At the beginning of 2022, the Chang'an UNI-V Global First Experience Tour with the theme of "Driving the Future Realm" was officially launched in the mountain city of Chongqing, when I had the honor to become one of the first batch of test drives in the world to drive Chang'an UNI-V, and after the test drive on the same day, I came to the conclusion that we need this unique model in the Chinese market, dare to go to another path, not that more than 100,000 can only buy family cars that simply serve "buying vegetables".
So much so that in the week or two after the test drive, I still think back to the Changan UNI-V from time to time, and the impression of this car on me is too deep.
Because I was curious how Changan made such a sassy coupe posture for UNI-V? Curious why the configuration is so high, but the pre-sale top price is still controlled in the early 130,000s? Curious to know that it is equipped with the blue whale power that we are familiar with, why does Ann on the UNI-V give people a completely different feeling?
And all of this ultimately points to one word— the Ark architecture.
platform! Architecture! What the hell are these?
First of all, we need to figure out what is architecture? Is this different from the "platform car" we often heard a few years ago?
In fact, the concept of "automotive platform" has been born as early as the 1980s, and several different models may be born under one platform, but some of their parts can be used. Just like when we play Lego, the LEGO structure, parts, etc. of the City series (equivalent to the same platform) can be shared, but between the City series and the Star Wars series, it is no longer the same platform, so it cannot share parts.
But if it is under the same architecture, these impossibilities will become possible, because the expansion of the "architecture" is unimaginable, taking Changan's Ark architecture as an example, it can cover all models of A0-C class, and can also iteratively evolve the basic performance of the body, chassis and other vehicles according to intelligence and big data.
That is to say, after a few years or more than a decade of use of a "platform", the technology has not kept up with the times, but a set of "architecture" can be continuously improved and constantly walk in the forefront of the times.
Architecture has many benefits for our users, but the most intuitive is "value feedback".
The so-called "value feedback" is actually after the generalization rate of parts and components becomes higher, and more high-value configurations can be given back to users at the same cost, and the generalization rate of parts and components of the Ark architecture has reached more than 70%, which has reached the international first-class level.
Since the architecture is so good, why not every car company has it?
The reason is simple, because to give birth to a set of architecture, there are two important points - there is research and development strength; there is money, and these two points are precisely changan's advantages.
According to the evaluation results of the National Technology Center for Enterprises recognized by the National Development and Reform Commission from 2017 to 2018, Changan Automobile ranked third in the country and first in the industry with a score of 96.4; in 2021, Changan Automobile's cumulative sales of vehicles reached 2.3 million, an increase of 14.8% year-on-year, which is also Changan's annual sales exceeded the 2 million mark for two consecutive years.
Both R & D strength, but also "no shortage of money", so the Ark structure was born.
What does the Ark give to UNI-V?
Specific to UNI-V, what role does the Ark architecture play? Couldn't the UNI-V car have been built without the Ark architecture?
After all, as I just said: "architecture" is not something that every car company has, and it is impossible not to build a car without developing its own architecture, right?
Therefore, the Ark architecture is actually more similar to the "soul" of a product, and it is precisely because of the Ark architecture that UNI-V has a more advanced series of upgrades and experiences.
To take a very simple example, the UNI-V presented to us today has a similar diving posture - the front of the car is pressed down, forward and backward, the principle is actually very simple, just like the athlete's starting posture, giving people a feeling of being ready to go. Although it is such a simple truth, it actually needs strong technical support behind it.
Because when the designer gave a front pressure down plan, the engineer needs to optimize the engine compartment layout, and under the blessing of Chang'an's Ark architecture, the inclination angle of the UNI-V power arrangement is optimized from forward tilt of 7.5 ° to 10 ° back, the center of the engine crankshaft is reduced by 12mm, and the length is reduced by 13.5mm, thus achieving the hood drop, the hood slope can be designed to be larger, and finally the effect of subduction is presented.
But the significance of the Ark architecture is not only to make UNI-V "good-looking", but also to make a lot of effort in terms of body safety in our "invisible places".
UNI-V not only adopts a more advanced crash energy absorption structure, the use of collision energy unloading design to reduce the impact of the collision on the crew compartment, and the body of 1500MPa and above high-strength steel accounted for 70%, the key structure has been greatly strengthened, the body of the stiffness index increased by 9% -38%.
It is also with its excellent body structure design and excellent crash safety performance that UNI-V has won the honor of "2021 China's Top Ten Body Bodies" selected by the China Auto safety and Body Conference.
In addition, Changan UNI-V is also equipped with Continental's new 3rd generation ESC body stability control system, and is equipped with AEB intelligent emergency braking assist, LDW lane departure warning, LKA lane keeping assist, LCDA parallel assist and other active safety technologies. Car active and passive safety is like an insurance, we all hope that we will never use it, but when it comes to a critical moment, we will sigh that we are fortunate to have it.
If UNI-V's excellent active and passive safety is like buying an insurance, then the high-end intelligent driver assistance system it is equipped with is like a driving instructor who is always by your side.
The "integrated full-speed adaptive cruise" equipped with Changan UNI-V adds the word "integrated", which proves that its function does not stop at simple full-speed domain.
