Image source @ Visual China
Text | Car smart driving
Evergrande Automobile, which once became a victim of Evergrande's debt crisis last year and was almost sold at a "discount sale", but after the real estate fell into a cold winter, evergrande automobile, which became the last straw, finally officially rolled off the first model - Hengchi 5.
Not to mention, after starting to build cars in 2017, after about 5 years, Evergrande Automobile, which finally got rid of the "PPT car", could straighten its waist and save Evergrande from danger. The advent of Hengchi 5 at least proves that Evergrande's declaration of comprehensive transformation of new energy vehicles has been implemented.
At the same time, the mass production of the Hengchi series will also officially enter the countdown stage, optimistic estimates, in August this year, we will be able to see the relevant news.
According to the Hengchi 5LX related information data declared by Evergrande to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2021, as the first product that almost determines the life and death of Evergrande Automobile, the pricing of Hengchi 5 is likely to be within the range of about 200,000 yuan, directly benchmarking Audi Q3, BMW X1 and other models. Moreover, like many domestic car companies, the first model of The Hengchi 5 adopts the specifications of an A-class compact SUV.
In this way, Evergrande Automobile is a perfect continuation, and the new forces of domestic new energy vehicles led by Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal have inadvertently led the trend of "the first model must be an SUV".
So the question is, why SUV? Why SUV again?
Driven by industry inertia, is SUV the choice of the times?
In fact, not only domestic car companies, but also major new energy vehicle manufacturers around the world, as well as traditional car companies that have transformed into new energy in recent years, have shown a preference for SUVs.
For example, Tesla's most direct competitor in recent years is Volkswagen. The ID. family launched after the transformation of new energy, in addition to the ID.VIZZION, which obviously uses sedan models, including the ID.6 that has just been launched recently, almost all of them are SUVs.
And Toyota, which could equally pose a threat to Tesla, has long insisted on hybrid power. After finalizing the electrification transformation strategy in December last year, the first pure electric SUV concept car, the BZ4X, was unveiled at the recent Shanghai Auto Show.
Even toyota plans to invest $70 billion, and more than half of the more than 30 electric vehicles launched in the next 10 years have chosen SUVs.
Not to mention Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ferrari and other car companies that have always been famous for luxury cars, the first pure electric cars that have been launched and have not yet been launched, without exception, have chosen SUVs. Such an amazing coincidence, behind it, as if there is a hand called "Era", pushing silently and firmly.
In the current passenger car field, cars can be roughly divided into three types, that is, cars, MPVs, and SUVs.
As the most classic design, the sedan is the most common in our daily lives, the largest market share, and the most conceptual and impressive model. In contrast, the MPV that evolved from a large touring sedan and is in a sense more like a van, as well as the sport-type multi-purpose car SUVs, are only functional supplements outside the applicable scene of the sedan.
Among them, the SUV born in the era of fuel vehicles represents the product of people's trade-offs and balances between cars and off-road vehicles, between urban environments and suburban environments. In the years of development and change, it is being welcomed by more and more people, and even once showed the momentum of replacing other models.
According to the relevant data of the Association of Passenger Vehicles, as of December 2021, the retail data of the passenger car market share, cars accounted for 49.8%, SUVs accounted for 45.6%. Due to the limitations of design concepts and application scenarios, MPV, which has become a "niche", accounts for only 4.6%.
Looking at the companies associated with SUVs in the Tianyancha database, well-known brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen are even more obvious.
Around 2008, SUVs, which were also regarded as "niche" and had a sales share of only 10%, were able to divide the market almost equally with cars after more than a decade, relying on the matching degree of the new social form and economic system. It can even be said that it is not consumers and automakers who choose SUVs, but the inevitability of an entire era.
Just like Tesla, which is currently the most valuable car company in the world. Ming ming has the world's best-selling pure electric sedan Model 3, the first car Model S also chose the standard luxury car medium and large sedan models, but in the follow-up update, or successively launched the SUV model Model X and Y.
