a subsidiary of Changan Automobile, released the car brand Avita and unveiled its first model, Avita 11, and the first model of the Sharon brand under Great Wall Motor, the Mecha Dragon, made its world debut. In December, Niu Chuangxin Energy released the automobile brand Niutron, whose Chinese name is Ziyoujia Automobile; dongfeng motor's Lantu brand's first model, Lantu FREE, was officially launched; saic's Zhiji L7's first batch of 200 beta experience editions were officially launched...
No one can deny that the trend of the new energy vehicle market has come. Among them, the trend of high-end new energy vehicles is also becoming more and more obvious. The gradual increase in the income level of residents has also brought about a consumption upgrade in China's automobile market. According to data from the China Automobile Association, in 2021, high-end brand passenger car sales were 3.472 million units, an increase of 20.7% year-on-year, higher than the growth rate of passenger cars by 14.2 percentage points, accounting for 16.2% of the total sales of passenger cars, accounting for 1.9 percentage points higher than the previous year.
▲ Comparison of Chinese brand passenger car sales in 2020 and 2021
A large enough market means that there are enough people who want to share a piece of the pie, and if Xilis wants to achieve the goal of "becoming the first echelon within five years", it must break through the situation of the first batch of new car-making forces before and the catch-up of new car brands established in the same batch.
In this situation, Xilis keenly captures a new trend: in the new energy vehicle track, the concept of luxury cars is evolving into "technological luxury". Zheng Yun, global senior partner of Roland Berger and head of the Automotive Industry Center in Greater China, told this writer that the scientific and technological intelligence of the product side can be directly perceived by consumers, "such as the intelligent cockpit of the car, human-machine interaction, the entire sales after-sales process and so on." ”
In this regard, the solution of Xilis AITO, which is positioned as high-end luxury, is unique, and when people are still talking about electrification and intelligence, it stands at a higher perspective and proposes the concept of smart cars.
In terms of hard-core technology, Xilis is well aware of the pain points of users' anxiety about the mileage of new energy vehicles. Using its own three-electric core technology, it has created a pure electric drive range extended range platform (DE-i), with an endurance of more than 1,000 kilometers. In addition, the manufacturing capacity of smart factories in the Industry 4.0 standard ensures the production quality of automobiles. In terms of software capabilities, the blessing of Huawei's HarmonyOS smart cockpit makes the car smarter and gives the luxury of science and technology. The strong combination of Xilis and Huawei has produced a chemical reaction of 1+1 greater than 2, giving birth to smart cars.
In addition, Xilis also understands that this is an era of "wine is also afraid of deep alleys", and how important it is to seize the "opportunity" and have a strong sales system. The cooperation between Xilis and Huawei in sales channels has made more people aware of AITO and brought AITO to more people. According to the author's understanding, by the end of 2022, Xilis will build thousands of experience centers and hundreds of user centers, and realize 100 cities and 100 stores.
The sales figures are the best proof, with the number of pre-ordered units reaching several thousand units four days after the pre-sale of AITO's first car, the M5. It is understood that the annual output of Xilisi's Liangjiang Smart Factory in Chongqing can reach 100,000 units. In a Conference Call on January 7, Xiaokang said that Xilis will launch a new car at the end of the second quarter or the beginning of the third quarter, positioned as a medium and large SUV model, and at the same time, it is also developing a large-size SUV model, which will be released in 2023. In addition, since from 2023 onwards, in shanghai's policy, the extended range model will no longer be on the new energy license, so Xilis will launch a pure electric model.
With the launch of new models, Cyrus, a low-key strength faction with both "soft and hard" and "soft and hard", is accelerating towards the goal.