On the evening of April 7, with the official pre-sale of Lantu Dreamer, the domestic brand fired the first shot at the joint venture car factory in the high-end MPV market, not to mention that this shot was not loud enough, and the courage to sell 600,000 at 380,000 was enough to be worthy of domestic consumers shouting. Of course, there must be a lot of people waiting to see the joke, in the budget range of the Lantu Dreamer, GL8, Sai Na is not casually picked? It's not impossible to work the trident star emblem, right? What does an East Wind do to fight with them?
The national tide is in the ascendant, and domestic goods are rising
In the past two years, with the improvement of China's comprehensive strength, consumers' love for "national tide" and "domestic products" has also deepened, and the automobile circle is no exception. For example, the HiPhi X, a medium-sized SUV launched by Gaohe, has been sold since its delivery in 2021. Although the price is more than 600,000, but with excellent product power, such as high-pixel projection headlights, wingspan doors and air suspension and other personality and high-end configuration, as well as excellent driving texture, HiPhi X has won the favor of many users, has been able to reach an average monthly sales of more than 500 units. For example, the current comprehensive quality of the Great Wall Tank 500 has been recognized as being able to compete with the Toyota Land Cruiser. Therefore, today, when domestic models are gradually guaranteed in intelligence and quality, Chinese consumers really do not have to buy imported or joint venture products, and such a market environment is definitely good news for domestic independent brands to march into the high-end market.
Gao and HiPhi-X (Image: Gao He)
What's in Lando Dreamer?
What hard dishes did Dongfeng's Lantu prepare for the Dreamers this time? Based on the pure electric architecture of Lantu ESSA, Dreamer is the world's first MPV model with extended range and pure electric dual-power layout. The extended range version dreamer uses a 1.5T four-cylinder range extender diesel engine developed by Dongfeng, with a maximum power of 185 horsepower and a total power of 395 horsepower for the front and rear axle motors. The dual-motor all-electric version has a total power of 435 horsepower and can accelerate by 5.9 seconds from 100 km/h. It is worth mentioning that the thermal efficiency of the 1.5T four-cylinder extended range combustion engine can reach 40%. In contrast, the Buick GL8 ES Luzun uses a 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder turbocharged engine with a maximum power of 237 horsepower. The Toyota Syna, on the other hand, features a 194-horsepower 2.5-liter inline four-cylinder engine. Power aside, because after all, MPV does not pay much attention to power performance, just in terms of fuel economy, Lantu Dreamer's range and pure electricity, in the oil price at every turn to break through the 8 yuan mark at the moment, can also save consumers a lot of money.
Lantu Dreamer (Image source: Lantu)
Buick GL8 ES Lu Zun (Image: Buick)
GAC Toyota Syna (Image source: GAC Toyota)
In addition, Lantu Dreamer's CDC continuous shock absorption control, double wishbones + multi-link active electromagnetic air suspension and magic carpet body are also configurations that Xena and Lu Zun do not have.
Lantu ESSA pure electric architecture chassis analysis diagram (Image source: Lantu)
In terms of technology configuration, Lantu Dreamer is equipped with a 12.3-inch through-channel triple screen that integrates the dashboard, central control screen and co-driver entertainment screen, built-in the world's first 5G vehicle high-speed entertainment system, the car machine uses Qualcomm 8155 vehicle specification level chip, whether it is application diversity, or the reaction speed of the entire system is guaranteed, such a performance is completely incomparable to GL8 and Xena.
Lantu Dreamer Seven-Seat Edition Front Row Interior (Image: Lantu)
Lantu Dreamer Four-Seat Luxury Edition Front Row Interior (Image: Lantu)
GL8 ES Luzun front row interior (Image: Buick)
Xena front row interior (Image source: GAC Toyota)
In addition, the Dreamer will also be equipped with L2+ level assisted autopilot. Although the test drive has not yet arrived, we can probably deduce from the similar system of Lantu FREE that it can support functions such as automatic parking, lane centering and adaptive cruise. In addition, Dreamer offers the NVS active night vision system, which can help you identify more than 95% of targets at night from 150 meters away.
