With the release of BMW IX and Mercedes-Benz EQS in 2021, the luxury brand camp code-named "BBA" finally has a decent pure electric vehicle.
The reason why the Audi e-tron is not mentioned here is mainly because it has many similarities with the shape of the Q5L; although the e-tron GT is still somewhat fresh, it is actually from the same platform as the Porsche Taycan.
As for Toyota, which launched the Prius as early as 1997, it has only just released the BZ series of pure electric vehicles based on the e-TNGA architecture - yes, it is also derived from the familiar fuel vehicle platform: TNGA.
In the final analysis, luxury brands represented by "BBA" and joint venture brands represented by Toyota are either always "slow and half-beat" in the segment of pure electric vehicles in the Chinese market, or lack of novelty.
Why? ......
Let's start with the "craftsman spirit" and "inner volume"
Some time ago, I accidentally learned that the Japanese "sushi god" spent a full 10 years to study "how to boil eggs"; not only that, he spent a lifetime, just to study "how to pinch a sushi into a 'amazing thing'".
To be honest, I was a little confused to see this.
Although the above "deeds" may reflect the extreme and dedicated cultural tradition in Japanese society on the one hand, which is commonly known as the so-called "craftsman spirit"; on the other hand, can the "boiled egg black technology" that has spent 10 years of research really make an egg "delicious to the heavens"? ......
I don't mean to criticize this – after all, "do only one thing in your life" should be a spirit of admiration; but it always feels like something is wrong? ......
In any case, if I hadn't told me in advance that one of the two or more eggs was from the "sushi god," I would most likely not have been able to tell by tasting it.
Think again, if this matter is left to the "golden 20s" American companies to do, they will most likely first study what factors determine whether an egg and a sushi are delicious, and then make a set of machinery to ensure the same temperature, humidity and taste.
Of course, some people may say: such sushi does not have the lifelong emotional blessing of the "sushi god". Still, we can go back to the assumption from beforehand – how different would your feelings be if you hadn't told you beforehand? ......
In fact, in Japan's so-called "craftsman spirit", it may also include some of today's definition of "inner volume": focus and deep cultivation. But have you ever found that whether it is the "craftsman spirit" or the "inner volume", there is actually an inertia of the inner sense of the mind? ......
In the era of "inner volume", people seem to have become machines. They constantly repeat the simple process of replication to satisfy the instinctive brain excitement - similar to vibrato, as long as there is a "big long leg", there will be more "big long legs" to satisfy people's sensory stimulation.
As for the Japanese auto industry, the same seems to be true. Toyota has already achieved lean production to the extreme in the automobile manufacturing process, and it is also the "boss" in the field of traditional fuel vehicles - so even in 1997, it has created the "electric century" with Prius, Toyota seems to have no intention of taking this opportunity to break through and innovate, but to see the "latecomer" Tesla "rise up".
Today, when Tesla, which is not in the same mode of thinking and competition system at all, has a market value that has far exceeded that of Toyota, the latter seems even more unnecessary to let the "big guy" not do it, but to do "follow the class"? ......
Of course, whether Toyota wants to "seriously" do electric vehicles, with the crude and foolish opinion of my generation, can only be generalized.
Back to the trade-off between innovation and profit
The cost of "innovation" is undoubtedly always extremely high.
Whether it is "BBA" or Toyota, in fact, it has already formed its own "comfort zone". Change and breakthroughs do not seem to be their most urgent concerns, but what Chinese car brands are doing and should do.
For the "traditional car giants", maintaining the existing profit margin and consolidating their market position is their primary task. If the new energy trend is indeed irreversible, then replace the "core" of the fuel vehicle first, and then adjust the details slightly - jun is not seen, such as Mercedes-Benz EQC, BMW iX3 and Audi Q2L e-tron and other models, all of which are operated in this way.
With the advent of a series of "oil to electricity" models, the "inner volume" pattern of joint venture brands and luxury brands in the field of electrified products has invisibly appeared.
But no matter how "volumes" are, they are difficult to shake Tesla's huge influence in China and even the world - this is also the original sin from the "inner volume".
I'm not a "fan" myself, and I can even say that how much I admire Tesla's business model, how much I scorn its products. I still think: In terms of the car itself, the Model 3 and Model Y are both more like "semi-finished products", and the "X" and "S" are slightly better.
Of course, this does not affect Tesla's "bellwether" position in the field of new energy vehicles, after all, Musk's way of thinking is too advanced. To give an example – we can see advertisements from traditional car companies in various programs, film and television dramas, but Tesla's "hard" promotion has never appeared.
In fact, this is a little similar to the evolution of products in the field of mobile phones.
On the one hand, Huawei, Xiaomi and "OV", which are developed and optimized based on the Android system, seem to have been able to "hang" the iPhone in terms of comprehensive product capabilities such as practical functions, battery life and price advantages.
However, Apple, which took the lead in "porting" computers to mobile phones as early as the "Nokia era", can always sit firmly with the iOS system that is not at the same latitude as the above products.
At present, global car companies such as "BBA" and Toyota have actually realized helplessly that if they do not face innovation directly, they are likely to fall behind; at the same time, the simple and crude "oil to electricity" is doomed to fail to meet deeper consumer demand.
They gradually "moved".
When "containment" loses its strength, competition and development are the source driving force for continuous human progress.