Changan's iDD hybrid system came late, but it was a good dish.
Today, when the tide of new energy has swept the entire automobile market, Changan, as the first camp of independent brands, sells the best new energy products or an oil-to-electricity model. Is Chang'an undecided? Or are they moving too slowly?
Not to mention that there are examples of monthly sales of a single model of the new forces of car manufacturing, horizontal comparison of traditional car manufacturers, the DM-i super hybrid sales next door soared, saying that Changan is not envious, that is all deceitful. However, the thinking of engineering men has long been rooted in the entire group of Changan, and if it were not for the obvious advantages in technology, Changan would not have taken too big a step.
However, time is not waiting for anyone, if you let BYD DM-i, Great Wall Lemon DHT, Chery Kunpeng DHT, etc. divide the market share, at that time, it will be difficult to get a piece of the pie. Therefore, the transformation of Changan's entire new energy product structure is imperative.
The UNI-K iDD is the first car that Changan has really made efforts in the PHEV market.
01 Pure electricity or plug-in?
"In the next 5 to 10 years, PHEV and EV must be parallel, and PHEV is not simply a transitional product." Before the UNI-K iDD was listed, Yang Dayong, vice president of Changan Automobile, was very frank in expressing his views on PHEV.
In Yang Dayong's view, the supply of energy will not go from the extreme to the other. In addition to the market and consumers' pursuit of intelligence, the government's promotion has played a leading role in the conditions that have led to the popularization of new energy models, which is nothing more than the different renewable characteristics between oil and electric energy.
Yang Dayong, vice president of Changan Automobile
But if the country's vehicles are converted to a single energy source, that is, electric energy, the dependence on the power grid is also unprecedented, whether it is pure electricity or pure oil, it is not the best solution in terms of national strategic energy reserves. Therefore, for a long time to come, Yang Dayong believes that hybridization must be a relatively mainstream form of power in the automobile market.
As an industry observer, I still agree with Yang Dayong, because China's market is too large, and the single dependence on energy will make the consumer market and daily travel unable to withstand any twists and turns. Recently, for various reasons, international oil prices and lithium battery raw materials have appeared a rare double rise phenomenon, No. 92 gasoline has approached the threshold of 9 yuan / liter, new energy vehicle companies have also seen different degrees of price increases (PHEV models because the battery capacity is relatively small, the price increase is not obvious).
In this environment, the oilable and electrical characteristics of PHEV are bound to be warmly sought after.
In addition, we all know that due to the uneven distribution of charging resources, the problem of high-speed charging difficulties that will emerge on a large scale every holiday also further amplifies the advantages of PHEV without endurance anxiety.
The data will not lie, in 2021, the retail sales of new energy vehicles reached 2.989 million units, although the proportion of pure electric models is higher, but the sales of plug-in hybrid models, including the extender, increased by 171.2% year-on-year to 545,000 units, and the growth rate of hybrid has exceeded that of pure electric models. Stimulated by the double-rise phenomenon, the gap in growth rate will further increase in 2022.
Combining the above factors, I think this is probably why Changan chose UNI-K iDD as its own pioneer model with substantial significance in the new energy map.
02 Where are the opportunities for UNI-K iDD?
So, since UNI-K iDD has become the "chosen son" of Changan New Energy, what reason does it have to compete with DM-i, which has become an Internet celebrity technology brand?
The answer is coexistence.
Before communicating with the product director in charge of UNI-K iDD, I had been thinking about how iDD could break through DM-i's purpose, looking for various flash points on UNI-K iDD. But in fact, UNI-K iDD has never been a potential customer from DM-i and DHT, but a joint venture compact SUV market with a huge amount of 150,000-180,000 yuan.
We will expand the perspective to the entire new energy market, although the current new energy sector is in full swing, there is a high-end new energy market dominated by "Special Wei Xiaoli", and there is a micro-electric vehicle market ignited by Hongguang MINIEV, but it is precisely the mid-end market that is not saturated enough. If it were not for the "Qin" and "Song" and other DM-i models to support half of the sky, the middle price point may not even have a star product.
However, the market law of the long-term development of fuel vehicles tells us that automobile consumption should be distributed in a spindle shape, and the large and small in the middle is a relatively healthy and reasonable state. It is precisely because the new energy model with a price of 150,000-200,000 yuan still has great potential, so it is not impossible for Changan UNI-K iDD to coexist with the BYD DM-i family.