In terms of design, most consumers must have the impression of MPV as gray, black or white. Lan Tu said that even if it is an MPV, it can be rich in color. This time, Lantu provided the dreamer with 6 body colors including rising sun purple and qingyun gray to meet the color aesthetics of consumers of different ages, while the interior was available in camel brown and cotton beige. If you buy 600,000 luxury custom editions, there are yacht-style interior colors such as blue and white + rose gold waiting for you.
Lantu Dreamer Four-Seat Luxury Edition Rear Renderings (Image Source: Lantu)
In terms of size, the Dreamer's length, width and height are 5315 mm, 1980 mm and 1810 mm, respectively, and the wheelbase is 3200 mm. In contrast, the same level of big brother Buick GL8 ES Lu Zun is 112 mm shorter than the Dreamer in terms of wheelbase, and GAC Toyota Saina, which has just been listed for less than half a year, is also smaller than the Dreamer in these size parameters, so the model volume is the absolute advantage of the Dreamer.
As an MPV model, the ride experience is even more important, and the front and rear seats of the Lantu Dreamer are made of diamond check leather with ventilation and heating massage function. This is not the entry specification weaving seat of the competition that is more sincere? In addition, the Danna audio, which was previously only seen on a million-dollar luxury car, has also become the standard configuration of the car this time. Although the top model of GL8 Luzun also provides BOSE audio, the sound quality always feels almost interesting. At the same time, based on the size advantage of the Dreamer, the trunk of the seven-seater version of the model can be put into four 24-inch suitcases without putting down the third row of seats, whether it is family travel or business reception.
List of some configurations of the Dreamer (Image: Lan Tu)
But as the saying goes, no one is perfect, and the car is certainly the same. The configuration of the Lando Dreamer is indeed very tempting, but brand power is a big problem, and Compared with established joint ventures such as Buick or Toyota, Landu still has a long way to go. In addition, in terms of the retention rate of used cars, whether it is the identity of its new energy model or the brand power mentioned above, it is not enough to compete with Xena and GL8. Finally, the reliability of the new car, after all, it has not yet been handed over to the customer, and the quality of the dreamer is in the end, and then it is up to time.
This wave of Lantu has caught up with the good times of the MPV market
In the 1990s, China did not have such a large demand for MPV, and the relevant market was still a blue ocean. At the beginning of the 21st century, with the introduction and production of GL8 by SAIC-GM, Guangzhou Honda's domestic second-generation Odyssey, parallel import race that has become a luxury home MPV benchmark, China's MPV market is officially kicked off, but it is only staying in the scene of several joint venture models, and domestic MPV can not be on the table at all. However, with the implementation of China's three-child policy in order to stimulate fertility in the past two years, more and more consumers have put the choice of a second car on the MPV. In the past, this type of model, which was only used for business banquets, has more household attributes, so in recent years, the MPV of joint venture manufacturers has followed, but it has generally failed to make waves. On the other hand, the increasingly powerful Chinese brands have also begun to exert efforts in the field of MPV, including Lantu and many independent manufacturers have their own product deployment, and Dreamer, as the first batch of domestic high-end MPV models, with many innate advantages of new energy models, may really shake the current situation of several joint venture models.
On April 10, 2002, Guangzhou Honda Odyssey officially rolled off the production line (Source: Guangqi Honda)
The Buick GL8 was listed in the last month of the millennium (Image: Buick)
In addition, there is a very real problem, Lantu Dreamer launched a range extender hybrid and pure electric two versions, can be on the green card, it can be said to solve most of the first and second-tier limited city car buyers of the lottery difficulties.
Lantu Dreamer's 1.5T four-cylinder extended range internal combustion engine (Image source: Lantu)
summary
Nowadays, more and more consumers are choosing to buy domestic models. The relative abundance of configurations, the right price range and the stylish styling are all important factors that guide them in making this decision. In terms of product strength, The Dreamer can indeed compete with fuel MPV such as buick GL8 ES or Toyota Xena, but brand awareness, influence and reputation are still far inferior to competitors. How to let more people know Lantu and have brand recognition of Lantu may be one of the goals they need to complete in the next long period of time. With Dongfeng Group's own car-making experience, Lantu is trying to redefine the luxury MPV market with its own soft power, whether it can open up a path for China's luxury MPV, I think you can look forward to it.