Author: Guan Hongye
The history of human civilization has lasted for thousands of years, but carefully taken stock, it is always driven by some rare epoch-making products.
In the "10 most influential technology products in 10 years" selected by Time magazine in the United States, Apple's iPad and Tesla Model S are impressively listed.
Although they vary widely, these products have several common characteristics: excellent product design, excellent product quality and excellent market reputation, which have a profound impact on the industry in which they live and even on society.
With this as a standard, the Dongfeng Honda pure electric SUV model e:NS1, which will be launched in April, also has the ability to be included in the "epoch-making". Not long ago, this new car rolled off the production line in Wuhan and began to accept online reservations.
On the one hand, as Honda's first pure electric vehicle in China, e:NS1 opened a new chapter in dongfeng Honda's electrification transformation and further deepened Honda's electrification strategy in China; on the other hand, more symbolically, e:NS1 marked another milestone in the history of Dongfeng Honda's development: since its establishment in 2003, the cumulative production has reached 7 million vehicles, building a first-class full-value chain system for domestic car companies.
Time is like water, 7 million users rush into the sea. As an epoch-making product of the last 7 million vehicles, the e:NS1 is also a coming-of-age gift dedicated by Dongfeng Honda. Zheng Chunkai, executive deputy general manager of Dongfeng Honda, told us that standing at a new starting point of the last 7 million vehicles, with the vision of "reform, new life and future creation", Dongfeng Honda is determined to transform into a new electrified corporate physique and accumulate the courage and strength to continue to move forward.
Interpreting the electric "dream" with "moving wisdom and beauty"
Grass warblers fly, everything races, and in the best season of March, this time, Dongfeng Honda really "called".
Good food is not afraid of late, although it comes late, but the latecomers naturally have the confidence to catch up later. Just as e:NS1 is positioned: "smart driving fun pure electric SUV", the focus is not only on pure electricity, but also on "smart" and "driving fun".
It is understood that e:NS1 is a product created by Honda based on the actual needs of consumers, aiming to redefine pure electric vehicles with the new value of "movement", "intelligence" and "beauty".
The project leader told us that in the development of e:NS1, Honda engineers did not put the parameters first, but focused more on improving the user's driving experience, their goal is to develop a pure electric vehicle with a distinct Honda style, so that Honda old users have a very familiar feeling. "First of all, the e:NS1 is a pure Honda global model, but it's different from the previous Honda models."
What is a pure Honda? This not only gives e:NS1 a distinct personality, but also the success or failure of Honda's electrification.
What is Honda's label? Although "buying a car and sending an engine" is a bit of ridicule, it also shows that Honda's profound achievements in the power system are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Honda Giken Kogyo Co., Ltd., which has been established for 76 years, was originally famous by building motorcycles, and if it is power that awakens the lowest desire of drivers, then the continuous polishing of technology is the ultimate answer to make power performance invincible.
Whether it is VTEC, i-VTEC, or i-MMD hybrid system that takes into account the economy and comfort, Honda's technical house can always accurately grasp the user's cool point in daily life and performance, which is the basis of its foothold in the fuel era.
It is also based on the essence of the "technology research company" that Honda injects its new understanding of electric vehicles into the e:NS1.
In the view of Dongfeng Honda, electric and driving should not stand on the opposite side in inertial thinking. When most people have not yet got rid of fuel vehicles, let them gradually accept electric vehicles, which may be the key to longer-term and sustainable development.
As Honda's first electric vehicle in China, e:NS1 can be seen as the integrator of Honda's technology, quality and innovation in the era of electrification, undertaking the mission of shaping the character of Honda electric vehicles, and presenting the three characteristics of "movement, intelligence and beauty".
"Moving" represents Honda's unique driving pleasure of integrating people and cars. e:NS1 adopts exclusive frame and chassis platform for pure electric vehicles, as well as the industry's top level power density motor, so that e:NS1 can fully realize sports car-level handling performance and driving performance in a kaleidoscopic driving scenario.
"Wisdom" represents a safe and comfortable intelligent experience. The e:NS1 is equipped with Honda's most advanced "e:N OS" full-stack intelligent control ecosystem, which can provide users with a safer and smarter mobile space.
"Beauty" is a super-era dynamic design that can perceive the future at a glance and touch. The simple and sharp shape, the symbolic new logo of the e:N series, presents the beauty of futuristic technology.
With "movement, intelligence, beauty" to give electric vehicles a different label, to give fun and driving sense to uninteresting electric vehicle driving, what is hidden under this rebellion is a powerful interpretation of "dreams" in Honda's genes.
In the lobby of the Honda Tochigi Museum, I saw the word "dream" handwritten by Soichiro Honda, this "dream", which has promoted the roar of Honda motors in the past 76 years, will continue to be the driving force for Honda electric vehicles to move forward.
Drive a new era with "new life of change"
Since March 18, e:NS1 has opened reservations on the "Dongfeng Honda e-move" WeChat Mini Program, and booking users can obtain a series of exclusive rights and interests such as lifetime vehicle warranty and lifetime "three electric" warranty.
