Produced 丨 Tiger Sniff Car Group
Author 丨 Li Wenbo
Edited 丨 thoughtful
Head image 丨VoiceTube
435 hp, 621 Nm, 5.9 seconds acceleration per 100 km/h, 37 m brakes per 100 km/ 100 km, dual motors front and rear, magic carpet air suspension, automatic adjustment and uninterrupted vibration damping control system, double wishbones + five links, four driving modes. Calibrated in terms of these hardware configurations and performance performance, the standard image of a medium- and large-sized sports pure electric sedan jumps on the paper.
1.4m triple screen, Qualcomm 8155 car machine chip, 26 driver assistance functions, 15m ultra-far-range night vision system, 5G on-board network, cockpit voice interaction, remote remote control parking, full-scene automatic parking, vehicle OTA. Taking these intelligent performances as the criterion for consideration, a new force of car-making works that still keep up with the trend of the times is about to come out.
Some people will guess which new car company is probably emerging, pixel-level imitation of the low-end version of Weilai ET7. Unfortunately, this answer is far from the same. This is actually an electric MPV with a pre-sale price of up to 600,000 yuan, and the manufacturer is Lantu, a new car manufacturer established in 2018 and affiliated with Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd.
New car manufacturers to sell cars to 600,000 is not new, a variety of configurations of the pile of the pounce out is not unusual, this thing is really interesting in its reflection of The novel business brain circuit of Lantu: the first car Lantu FREE's recognition is still in the improvement stage, the second car will cut into the MPV segment that is currently only controlled by traditional fuel vehicles, and also open an inner-roll competition.
It sounds like the risks are far greater than the opportunities, but playing with life, burning ambitions that are not willing to be mediocre, and subverting the old business order are not exactly what the new forces of car-making should do.
Bitter "Buick GL8" for a long time
Let's briefly introduce the definition of MPV: there are basically two types, Multi Purpose Vehicle and Mini Passenger Van.
The class representative who takes the multi-functional route of the family car is the European MPV of volkswagen Sharon, and the representative of the class who takes the multi-occupant route is a typical American MPV such as the Buick GL8.
From the source, MPV is a derivative product of the station wagon, which integrates the occupant space of the station wagon, the comfortable ride of the car, and the carrying function of the van, which is generally a hatchback structure, and the van of the single-compartment structure is essentially different. In addition to not having the strong passability of off-road vehicles, MPV is almost a "pentagon warrior" who can't fault it: business receptions, family trips, weekend shopping, suburban travel, and occasional moves.
Speaking of MPV, buick GL8 is an unavoidable "roadblock" existence. Last year, the cumulative sales of the Buick GL8 were 170,011 units, accounting for 15.7% of the entire Chinese MPV market.
"There are only two MPV in China, one is the Buick GL8 and the other is the other." This sentence is not exaggerated at all, because since Buick first started production in China 23 years ago, GL8 has always been an MPV in the hearts of most people, and its success has textbook significance, and it is the enlightenment teaching material for many Chinese consumers to use commercial vehicles.
In December 1999, the first Buick GL8 drove off the Shanghai General Production Line, with huge headlights, wide body, and calm momentum that made people feel the aura of an American car for the first time. Multi-functional and large space makes it perfectly meet the needs of public and commercial vehicles in all aspects. Soon, the first generation of GL8 replaced the Volkswagen Passat and became the preferred car for governments, multinational enterprises and institutions around the world. In the hearts of many Chinese, "commercial vehicles" are equated with GL8 by default.
I have to say that at that time, Shanghai General's vision was poisonous and accurate, and the introduction of Buick GL8 did two things: first, to fill the huge gap in the domestic public and commercial car market; second, to lay a high premium image for GL8, and constantly consolidate the mark through subsequent models.
In 2005, the second generation of GL8 was launched. This generation of GL8 solves a product pain point: high-end. Added many of the upscale features that were quite rare at the time: sliding doors, branded speakers, thick carpets, etc. In 2009, the third generation of GL8 was introduced, and the rounded "fathead" appearance and straight waterfall grille made it stand out in the traffic flow of parking lots, airports and train stations, which is the best-selling generation model. In 2016, the GL8 of "Chinese car" ushered in the fourth generation, and Buick, which penetrated the concept of high-end MPV, added a sub-brand Avenir Avia in this generation, and pasted the two big characters of "honorable" on the brain door. In 2020, the fifth generation OF GL8 will be available. This time, Buick focused only on building the family matrix. Avenir Evia, Lu Zun and Onshore Business Class three series, four seats/ six seats / seven seats three layouts.
