Last month, Dongfeng Honda ushered in the 7 millionth vehicle off the production line, which is the proud report card of Dongfeng Honda in the 19 years since entering China; and the arrival of pure electric product e: NS1 makes this important "milestone moment" particularly eye-catching.
Dongfeng Honda, which has been working in the Chinese market for 19 years, has been jokingly called "buying an engine and sending a car" for many years because of its excellent power performance. Although it is a joke, it is enough to show the reliability of its engines, as well as its position in the field of fuel vehicles.
As a product with a completely different track from previous models, can the e:NS1 successfully sound the clarion call of Dongfeng Honda's "attack on the electrification market"? How will Dongfeng Honda, which "has no engine", find its benchmarking advantage again and create a "7 million" legend?
Bullets that flew for a long time, e:NS1 came prepared
The internal combustion engine has a completely different design logic from pure electric technology, and the valuable experience of precision combustion, performance pressing, and control adjustment that Honda was once proud of no longer has reference value in the face of "three electric technology". At this time, how to set the tone of the product and occupy the technical highland in the field of pure electricity is very important, and e:NS1 is obviously also prepared.
Speaking of the development of Dongfeng Honda in the field of new energy, I believe that most people's first reaction is its hybrid technology. Indeed, with the blessing of high efficiency and low fuel consumption, the i-MMD hybrid model has gained a high reputation and market sales, and Dongfeng Honda's CR-V Sharp Hybrid, XiangyuRui Hybrid and other models are among the representatives.
With its outstanding hybrid advantages, extending to the pure electricity market has become a powerful weapon for its transformation to new energy. But Dongfeng Honda also knows that the electrification transformation is not as simple as switching the power system.
Therefore, Dongfeng Honda has X-NV, M-NV, and constantly tries to productize pure electric technology, at which time it has captured the hearts of a large number of young consumers with its outstanding three-electric technology, safety performance, interconnection ability, etc.
The e:NS1, which enjoyed the treatment of hanging up the "H" standard for the first time, was integrated into Honda's unique driving genes at the beginning of development. At the same time, the perfect spare parts supply system and the healthy competitive situation of bringing together the world's top pure electric brands also provide a broad stage for e:NS1.
e: The change and invariance of NS1
According to the relevant person in charge, in the development of e: NS1, engineers did not put the parameters in the first place, but more focused 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, continue Honda's reputation in the field of fuel vehicles to form driving pleasure.
We can find that although most pure trams have "silly" acceleration, their handling and chassis comfort have nothing to do with the word "sport".
But the e:NS1 can be said to restore the classic handling experience of Honda fuel vehicles: the power is brisk, smooth and passionate, and the experience is not the same as most pure trams.
Behind this experience, e:NS1 adopts an intelligent and efficient pure electric architecture that integrates high-power motors, large-capacity batteries, exclusive frames for pure electric vehicles, and chassis platforms.
At the same time, in order to pursue better overall driving quality, the e:NS1 motor control system has more than 20,000 built-in scene algorithms, which is 40 times that of ordinary electric vehicles, and applies Honda's aerodynamic control experience accumulated in F1 races, bringing more advanced driving pleasure to drivers by improving acceleration response and control direction.
It can be seen that compared with the previous electric vehicles, e:NS1 has a very obvious Honda value inheritance, that is, the persistent pursuit of driving pleasure; but at the same time, in the era of electrification known as "software-defined cars", intelligence has become the focus of competition among car companies, and e:NS1 has changed very thoroughly.
For example, in terms of intelligence, e:NS1 is equipped with the "e:N OS" full-stack intelligent control ecosystem, and the interior of the cockpit is equipped with the largest 15.2-inch HIGH-definition ultra-thin bezel central control screen of the same class model and a 10.25-inch color full-LCD digital dashboard. The operation interface of the three-layer partition makes the operation faster.
The latest Honda SENSING safety supersensitive system is another big advantage of e:NS1. The system provides 360-degree sensing monitoring of the surrounding environment through radar and cameras throughout the body, enabling powerful intelligent driver assistance functions. It is worth mentioning that the system has added electronic rearview mirrors and automatic parking functions, and will continue to evolve through OTAs in the future, which will also make driving smarter and safer.
Constructing competitiveness in electrification and sprinting for the "post-7 million era"
From the beginning of its establishment in 2003, Dongfeng Honda opened up the urban SUV market with CR-V, to the Civic setting a market benchmark for sporty cars, and then to XR-V leading the wave of the small SUV market, Dongfeng Honda has left impressive results in the market, and such outstanding strength is also the main reason why it can achieve 7 million sales in less than 19 years.
In the "post-7 million vehicle era", Dongfeng Honda held the trump card of e:NS1, accelerated to the new energy track, and shouldered Honda's "oil to electricity" responsibility in China. After all, the "e:N" brand is called "secondary entrepreneurship" for Dongfeng Honda, and it will also become an important part of the transformation and development of the enterprise.
With e:NS1 as the beginning, Dongfeng Honda also matched a new system for it, including production, marketing and service mechanisms.
In January, Dongfeng Honda announced the construction of a new plant specializing in the production of electric vehicles, which is scheduled to be officially put into operation in 2024, with a basic annual production capacity of 120,000 vehicles in the early stage; in order to allow consumers to more easily experience the unique world view and product charm of the e:N series, Dongfeng Honda will further enrich the communication channels between online and offline linkage.
New products, new production, new marketing and service system, e:NS1 is about to open a new era of electrification brand. According to Honda's plan, new e:N series vehicles, including Coupe and GT models, will be released within five years.
In summary, every success is not accidental. Whether it is the era of internal combustion engine or the era of electrification, looking back at Dongfeng Honda's nineteen years in China, from continuously enriching the product line to deepening the core competitiveness of products to optimizing service quality and innovative marketing, Dongfeng Honda brand strength is in full swing.
We can also be sure that with the arrival of new cars such as e:NS1, the attack power of Dongfeng Honda in the era of electrification will be increased by another level, and under the always leading technical advantage, the next "7 million vehicles off the line" will also be achieved faster.
Note: The above pictures come from the brand official