"I ask that the automobile group should work day and night, work hard for three months, and on June 22, it must achieve the mass production of Hengchi 5!"
This is Xu Jiayin's speech at the internal mobilization meeting of Evergrande Automobile on the evening of March 22. As soon as the words fell, Chairman Xu took the lead in clapping, and the on-site personnel immediately clapped their hands in agreement.
Equally noteworthy of Xu Jiayin's speech is the huge banner that reads "Dagan Achieves Hengchi 5 Mass Production in Three Months", and the date of the day is not forgotten behind the banner - "March 22, 2022". It seems that this is a fairly important day.
Not long ago, Evergrande announced that it would hold an investor conference call on the same night, but Xu Jiayin did not participate in the meeting, which is not difficult to understand, there is a meeting with creditors to discuss hundreds of millions of debts, this side is to set a new goal, related to the production and sales of 5 million vehicles of the grand cause.
In other words, if you are Xu Jiayin, which side will you choose to participate in?
In the official photos of the Evergrande Automobile Mobilization Meeting, there is another detail worth noting: there are dozens of people sitting in the huge office, but there is no microphone on the table, and even a bottle of mineral water is not placed, how to look like a meeting to talk about serious things, more like a "slogan show" for the outside world.
The conference room was brightly lit, the décor was of a high standard, and the conference tables were unusually clean – not even the microphones necessary for meetings.
It is also understandable that a Fortune 500 company like Evergrande should properly put on a show in the limelight of public opinion. But what we are more concerned about is whether Chairman Xu's slogan can really be realized. What kind of storm will the new Hengchi 5 car set off in the market?
This time, the "big dry three months" is much more difficult than the last time
In October last year, Evergrande Automobile also shouted the slogan of "three months of hard work", and the task at that time was to ensure that the first car of the Tianjin plant rolled off the production line. "Off the line" means that the entire production line can operate smoothly, which is a necessary prerequisite for achieving mass production, but for Evergrande, this is still not an easy task.
At the meeting site when Evergrande Automobile first proposed "three months of big work", although the number of people was not as large as the meeting on the evening of March 22, and the conference room was smaller, there was water and microphone on the table - this is what a serious meeting looks like.
A month before that (September 2021), Evergrande Automobile's Tianjin plant was forced to stop work due to arrears to a number of suppliers. The factory is the most important production base of Evergrande Automobile, formerly known as the factory used by Guoneng Automobile to produce NEVS 93 models, after Evergrande Automobile acquired Guoneng Automobile in 2019, it began to transform its production line, but the transformation work was not smooth, and even the relevant production equipment was not all in place before the shutdown, and whether it could achieve normal production was a problem.
Surprisingly, at the end of last year, Evergrande Automobile announced that Hengchi 5 had officially rolled off the production line, 12 days earlier than the original plan, and successfully completed the first "three months of big dry" plan. Nominally, Evergrande spent 3 years to build cars, and finally a real real car landed, but in fact, the model off the line is an emergency product that uses less than 3 months to rush out of the work.
Even if the preliminary research and development work of Evergrande Automobile is successfully completed, there is no obstacle to the supply of various parts, and the current Hengchi 5 is at most only in the stage of engineering prototypes (the official saying is "through the line debugging car"). To achieve mass production of the car, it is not only necessary to carry out multiple rounds of testing of the product, repeated debugging of the production line, but also to solve many problems such as production management, quality monitoring, and quality consistency.
Mass production is the most difficult threshold for emerging car manufacturers to cross, and no matter how intensive publicity and loud slogans, it is difficult to make up for the lack of system capabilities. Evergrande can be said to have zero experience in the field of automobile production, and it is an almost impossible task to achieve mass production of Hengchi 5 in the next 3 months.
For cars to achieve mass production, the threshold is much higher than that of a few cars that simply roll off the production line.
