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If you don't say, just from the pictures of the interior, you can't guess that this is a joint venture brand model, let alone a Honda model. This subversive model is Dongfeng Honda's 7 millionth vehicle that just rolled off the production line not long ago - Dongfeng Honda e:NS1.
This is the first electric vehicle under Honda's new pure electric vehicle brand "e:N", which carries Honda's understanding of electrification and dongfeng Honda's mission to accelerate the transformation of electrification.
Some people may say that in this round of electrification and intelligence, independent brands are in the front, and joint venture brands are lagging behind. This is not wrong, but from another point of view, the penetration rate of new energy in the entire market is less than 20%, and the market has just entered a period of rapid development. At this stage into the Dongfeng Honda e: NS1, it can be said that it is timely.
At this stage, there are more and more models to choose, and the user's acceptance of electric vehicles is relatively high, and it is more rational, no longer blindly seeking novelty, but more from the perspective of the value, quality and even retention rate of the product itself, to choose a more suitable product, which is not difficult to see from the sales curve of the Volkswagen ID series.
So, as the smartest electric vehicle in the same class of joint venture models, how competitive is the Dongfeng Honda e:NS1? Can Dongfeng Honda, which is "post-7 million era", successfully complete the electrification transformation?
Dongfeng Honda e: The change and invariance of the NS1
As a joint venture, Dongfeng Honda's electrification process started not too late. As early as November 2018, Dongfeng Honda released the "Looking to the Future" new energy brand strategic plan at the Guangzhou Auto Show, officially opening the historical curtain of its new energy development.
In 2019, Dongfeng Honda built a hybrid family composed of CR-V, Yingshipai and Alissen; on October 30 of the same year, the first pure electric vehicle X-NV was officially launched, opening the first year of electrification of Dongfeng Honda. In November 2020, Dongfeng Honda's second pure electric vehicle M-NV was launched, further expanding its new energy product matrix; in February 2021, Honda's first PHEV model in China, CR-V Sharp Hybrid e+, was officially launched, and opened the era of Dongfeng Honda's Hybrid 2.0.
Frankly speaking, compared with the hybrid (including PHEV) models, the sales of the two electric vehicles in front of Dongfeng Honda are not too optimistic, which is related to the product itself and is inseparable from the market environment at that time. After all, the rapid development of the electric vehicle market is only a short period of one year.
Although the proportion of sales is not high, Dongfeng Honda's exploration of electrification is not without significance. This process allows them to better understand the needs, preferences and value demands of Chinese users for electric vehicles, laying the foundation for the launch and hot sales of e:NS1 and subsequent products.
As the first model of Honda's new pure electric vehicle brand "e:N", compared with the previous electric vehicle, e:NS1 has a very obvious Honda value inheritance, that is, the persistent pursuit of driving pleasure. In the era of electrification known as "software-defined cars", intelligence has become the focus of competition among car companies, and the more important driving pleasure of cars is often overlooked.
As we all know, thanks to the characteristics of the motor starting to output maximum torque, most pure electric vehicles tend to be significantly faster than the same price point when accelerating from 0-50km/h. However, starting fast does not equal movement. At present, most electric vehicles on the market have good acceleration performance, and their handling and chassis comfort have nothing to do with the word "sport".
As a brand that "buys an engine and delivers a car", Honda has a higher level of understanding of "sports". In order to continue the core advantages of "Power Honda" in the era of fuel vehicles, Dongfeng Honda e:NS1 has found a high-dimensional balance between "the joy of handling" and "the comfort of riding", which not only ensures the driving pleasure of the driver's unity of people and vehicles, but also ensures the comfort and tranquility of passengers.
To this end, Honda has specially created a new e:N Architecture intelligent and efficient pure electric architecture, which has the three advantages of high scalability, high performance and high intelligence. Thanks to this architecture, the e:NS1 can accelerate briskly, smoothly, passionately, and with a certain sense of pushback, but without causing accelerated vertigo. The steering is precise and flexible, and it is easy to cope with all kinds of curves, and the body posture can always be stable. In Sport mode, the e:NS1's Honda EV Sound accelerates the sound, which also brings the surging passion of Honda's high-speed engine.
As the head of the e: NS1 project said, when developing this car, Honda engineers did not put the parameters first, but focused more on improving the user's driving experience, and their goal was to develop a pure electric vehicle with a distinct Honda style, so that Honda's old users had a very familiar feeling.
This persistence and persistence has made many "Honda fans" have a little more expectations for e:NS1.
If driving pleasure is the biggest constant of e:NS1, then the changes in the interior and the car are more visible to the naked eye - the largest 15.2-inch HIGH-definition ultra-thin bezel center control screen in the same class, and the 10.25-inch color full-LCD digital instrument cluster, so that e:NS1 has a sense of intelligence and futurism comparable to Tesla.
If you cover the logo of the steering wheel, who can believe that this is a Honda car?
Like the interior, the e:NS1 has changed a lot in terms of appearance. It uses the new e:N Design design language, sharp lines and a futuristic feel. The front face "H" mark is full of technology when lit, and the tail is equipped with a new "Honda" logo, which has both inheritance and breakthrough.
