Last week, Ideal Auto officially announced that the new car with the previous model code name of Ideal X01 was officially named the Ideal L9 and will be released at the Beijing Auto Show in late April. From the current information, the positioning of the ideal L9 is above the ideal ONE, including body size, vehicle configuration are better than the latter, it is reported that its quality is comparable to mercedes-benz GLS, BMW X7 and Land Rover range Rover and other million-level luxury import flagship SUVs, the price is naturally higher than the ideal ONE launched before, it is expected to be 40-500,000.
Surprisingly, the ideal L9 did not follow the naming idea of the ideal ONE of the first model, taking the name ideal TWO and the like, but jumped directly to 9, and replaced it with Arabic numerals, and added the prefix of the English letter L. However, it does not prevent the Internet melon eating masses from flirting with it, such as uncle, leeks and other nicknames came into being.
In 2021, the Ideal ONE topped the sales list of China's new car-making forces with 90,491 deliveries, leading the second-ranked Xiaopeng P7 by nearly 30,000 units. The ideal is only based on the sales of the ideal ONE model, successfully dominating the third position of the domestic car-making new force manufacturers, and the strength of a model to support the myth of a brand.
Now that the ideal L9 with higher positioning is coming, can the ideal be the next city?
9 and flagship hooks
Coincidentally, the Xiaopeng G9, which was exposed earlier than the ideal L9, is Xiaopeng Automobile's first pure electric medium and large SUV, and it is also the flagship product of Xiaopeng at present. It can be seen that whether it is the ideal L9 or Xiaopeng G9, they all use the naming method containing the Arabic numeral 9 in the car name to express the height of their flagship products.
Rendering
Indeed, using model naming that contains the number 9 makes it easier to instill awareness of flagship positioning in consumers. After all, 9 is the largest of the single digits, known as nine days, nine plates, nine shadows. Over time, different brand manufacturers often use 9 in the name with the number to highlight the flagship positioning of the vehicle. For example, Lynk & Co 09, BAIC BJ90, Hongqi E-HS9 and Kia EV9 and so on.
Perhaps, this just explains consumers' doubts about why the second model launched by the ideal is not called the ideal TWIN. As for how does the ideal L9 define its flagship positioning?
First of all, the body size of the ideal L9 fully meets our imagination of the flagship. The new car is 5200/1998/1800mm in length, width and height, and has a wheelbase of 3100mm, which is properly entering the position of large SUVs. In terms of vehicle size, the ideal L9 is clearly indistinguishable from Mercedes-Benz GLS, BMW X7 and Range Rover Extended Edition. It is conceivable that the L9, which is one circle larger than the ideal ONE, will be more relaxed than the former in the layout of six or seven seats in the future, especially in the third row, which is usually greatly reduced in the quality of the ride, and its comfort will be greatly improved.
Secondly, from the ideal official revealed that the flagship quality of the L9 will be benchmarked against the flagship SUV of a number of mainstream luxury brands, which shows that its ambition is not small. It is reported that the ideal L9's scientific and technological intelligent experience will usher in a new breakthrough. For example, three 15.7-inch car-grade OLED screens are used for central control, co-pilot entertainment, and rear cabin entertainment, respectively, and the standard oversized HUD replaces the traditional LCD display. Compared with the ideal ONE era, in addition to the stunning screen across the entire dashboard, but the lack of scientific and technological experience, the ideal L9 is undoubtedly more worthy of expectation.
In addition, high-end car symbols such as electric suction doors and intelligent air suspension will not be absent on the L9. Relying on the comfortable image of the "Daddy Car" successfully created by the ideal ONE, the L9 strength of the product force to a higher level is naturally not a problem. Therefore, the flagship quality of the ideal L9 is still relatively reliable.
The four-cylinder also can't hide the controversy
As we all know, the reputation of the three-cylinder engine in China is not very good, and consumers are even more repulsive to it, resulting in all models equipped with three-cylinder machines, it is difficult to make achievements in sales, and even a lot of previous momentum is just right, after replacing the three-cylinder engine, sales have taken a sharp turn, and finally helpless to change back to the four-cylinder example.
