WM E.5 once mainly promoted the B-end market, and now for personal consumption, the price increase of 20,000 yuan starts at 180,000 yuan, but there are only 2 airbags, WM Motor is not sincere enough, how to impress consumers? Under the tense supply chain situation of the automotive industry, why is WM in a hurry to push new cars?
"If supply chain companies in And around Shanghai can't find a way to dynamically resume work and production, all Chinese automakers may have to stop work and production in May." On April 14, a paragraph by He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Automobile, aroused great concern from all parties about the automotive supply chain.
Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business and CEO of Smart Car BU, commented: "It is true. "Since March this year, Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW, Tesla, Tanks, Weilai and SAIC have been forced to stop work, and some of them have been suspended for nearly a month.
In the face of the tight supply chain of the industry and the imminent suspension of production, coupled with the postponement of the Beijing Auto Show, many car companies' new car plans are mostly temporarily shelved. For example, the ideal L9 was originally scheduled to be listed on April 16, and the publicity has been done in the early stage, but it has to be postponed, and the specific time is to be determined.
Both Xiaopeng and Weilai temporarily postponed the new car to May and June. Roewe Whale, which was scheduled to go public next week, has also canceled its listing arrangements. However, the new forces in the new car have been significantly left behind, and Weima, which was still plagued by "locking electricity" at the beginning of the year, has launched a new car against the trend.
On April 15, WM announced the launch of its first electric sedan, the E.5, priced at 180,100 to 190,100 yuan after comprehensive subsidies. Before the E.5 was launched, WM's EX5, EX6 and W6 were all electric SUVs.
In fact, the WM E.5 is not a brand new model, but it is only to promote an online car to individual consumers after upgrading. Because the E.5 has long been listed, it is a major model launched by WM for the online ride-hailing market, and it is not sold to individual consumers, and the E.5 just broadens the sales channels.
Previously, in order to open up the online ride-hailing market, WM Motors released a dual-brand LOGO strategy. Among them, the circular LOGO will be applied to its travel user products, and WM E.5 is the first product to lay out the travel market. The ultra-elliptic LOGO will be for individual users, and the WM M7 will take the lead in using it.
WM's newly listed E.5 is exactly the use of a circular LOGO, why does WM not choose to go with the flow, but against the current? As we all know, car companies want to launch a new car, the early publicity and test drive, production and channel improvement, all need a long-term plan.
Under the current market situation, there are many restrictions in many links, and it is not the best time for a new car to be listed.
In recent years, many people have felt that Weima has "fallen behind". Wei Xiaosi, who was once after Wei Xiaoli, is now ranked outside the top ten. In March this year, Weima sold only more than 5,000 vehicles, and Wei Xiaoli's zero-run sales had already exceeded 10,000, or even 15,000. Sluggish sales are a microcosm of WM's reality.
Corresponding to the decline in sales, WM Motors did not go well, first sprinting for an IPO without success, and then falling into multiple controversies. First of all, WM's EX5 models frequently spontaneously combusted, and many Owners of Weima were worried. At the beginning of this year, Weima fell into the storm of "locking electricity".
WM's situation is not only unhappy for shareholders, but also sad for car owners.
After Wei Xiaoli achieved double listing, WM's IPO was a twist and turn, in order to achieve the listing of the ChiNext board as soon as possible, WM not only needs attention, but also needs to increase sales to boost morale. Therefore, WM needs a new growth point to achieve a breakthrough and expand the product line into the car market, which may be a new trend of WM Motor.
Compared with the B-end market, the individual consumer market is more complex. The WM E.5 is a sedan with a length of 4.7 meters and a wheelbase of 2810mm, which is a compact sedan. Equipped with a 120kW front-mounted motor, zero hundred acceleration is 8.9 seconds, NEDC endurance is 505km, this endurance and power performance can only be regarded as a general level.
Compared with the 2021 model, the body size of the WM E.5 remains unchanged, but the price is increased by 20,000 yuan, increasing the traction control and other configurations; at the same time, the endurance of the entry-level model is increased to 505km, the battery is still lithium iron phosphate battery, and the high-end version is a ternary lithium battery. It is worth mentioning that the entire WM E.5 series has only 2 airbags, the panoramic sunroof cannot be opened, and the halogen headlights.
Compared with online ride-hailing, the demand for intelligent driving and configuration of car owners is not very high, and the personal consumption market is the opposite. Car owners have high expectations for intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit experience, and the WM E.5 obviously did not tell this story well, and it is difficult to become the key to breaking the game.