preface
At a time when Tesla is increasingly becoming a street car, consumers are desperate for another alternative in the market. The rise in demand naturally makes the battle situation in the subdivision track increasingly intense. In addition to Wei Xiaoli and Weima, Nezha, etc., the new car-making forces, including the Extreme Fox, all want to seize the opportunity to turn the tables against the wind. Although it is not a nameless brand, but to this day, the presence of Jihu is still not high, this latecomer backed by BAIC, Magna and Huawei, can it bring amazing performance in the new year? This is the answer we are looking for.
Whether you admit it or not, the birth and forward speed of the Polar Fox are all stepped on the rhythm of "the time and place are favorable". For BAIC, the task of Jihu is to complete the high-end of the brand, which can be seen from the two models of αT and αS. Unfortunately, the pole fox, who holds a good hand of cards, has not yet become a "child of other people's families".
In an interview at the beginning of 2021, Yu Liguo, the former president of Jihu, proposed that "the delivery target is 10,000 units for the whole year", but including the two models of αT and αS, the number of new cars delivered by Jihu in 2021 is only 6,006 units, only about 60% of the annual task has been completed, and the performance is somewhat crotch-pulling. Compared with other players on the track, this report card has no highlights: in December 2021, Xiaopeng P7 delivered 7459 new cars in a single month, and the ideal ONE delivered 14087 new cars in a single month. The efforts of the Pole Fox for a year could not match the results of Xiao Peng and ideals for a month.
Of course, some people will say that it is unfair to compare Wei Xiaoli and Polar Fox, so let's take a look at Lantu and Extreme Krypton, which will be officially delivered in 2021. Pole Fox is delivered throughout the year, while Landu and Extreme Kr are only 5 months and 3 months respectively, under the premise that the starting line is not dominant, Landu and Extreme Krypton still handed over the sales of 6431 units and 6007 units respectively, and unified surpassed the Pole Fox.
On the bright side, If Jihu wants to live up to BAIC's expectations, it still has a long way to go.
Performance crotch pull = strength is not OK?
Among the many independent brands, BAIC is a pioneer of the new energy track, and is also one of the earliest players in All in new energy, and has dominated the domestic new energy vehicle sales championship for 7 consecutive years, which is enough to prove how wise BAIC's choice was that year. However, the first-mover advantage was not firmly held by BAIC, and under the attack of internal and external factors, BAIC's sales in the subdivision track became lower and lower, and eventually gradually marginalized. After adjusting the strategy in time, BAIC launched the Polar Fox.
In 2016, BAIC BJEV (the predecessor of BAIC Blue Valley) released the ARCFOX "Polar Fox" brand in Sanlitun, Beijing. From beginning to end, BAIC's positioning of Jihu is an ecological brand, and Jihu wants to do not only sell cars, but also sell life", such a concept is still not outdated even if it is put to the present. In order to complete the flag originally established, BAIC can be described as doing its best on the Pole Fox. On the timeline, we cooperated with Magna in 2017, Huawei in 2018, and established a joint venture with Magna in 2019, "Magna Vespasian"... It can be said that Jihu has obtained the best quality resources of the group.
In terms of manufacturing, Magna, as the world's most diversified auto parts supplier, is recognized as an industry giant, and many high-end goods such as BMW 5 Series, Jaguar E-PACE, Mercedes-Benz G-Class and so on are from Magna's vehicle manufacturing plant in Austria. It is worth mentioning that the Getrag dual-clutch transmission, which is widely used in its own brands, is also magna's industry. It is no exaggeration to say that Magna has been able to piece together a finished car with its own production parts, which is even not available to many first-line car companies.
For Polar Fox, its manufacturing and development services are entrusted to Magna. In return, the Blue Valley Magna plant provided Pole Fox with advanced connection processes such as SPR self-punching riveting, FDS hot melt self-tapping screwing and gluing, which brings the benefit of smoother connection of the whole vehicle process. Taking Polar Fox αS as an example, 1276 SPR lock rivet screws + 430 FDS flow drill screws + more than 150 meters of high-strength structural adhesive make the connection stability of αS far exceed that of traditional welding vehicles.