The "Heart beat heartbeat interactive lamp language" full of life can display a variety of light expressions during the charging process, so that users can see the charging status at a glance and present the beauty of futuristic technology.
In addition to the hardware, e:NS1 is equipped with honda CONNCET 3.0 pure electric vehicle special version in terms of vehicle and machine, which integrates more than 20 functions such as natural and smooth AI voice assistant, car home interconnection, energy management, and OTA online upgrade. At the same time, the digital key with the mobile phone as the terminal can remotely control the door, window, air conditioner, etc., and can realize the real "keyless start". In addition, for the first time, the DMC driver state perception system can be equipped to effectively identify the driver's state, and even detect emotional changes, actively remind, and make the driving experience smarter and safer.
In terms of active safety, e:NS1 is equipped with honda SENSING safety supersensitive system known as "black technology family barrel", and adds practical electronic rearview mirrors and automatic parking functions to make driving safer and more convenient to park.
Dongfeng Honda summed up e in three words: the advantages of NS1 - movement, wisdom, beauty, it can be said that it is still very accurate.
The era of 7 million vehicles after the opening of electrification
If the first 7 million vehicles of Dongfeng Honda began with cr-V, which became the creation and leadership of the market segment; then, the last 7 million vehicles of Dongfeng Honda began with e:NS1, which will also largely determine the success of its electrification transformation.
Since its inception in 2003, Dongfeng Honda has pioneered and led the development of the urban SUV market with cr-V, gaining the trust of more than 2.4 million users, and since then, models such as Civic, UR-V, Accent or XR-V have become the leaders in the market segment. Among them, the Civic has become a benchmark model in the sports sedan market, and the XR-V has also been the champion of small SUV sales...
Driven by the collective promotion of these models, Dongfeng Honda has also become the seventh joint venture in China after The North-South Volkswagen and SAIC-GM, and it is also one of the enterprises with the highest bicycle efficiency.
In addition to the excellent products themselves, Dongfeng Honda's strong system strength is also a very important reason. We have seen that after the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, Dongfeng Honda, which is in the hardest hit area of Wuhan, quickly adjusted its strategy and became one of the first auto brands to achieve online transformation. In 2021, when there is a lack of core and less electricity, Dongfeng Honda will produce 761879 vehicles throughout the year, and the terminal sales volume will be 793272, which will be stable and win the market.
Among them, the most noteworthy is that the CR-V Sharp Hybrid e+ launched at the beginning of last year is equipped with the SPORT HYBRID e+ system composed of a 2.0L engine + motor, and the cruising range in pure electric mode is 85km, and the comprehensive fuel consumption of 100 km is only 1.3L. This car is not only Honda's first PHEV model in China, but also conforms to the tide of electrification, further consolidating the CR-V's market benchmark position.
This car also opened the curtain on the electrification of Dongfeng Honda. As Zheng Chunkai, executive deputy general manager of Dongfeng Honda Motor Co., Ltd., said, the strategy for building Dongfeng Honda's system strength in the future is mainly "three modernizations", that is, product electrification, brand warmth and management digitalization.
Among them, product electrification refers to Dongfeng Honda's plan to build an electrified product layout with more than 10 models by 2023, and the market share of electrified models will reach more than 50% by 2025. From the e:NS1 as the 7 millionth model to roll off the production line, it is not difficult to see the importance of electrification to Dongfeng Honda. It is reported that in addition to e:NS1, the e:N series has also released three concept models - e:N Coupe concept, e:N SUV concept and e:N GT concept, which will also be launched in the next five years.
In addition to products, Dongfeng Honda has also further expanded its online and offline linkage communication channels. Online, users can realize one-click booking on the Dongfeng Honda e-mobile mini program; offline, users in Guangzhou and Wuhan can walk into the e:NS1 space to see and experience, and the follow-up Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Beijing will also be opened one after another. At the same time, "e:N" franchise stores are set up in key cities and diversified offline experience activities are carried out.
At the same time, in order to reassure consumers, Dongfeng Honda also provides the industry's highest standard of warranty policy for e:NS1 - the first owner of e:NS1 can enjoy a lifetime vehicle warranty and a lifetime triple warranty, which truly solves the user's quality anxiety about pure electric models.
Brand warmth means that marketing and user operations should be able to arouse the emotional resonance of users, which is also the unique feature of Dongfeng Honda's marketing work in the past two years. Management digitalization means that Dongfeng Honda will better connect with young people under the background of digital technology and continue to provide dealers and partners with more and more practical data-based marketing platforms.
In fact, this is also the cornerstone for all brands to survive in the future competition. However, there are not many brands that can realize and summarize it as a theoretical height at the moment.
epilogue
Although it didn't come early, it was timely and combined with Honda's existing advantages and Chinese users' demands for intelligence. In this sense, the Dongfeng Honda e:NS1 is worth looking forward to.
What is more worth looking forward to is that Dongfeng Honda in the post-7 million era, in the process of accelerating the transformation of electrification, its change and invariance, persistence and evolution, while providing users with more choices, but also providing new ideas for the development of the industry.