Write on the front
Perhaps many people have forgotten that at the 2016 Beijing International Auto Show, baicchi new energy high-end brand ARCFOX Jihu brand debuted. Unfortunately, in the past five years, the presence of the new brand of Polar Fox has been very poor. Mo said that compared with the new forces of car manufacturing, even with the new energy brands of later traditional car companies, it cannot be compared. It can be said that the polar fox got up early in the morning, but rushed a late set. What's more, even if it catches up with this late episode, it still finds nothing.
Some people say that the life of the extreme fox is not good, and the author believes that this is pure nonsense. On the fate, Jihu has the big tree of BAIC Group, and it has the foundation of BAIC New Energy, which has flourished thanks to the unique environment, and the shell of Baiqi Blue Valley, a listed company, and the blessing of Huawei and Magna. In this life, it is not much stronger than Auspicious. But the people's Geely's extreme krypton, a few months of sales directly crushed the pole fox. Beiqi's polar fox has been silently dormant, not only not fire, not even a little temperature.
First look at the data, the latest delivery data of Jihu Automobile shows that 1186 units were delivered in December last year, an increase of 76% month-on-month and 696% year-on-year. 4,993 units will be delivered in 2021. From the chain and year-on-year data, it is very wow, but from the absolute amount, it is very sad. After so many years, the annual delivery was less than 5,000 units. You know, the new forces of car-making Weilai, ideals and Xiaopeng monthly sales have exceeded 10,000. Even Lantu, which started delivering Lantu FREE in August 2021, has delivered a total of 6791 vehicles, and the average transaction price of others has exceeded 338,000, which is not only quantitative, but also has the appearance of a mid-to-high-end brand.
I still remember that the former president of Jihu Automobile, Yu Liguo, said in an interview in early 2021, "Our delivery target for this year is 10,000 units for the whole year." I don't know if Yu Liguo, who has taken up a new Xiaomi car, saw this data and felt like he was punched in the face. Of course, the author also admires the courage of Xiaomi and Lei Junlei boss, and if it is true, what kind of talent dares to use.
So, how does the Polar Fox play a good hand of cards? Is it a natural disaster, or is it a man-made disaster?
Brands come early, products are always late
BAIC is ahead of many traditional car companies in building a new energy high-end brand. The Jihu brand was born in 2016 and became an independent high-end electric vehicle brand in 2018. Unfortunately, it went early, but the product came out not early, and it was not until October 2020 that the first model, the Alpha T, was launched. At this time, although the new energy environment is good, the cars of the new forces that can build cars have matured day by day and have been accepted by consumers and the market.
If the polar fox's first car came a little later, it was also a little too low-key. Then in 2021, when Alpha S was listed, Polar Fox began to become high-profile, and a grand press conference made the industry feel inspired, and the existence of this brand was completely felt. At the 2021 ARCFOX Extreme Fox Brand Night, the Polar Fox Alpha S model was officially launched. At the same time, the much-watched Huawei Hi version of the model also opened pre-sale at the same time. Like the author, although the Alpha S is good, more media and consumers are focusing on the star model of Huawei's Hi version.
To the disappointment of the majority of users, the Polar Fox Alpha S HI version did not go as smoothly as expected and seems to have encountered problems. Just on December 25 last year, Jihu cancelled the tasting activity scheduled for small batch delivery and was replaced by an internal delivery activity held at the Magna intelligent manufacturing production base in Beiqi Blue Valley on December 20. It is understood that the main reason for the delay in delivery is most likely that the supply of Huawei's vehicle and machine system is not available, and the "seamless circulation" function of the Hongmeng car and machine system cannot be realized.
What makes Jihu even more desperate is that Huawei's winter flagship new product conference was held in a high profile, and the AITO brand that was "bundled" with Huawei also unveiled its new SUV model - AITO Q&A M5 at the conference. Yu Chengdong also said at the event site that the Q&I M5 is the first model to carry the new HarmonyOS smart cockpit. It's like the girlfriend I've been talking about for many years suddenly has an ambiguous relationship with someone else and has reached the point of talking about marriage, and the mood of the extreme fox can be imagined.
