Do domestic brands have pricing power?
Before answering this question, let's look at the following set of data:
In February 2022, in the top list of more than 500,000 luxury electric vehicle sales, Gaohe HiPhi X ranked first with 355 deliveries, and Porsche Taycan and BMW iX in the traditional luxury camp ranked fifth and seventh with 83 and 48 vehicles, respectively.
In fact, this is not the first time that Gaohe HiPhi X has won more than 500,000 luxury electric vehicle sales championships, starting from the second half of 2021, it has led the pure electric luxury track, with a cumulative delivery of more than 5,000 vehicles in 10 months.
Circle two key points: first, its average transaction price is nearly 700,000 yuan; second, it has set a record for the fastest delivery speed of Chinese brands in the field of pure electric luxury of more than 500,000 yuan.
These two meanings have extended to new information points: externally, in the pure electric track, domestic luxury in front of foreign luxury, no need to bow their heads, and even hold their heads high; internally, domestic cars set high prices, not to seek their own death.
But in the first few moments of Gaohe HiPhi X's launch, this information was invisible, but instead booed and hissed. If you want to reverse your perception, in addition to breaking through the brand power wall of traditional luxury models, Gaohe also has to outperform the starters in the same camp.
Traditional luxury PK technology luxury, intelligence is the breakthrough
In the era of fuel vehicles, it is difficult for domestic brands that start late to break the ceiling set by traditional luxury factories. But when electrification becomes the future trend, everything will be different.
Compared with fuel vehicles, the product structure of electric vehicles has been fundamentally changed, the most core engine technology in the past is useless on it, and the electrical architecture and software architecture have become a new arena, and intelligence has become a new standard for users to examine whether a car is good or not.
It is precisely because of the change of the outlet that Gaohe can be positioned as a "technology luxury" and face off with fierce characters such as Porsche and BMW, and the results are not bad.
So, who has the advantage of the trams coming out of the traditional luxury camp compared with the trams in the technology luxury camp?
First of all, we must realize that whether it is Porsche Taycan or BMW iX, they have strengths that cannot be ignored: first, brand power, although the track has changed, but Porsche, BMW standards can still play a role in gilding, their innate luxury identity, there is still a lot of temptation for consumers; second, experience, staying in the luxury camp for so long, they know what kind of level a high-end model should maintain than any new brand, which is reflected in workmanship, control, Texture and other aspects.
For example, Taycan, which grafts Porsche's excellent supercar genes on its own body, while equipped with exclusive technologies such as dynamic chassis control system, three-chamber air suspension, rear wheel steering, etc., retains the stable and calm chassis texture of supercar and the crisp and clean body steering, giving an excellent demonstration to many pure trams that "only know how to be silly and fast, and do not know what to control".
BMW iX also taught the new forces a lesson in terms of style, a log panel, embedded with exquisite craftsmanship of glass controls, which will be brilliant and vivid with the change of light, olive leaf tanning leather with far infrared heating technology, giving the occupants of the car faster temperature increase and all-round wrapping feeling.
If there is no information, let you appreciate the design of these two cars, feel the workmanship, materials, atmosphere, experience the mechanical quality they show when they burst out again and again, over-bend, and slow down, even if the standard is covered, you can guess that they are "not rich or expensive", which is the charm of the luxury brand with precipitation.
The new forces can't do this yet, but they're better at being intelligent. At present, the intelligent transformation strategy being carried out by traditional large factories is the goal that new forces such as Gaohe have been working on at the beginning, in other words, on the intelligent track, technology luxury brands occupy the experience and first-mover advantage.
In Gaohe HiPhi X, we see the world's only doorless hand-free spread wing system, the world's first evolvable custom intelligent lighting system, the world's first mass-produced open electrical and electronic architecture, etc., from the prefixes of "unique", "first", "first", etc., it can be seen that it is at the forefront of the field of intelligent technology.
