Priced above 400,000 yuan GAC Aean LX Plus?

Economic Observation Network reporter Wang Shuaiguo recently, GAC Aeon released the flagship SUV model AION LX in 2022 to redesign AION LX Plus. The new car is priced at 286,600 yuan to 459,600 yuan after subsidies. GAC Aeon has become another brand in the "new car-making force" to launch an impact on 400,000 yuan.

Previously, only a few brands in the industry, such as Gaohe and Weilai, were priced at more than 400,000 yuan. Other brands such as Dongfeng Lantu, Geely Krypton, Ideal and so on, mainly attacking the market of more than 300,000 yuan. As a traditional car company, GAC Aean, and has always been mainly focused on the range of 100,000-200,000 yuan, why did gac Aean sell for 400,000 yuan at a high price? This has sparked a lot of buzz in the industry.

From the AION LX itself, it was born in 2019, after the price of the entry-level model was 229,600 yuan, and the highest price was 349,600 yuan. The entry price of the new car was raised to 286,600 yuan, an increase of nearly 60,000 yuan. The highest selling price reached 459,600 yuan, a sharp rise of 120,000 yuan. Such a pricing strategy does not seem to be "rational".

On the other hand, the AION LX has sold very little since it went public for more than two years. In the sales structure of GAC Aeon, it mainly relies on two models, AION S and AION Y. According to Sohu Auto data, in 2021, the sales volume of GAC and Ethiopia Safety Department models was 123,700 units, of which AION S sales were 69,200 units, accounting for more than 56%; AION Y sales were 32,100 units, accounting for about 26%. The AION LX sold just over 1,000 vehicles in the whole year.

However, GAC Aean has its own reasons. According to its introduction, AION LX Plus has many highlights: 1008km of ultra-long CLTC comprehensive working condition endurance, as a pure electric model, the endurance is close to the range extender model ideal ONE (NEDC comprehensive working range of 1080km); equipped with 3 second-generation intelligent zoom lidar, strengthening vehicle safety and the reliability of auxiliary driving functions; performance, the acceleration of 2.9S breaking 100 is also quite amazing.

Among these product highlights, the 1008km endurance is undoubtedly the most eye-catching. In the current pure electric car market, the mainstream cruising range is more than 600 kilometers. GAC Aion LX Plus became the first pure electric vehicle in the industry to achieve mass production of 1,000 kilometers of endurance.

According to GAC Aean, the reason why the AION LX Plus can achieve an endurance of 1,000 kilometers is because of the "sponge silicon anode chip battery technology" on board. The AION LX Plus battery has a pack energy density of more than 205Wh/kg, achieving a large battery power of 144.4kWh, making the AION LX Plus CLTC comprehensive working range reach 1008km.

However, it is worth noting that as a new technology, how well the sponge silicon anode chip battery technology performs in actual use, and whether the resulting high price will be accepted by consumers, will test GAC Aeon.

In recent years, GAC Aeon has promoted technological innovation in the field of power batteries around the three major user "pain points" of high safety, ultra-fast charging and long endurance. In March 2021, GAC Aean released the magazine battery system safety technology (hereinafter referred to as the "magazine battery"), claiming to realize the first time that the whole package of ternary lithium batteries could not be fired. At the end of August, GAC Aean released the super-speed battery technology and the supercharging pile with a charging power of 480kW that can achieve "charging for 5 minutes and lasting 200km".

In addition to the 1,000-kilometer range, the highlight of the AION LX Plus is also equipped with three second-generation lidars. According to reports, with 35 high-performance perception hardware and high-computing power intelligent driving calculation platform, AION LX Plus has the only urban NDA intelligent pilot assistance driving function in the same level, which can achieve high-speed and urban full-scene coverage.

Thousand kilometers of endurance and 3 second-generation lidars are the main two reasons why the price of the AION LX Plus model exceeded 400,000 yuan. In fact, analyzing several different configuration versions of this car will find that in addition to the two versions priced at more than 400,000 yuan, the price of several other main models is still around 300,000 yuan. As a result, AION LX Plus's competitors will be NIO ES8, Ideal ONE, Landu FREE, Extreme Kr 001 and other products.

GAC Aeon was founded in 2017 and announced its brand independence at the end of 2020. According to the data in 2021, the cumulative annual sales of GAC Ande Safety are 123,600 vehicles, an increase of 119% over 2020, which is one of the few "new car-making forces" in the current industry with total sales of more than 100,000 vehicles.

However, GAC Aean has not been able to effectively break through the 300,000 yuan range market. An important mission of the AION LX Plus will be to drive the brand to achieve a breakthrough in high-end and break the previous market positioning of the Aion brand. This is undoubtedly a major challenge. At present, the brands with higher bicycle prices represented by Weilai and Ideal have entered the era of annual sales of 100,000 vehicles. GAC Aean is actually in a catch-up state.

Compared with several other brands, relying on the resources of GAC Group, having a certain user group and brand reputation in the market will be the competitive advantage of GAC Aean. It is understood that GAC Group recently said that it has completed the asset restructuring of GAC Aeon, laying a foundation for E-AN to promote the reform of mixed ownership and introduce strategic investors.

From this point of view, whether the 2022 AION LX Plus can gain a firm foothold in the high-end electric market is not only related to the upward breakthrough of the GAC Aean brand, but also the key to its smooth introduction of strategic investment and ultimate listing in the future.