So, what makes Huawei more fond of a well-off Cyrus that can't survive? The problem must be in the Polar Fox itself. Perhaps, Huawei has seen the inaction and inaction of the BEIQI Extreme Fox, and it is only when it is discouraged that it will not fall in love! After all, if the extreme fox is no problem with this white rich beauty, Huawei will not be so. Of course, it can also be understood that working with Polar Fox is just a cooperation, while with Cilis, it is more like a partnership. Cooperation is short-lived, while partnership is more long-term.
Today, although Huawei is still there, clear-eyed people understand that more resources will definitely be given to the AITO brand. In the future, how much technology dividends Polar Fox can get from Huawei is really difficult to say. In the era when intelligence is king, without Huawei, a good helper, how much is left of the product competitiveness of the Jihu brand? When will the Polar Fox Alpha S HI Edition be delivered? Perhaps, before waiting for that day, consumers have already followed Huawei's empathy to the AITO brand!
Encountered "natural disasters", no less "man-made disasters"
In recent years, because of the epidemic, the environment of the car market is not ideal. Especially in 2020, whether it is the traditional fuel vehicle market or the new energy vehicle market, it is full of difficulties. Also on October 24 of this year, as the first mass production car under the ARCFOX Polar Fox brand, the Alpha T was officially launched. Seeing this, do you think that Alpha T is a bit out of time. In fact, the good or bad environment is not only affected by the Jihu brand, but also the entire industry. In contrast, the new forces of car-making, as well as other traditional car companies, are moving forward in an orderly manner with the heavens and the earth.
Looking at the Polar Fox and Baiqi, it seems that they prefer to fight with people. From 2016 to 2022, from Zheng Gang, Lu Hao and Yu Liguo to the current Dai Kangwei, he has undergone many substitution adjustments. And handing over the extreme fox to the hands of Dai Kangwei, who is born in technology, is undoubtedly a dangerous move. Technology is very important, but for high-end new energy vehicle brands, with reference to the rapid development of new car-making forces, marketing and momentum-building capabilities seem to be equally important. In fact, the Polar Fox of Dai Kangwei's era did not develop well. Xu is to make up for this shortcoming, on October 21 last year, Beiqi Blue Valley announced that Fan Jingtao, deputy general manager of Beijing Hyundai, will officially become the executive deputy general manager of BAIC New Energy, a marketing veteran who has been in the automotive industry for more than 20 years. Looking at BAIC BJEV, in recent years, it has also experienced the change of Zheng Gang, Ma Fanglie and Liu Yu. As for baic group, it has also entered the era of Jiang Deyi from the era of Xu Heyi.
The train runs fast, all thanks to the headband. If there is always a problem with the front of the train, the train will not be much better. After all, the constant change of leadership will be more or less accompanied by the adjustment of brand strategy and return to work, and these adjustments are undoubtedly unstable factors and disasters for a new brand!
EV said
Finally, we may wish to think about it, how to take the road of the extreme fox? The author believes that whether it is a "natural disaster" or a "man-made disaster", it is not important, and the most important thing is that the iron needs to be hard. For any brand, once it loses the software technical barriers and loses the core technology, the future road is destined to become narrower and narrower. Therefore, the key problem of Polar Fox now is not to rely on Huawei, let alone rely on someone. Instead, it is the most effective solution to truly put technical self-development in the first place, grasp the key technologies with core competitiveness in their own hands, continuously enhance their core technologies, enhance product strength, do a good job in automobile sales related services, and do a good job in brand marketing. If you only think about relying on others, you will only make a wedding dress for others in the end!
In 2022, the auto curtain has been opened, before the squeeze of new car-making forces, after the rise of high-end new energy brands in traditional car companies, but also to face the subsidy decline environment, leaving time for Jihu or really not much. Whether or not the remaining good cards in the hand can be played well will determine whether the Polar Fox brand can survive 2022. Let's wait and see!