Observation chamber
Written by | Chen Hui
What is the psychology of people who are willing to spend 400,000 or 500,000 yuan to buy a domestic MPV?
I believe many people are curious, but such a thing has happened more than 3,000 times in just two days.
On April 7, Dreamer, an MPV model under Lantu Automobile, officially opened pre-sale. Among them, the price range of the seven-seat version is 380,000-480,000, and the price of the four-seat customized version has risen to 600,000.
By April 9, the number of orders for the Lantu Dreamer exceeded 3,000 units. What exactly makes thousands of people flock to a domestic MPV with a price of nearly 500,000 at the same time? Today we will find out.
Dreamers, singing along
Compared with cars and SUVs, the volume of MPV in the domestic market is very small, and in 2021, the national passenger car sales will be about 21.182 million units, of which MPV models account for only 5.4%.
The market size is small, and the richness of MPV models is naturally far less than that of cars and SUVs. Especially in the high-end market, almost only Toyota's Alpha and its derivatives are available. However, the supply of Alpha and its derivative models is extremely low, which cannot meet the market demand, resulting in this car priced at about 400,000 yuan in overseas markets, and the official guidance price directly doubles after entering The country, and more exaggeratedly, the terminal has to increase the price by hundreds of thousands to pick up the car.
Retreating to the mid-range MPV, these models are difficult to meet the needs of high-end users. For example, the king of MPV sales - Buick GL8, although active in the business reception market all year round, the product force is also very strong, but the brand tone can not meet the needs of high-end users; the Toyota Saina just launched last year is a good hand of the card to play a thin, because of blind price increases, coupled with workmanship, materials and other issues, resulting in a decline in word-of-mouth; and other models at the same level also have their own shortcomings... As a result, none of these mid-range MPVs can fully meet the needs of high-end users.
The high price is too expensive, the mid-range is underheated, so that the high-end MPV market of about 500,000 is actually a bit disappointed, which gives Lantu dreamers an excellent market opportunity - because the new forces are either engaged in SUVs or cars, and have little interest in the small-scale MPV market.
On the one hand, opponents have chosen to be temporarily silent, on the other hand, represented by "Wei Xiaoli", the new forces that take the high-end route have collectively raised the value and status of Chinese brands in the field of new energy. Now spending three, four hundred thousand or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy domestic brand electric vehicles has become a fashion, with such a market foundation and consumption habits to launch Lantu Dreamer, it can be described as "stepping on the song".
Only with strength can we dare to talk about dreams
Of course, the market only gives possibilities, and the key depends on the product. As the first strategic model of the Lantu brand to impact the high-end market, Dongfeng Group will naturally devote everything to enhance its hard core strength.
Performance is always the foundation of hard power. Lantu Dreamer provides two sets of power options, pure electricity and extended range, both of which are from the New Energy and Power Center of Dongfeng Motor Technology Center.
People who know the extender know that the range extender is the core component of the power system, the range extender equipped by the Lantu Dreamer is a 1.5T four-cylinder engine with a thermal efficiency of up to 40%, and the drive system is a dual motor arranged in the front and rear axles, the system has a combined maximum horsepower of 394 horses, a maximum torque of 610 Nm, and a zero hundred acceleration time of only 6.9 seconds. Although with the aura of the electric drive system, compared with other MPV models equipped with traditional fuel power, it is somewhat unpretentious to Wude, but from the actual experience, the power performance of the Lantu Dreamer can indeed hang million-level Alpha.
The pure electric version of the power performance is stronger, it also uses the front and rear axle layout of the dual motors, the system combined maximum horsepower of 435 horses, the maximum torque of 620 Nm, zero hundred acceleration is shortened to 5.9 seconds. You know, it is a medium and large MPV weighing more than 2.5 tons, and the performance can actually exceed a number of small steel guns, such a power performance, I believe no one will say that it is not satisfied.
In addition to the power performance, the Lantu Dreamer is also equipped with a high-specification chassis system, the suspension structure of the front double wishbone and the rear five-link suspension structure is very hardcore, in addition, the car also provides front and rear soft and hard/high and low adjustable air suspension and CDC shock absorption control system.
Although the Lantu Dreamers have not yet carried out large-scale road tests, it does not matter, the people who can spend four or half million yuan to buy this car are experts, and they will also order several high-specification hardware. As a director I met two days ago said, "What he is waiting for is the customized version of Lantu Dreamer."
Static experience, give praise
As a high-end MPV model, the performance of the Lantu Dreamer at the static level is also satisfactory.
The Dreamer's body size is 5315 *1985 *1820mm, and the wheelbase is 3200mm, and the overall size is one circle larger than Alpha. Without the aura of stardom, you would even think that the dreamer is more elegant than Alpha.
The Dreamer uses a huge chrome straight waterfall type middle net, with fangs type vents, the texture is prominent; the side is dominated by flat straight strips, with 20-inch wheels, the aura is very strong; the tail also adopts the MPV straight design style, with a simple light set, although not as eye-catching as El, but the overall visual effect is not weak.
The interior emphasizes a sense of luxury technology. It adopts the triple screen design of high-end new energy vehicle standards, the three screens are spliced by a whole piece of glass, and the sense of science and technology is strong; the car machine adopts the current mainstream Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, with 5G network, which can provide the most cutting-edge intelligent interactive functions.
In terms of comfort, take the more voluminous 7-seater model as an example, using a 2+2+3 seat layout, in which the comfort attributes of the second row of seats are almost full. The seat has a variety of adjustment modes, not only adjustable front and rear and backrest angles, but also provides leg rests that can reach 70 °, plus aviation headrests, which can give passengers better body support; in terms of configuration, the seats have functions such as heating, ventilation, massage, etc., and even the second row has a separate air conditioning partition.
In addition, the four-seat customized version of the four-seat customized version priced at 600,000 will have more high-end comfort configurations and luxury components, but now the manufacturer has not disclosed a detailed list of options.
"Final Talk"
The two-day order exceeded 3,000, which shows the consumption strength of China's invisible rich, and for Lantu Dreamer, this is just where its dream began. There are still three months to go before the official delivery starts in July, during which time with the rapid penetration of new energy vehicles, the high-end electric MPV market is still likely to rise slightly.
Of course, the gorgeous beginning also puts the test on Lantu Dreamers, and it must be ensured that all delivered products make the booking customers extremely satisfied, after all, this is a group of high-end consumers who are quite picky and pay attention to details - the first batch of users are satisfied, half the work, and vice versa.
But in any case, Lantu Dreamer has set off, and in the future, we also hope that it can complete its dream - to be a benchmark for China's high-end MPV.
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