Introduction: Different from volkswagen and other car companies to fully bet on the path of electrification, GM's Cadillac brand has chosen a two-pronged electrification solution.
(Text/Zhang Jiadong Editor/Lou Bing) In 2021, China's new energy market ushered in an unprecedented explosive growth stage, and for a time, consumers' pursuit of new energy products has become a reality that car companies have to face in the future market.
On the other hand, according to the "Fuel Consumption Limits for Passenger Cars" officially implemented on July 1, 2021, the average fuel consumption level of new passenger cars in mainland China should be reduced to 4.0 L/100km by 2025. In the face of the approaching of this deadline and the hindsight of the joint venture car companies in the pace of electrification, the transformation time left for the joint venture car companies is particularly urgent.
Although in recent years, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, General Motors and other mainstream joint venture car companies have released their own electrification transformation strategies and begun to enter the market in an orderly manner, for the pure electric market with greater competitive pressure, hybrid models can not only effectively reduce fuel consumption, but also make it easier to control costs than directly build a pure electric platform in terms of technology investment.
As one of the technical routes of a wide range of hybrid technology concepts, the birth of light hybrid has provided car companies with a new way to solve problems. From the policy side, in the European market, with the reduction of the period of mandatory ban on the sale of fuel vehicles in European countries in recent years, 48V light mixing technology has become the simplest hybrid solution without changing the existing technology platform.
At the technical level, the 48V light mix is implanted in different positions such as the engine front end (P0), the engine rear end (P1), the gearbox front end (P2), the gearbox rear end (P3), and even the driven axle end (P4) without breaking the working logic of the engine-transmission-drive wheel, so as to obtain the improvement of the power system in different dimensions.
From the current overall level of the industry, the cost of 48V light mixing technology is greatly reduced compared with the hybrid technology of HEV and PHEV, and the fuel saving effect of 4%-8% can be obtained through this technology, as well as the advantages of smoother start and stop, quieter when cruising at high speed. According to estimates, the penetration rate of hybrid models (including light hybrid, HEV and PHEV) in the domestic passenger car market is about 25%, and annual sales are expected to reach 6.35 million units in the future, with a compound growth rate of 66.5%.
Different from volkswagen and other car companies to fully bet on the path of electrification, GM's Cadillac brand has undoubtedly chosen a two-pronged electrification solution. On the one hand, The pure electric product Lyric based on the Aoteneng platform will be officially launched this year, on the other hand, Cadillac maintains the update of the 48V light hybrid system on the fuel vehicle product.
The launch of the Cadillac XT4 light hybrid model in December 2021 has undoubtedly added a new blood to the Chinese market where new energy is dominant. And what kind of market competition performance can this new car bring? What kind of improvement can the 48V mix bring to the XT4? The Observer Network's car channel (Engine Sight) took such a question and test drove the new Cadillac XT4.
Configuration: The intelligent connection system has been significantly improved
In terms of static perception, the new Cadillac XT4 has not changed much in appearance. Due to Cadillac's creation of a sporty atmosphere in recent years, and the XT4 has been set to focus on the compact SUV market, "short and lean" has always been the most emblematic feature of Cadillac's entry-level products in different car series.
The 4600mm body length, the 2779mm wheelbase size, short but not small are the first impressions that the XT4 is easy to create. The simple and capable but muscular body lines create a strong industrial and sporty atmosphere for the vehicle. The new XT4 has reduced the configuration to 4 models, and the details still retain a lot of silver unique decorations to highlight the noble attributes.
Surrounded by the whole vehicle, the black skid plate below is matched with 20-inch 9-spoke silver wheels, which makes this small size SUV visually impactful. The head and tail light sets still provide a unique visual effect and strong recognition for Cadillac's current products after being lit. It is worth noting that the vehicle changed the black "T" sign to blue in the tail marker, implicitly expressing its own light mix identity.
In terms of interior styling, the new XT4 has not made too many changes. In addition to the functional differences presented according to the configuration changes, the central control of the vehicle is still coated with a large area of leather material, and the details are supplemented by silver aluminum trim panels to enhance the overall texture. The steering wheel and semi-mechanical instruments and the 8-inch central control screen create an enveloping effect, still showing the XT4's sports experience designed with the driver as the core idea.
Although there have been no excessive changes in the shape, the addition of the 48V light mix system has largely helped the XT4's electrified configuration to a large extent. Among them, the upgrade of the intelligent network connection part is one of the biggest changes in the new XT4, the central control internal operating system of the new car is equipped with a new Cadillac mobile Internet experience (CUE), the new system not only introduces Baidu voice assistant and Baidu online navigation, but also in the Baidu ecosystem, the car machine also provides the functional expansion of third-party applications, and the convenience and entertainment of human-computer interaction have been greatly enhanced.