In addition, Magna has also brought a number of "co-branded" products to Polar Fox: the world's first commercial IMC intelligent architecture equipped with 5G technology and an open and shared global industry, of which 37 of the world's top 50 first-class suppliers have cooperated, and 60 of the top 100 suppliers have been identified, including Valeo Siemens, SK, Autoliv, Bosch, BorgWarner, Harman, Michelin, etc. After inviting the "martial arts masters" over, the starting line advantage of the Polar Fox is obvious, so the Pole Fox αS can hand over the 708km ultra-long endurance, 4.2 seconds of acceleration of 100 kilometers, the integrated interior, the luxurious texture chassis, the ejection start and other answers, and can also be "hard" BYD Han in the actual measurement.
This is the hardware, and the software part on the other side, The Pole Fox, is in the hands of Huawei. Huawei's advantage is that money and technology are available, from basic computing to intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, intelligent electric, intelligent car cloud system, Kirin chip, Hongmeng system, lidar, etc., Huawei has taken care of all the points to the surface. The most significant significance of Huawei to Jihu is HI (HUAWEI INSIDE) Huawei's full-stack intelligent vehicle solution, including a new computing and communication architecture, 5 intelligent systems, lidar, AR-HUD and so on. Huawei's entry into the company has boosted the brand value and technical endorsement of Jihu, the αS HI version of the model has also been raised to a new height, and the multiple rises and stops of Beiqi Blue Valley stock are enough to explain many problems.
However, it should be understood that even if it is an ordinary version of the model, the product strength of αS is sufficient. Three-electric system, intelligent cockpit, chassis... Regardless of design, workmanship, performance, and technology configuration, αS has achieved the mainstream of the same level or above, and its comprehensive strength can compete with Model 3, Xiaopeng P7, BYD Han and so on.
Since there should be everything, why does the Polar Fox still not sell well?
Sales channels: all the pots, I'll carry
After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the sales channels of Jihu have not been effectively rolled out. Even if Beiqi Blue Valley has raised funds to build additional off-line stores before, there are still very few channel outlets of Jihu, with only more than 100. Such a scale is obviously difficult for the polar fox who desperately needs results.
However, Polar Fox is also aware of this at present, so Pole Fox decided to launch the Huawei channel, which is actually to emulate the cooperation model between Huawei and Xiaokang Xilis, and the advantage is that it can maximize efficiency and improve sales performance. Huawei has more than 5,000 experience stores offline, and according to Yu Chengdong, an executive in Huawei's automotive business, Huawei will sell 1,000 of them in 2022. The advantage of borrowing power is obvious, if the polar fox can all settle in, then it will undoubtedly achieve a major breakthrough in customer acquisition. But the question is that Huawei has a "pro-son" AITO, how much help can it provide for Polar Fox? The latest situation is that the Jihu αS HI version of the exhibition car has appeared in Huawei's Beijing store. The next step depends on how the two sides move forward.
Car world viewpoint
In the last month of 2021, the number of new cars delivered by Jihu reached 1073, which is the first time that Jihu's monthly delivery volume exceeded 1,000, and after rearranging offline channels, the performance of Jihu in 2022 has the possibility of expectation. According to the latest plan, the sales target of Jihu in 2022 is 40,000 units, which is 3 times more than in 2021. From 10,000 to 40,000, the gap in the middle is not small, but the pole fox has this kind of courage, it is certainly not given by Liang Jingru, behind which must be the confidence of the pole fox in the future.
The good news is that the sharp decline or cancellation of policy subsidies has also brought a certain buffer period to the Polar Fox. When the tide fades, naked swimmers naturally see the light and die, and the strength of the extreme fox can fully release their value to achieve a reversal in sales. After deeply bundling Huawei, Jihu pressed the acceleration button of development, and the only remaining question at present is when will the Juhu αS HI version, a blockbuster model that is very likely to change the sales trend of the brand, be delivered. The day the new car arrives at the store is when the Polar Fox wins.
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