Judging from the development trajectory of car models, SUVs have vaguely become the inertia of the entire industry. The reason why new energy vehicle companies, including Evergrande Automobile, chose SUV as the first model of new cars, in addition to the company's spontaneous choice according to the market trend, is fundamentally driven by this inertia.
SUVs, born in the U.S. market in the 1960s and 1970s, began to be given more meaning as the interstate highway network improved. The early focus on off-road performance was gradually replaced by longer-distance road performance with greater space and greater comfort, and from this stage onwards, SUVs began to officially impact the medium and large sedan market.
After entering the European and Chinese markets around 2003, due to the impact of population base, land area, infrastructure and other factors, smaller and lower-priced small and medium-sized and compact SUVs became mainstream, and began to overlap more with the small car market. Almost every step of the evolution of SUV models in modern times has been based on sedans – grabbing market share and even trying to replace them.
In addition to the promotion from the era environment and industry inertia, after entering the era of new energy vehicles, SUVs have gradually stayed in the starting lineups of major car companies, in fact, there are deeper reasons.
Technology besieges the city, and consumption determines design
In the view of car intelligent driving, the reason why SUVs appear more and more frequently in the field of pure electric vehicles can be explained from two aspects:
Technical limitations
1. Battery technology affects the physical design of pure electric vehicles.
Limited by the current stage of battery technology, whether it is a mainstream lithium iron phosphate battery or a ternary lithium battery, it is impossible to effectively control the volume and weight. This not only limits the range of pure electric cars, but also adds extra weight to the bodywork with a bulky and heavy battery.
In order to maintain the balance of the body and the physical safety during driving, the large battery that is too bulky for the design of the whole vehicle can only be placed on the chassis of the car. This also leads to the fact that compared with fuel vehicles, the chassis of pure electric vehicles, whether it is height or hardness, must be higher.
Under the premise that the battery cannot be effectively "slimmed down", the SUV model with a relatively large structure can significantly improve the overall beauty of the vehicle. Moreover, based on the functional design of the model, it can also be adapted to higher battery life and heavier electric energy storage, bringing a better driving experience.
2. Sensing systems required for high-level autonomous driving technology.
In 2022, there will be a large wave of new cars equipped with L3 autonomous driving technology. In this year, which is known as the "first year of mass production of L3-level intelligent vehicles", major manufacturers are seizing the market heights of autonomous driving in advance.
If you want to carry a higher level of autonomous driving technology, you can't do without better quality and more detailed information processing channels and processing capabilities. This directly leads to the need for more cameras, lidar and other sensing devices all over the body for cars equipped with higher-level autonomous driving technology.
Therefore, in essence, it is more inclined to "large hatchbacks", SUVs with more sufficient physical space and design redundancy to carry more sensing systems, which has become the preferred platform for car companies to display technical advantages, as well as show configuration and "bright muscles".
Spending Restrictions
1. Pragmatism tends to be a higher consumer group.
As the world's largest producer and sales of new energy vehicles, in the Chinese market, thanks to the continuous improvement of national income levels, cars are gradually fading the cognitive labels such as "identity symbols", and the pragmatic consumption tendency is also becoming the mainstream.
After the SUV entered the era of pure electric, the defects such as excessive fuel consumption and large engine noise in the urban environment have been effectively solved with the replacement of fuel power by a lighter motor drive system. At the same time, it also highlights the advantages of larger space in the car and stronger cargo capacity, making the SUV more practical.
The higher body and larger frame structure also give the SUV a more atmospheric and image-highlighting appearance. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, for a group that has achieved physiological, safe, and social needs, such characteristics are also in line with their need to go further and gain respect by improving their personal image.
In addition, as more young people become mainstream consumers, in order to seek the pursuit of "different" personality, there will also be some young consumers who tend to choose SUVs that are obviously different from the traditional car shape when buying pure electric cars.
