"Our delivery target for this year is 10,000 units per year." This was the goal of the former president of Jihu Automobile when he was interviewed by Liguo in early 2021. A year later, Yu Liguo has assumed the position of vice president of Xiaomi Automobile, and the number of risks on the Extreme Fox in 2021 is also fixed at 4817 vehicles, less than half of the target at the beginning of the year. Compared with the blowout of China's new energy vehicle market in 2021, the performance of the polar fox is somewhat crotch-pulling.
What is the level of delivery of 4817 units? The delivery volume of NIO ES6 in December 2021 was 4925 units, the delivery volume of Xiaopeng P7 was 7532 units in the month, and the ideal ONE was 14074 vehicles. That is to say, the annual delivery volume of the two cars of Alpha T and Alpha S under Extreme Fox is not as good as the monthly delivery of a car of "Wei Xiaoli", and the gap is indeed a bit large.
Some people may think that it is not fair to compare Wei Xiaoli, who has a high market recognition with the polar fox that has just turned a year old, so let's compare the Lantu, extreme krypton and extreme fox that will only open for delivery in 2021.
In 2021, Polar Fox is delivered all year, Lantu is 5 months, and Extreme Kr is only 3 months. From the perspective of the amount of insurance, lantu and extreme krypton have increased the amount of insurance after the official opening of delivery. In the end, Lantu's insurance volume in 2021 reached 6426 vehicles, and the extreme krypton was 5561 vehicles, which exceeded the polar fox. Moreover, lantu and extreme krypton both exceeded 3,000 vehicles in December last year, while pole fox did not achieve a single month insurance volume of more than 1,000 until December last year, and the gap between the single-month delivery volume of land and extreme krypton is also getting wider and wider.
As a turnaround of BAIC Group in the intelligent electrification track, Jihu's product strength is not weak, not only the group's internal resources are all supplied in place, but also the blessing of Magna and Huawei. But why it can't open up quickly, EV Century believes that it is mainly due to various problems that have been accumulated before.
The first is the impact of the backlog of negative reputation of the BAIC BJEV brand on the Jihu brand. Although Polar Fox tried to find a way to quack bail out BAIC BJEV, it was not easy.
In this regard, I am reminded of a small story. In an experience activity of The Extreme Fox Alpha T, some media peers experienced alpha T and lamented that BAIC could also build a good car, and also intended to start a car. But he eventually dismissed the idea, saying that if he told his family that he had spent $300,000 to buy a car for Taipei, his family would definitely think he was crazy. This story of media peers can be seen as a microcosm of some consumers' perception of the BAIC brand.
Because the impression of BAIC autonomy has been poor, it has invisibly allowed Ji Fox to carry a burden when it debuted. In addition, in order to quickly promote market share in the past few years, BAIC BJEV has launched some low-end models, which has also had a negative impact on the brand image. If consumers will look at it with a skeptical attitude when other new car-making brands have just been launched, then after knowing that Jihu is a brand launched by BAIC, some people may even skip the wait-and-see.
Secondly, the frequent personnel changes of BAIC Group and BAIC BJEV in recent years have also troubled the new brand of Jihu.
The Polar Fox brand was launched as early as 2016, not much later than Weilai and Xiaopeng, or even earlier than the ideal car, but the first model was not launched until October 2020. From 2016 to 2022, the Jihu brand was first led by Zheng Gang, general manager of BAIC BJEV, and later Lu Hao, Yu Liguo, and now Dai Kangwei, which has undergone many substitution adjustments. At the same time, BAIC BJEV has also experienced the replacement of Zheng Gang, Ma Fanglie and Liu Yu. BAIC Group has also entered the era of Jiang Deyi from the Era of Xu Heyi. From BAIC Group to BAIC New Energy to Jihu brand, the continuous change of leadership is undoubtedly not conducive to its development.
In addition, whether it is Tesla or Wei Xiaoli, the image and personal charm of the founder have a special impact on brand development, but the new brands born of the state-owned car company group such as Jihu and Lantu do not have a clear founder, coupled with the frequent changes in the head of the brand, it is difficult to help the development of the brand.
The third factor that Polar Fox did not sell well is that the product is somewhat decent. Frankly speaking, compared with other products independent of BAIC, the two cars of Jihu have made a qualitative leap, and their process quality and material workmanship are completely worthy of its price. However, the two electric vehicles of Jihu are somewhat stable in the dazzling new energy market, although there is no obvious shortcoming, but there is no selling point that can make consumers "fall in love at first sight".
With more and more brands entering the high-end market, the price range of Jihu is also an endless stream of products for consumers to choose, and unlike traditional fuel vehicles, users who choose high-end brands in the new energy segment more or less hope that their products can have some differences, so as to highlight their personality. Whether it is from the design or driving experience and intelligent experience, Jihu still retains the "stability" of traditional car companies, and the innovation and intelligent experience are weak.
Summary: "One drum, then decline, three exhaustion". For Polar Fox, the opportunity to make a big fuss has been missed, Pole Fox not only failed to shorten the distance with the head brand, but was continuously surpassed by the new brands that entered later, so it is crucial for Pole Fox in the next 2022.
In view of the current situation of Jihu, it is unlikely that there will be great changes in the product in a short period of time, so it is necessary to make drastic changes from the brand building, so as to attract and stimulate users to change their cognition of the Jihu brand, so as to further transform the sense of identity into actual sales.
Since last year, China's new energy vehicle market has once again entered a period of rapid development, and it is expected that the market will show a sustained and rapid development trend in recent years. The Polar Fox must seize this opportunity to catch up, and there is not much time left for it. If the polar fox can't keep up with the pace of the market, it is really not far from "paste".