The two highlights of this intelligent driver assistance system are the driver trigger lane change (UDLC) and the intelligent recommended lane change (IRLC). The former can automatically detect the adjacent lane space and surrounding road conditions when the driver turns on the turn signal to change lanes, and if the conditions are met, UNI-V will automatically intelligently change lanes.
The latter is that when encountering a congested road section in front, the system will monitor the surrounding environment in real time through sensors, and combine the road condition information provided by the online map to determine whether the adjacent lane is more smooth and fast, and if it meets the conditions, the driver will be given a lane change prompt. And when driving on the highway, if the navigation route shows that it is about to leave the ramp, but the vehicle is still on the left side, the system will actively remind the driver to change lanes to the right in advance.
In addition to these, there are many functions that we did not have time to experience when we were test driving, such as APA6.0 remote intelligent parking, support for remote intelligent parking, low-speed self-search parking, and one-click autonomous parking outside the car... In the future, the one-click trace function of up to 50m can also be upgraded through OTA.
These are the "magic" brought by the Ark architecture, because from the perspective of functional diversity, the intelligent performance of UNI-V, even compared to some of the main intelligent electric vehicles, can be called more than enough.
This magic is also reflected in the dynamic representation of UNI-V.
Changan UNI-V's "specially tuned blue whale power", although there is no change in some basic parameters, the maximum power rating is still 138kW, and it can also burst out 300 N·m peak torque at 1500 rpm. However, on the gearbox, Changan UNI-V adopts transient torque control technology for the first time, which can be judged based on driving intent, actively control the transient transmission torque of the clutch, and absorb the impact of the engine on the transmission system during acceleration.
Although the annotations may seem complicated and professional, they actually fall into our driving experience, just one word - shun!
In addition, with the blessing of DTV (Dynamic Torque Vector Control), you will find: "Eh? The bend that could not be crossed before can now be passed, the head that was pushed before, now it is not pushed! "Because when driving in curves, the DTV intelligently distributes the driving force of the inner and outer wheels, so that the driving trajectory can be precisely controlled according to the driver's intentions.
In addition to the three classic driving modes (ECO, NORMAL, SPORT), UNI-V has also added SUPER RACE and SMART modes.
Super RACE mode electric tail will rise, throttle response and transmission shift timing become more compact, while the exhaust valve will open, charming sound waves continue to stir your driving desire; and SMART mode, the vehicle can intelligently judge the user's intentions, automatically switch between the three classic driving modes, from now on no longer need to cut ECO when traffic jams, change SPORT when running mountains, one button can be done.
Obviously, we already have the foundation of electrification, why do we insist on upgrading the performance of fuel vehicles?
In fact, in general, under the Ark architecture, not only the vehicle safety has gone up, the performance is better, and the intelligent gameplay is also more, UNI-V can bring us so many surprises at the product level, largely due to the empowerment of the platform architecture, and the "Ark" will continue to evolve in this process.
But after digging deeper into the Ark architecture, I also found an interesting place.
Chang'an's Ark architecture reserves 36 sensors for the core layout area for higher-order automatic driving in the future, and in terms of power composition, the Ark architecture can be compatible with 8 engine states, with a displacement covering 1.2-2.0L, compatible with 48V low-voltage hybrid, high-voltage hybrid and plug-in hybrid 3 kinds of electrified power, matching 8 transmission modules, and up to 16 kinds of power combinations.
This has obviously reached the hardware standard for building new energy vehicles, why does Changan adhere to the strategy of upgrading the performance of fuel vehicles?
From the market point of view, the development of new energy vehicles in the past two years is indeed very rapid, but the inflection point of the real transition from traditional cars to smart electric vehicles has not yet appeared.
Take the example of the cars we usually see on the street, it seems that there are indeed a lot of green vehicles, but most of them are online car-hailing for the B-end, and the remaining C-end private vehicles look like a lot, but in fact, it is the reason for the "survivor bias". For example, in 2020, China's total sales of electric vehicles reached 1.34 million, but it is still a small market segment compared to fuel vehicles.
It is undeniable that new energy is definitely the trend of the future, but we do not have to sing the decline of fuel vehicles prematurely, and there is still a long way to go before the full electrification transformation. In the time node of the long-term coexistence of fuel vehicles and new energy, insisting on the performance upgrade of fuel vehicles, continuing to squeeze the power of fuel vehicles, and allowing every drop of fuel to be fully volatilized can actually achieve the purpose of energy conservation and emission reduction.
In addition, from Changan's brand logo (inspired by the angle between the Jialing River and the Yangtze River in Chongqing), it can be seen that Changan Automobile is actually a very romantic car company. It is said that one side of the water and soil nourishes one person, and the other side of the water and soil also nurtures the Chang'an of the party with a very "Chongqing soul".
The developed industrial environment makes Chongqing people have an almost paranoid love for machinery, countless high and low drops and countless complex mountain roads also make them have extremely high requirements for power and control, so you will find that Chang'an's car will always be slightly higher in the same level, just as Geng's Chongqing people do not like "flower racks", UNI-V is not just "appearance sports", excellent foundation and tuning, but also give it full driving pleasure.
Of course, Changan knows that there are still many users in the market who love the roar of the engine and are still willing to enjoy the driving pleasure of fuel vehicles. And what makes every effort for this group of people to love what they love is UNI-V that sails out of the Ark.