Previously, the doors were recognized as the best done by Rolls-Royce's door and Tesla's gull-wing doors, which had a sense of ceremony and creativity, but lacked intelligent interaction. Gaohe's wing spread door system, while having a sense of ceremony and innovation, has created six intelligent scenes in and out of the mode, and the whole process does not need to be touched, nor do you have to bow your head, this unique sense of luxury and honor, Porsche, BMW, etc. can not give at present.
The same is true for lights, the industry recognizes that the best car company in the light is Audi, indeed, its design concept is advanced, the lighting effect is outstanding, and it can also support driving safety, but it also lacks a little intelligent interaction. Gaohe HiPhi X's PML programmable headlights and ISD intelligent interaction lights make up for this deficiency, in addition to realizing full-scene adaptive lighting, collaborative intelligent driver assistance system, they also give users full autonomy, according to the needs of the definition of patterns, words or other elements, inject "vitality" into the headlights.
The above parts are the intelligent advantages of Gaohe HiPhi X, and in the deeper technical dimension, it also occupies the high ground.
This has to mention the SOA open electrical and electronic architecture, it is regarded as an important basis for the realization of user co-creation, the creation of intelligent scenes, more and more car companies in this field to explore, and Gaohe took the lead in the results, its H-SOA super-body architecture equipped with six major computing platforms, Gigabit Ethernet, the development of software middleware to achieve software and hardware separation, so that cross-hardware functional reorganization and mobilization becomes simple and easy.
The specific manifestation of this architecture is the world's first graphical development tool for vehicle intelligent applications pioneered by Gaohe - HiPhi Play (the former geek world), which is the best thing about being open enough to allow users to recombine functions and configurations according to their own needs and develop new intelligent applications (that is, scene cards).
For example, if you want to experience the feeling of being in the cinema at any time, you can adjust the seat angle, massage mode, atmosphere lights, volume, air conditioning temperature, car machine screen, etc. through the car interface or APP, etc., to create your own "cinema" scene card, the next time you want to use it again, press a key, and the cinema atmosphere will come.
Similarly, you can also create "concert hall", "café", "family outing", "two-person romance" and many other scene cards, after the review of these scene cards will be recommended to all users, for them to choose to download, users can also discuss how to improve the upgrade scene experience, forming an open, interactive, communication space.
That is to say, through the design of the scene card, in addition to releasing the creativity to meet your own personalized needs, you can also feel the joy of the creativity being recommended, shared, and recognized, and have the opportunity to expand the circle of friends and find like-minded people.
Before Gaohe HiPhi X, the interaction between brands and users was mostly one-way, basically I gave you these functions, you only have the right to use, there is no right to recreate, at most according to the use experience to the brand to make suggestions. The relationship between Gaohe and users is a two-way interaction, and everyone is contributing ideas to make this car better.
In addition to the ultimate scene experience, Gaohe HiPhi X actually has a good performance in the territory where traditional luxury brands are good at. Although it does not have a sports car background like the Porsche Taycan, the sporty style is not bad, with a maximum power of 440kW, a peak torque of 820N·m, and a zero hundred acceleration of 3.9 seconds, which is not inferior in performance.
It is also equipped with a high-performance active forward-looking dynamic chassis, which can monitor and analyze the current road conditions in real time and flexibly adjust chassis performance. With the support of the rear wheel active steering system with an angle range of up to 10 degrees, the CDC continuously adjustable damping damping and damping system, the front reinforced double wishbone type + rear five-link independent suspension, even if it is more than 5 meters long, the minimum turning diameter is only 11.6 meters, and the overall control is flexible and comfortable, and even a little old.
At the same time, Gaohe HiPhi X also combines technology and luxury in the cockpit design. The 19.9-inch co-pilot screen and the 8-inch rear high-definition touch screen give other passengers the right to enjoy smart technology. Semi-aniline leather seats, on-board smart refrigerators, rose gold custom buttons, etc., show the style and texture that luxury cars should have. Meridian's Treasure of England audio stacks on Givaudan's custom smart fragrance system to further create an atmosphere of luxury.