However, the ideal ONE is an exception, equipped with a three-cylinder 1.2T engine, sales have been high, and at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, it even broke through the monthly sales mark of 10,000 vehicles. It is worth mentioning that the ideal ONE's bicycle is priced at more than 300,000, and even highlander, the industry benchmark for a seven-seat SUV, has to bow to the wind.
In fact, the negative impact of the three-cylinder is weakened on the ideal ONE, after all, it is an authentic pure electric drive model, the three-cylinder engine only exists as a way of range extender, and does not directly participate in the drive of the wheel, therefore, consumers will have a lot less mustard for the ideal ONE three-cylinder engine, completely overshadowed by its all-encompassing household quality. So when I see a lot of comments on the Internet that the L9 is equipped with a four-cylinder 1.5T, which is more worth buying than one, it is not very valid for me personally.
The ideal L9 uses a four-cylinder 1.5T engine, not the ideal ONE's three-cylinder 1.2T is blocked, it is purely the positioning of the L9 has improved, including body size, weight, price, etc. It has also risen, and naturally there is a more adequate cost budget to arrange a higher power range extender to complete the supply of vehicle power, nothing more.
I think the biggest controversy is that the ideal L9 is still a model with a small number of models, and has not returned to the original intention of pure electric environmental protection and energy conservation. To be fair, as a new force, the ideal is still controversial in the pure electric camp. After the launch of the ideal ONE, it seems that the outside world is full of a voice, and the first true pure electric model of the ideal is looking forward to it, and it is currently rumored that it will be 2023.
It is undeniable that at the moment when battery technology and charging facilities have not yet made major breakthroughs, it is difficult to fundamentally eliminate the user's endurance anxiety problem, and the ideal ONE is a slow-down strategy to resolve the contradiction. The scenery after the ideal ONE has opened up another path has also attracted the emulation of late-generations such as Jin KangXilis, Lan Tu and Niu Chuang, who have all chosen the ideal path of the program.
In the face of sales, the backward controversy of range extender technology can be left behind.
The L9 is not necessarily ideal
There is a saying that the ideal one model alone wants to stabilize its head position in the next fiercely competitive new energy track, which is not small. In fact, the arrival of the second model L9 is already considered to be late, after the ideal ONE has consolidated the bottom sales base, continue to implement the brand upward strategy, and launch higher positioning products. But at the same time, we have to pay attention to the inner volume from within the brand.
It can be judged that the sales volume of the ideal L9 is difficult to reach the height of the ideal ONE. On the one hand, the increase in the price of the ideal L9 is doomed to narrow its user target group. On the other hand, although the ideal L9 is more high-end than the positioning of the ideal ONE, the size, configuration and other performance will be more impressive, but in the eyes of the general consumer, in fact, the space and configuration of the ideal ONE are enough.
As for the perspective of consumption upgrading, are consumers willing to spend 500,000 yuan to buy an L9 that actually looks like the ideal ONE? After all, this price point has entered the hinterland of traditional luxury brands, and the L9 will also be a pure electric SUV that focuses on home comfort, and there is obviously no general new force radical in terms of topicality and freshness.
Ideal ONE, as an SUV with a distinct family label, seems to be more competent than Highlander from the market reaction. The ideal L9 has a premium of more than 100,000 yuan over the ideal ONE, and the new energy of the same level has the Weilai ES8, and the traditional luxury brands with the same price point are BBA's mid-level SUVs or second-line Lexus RX, Cadillac XT6 and Volvo XC90. Visually the ideal L9 has more strength to cross the level and win.
However, from the spy photos that are still only in the test road test, it can be seen that the ideal L9 will give people the feeling that it will be the pull of the ideal ONE. And recently also out of the ideal will continue to release the third model ideal L7 news, its positioning and ideal ONE, the same as the six-seat medium and large SUV, it is not clear whether to replace the ideal ONE or a new model. The fog of ideals may want to make consumers shine when the truth is solved.
The starting point of the ideal ONE is not low, and for Li Xiang, who aims to build the ideal into a high-end brand, it is unlikely to develop the product line downwards. Like the NIO ET5, which sells for nearly 300,000 yuan, it has been identified as the cheapest NIO model that consumers can buy. But like the ideal of the new forces of car manufacturing, L9 may not be able to make the ideal go further.
Figure | Sourced from the web
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