Before talking about cars, let's talk about football.
As an Inter Milan fan, I understand the meaning of the word "Derby" the most, and whenever I mention this word, I think of the "same city derby" and the "national derby", which correspond to two opponents, AC Milan and Juventus.
Even the term "national derby" was invented by the famous Italian journalist Briella in the early 1960s because the situation between Inter and Juve was too exciting.
If such a word is introduced into the automotive field, the Zhiji L7 and NIO ET7, which will be delivered to users in the first half of 2022, can be said to have staged a "national derby".
A competition in the automotive field, the highest rank among Chinese brands.
The Battle of derby in the "Innovation Harbor"
If you have the opportunity to go to the "Automotive Innovation Harbor" in Anting Town, Jiading District, Shanghai, you will appreciate that it is not an exaggeration to say that they are "derbys".
This 120,000-square-meter industrial demonstration park, which opened at the end of 2015, is the headquarters of NIO and Zhiji.
Walking through it today, the most you see are the Zhiji L7 and NIO ET7, some of which are still in camouflage, some of which do not have an interior, and some of which are obviously not in the final version of the state, they are sample cars in various stages of engineering development, "scattered" throughout the park.
At the end of 2015, WEILAI was the first batch of settlers in the park, and by the end of 2020, Zhiji Automobile was stationed in the park. It seems that the Zhiji brand is 5 years late, but there is an old Saying in China: good food is not afraid of late.
In March and April 2022, the front and rear feet of the NIO ET7 and the Zhiji L7 were delivered, although the departure time was different, but in the "commanding heights" of the luxury C-Class, the two cars arrived almost at the same time.
To say that the C-Class is the "commanding heights" is not just for the "smart electric" track. Looking at the entire luxury brand camp, those who get C-class cars win the world.
In the C-class owner sales range of 400,000 yuan to 600,000 yuan, Mercedes-Benz E-class, BMW 5 Series, Audi A6L "fairy fight", they are the pillars of sales and profits of the three major luxury brands.
The more luxurious D-Class cars, the cheaper B-Class cars, form a normal distribution around the C-Class cars. In this way, the C-class car is a real "commanding height" even in mathematical models.
The competition around the C-Class is the most compelling competition. Just as the variety of sports is dazzling and exciting, the "first sport" is undoubtedly football.
However, this commanding heights have seen a "vacuum" in the era of smart electric vehicles, as if the "South Pole" had never been reached by humans before December 15, 1911.
This is a great opportunity for Zhiji and Weilai, but in the face of this market, the realization path of Zhiji and Weilai is not the same.
Why the "National Derby"?
As a luxury brand launched by SAIC Motor group and two partners, "Zhiji", this is the first luxury brand launched since the reform and opening up of China's state-owned automobile group.
You are not mistaken, China's modern automobile industry has developed for nearly 40 years (SAIC Volkswagen was established in October 1984), and you can completely regard "Zhiji L7" as the product of "thick accumulation and thin hair".
Zhiji is a "general review" of SAIC's car manufacturing standards for so many years, a highest standard examination, and a "deployment" of the world's most advantageous automobile resources.
This new luxury car brand, because of the existence of so many background factors above, chose the luxury C-class as the entry point.
Zhiji did not have a sword to go sideways, no SUV, no sports car, no hunting car, and cut directly into the luxury C-class sedan.
Zhiji is like a student, he did not participate in the piano exam, did not participate in the Olympiad competition, did not go to the composition contest, he only wanted to participate in the college entrance examination.
On the other side of the arena, Niolai did not enter the luxury C-class sedan as soon as it entered, but on the contrary, it first fell the concept of "luxury" on the C-class SUV. The range is a luxury mainstream zone, but the model still caters to user preferences.
From the ES8 in 2017 to the present, it has lasted 5 years. WEILAI has high hopes for ET7, and the pile of materials is very sufficient. So much so that in 2019, NioDay, for various reasons, was pinned on a high hope ET7 and even "jumped the ticket" for a year, when ec6 was released instead.