To put it simply, as long as Buick produces GL8, no matter what name it is called, no matter what color it is sprayed, no matter how complicated the configuration, the stable and slowly growing customer base is there, motionless.
Because the Buick GL8 satisfies the subjective impression of Chinese consumers on MPV: comfort, high-end, business and high quality. According to iResearch's "2020 China MPV Market Consumption Insight Report", 45.5% of users believe that MPV is high-end, and this proportion is only 33% of sedan users. 46.1% of users believe that MPV is high quality, but only 35.2% of users think that the sedan is high quality. 46.4% of users thought MPV was comfortable, more than 43.6% of SUVs.
At the same time, the core advantages of MPV recognized by users are: flexible rear adjustable seats, excellent driving comfort and rear space. Only 17.2% of users believe that the core advantage of MPV is "more people can sit", and this data also reflects that MPV users rarely make the vehicle fully loaded.
In terms of brand selection, 43.4% of users want to buy MPV of joint venture brands, 33.2% of users want to buy their own brand MPV, and only 23.4% of users want to buy MPV of pure imported foreign brands. The reasons for choosing a joint venture brand are: good handling, brand grade and function more and more practical.
In the choice of power form, 57.1% of users hope to buy new energy MPV, of which hybrid MPV accounts for the largest proportion, reaching 39.3%. It was followed by a pure electric MPV, which reached 38.5%. The low cost of using a car is the core reason why users purchase new energy MPVs.
In terms of model size, nearly 60% of users do not prefer MPV that is too large. Among them, 34.2% of users want to buy a compact MPV, and 25.4% of users want to buy a medium MPV. "Not big, not small, enough is good" is the real voice of these users.
In terms of price points, 44.4% of users can accept mid-range prices of about 150,000-200,000. 42.0% of users can accept 250,000-400,000 high-end price points. This means that users are willing to pay a large sum of money for MPV.
Look, the opportunity is not coming.
It must be made expensive
According to the data of new car traffic insurance, China's passenger car sales in 2021 will be about 21.182 million units, an increase of 6.2% year-on-year. Among them, MPV sold 1.078 million units in the whole year, which is the only branch of the three major categories (cars, SUVs, and MPVs) that has declined. The 10 best-selling MPV models are: Wuling Hongguang S, GL8, Wuling Hongguang V, Trumpchi GM8, Capgemini, Alissen, Trumpchi GM6, Odyssey, Lingzhi, Baojun 730.
The main reason for the decline of the MPV category is the rapid decline in low-end MPV sales under the background of consumption upgrading began in 2016, such as the annual sales of Wuling Hongguang S, which can circle the earth N circle from end to end, from more than 500,000 units to 200,000 units, and the Baojun 730 from 360,000 units to 50,000 units. Medium and high-priced MPV models, such as GL8, Odyssey, Alexand, Trumpchi M8 and other market share continues to increase. In 2021, the cumulative sales of GL8, Odyssey and Alexand were 170,000 units, 45,200 units and 52,200 units, respectively.
This is in line with the growth curve of MPV after entering the Chinese market: before 2010 was the embryonic period, 2011 to 2016 was the function-oriented period, and 2017 has been the experience-oriented period.
In the embryonic period, MPV is more responsible for business reception tasks. During the function-oriented period, 7-seat MPV can be replaced with 7-seat SUVs, and the boundaries between the two are blurred. During the experience-oriented period, MPV began to be affected by the tide of intelligence and electrification, and an independent market position was formed.
According to the "MPV Insight Report 2021 Edition" released by the E-Car Research Institute, in 2020, the mainstream family car price is 120,000-250,000 yuan, and users focus on young and middle-aged people, first purchase plus exchange, consumption upgrade, etc., and focus on brand, quality, price, etc.
In 2026, the mainstream family car price will focus on 150,000-350,000 yuan, at this time the car will become a basic consumer goods, the old driver with rich automotive knowledge and car experience will become the main body, and the brand, unique value, quality, etc. are the new core car purchase demands.
In the five years from 2021 to 2026, mainstream family cars will show five trends: high prices, middle age, multi-child, urbanization and the proportion of increased purchases. This coincides with the current evolution trend of MPV, especially mid-to-high-end MPV, in this track, toyota senna, Kia Kahua and other strong multinational companies have been launched, Lynk & Co, Roewe, WEY, Trumpchi, Hongqi and BYD and other local traditional companies products are menacing.
However, the local company's high-end MPV product launch time as a whole lags behind multinational companies, Buick GL8's two largest Japanese competitors - Honda Odyssey and Toyota Senna have been domestically produced, and the national production capacity is currently only a single seedling of Trumpchi M8. At this moment, it is the stage for the new forces of car-making that are accustomed to agile development and small steps and fast running.
