On March 1, Weipai Mocha DHT-PHEV was officially launched, with a total of 2 models launched, priced at 295,000-315,000 yuan after subsidies.
As early as a month ago, when weipai Mocha DHT-PHEV opened pre-sale, the pre-sale price of 299,000 yuan was already controversial, and many netizens directly called this price ridiculously expensive. So is mocha DHT-PHEV's pricing blindly confident or worth the money?
Is this hybrid system made of gold?
First of all, it needs to be affirmed that mocha DHT-PHEV from the design, configuration, its own products do not have any hard injuries, this hybrid system also has a certain level of technology, if it sells less than 250,000, it is still a certain competitiveness. But the problem is that its price is as high as 295,000-31.5 million, which not only far leaves the same level of BYD Tang DM-i and The M5 of the circle behind, but also catches up with the ideal one of a higher level, and is even more expensive than the Volkswagen Tiguan L PHEV of the joint venture brand.
What is even more difficult to accept is the difference between it and the fuel version, the starting price of the Wei brand mocha is only 187,800 yuan, while the starting price of the mocha DHT-PHE is more than 100,000 yuan, reaching 295,000. For comparison, the BYD Don DM-i is only more than 20,000 more expensive than don's fuel version.
Although Mocha's DHT hybrid system has the advantage of 204km of pure electric endurance, it also has the technical advantages of a two-speed transmission. But to know that BYD DM-i is not a fuel-saving lamp, this advantage is difficult to open a significant gap with BYD's DM-i, not to mention that the maximum thermal efficiency of its 1.5T engine is only 38%, which is not a first-class level in Chinese brands. With such a technical level, it is obviously still somewhat untenable to support the price difference of 100,000.
The same development process, different endings
Mocha DHT-PHEV is only a microcosm of the development of Weipai over the years, and Weipai has long been in the predicament of high or low.
When it comes to the brand development of Weipai, it is necessary to mention Lynk & Co, which has a similar development history. Both brands were officially launched in 2016 and belong to the high-end sub-brands (Great Wall and Geely) under the Chinese brand, but Lynk & Co has become more and more courageous in the past 5 years of development, and the annual sales have reached twice that of Wei Brand.
Why is Link&G more successful than Wei Pai? First of all, I have to admit that the technical and image support brought by Volvo acquired by Geely has been of considerable help to the development of Lynk & Co.
Secondly, there has been a great breakthrough in the brand image of Lynk & Co, which does not use traditional thinking to create luxury, but takes the route of youth and playfulness. I still remember the first time I went to the Lynk & Co booth a few years ago, there was a big swing in the booth, and I could also shoot the stickers and drink coffee, which instantly hit me - the original auto show booth can still play like this?
In addition to the brand tone, Lynk & Co has participated in world events such as WTCR and won consecutive annual championships, which has greatly enhanced the global awareness of the Lynk & Co brand. Finally, on the product line, in addition to SUV, Lynk & Co's products also cover cars, and there is also the "first domestic steel gun" of Lynk & Co 03+, which largely makes Lynk & Co in the field of young people countless fans.
On the other hand, Wei Pai, not only lacks the background blessing of luxury brands, but also does not succeed in the event like Lynk & Co, and the brand image and product line are also conservative, and the models launched in the past few years are all SUV that Great Wall used to be good at, which seems to be a high-end version of Haval.
As the products of traditional Chinese brands such as Geely and BYD are becoming more and more luxurious, the so-called high-end advantages of the menacing new power brand Weipai are becoming less and less obvious. Moreover, Weipai VV7, VV6 and VV5 also have the problem of positioning too close, overlapping prices and thus serious infighting.
Product can't change the name and fight again?
Weipai is also aware of the problem of declining sales for several consecutive years, but the measures it has made are somewhat incomprehensible, first discontinuing VV7, VV6 and VV5, and then replacing them with Mocha, Latte and Macchiato. These three cars have a certain improvement, but they are not bold, and there is still an old problem of product positioning that is too close. To sum it up in rough words, it is just a change of name.
And then Wei brand also launched a quite breakthrough product - dream, this car uses a rather personalized retro design, too personalized design means that it is difficult to cater to everyone's taste, it may not fail, but it will never become a hit, will not play too much help to the sales of the entire brand.
Write at the end
Seeing this, I believe everyone knows that the pricing of Mocha DHT-PHEV is completely blind confidence. As a high-end brand under the Great Wall, Weipai also wants to share in the 300,000-priced price point after seeing more and more Chinese brands successfully impact the high-end market. Yes, Chinese brands in 2022 no longer represent the low end, and the success of brands such as Weilai and Ideal indicates that Chinese brands can also compete with luxury brands.
But it is obviously not so easy to hit the high-end, and Wei Pai obviously does not understand the entire automobile market and its own problems. The reason why Chinese brands can rise is because the cost-effective, intelligent and new energy technology has crushed the joint venture brand, rather than the blind and confident pricing of Mocha DHT-PHEV.