Orin chips, lidar, NT2.0 platform... These are groundbreaking in NIO's product line. In fact, you can understand that WEI has done ET7 with the experience points accumulated by ES8, ES6, and EC6. ET7 represents a new stage for NIO's technical level.
In the field of luxury C-class cars, Zhiji L7 meets NIO ET7, which is a national derby for automobiles.
What exactly is derby than?
If you let Zhiji Car answer this question, it will definitely say".
And the vast majority of people hear this answer must be "crazy".
The NIO ET7 car weighs 2.38 tons, while the Zhiji also has 2.29 tons, both cars are more than 5 meters long, the wheelbase is more than 3 meters, and the Zhiji L7 even reaches 3.1 meters. What is it that such a state of manipulation is not crazy?
It is relatively easy to do a "small car" well handled, and it is very difficult to control a "big car" well.
If you have seen Mercedes-Benz Global CEO Con Linsong, sitting in the new S-class driver's seat most of the time, completing the entire listing release (because the epidemic is released online), you understand that the "wind direction" has changed. Even the D-Class car has to talk about the handling experience, rather than the C-Class.
Therefore, the label of Zhiji L7 is now "New World Driving Control Flagship", in this national derby, can this label be played? After playing, can you win?
First look at the data: Zhiji L7, 3.87 seconds zero hundred, 32.69m braking, rear wheel 12 ° active steering, these data are a profile of the "ultimate driving control" experience.
For example, the benefits of active steering at the rear are obvious, with a turning diameter smaller than a golf course (10.9 meters) and the Zhiji L7 at 10.8 meters.
This stems from the fact that the Zhiji L7 has the same four-wheel vector drive technology as the over-the-top Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which is still the only one among today's mainstream electric performance cars.
This set of four-wheel steering has two direct benefits for Zhiji L7, one is that it can be more flexible parking at low speed, and the other is that in the high-speed state, whether it is a high-speed lane change or a cut corner, it can realize the active trail of the rear, effectively control the vehicle tail and swing, and improve the vehicle control limit. In a word, the description is that the Zhiji L7 high-speed lane change is as stable as the 7 series, and the low-speed U-turn is flexible as the 1 series.
Compared with the NIO ET7, in addition to the rear wheel active steering, the two very big differences are the front suspension and the rear drive motor.
The front suspension of the Zhiji L7 is double wishbond, while the front suspension of the NIO ET7 is a five-link. The characteristics of the suspension mean that the Zhiji L7 can have a more comprehensive development, look good and open; while the Weilai ET7 is more comfortable.
WEILAI has always emphasized that it has created a second living room for users, and has been adhering to this concept since ES8, so ET7 has faithfully continued this idea in tuning.
Zhiji L7 is constantly strengthening the control of the gene, front and rear dual motor layout, the use of permanent magnet synchronous motor; while WEILAI ET7, the front axle using permanent magnet synchronous motor, rear axle using AC asynchronous motor.
Efficiency comparison between asynchronous motors and permanent magnet synchronous motors
Permanent magnet synchronous motor, the reaction speed is fast, small size; and the AC asynchronous motor size is large, but also need to do the battery's direct current to do inverter, more inverter settings, more occupy space, and the reaction speed is relatively slow. However, the advantage of AC asynchrony in the rear drive motor is that it is more stable.
Therefore, if you have the opportunity to drive the Zhiji L7 and NIO ET7, your feeling will be that the Zhiji L7 is more like a rear-drive car, and the NIO ET7 is more like a front-drive car.
Zhiji L7 emphasizes manipulation, not just casual talk, it is achieved through real configuration.
In order to avoid the risk of overheating caused by the use of permanent magnet synchronous motors on the rear axle, Zhiji L7 is specially equipped with "customized black standard magnesium alloy high-performance direct waterfall oil-cooled motor".
Inside this motor, even the copper wire used and the way it winds it is wound have changed. Therefore, the Zhiji L7 can withstand 10 consecutive full-power accelerations.