In general, BMW iX, Porsche Taycan, etc. are important electrification transformations of traditional luxury brands, and their brand power, control, quality, etc., are still valued by high-end consumer groups.
But we can also see that even without the traditional big factory heritage, Gaohe HiPhi X is also good at performance control and luxurious texture, especially in the field of intelligence, with greater energy, so it is not surprising that some consumers reject BMW iX and Porsche Taycan because of it.
High-end new forces roll inward, and innovators win
Standing in the camp of new forces that also focus on intelligent technology, the current direct opponent of Gaohe HiPhi X is Weilai ES8.
The two newly added long-endurance versions of Gaohe HiPhi X (6-seat Chuangyuan Edition / Zhiyuan Edition) are priced at 570,000-620,000 yuan, which is similar to the top match of the ES8 of Weilai (the top of the 480km endurance version is 566,000 yuan, and the top of the 580km endurance version is 624,000 yuan), which is destined to become the focus of consumers' choice of high-end new power products.
Let's first analyze what advantages the WEILAI ES8 has.
First, it's more well-known. Weilai entered earlier than Gaohe, experienced the darkest moment, and waited for spring, all of which consumers saw in their eyes. And Weilai's first mass production car has been listed for nearly five years, after market precipitation, it has formed a word of mouth, compared with HiPhi X, consumers will have a deeper understanding of Weilai ES8.
Second, its user marketing is done well. Compared with Gaohe's "technology luxury", Weilai is more like "service luxury", it provides users with "nanny-level" distinguished services, and also builds a user ecology that integrates cars, social networking, life, etc., so Weilai car owners are notoriously loyal in the car circle.
Then let's see how Gaohe HiPhi X can cope.
First of all, in terms of product strength, the 6-seat Chuangyuan version / Zhiyuan version has a longer battery life than the Weilai ES8, and the battery life anxiety is relatively small. Moreover, these two versions have a lot of configurations that were previously only available in the version of 680,000 yuan and above, such as 17-speaker Meridian British Treasure audio, co-pilot 19.9-inch entertainment screen, Givaudan custom intelligent fragrance system, cockpit glow panel, HEPA biochemical grade filter, driver sign monitoring system, etc. (Weilai ES8 does not have), plus the world's first configuration such as touch-free spread door, intelligent lighting interaction system, scene card and other world-class configurations mentioned above, HiPhi The innovative experience that X gives users will be more extremely shocking than the WEILAI ES8.
Secondly, Gaohe also has a user ecology, but its execution path is different from Weilai, it focuses on user co-creation, listening to user needs, inviting users to grow together with the brand, co-creation, and in terms of Gaohe's positioning and target groups, its social value should not be underestimated.
It is undeniable that WEILAI ES8 is indeed very attractive to users who seek stability or pursue exclusive services. Gaohe HiPhi X focuses on creating a leapfrog experience, which will be a better lifestyle choice for users who advocate intelligence and pursue luxury quality.
Write at the end
Back to the question we threw out at the beginning: Does the domestic brand have pricing power?
In the past, the price ceiling of domestic cars was 200,000, and later with the rise of independence, the acceptance of consumers was getting higher and higher, but it was far from being able to accept a domestic car with six or seven hundred thousand. This was the main reason why Gaohe HiPhi X was not optimistic in the first place.
But why was it able to deliver more than 5,000 units in 10 months? The reason is that its technical strength, can afford the luxury positioning, 57-80 million pricing, but there are millions of output, whether it is against the traditional luxury camp, or high-end new forces, Gaohe HiPhi X has irreplaceable advantages, facts have proved so, every three pure electric luxury models sold more than 500,000, there is a Gaohe HiPhi X.
For now, Gaohe cannot be said to have fully grasped the pricing power, but it is a domestic brand that is closer to this goal, and the higher pricing freedom is based on its real understanding of user needs and consumer recognition of its "technology luxury" label.
Besides, 800,000 are sold, how far away is it from really mastering the pricing power?