2. Vehicle usage scenarios are changing.
In the ever-improving social division, cars, especially medium and large cars, carry more functions similar to business receptions, long-distance business trips, and picking up and dropping off parents. However, in the continuous improvement of public transportation networks such as railways and airplanes, this part of the function is inevitably affected and replaced.
The SUV is more responsible for the function of transportation in the urban environment, purchasing household goods, and picking up and dropping off children. Compared with other models, at least in terms of suitability for different scenarios, SUVs are mostly optimal solutions.
Coupled with the domestic environment of encouraging fertility, the number of members of a single family will also maintain a growing trend, and the purchase of a car that can accommodate "more children tossing" has also become a consumption pain point for many parents.
Of course, full-featured SUVs are not omnipotent, and even if they have seen more and more appearances in recent years, they still have their limitations.
"Inheritance" defects, conform to the helplessness of the times
After entering the new energy era, although the models of SUVs are also constantly adjusting and improving, compared with cars, car intelligent driving believes that there are still more obvious deficiencies after all.
And this deficiency is more inherited from the era of fuel vehicles.
Price
It's like Tesla's latest model, the Model Y, which consumers call the "Model 3 version of the SUV". The two cars with a parts sharing rate of up to 70% do not have much difference in configuration, but the same is a high-performance version, the price of the Model 3 is 339900 yuan, and the price of the Model Y is 387900 yuan.
The price difference of nearly 50,000 yuan does not only exist in Tesla. Looking at various quotation websites, it is easy to find that the price of SUVs with the same brand of the same configuration is often higher than that of cars.
In addition to the large body, the material cost will increase, and the design cost to ensure the stability and safety of the vehicle will also be included. In recent years, the heat of the SUV market has given the marketing link more room to play, which in turn has brought a higher premium.
Battery life
Although the vehicle architecture of the pure electric SUV is enough to carry more and heavier battery modules, the battery life problem is always the weakness of the SUV.
In the era of fuel vehicles, SUVs have more internal structures and parts than cars, and larger bodies lead to higher wind resistance, and fuel consumption will increase.
In the era of new energy, the body design of the whole vehicle has not undergone a transformative change. Although the adverse effects of wind resistance have been minimized in the design of some compact SUVs, the wind resistance coefficient of pure electric SUVs as a whole is still not low, and in fact, it is still not up to the level of cars.
Coupled with the shortening of the mileage of the battery at different temperatures, as well as the natural discharge loss, the larger the battery volume, the loss in this regard will inevitably increase. At least until battery technology is effectively innovated, pure electric SUVs are still difficult to alleviate endurance anxiety.
Driving experience
The body of the SUV is higher than that of the sedan, and although it brings a better visual sense, the design without a backup "third-compartment" also reduces the blind spot at the rear of the car, but in the most important front, the blind spot is still there, and it is larger than the car.
For SUVs taller than cars, the front window line and hood will also increase the height, which in turn will widen the front of the car, as well as the blind spot between the sides of the window and the ground. Compared with cars, SUV drivers are difficult to detect low objects at close range, and even if the design of hidden AB columns and lid tilt is adopted, the area blind spot will not be greatly improved.
Although in the current situation of L3 automatic driving, more perfect sensor systems and functions such as automatic parking can effectively alleviate the blind spot effect, but this also means that the price is more expensive.
At the same time, under the objective factors of high wind resistance and large volume, the stability of electric SUVs will also decrease due to the high center of gravity in high-speed driving scenarios. In rain and snow, safety is also weaker than in cars.
However, the design differences between SUVs and sedans are narrowing. Especially in the near future, after the driverless technology really matures, the restrictions between models will also be broken, and the new design concept of integrating cars and SUVs may also come into being.
And almost all car companies have chosen SUV as the first model, in a sense, perhaps it is also a helpless move to conform to the current era.