Take Volkswagen's latest Anhui MEB plant as a reference, the plant's first model will roll off the production line in the second half of this year, that is, to reach the current stage of hengchi 5 technical status, and the official mass production will be in the second half of 2023.
Look, even a veteran car company like Volkswagen has to spend a whole year preparing for mass production, and the production is only a relatively mature MEB platform model, so how does Evergrande Auto use 3 months to complete the same thing? Is it just "day and night fighting" and "hard work"?
Hengchi 5 comprehensive product power is really not amazing
Of course, we can also make the most ideal assumption - under the wise leadership of Chairman Xu, Hengchi 5 is really mass-produced as scheduled and has been listed within this year. So the next question is, is this car competitive in the market?
From the information that has been announced so far, Hengchi 5 positioning compact pure electric SUV, length, width and height are 4725/1925/1688mm, wheelbase is 2780mm, the shaft proportion is less than 59%. The proportion of shafts has a direct impact on the performance of the space in the car and the position of the battery layout, which is an important quantitative indicator reflecting the technical level of the body structure. In the same level of pure electric SUVs, the axles of the vast majority of new cars account for more than 60%, which largely reflects that Evergrande's achievements on the electrification platform are not high.
In the power system part, Hengchi 5 will be equipped with a motor with a maximum power of 150kW and a maximum torque of 345N·m, the acceleration time of "zero hundred" is 7.8s, and the NEDC cruising range can reach more than 700km. However, there are now more and more pure electric vehicles with a range of more than 700km, such as AION V PLUS, whose top-of-the-line neDC has a cruising range of 702km, and the "zero hundred" acceleration time is nearly one second (6.9 seconds) faster than hengchi 5, and the comprehensive performance performance is obviously better.
The only selling point that Hengchi 5 can be bragged about may be the three screens stuffed with the center console, at first glance there is really a bit of Mercedes-Benz EQS feeling, but a closer look will find that there is a lot of white space around the main co-driver screen, and the look and feel is very cheap. As for the design, not to mention, it just integrates the mainstream design elements together, lacks recognition, and if you don't look at the logo at the rear of the car, it must be difficult for you to recognize what kind of car it is.
The interior of Hengchi 5 seems to be full of technology, but many details are handled perfunctory.
Evergrande Automobile is confusing
In the past February, Evergrande Automobile once conducted a Hengchi 5 pricing survey, the survey table described the car as "global extreme wisdom pure electric luxury SUV", but from the perspective of key technical indicators, this is only a model that barely reaches the mainstream level of the same level, but there are too many substitutes, let alone quality and reliability, not to mention what is concerned about catching up with the schedule, Evergrande Automobile has no time to take care of these high threshold indicators.
Even if the price of Hengchi 5 is lower than that of the same level of car, it is most likely just a running product.
Chairman Xu needs to deal with investors most at this stage, not consumers, so he may not care too much about the quality or reputation of Hengchi 5, whether he can mass-produce the car and successfully achieve listing delivery is the top priority. Not long ago, Evergrande Automobile established Hengchi New Energy Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., and recruited a large number of automobile sales personnel with high salaries.
At present, the total number of sales outlets in the three BBA is only about 1,700, but Hengchi claims to build 1,600, which is too big.
However, the sales stores related to Hengchi Automobile have not been found. Evergrande Automobile has previously revealed that they will establish 36 experience centers, 1,600 sales centers, and 3,000 after-sales service centers. Where was it built? What sales model is used? This is all unknown.
Regarding Evergrande Automobile, there are too many confusing things, technology research and development, product positioning, production management, marketing and promotion and other links are in chaos. It is impossible to survive in a fully competitive automotive industry only through the strategy of "buying, buying, closing, and encircling", as well as simple and rude slogan management. The confidence and dedication shown by Chairman Xu may only be to hide his inner uneasiness.
Text | superman
(This article is the author's personal opinion only and does not represent the position of DearAuto.) )
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Mr. Li Guoyong of Guangdong Green Law Firm