In fact, for Dongfeng Honda, many of the "exclusive" related electrifications have already started. As early as 2018, Dongfeng Honda released the "Seeing the Future" new energy brand strategy, quickly building the industry's first all-field electrification family that includes SUVs, MPVs, and cars, covering heV, PHEV, and EV, officially opening the historical curtain of Dongfeng Honda's new energy development.
In February last year, Honda's first PHEV model in China, the CR-V Sharp Hybrid e+, was launched, making the CR-V the first urban SUV to cover three powertrains of "fuel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid", further consolidating the CR-V's market benchmarking position. At the same time, it also boosted Dongfeng Honda to enter the hybrid 2.0 era of oil-electric hybrid and plug-in hybrid.
In January this year, Dongfeng Honda confirmed that it will establish a new exclusive electric vehicle factory in Wuhan.
It is understood that the new plant is located in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, covering an area of 630,000 square meters, and is scheduled to be officially put into operation in 2024, with a basic annual production capacity of 120,000 vehicles in the early stage.
The plant will also be Honda's first new energy benchmark plant, which will make full use of renewable energy sources such as solar power, save resources through measures such as water recycling, and reduce emissions of atmospheric pollutants such as volatile organic compounds.
According to Honda's new electrification strategy released last year, 10 pure electric models using the Honda brand will be launched in the Chinese market in the next five years, and all models launched in China after 2030 will be electrified models.
In order to allow consumers to easily experience the unique world view and product charm of the "e:N" series, Dongfeng Honda will further enrich the communication channels of online and offline linkage. In addition to continuing to rely on 600 special stores across the country to create "e:N" exclusive spaces, we will also set up "e:N" franchise stores in key cities and carry out a variety of offline experience activities. At the same time, Dongfeng Honda will also build a new digital platform to achieve zero-distance online experience.
New products, new production, new marketing and service system, e:NS1 is about to open a new era of electrification brand.
In this new era, Dongfeng Honda is about to launch a more ambitious strategic vision: change, new life.
In 2021, China's new energy vehicle sales exceeded 3 million, an increase of 174% year-on-year. Driven by new energy vehicles, cutting-edge technologies such as silicon carbide, high-computing chips, and solid-state batteries have continued to make breakthroughs, and advanced products have been released at a high frequency. In this process, the driving force of new energy products has steadily changed from policy-led to market-oriented.
Based on this, Zheng Chunkai believes that with the revolution of the automobile powertrain brought by new energy, the traditional automobile consumption hierarchy barriers will also be broken, the waist market and the sinking market will be awakened, and the sales structure will change rapidly from "dumbbell type" to "spindle shape".
"If we sail against the current, if we don't advance, we will retreat!" At the beginning of this year, Dongfeng Honda issued a strategic declaration of "change, rebirth, and the future", determined to obtain a new growth path and transform into a new electrified enterprise physique through awareness change, organizational change, process change, model change, and cultural change.
The blueprint is becoming clearer, the eyes are more determined, in the future planning of Dongfeng Honda, how to emphasize the importance of e: NS1 is not excessive, to some extent, it is to promote the reform of the new stormtrooper, starting gun!
Create the future with shou jing and heavy "electricity"
It is not a coincidence that at the same time as the e:NS1 rolled off the production line, Dongfeng Honda achieved a total of 7 million vehicles, reflecting the unique development path of Dongfeng Honda.
Just this past year, Dongfeng Honda celebrated its 18th birthday. Since its establishment in 2003, Dongfeng Honda has resonated with the same frequency of the times, painting a picture of "gathering ordinary and creating extraordinary".
If you pay attention, Dongfeng Honda has always been a company that is good at creating "miracles". In 2003, as a new starting point for the three-step strategy of "parts-engine-vehicle" between Dongfeng and Honda, Dongfeng Honda started from the "four noes" qualification and created a rolling development benchmark of "small market and large share".
Especially in the past few years, Dongfeng Honda has encountered setbacks and hardships rarely seen by most companies: at the beginning of 2020, all three factories stopped production due to the epidemic, and the market vacuum lasted for nearly two months; in 2021, the chip shortage ran through the whole year.
It has also achieved a rare maturity and growth in unit time: according to J.D. Power's "2021 China Automobile Retention Rate Research Report", Dongfeng Honda won the first place in the manufacturer's retention rate, and its 4 models ranked in the top 1 position in the market segment.
"Looking back, we created a legend of the fuel age." Zheng Chunkai said proudly. From the first CR-V off the production line, to the subsequent emergence of millions of single-product models; from a model to the world, to today's "fuel, pure electricity, hybrid, plug-in hybrid" global power four-wheel drive parallel, 7 million vehicles all the way, Dongfeng Honda is stable and far-reaching.
In particular, in 2022, as a sprint year for the achievement of the "Challenge 1+" medium-term business plan and the production and sales target of one million vehicles, Dongfeng Honda will take the electrification of products as an external presentation, take management digitalization as the core advantage, and take brand warmth throughout, promote the strategic integration of the consensus of the whole value chain, and "create the future" in the ability of the million vehicle system.
The Tao Te Ching Yun: "Heavy is the light root, quiet is the restless king." "There is no ambition for non-indifference, and there is no far-reaching without tranquility." Keeping the quiet and holding the weight is the foundation of the establishment, and the color will not change at the end of 18 years. After the 7 million vehicle era, Dongfeng Honda has set sail with full power!