It is worth mentioning that the new operating system provides mobile Internet services while retaining wireless CarPlay functions to meet the diverse needs of drivers and occupants. However, the XT4's conservative screen size and UI design may become a small disadvantage that affects the competitiveness of new cars in the market.
In terms of comfort configuration, the top version of the model will also be 48V light mix brought by the vehicle electrification ability to the extreme, in addition to bose 13 speaker audio, mobile phone wireless charging, HUD head-up display function, dual-zone automatic air conditioning also built-in air purifier and negative ion generator, the main co-driver are equipped with 8-way electric adjustment + 4-way waist adjustment function and ventilation, heating, massage function, can be described as the comfort and luxury experience directly pulled full.
Power: 48V fast shun province
For Cadillac, the powertrain combination of the eighth-generation Ecotec 2.0T engine + 48V light hybrid is not the first time it has been installed in its products. On the new XT4, the maximum power and peak torque of the powertrain also maintained a consistent tuning of 237PS and 350N·m. However, with the assistance of the electric motor, the vehicle can get additional power assistance when starting and accelerating, and at the same time, it can also reduce the vibration of the vehicle in the start-stop, acceleration and deceleration state as much as possible to enhance the smoothness.
Due to the extreme pursuit of emission reduction in the context, most of the vehicles using HEV and PHEV technology tend to adjust the power output to the priority of electric drive, which leads to the driving experience of this part of the user in the driving process, often due to the switching between the electronic control and the fuel system and the fault of driving feeling.
However, the 48V light hybrid system of the new XT4 is mainly to provide a certain auxiliary power in starting and accelerating, so in terms of driving control, it can allow the driver to get a more pure driving experience of fuel vehicles. It also makes the vehicle's 2.0T high-power more perfect acceleration ability, and the official acceleration time of the top version of the model is 7.9s per 100 kilometers, which is already outstanding for a compact fuel SUV.
In addition, when the gearbox is shifted, the auxiliary power of the light mixing system can also ensure the connection and continuation of the power output to a certain extent, so as to make the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle more linear. And this kind of vibration suppression and response speed, but also reflected in its assistance to the start-stop system, the author's colleagues in the opening of half a day to find that the start-stop system is in an open state, enough to explain the light mixing system of the start-stop system optimization ability.
Of course, for a compact SUV with a main sporty texture, fuel consumption may not be the biggest concern of potential users of XT4, but it is worth mentioning that the new XT4 can still get 5-6% fuel consumption reduction under the blessing of hybrid technology, even if the author tries to use four-wheel drive and off-road mode to test the dynamic performance of the vehicle under violent driving, the fuel consumption of the vehicle is ultimately controlled at about 100 km 10L, and under normal driving, the fuel consumption of the vehicle is the same as the official label of 7.75L/ 100km is not much different.
Chassis part, the new XT4 compared to the old model has not made any changes, the same front McPherson + rear 5 connecting rod independent suspension, tuning also added a touch of tightness and toughness to the moderate vibration damping feeling, in general, improve the acceleration and deceleration response and smoothness of the new XT4, in the driving texture is more and more in line with its sports model positioning and Cadillac's brand image today.
Take a look:
With the rapid development of new energy vehicles, consumers' feelings for traditional fuel vehicles have also followed the tightening of policies and markets and entered the final countdown. Especially for luxury brand products that are still using 2.0T power today, the driving pleasure brought by high horsepower is already the core selling point of the sporty XT4. Therefore, even though the era of electrification has come in full swing, Cadillac has not given up on making new technology additions to fuel models to compete for the final market.
And Cadillac's efforts, obviously also received a return from the market, after a comprehensive shift to the brand's sports label shaping, Cadillac sales in recent years have continued to rise. Even in the past many years, the Chinese market has experienced the impact of external factors such as stock transformation, epidemic situation, and lack of core, Cadillac has maintained its own growth trend in the market with the help of product competitiveness. From 2019 to 2021, Cadillac achieved sales of 212,000, 230,000 and 233,000 units, respectively.
At present, although Cadillac has become saturated in the product line of fuel models, in the face of the new competitive situation in the market, Cadillac has not plunged into the embrace of pure electric. Compared with the BBA is still struggling to explore the pure electric transformation, Cadillac is exploring the differentiation possibility of the market with the light hybrid system of the entry-level SUV.
From the perspective of positioning, the Cadillac XT4, which has been comprehensively improved in terms of configuration, vehicle connection system and light mixing technology, has almost no increase in pricing, and the price range of 26.17-35.47 million yuan has further contracted compared with the old models. Obviously, Cadillac has gradually clarified the positioning scope of its products, and the new XT4, which has moved electrification and networking into the car, is indeed worthy of more attention from the market.
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.