In 2021, Ideal ONE sold 90,491 units for the whole year, ranking third in the retail sales list of new energy SUVs of the Association. The far-leading Tesla Model Y deserves a separate article, which is not listed for the time being. Bydir Song, which ranks second, has only half the price of the ideal ONE. And bydid Tang, which ranked fourth in the follow-up, there is a clear gap between sales and the top three
The success of the ideal ONE is an organic combination of historical inevitability, market contingency and corporate subjective initiative. In the basic principles of Marxist philosophy, the dialectical relationship between necessity and chance is mentioned. Although it is a bit far-fetched to apply directly, it can also inspire ideas.
Historical inevitability
The actual demand for SUVs by the majority of Chinese people is the macro background on which the ideal ONE sales growth depends. Since 2010, the proportion of SUV sales has continued to grow until 2017, when it began to stabilize at about 45%.
Around 2015, the proportion of SUV sales was unstoppable. That period was also the climax of the first wave of new car-making forces. At present, the new car-making forces with better sales in the market were basically created around 2015.
Accordingly, most of these brands chose the SUV as their first model. Weilai ES8, Ideal ONE, Xiaopeng G3, WM EX5, Nezha N01 are all SUVs, and only the zero-run S01 is a sedan. I believe that everyone is looking at the future potential of SUV models.
Looking a little closer, since the release of the data by the Association in June 2018, the proportion of sales of more than 300,000 SUVs (referring to the starting market guidance price greater than 300,000) has maintained an upward trend.
The continuous increase in market space and consumer demand provides a good market foundation for the hot sales of the ideal ONE. Under the premise that the sales volume of the overall market segment is good, there will be explosive models, which is the inevitability of history. So why can the ideal ONE be one of them?
The contingency of the market
The first product launched by Chehejia (the ideal parent company) is not the ideal ONE, but a SEV with a maximum endurance of only 100 kilometers and a maximum speed of only 45 kilometers per hour, corresponding to the target scenario of short-distance travel for 1-2 people. However, when the domestic new energy policy is gradually clarified, the product is classified as a "low-speed electric vehicle" due to its poor performance, and cannot enjoy the subsidy of the new energy industry. The inability to obtain subsidies is undoubtedly fatal to the new car-making forces in the initial stage.
The original overall plan was disrupted, the car and the home can only fight a battle, the entire resources are concentrated on the ideal ONE, and the life and death of the car and the home are all tied to the ideal ONE.
The subjective initiative of the enterprise
Under the pressure of a backwater battle, the success of the ideal ONE is crucial. At this time, it is necessary to give full play to the subjective initiative of the enterprise itself, study consumer needs, and launch products that can best meet consumers.
At present, the main price range of 6/7-seat SUVs in the market range of 300,000-350,000 mainly includes nine models such as Ideal ONE, Volkswagen Tuon, Toyota Highlander, Mercedes-Benz GLB, Ford Explorer, Buick Encore Banner, Volkswagen Lanjing, Volkswagen ID.6 CROZZ and Volkswagen ID.6 X.
If these nine models are considered as a small market segment, then, within this segment, the proportion of the ideal ONE (bottom blue) is on the rise, while the proportion of volkswagen Tuon (orange), Toyota Highlander (gray) and Mercedes-Benz GLB (yellow) is declining.
On the official website of Ideal Car, there is a word-of-mouth section, and 574 people have participated in the evaluation so far.
In short, Jun summed up the reasons why car owners bought a car, and in addition to some subjective factors, there are mainly the following points:
First, the extender relieves mileage anxiety. No matter how convenient it is to charge or change the power, at this stage, most consumers' mileage anxiety cannot be eliminated. This is also the reason why various hybrid models are popular at present, and consumers can enjoy the advantages of electronic control systems without worrying about charging.
Second, you can get a green card. In cities other than Beijing, the ideal ONE can enjoy the benefits of the green license of new energy vehicles.
Three or six seats are really needed, suitable for the whole family. One car can solve the problem, no one wants to drive two cars. Traveling in two cars requires not only two people who can drive, but also grab two parking spaces and pay two parking fees.
Fourth, the whole system is standard, and the price is unified. Consumers have been struggling with dealers for a long time, and various configuration options are also uncertain.
At the same time, Jian Yanjun also summarized the recognized shortcomings of car owners:
1. The noise of the three-cylinder engine is relatively large;
2, the car storage space is too small;
3, intelligent voice system and intelligent assisted driving is not very intelligent;
4, the battery capacity is too small, pure electric mileage is too short;
5, the sense of control and driving experience is not too good, the shaking is more obvious;
6. The vehicle has poor sound insulation and high-speed noise.
There are many more minor issues, which are not listed here.
While the pros and cons are obvious, if you think about it, the pros are absolute, while the cons are relative.
Even if the noise is large, the sound insulation is poor, and the storage is small, but this is a relative problem, at least this car can still be driven, which can meet the most simple car needs of consumers - that is, to carry people from A to B.
Six solves the number of people problem, and the extender solves the mileage anxiety problem, which is absolute. If there is not enough space for a family member to take a car, or because there is no electricity in the middle of the road, it will affect the most simple needs of consumers.
Ideal Auto believes that there will be many such customers, and they will give up relative problems because of absolute demand when choosing. The market tells us that the ideal car is right. "Chief Product Manager" Li wants to do a lot of credit. The massive amount of big data he obtained at the time of the car home was successfully transformed into an excellent product. From another point of view, if the SEV of that year can get subsidies, it may also be able to achieve the glory of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV.
Take the narrow road
Combining the advantages and disadvantages of the above ideals, in short, Jun boldly guesses the portrait of the ideal ONE owner:
1. The total distance of single-day commuting is less than 150 kilometers;
2. There are fixed and convenient charging facilities;
3, occasionally there is a long-distance demand, and do not want to waste time and effort to plan charging;
4. There is a need for five or six people to travel for the whole family;
5. Be able to accept new things and not reject new forces in car-making;
6, the requirements for vehicle handling are not very high.
If a product is too clearly positioned as a target customer, it is a double-edged sword.
When the ideal ONE was first launched, there were no similar competitors on the market, and the choice of target customers was very narrow, so it was possible to quickly expand sales and continuously increase the penetration rate in the overall target customer.
However, a clear target customer positioning does not prevent the target customer from choosing other products, but it reduces the possibility of non-target customer selection, making the market smaller.
At the same time, because the target customers of the ideal ONE are limited and do not have the possibility of rapid growth, when the penetration rate in the target customers reaches a saturated state, sales are bound to encounter bottlenecks. However, since there is no big data support, the possibility that the target customer group is large enough is not ruled out.
It is too early to say that it is also Xiao He and Xiao He may be defeated, and time will give us the answer. Jian Yanjun will continue to pay attention to the ideal ONE, and I hope that everyone will also pay attention to Jian Che Yan.