In the existing market, there is no high-end new energy MPV that focuses on intelligence, mature products and is well-known, and this part of the gap urgently needs to be filled by independent brands and new forces. Japanese MPV is mainly humanized, taking the hybrid route, fuel-saving leather is durable, but it is not good at creating a sense of luxury, and the progress of the introduction of advanced intelligent technology is relatively lagging behind; the American MPV has been almost completely destroyed except for the Buick GL8, and the High-selling Models of North America such as Chrysler Grand Jajirón have repeatedly proved unsatisfactory in China. The dumiao Buick GL8 product force is strong enough, the problem is that the branding of the business model is too deep, and there is no layout of pure electric product lines. The advantage of independent brands and new forces is that they are open and aggressive in the mass production and application of advanced technology, especially driving assistance and battery technology, what is fashionable and what to wear, coupled with the consistent "stack configuration" method, is the high-end new energy MPV segment, the most likely to break through the famous players.
Write at the end
In addition to the Lantu Dreamers who have begun to pre-sell, there are more new forces MPV on the road, Denza Pure Electric MPV, Weilai EF9, Extreme Kr 002, Hongqi C095 is a plan that has been made public, ideal and Xiaopeng have also joined the battle, the rhapsody yeast triggered by MPV is not only in the Lantu family, nor is it only the Lantu family that wants to grab the beach new energy luxury MPV segment.
At last year's Guangzhou Auto Show, SAIC Maxus released the miFA 9 pure electric MPV model, with a wheelbase of 3200 mm, a range of 520 kilometers, a maximum torque of 350 Nm per motor, and the most expensive one to sell for 379,900 yuan.
Zhao Changjiang, general manager of Denza's sales division, predicts that 2022 will be the first year of the outbreak of the mid-to-high-end MPV market, so he is eager to create momentum for Denza MPV on social media. Lu Fang, CEO of Lantu Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., believes that electric MPV has three characteristics: first, tram genes, not oil to electricity; second, to meet the consumption upgrade needs of multi-child families and business elites; third, the driving experience of drivers is very important.
When analyzing why the new car-making forces should decisively cut into the MPV market, there are two completely different voices, the first is that the cars of the new car-making forces cannot beat Tesla, the SUVs cannot beat luxury brands, cheap cars do not make money, and it does not help to build them, and doing MPV is a helpless choice under existing circumstances. The second is the high cost of research and development of the new car-making force platform, hoping to squeeze out the surplus value of the platform by more models, dilute the cost at the same time, and build a "multi-category family" through the means of "SUV model MPV".
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, said in 2021: "The introduction of the three-child policy by the state will make the demand for the car market more diversified, but it will bring about the growth of seven-seater cars, and the strength is small." Yan Jinghui, a senior auto analyst, has publicly stated: "After the landing of the three-child policy, the MPV market is relatively more worth looking forward to."
The performance of MPVs in the Chinese market can be summed up by the term "thrilling": in 2016, the purchase tax halving caused MPV terminal sales to soar to 2.4 million units, and the market share exceeded double digits. After that, it entered a continuous downward channel, falling below the 1 million unit mark in 2020 and recovering slightly in 2021. The overall market volume of MPV is the smallest of the three categories, and the number of new energy models that choose to enter the market is also very limited, which is an excellent time window for the new forces that are good at building electric vehicles and subverting the existing pattern, and the opportunities are mainly reflected in three aspects: First, the number of pure electric MPV on sale is very small, and most of them are born from the old platform of oil cars, and consumers who are tired of GL8 and Alpha are eager for an electric MPV created by a pure electric platform; second, the new car company has seized the existing high-end MPV in " The lack of two major fulcrums of electrification and "intelligence" provides a new user experience with a unique scientific and technological perspective; third, Chinese consumer cultural self-confidence is rapidly rising, and Chinese who look at the world do not need to use the rough symbol of the luxury car logo to highlight their social status, and decisively refuse to increase the IQ tax without reason, a pure Chinese high-end MPV is far more popular than foreign monks.
Regardless of whether it is ultimately successful or not, the brave heart of the new car-making forces to create MPVs should be praised. In front of Weilai, Lantu and Extreme Krypton, and all the new players, there is a mangy forest that has not yet been tamed, a rotten road full of thorns, and no one knows whether it is a new outlet that can impact the total annual sales volume of 3 million, or a mine lead that no one cares about and is questioned.
But as Toshitaka Suzuki wrote in "The Initial Heart of the Zen Man": "Cowards never set off, the weak die in the road, only we can move forward, and we can't stop a step."
Only by moving forward can China's "electric law" be created.