Under this condition, the more eye-catching selling points of UNI-K iDD are based on the characteristics of PHEV itself, but UNI-K iDD further expands the advantages of PHEV.
For example, the UNI-K iDD is equipped with a 30.74-degree battery and a pure electric mileage of 130km, which is also the longest in the current PHEV model. At present, the average daily commuting mileage of first-tier cities is about 50km, and UNI-K iDD guarantees two days of pure electric commuting without any problems.
If the home does not have the conditions to install charging piles, in the state of power loss, UNI-K iDD as a 2-ton SUV comprehensive fuel consumption of 5L/100km, full fuel can reach 1100km endurance.
Another example is the UNI-K iDD battery cell double insurance capability, the so-called "double insurance" that is, under extremely cold conditions, PTC electric heating and engine water temperature thermal energy conduction can be used to ensure that the battery temperature is always in the normal working range. In the case of power conditions, it is also possible to manually open the "battery preheating function"; under extremely hot conditions, the battery pack can accelerate the heat dissipation through the "water cooling cycle" and the fan, so that the battery pack is always in the working range of high discharge power, so as to ensure that the vehicle can drive normally in the ambient temperature range of -35 °C to 55 °C.
For now, some of the features that can be implemented in the form of PHEV have been basically fully utilized in UNI-K iDD. In addition, UNI-K iDD itself also has a series of advantages of UNI-K fuel vehicles, such as borderless design, intelligent cockpit and larger space, etc., which together make up the entire strength of UNI-K iDD products.
Therefore, in the new energy market of 150,000-200,000 yuan, there is still a lot of room for UNI-K iDD to play.
03 UNI brand or standalone Add another fire to the UNI-K iDD
After talking about external factors, let's take a look at how Changan may change internally, so as to truly push UNI-K iDD to the mid-to-high-end market.
A car has a good product force, with the east wind of the market, can it definitely become a hit? The range of low and medium-priced prices may be enough, but for a mid-to-high-end SUV, the brand is also a crucial part.
The most convincing is the tank brand, after the tank 300 first time out of the circle, the great wall internal rapid decision to make the tank brand independent, thus achieving such a focus on the all-terrain off-road brand. From the off-road version to the urban version, from the Ranger version to the cyberpunk version, the independent tank gave full play to the flat mechanism and reacted particularly quickly to the market. Until the listing of the Tank 500, the Scalper incident was once introduced, bringing some happiness troubles to the tank brand.
Some people may wonder, is no one aware that UNI-K iDD is Changan's car when it is independent? Does UNI-K iDD dare to go to Chang'an?
Independence and de-Chang'an are two different things. Different brands have different cultural propositions, under the wings of Changan, the entire UNI series, including UNI-K iDD, will not be separated from Changan's own car-making concept and cultural atmosphere. It is not that Changan's car-making concept is not good, but that today's young people pay attention to an emotional resonance, and when targeting different user groups, different brand images will present different effects.
Just like the relationship between Lynk & Co and Geely, the platform is shared and the supplier system is shared, but the brand image of Lynk & Co's trendy brand is still more popular with young people than the "China Star" series.
In addition, independent brands can be more free and flat in internal decision-making, and they can react faster to the market. Let the UNI series run away, technically based on Changan endorsement, but based on brand culture in product personalization.
Moreover, now that UNI itself has achieved channel independence, in fact, the difference is a LOGO and brand name. At present, the master gets the news that within this year, UNI will complete the brand independence.
Finally, we will talk about the topic back to UNI-K iDD, in the protracted battle between Chinese brands and joint venture brands, the 150,000 price point has basically been divided into winners and losers, and the two occupy a mountain for differentiated competition. Among the 200,000-class SUV models, it is still the world of joint venture SUVs.
If in the fuel era, Chinese brands are difficult to surpass the joint venture due to their low starting point and late start, then in the new energy era, with the first-mover advantage, Chinese brands are likely to regain the "air supremacy" of 150,000-200,000 yuan in the turn of this era.
And if this alternation is successfully completed, when we look back at history, UNI-K iDD is the vanguard that once led the charge.