Listing date: March 12
Brand: BYD
Guidance price: 14.58-17.28 million yuan
Attention level: ★★★ (more important new energy models)
Keywords: DM-i, compact MPV, test
Before talking about the Song MAX DM-i, let's "appreciate" the power of DM-i. In the sales list in February, the sales crown of the independent brand sedan is Qin PLUS, and the sales crown of the independent brand SUV is Song New Energy. Note that this is a list of fuel vehicles, not just new energy. The two cars that won the championship, Qin PLUS and Song New Energy, contributed to sales of models that were basically all DM-i.
Of course, there were some occasional factors in February, such as the Great Wall's lack of production capacity due to Bosch's supply. But BYD's models can dominate both of the list, which is indeed a long time gone. Even if you look at the cumulative sales, the effect of DM-i after loading can be described as "magical". Before DM-i, Qin Pro's sales could be described as "unpopular". Although Song's fuel version is not bad, it definitely cannot reach the current level of 20,000 vehicles +. And Tang, since the DM-i, it has also begun to enter the ranks of 10,000 monthly sales (the unprecedented sales level of the same class of cars)...
Song MAX, on the other hand, is a DM-i. Supposedly, there's nothing new, but it's still a little different from the previous DM-i, which may face challenges for the first time in reversing sales.
A core logic of why DM-i can so drastically improve the sales of a car is its revolution in fuel drive. That is, it can achieve performance that far exceeds the world's most advanced fuel powertrain – better driving experience and lower fuel consumption, while at a price similar to fuel power. More critically, it can completely change the habit of using the car at all - if you want, you can use it completely as a fuel car without charging.
This has two effects. The first is to fill the biggest gap between the independent brand and the joint venture brand - the DM-i model drives better than the same level of joint venture car. The second is that it is competing for the market for fuel vehicles rather than new energy vehicles (although it can be classified as new energy vehicles), so the absolute amount is large enough. This is something that no pure electricity, plug-in or extended range dared to think about before.
So why is Song MAX a little different? Because of the peculiarities of this car. We can look at it from both good and bad aspects.
Good aspect. Song MAX has historically been on fire. Fire, indicating that it meets the market demand in some aspects (such as face value). Later, it was deposited for probably two reasons. One is that the previously accumulated market demand has been released, and the market has been balanced. The other is that the fuel version of song MAX still has a gap with "looks" in terms of driving experience and quality.
The first reason DM-i cannot be solved, but the second reason, DM-i can be cured. That is to say, the advantages of Song MAX DM-i design can continue, and the shortcomings of driving quality can be reversed into a "long version" in one fell swoop.
What about the bad side? That is, the changes in the "compact MPV" market. We have always said that these two years have been big years for MPV. The two-child and three-child policies have ushered in a new development outlet for MPV. However, in the current market situation, MPV also shows the characteristics of polarization. Or, like Hongguang and Capgemini, the price is low enough. Or, like GL8 and Xena, the product is good enough. Sandwiched in the middle of the product, the market space has become more and more narrow. Even models such as Tuan, which sold well a few years ago, are now under the radar.
Then look at DM-i, one of its great charms is that "the performance is better than the joint venture fuel car, the price is much cheaper than the joint venture fuel car." These characteristics are very obvious in Song (SUV), Qin and other models.
However, the price of Song MAX DM-i is similar to that of Song Pro/PLUS. On the contrary, the price of these joint venture MPV of Tuan is similar to the price of joint venture SUVs such as Tiguan and Tanyue. The price after the discount is even lower than that of Song MAX DM-i. In this comparison, how big the charm of DM-i is is debatable.
And that's not all. The point is that even if the price of these cars is much lower than that of Tiguan and Tanyue, the sales volume is not as good as the latter. This fully shows that the current Chinese market is no longer able to accept such a compact MPV of "high or low".
In fact, if the Song MAX DM-i is a medium-sized MPV comparable to the size of the Odyssey, and it is also equipped with such a DM-i system to enter the market at a price of about 150,000, the results may be very different.
Therefore, in Uncle Ka's view, although DM-i has repeatedly created miracles after loading the car, it is indeed facing a great test for Song MAX. Conversely, if even Song MAX can make a comeback with DM-i, you can also raise the expected value of DM-i's competitive potential by a few more levels.