You can imagine what the concept of "floor oil" is 10 times in a row, and its experience has completely surpassed the experience of a gasoline car.
The story behind the Derby Wars
In addition to the technical blessing of four-wheel drive, Zhiji L7 and Williams Master Chassis Tuning Team Empowerment, if you are familiar with F1, you will know that the Williams engineering team is from the F1 Williams team born from the nine-crowned.
At the Millbrook Proving Ground in the United Kingdom, the Williams engineering team drove the Zhiji L7 engineering prototype for 180 days, completing a master tune of 108 chassis indicators in terms of The K&C characteristics of the Zhiji L7 suspension, springs, CDC shock absorbers, four-wheel steering system, tire performance matching and anti-roll bar stiffness.
One of the final results is to let the Zhiji L7 achieve the measured steady-state maximum lateral acceleration of 1 G, and the elk test score exceeds 80km/h of ultra-high extreme handling stability, which has exceeded the 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S.
The chassis structure of the entire Zhiji L7 is a double ball joint double wishbone front suspension + a full outer ball head type five-link rear suspension, while the entire body frame, longitudinal beam including most of the suspension steering levers and ball joints are made of high-standard aluminum alloy materials to achieve the goal of lightweighting.
Lightweighting can make the Zhiji L7 suspension respond faster, providing a more accurate and higher quality control feeling, which is consistent with the goal pursued by the Zhiji L7.
And Zhiji L7 also has the blessing of CDC (Continuous Damping Control System), and the difference in damping force in each mode customized by the Williams Forward Engineering Team for the Zhiji L7 CDC system is as high as 5 times, each mode has distinct characteristics, split personality, and at the user level, it has three damping modes of comfort, daily and sports to choose from, whether it is quiet cruising or passion is not a problem.
In addition, the entire front and rear of the Zhiji L7 also achieved a perfect axle-to-load ratio of 50:50, plus an ultra-low center of gravity of the 490mm sports car grade.
The ultra-low center of gravity, the average distribution of weight before and after, and the lightweight chassis materials selected to improve the driving texture, coupled with Williams' master tuning, it can be said that in the physical level of configuration, the entire Intelligent L7 driving experience will bring us what surprises are already very exciting.
However, here is not to mention the most hardcore power performance of Zhiji L7, the four-wheel drive system is equipped with 8 layers of flat wire winding + oil cooling technology motor, support more than ten consecutive accelerations, the maximum 425kW/725Nm power release, is completely the level of 4.0T fuel engine, its zero hundred acceleration 3.87s, full adaptation line control dynamic system with 32.69m to achieve instantaneous braking!
In order to adapt to the powerful wheel torque of the motor, the Zhiji L7 also specially customized the tires of the exclusive formula with Pirelli, using the commonly used front narrow and rear width of the supercar and F1 - the front 245mm and the rear 275mm, which can better adapt to the performance calibration of the Zhiji L7 hard core.
What is the driving flagship of the new electric world? It can be said that Zhiji L7 has written a standard answer.
If Zhiji L7 and Weilai ET7 come to a pinpoint national derby against Mai Mang, I believe that in the "driving control", Zhiji L7 will take the lead.
The reaction speed of the permanent magnet synchronous motor, the motion characteristics brought by the double wishbone suspension, the convenience of all-wheel drive steering that allows the car to get in and out of the corner, and the advantages of a lighter body...
But this "national derby" is definitely more than "control", Weilai ET7 is also a very balanced in all aspects, with a full configuration of strength players.
In the end, the national derby competition for Chinese cars is the benefit of the user. In the C-class luxury car segment, we finally see the figure of Chinese brands, this kind of zhiji L7 main driving control and Weilai ET7 main comfort slight difference, is not to let you see the Chinese "BMW" and China "Mercedes-Benz" shadow.
Perhaps 2022 is such a year, in the automotive field, a pair of new great opponents were born. This is a national derby, and it will also be a joint encirclement and suppression of Mercedes-Benz and BMW.