On the road of strategic transformation of the electrification of the joint venture brand, GUANGQI Honda took the lead.
On March 29, GUANGC Honda officially released its new electric brand e:NP. The "e" table means "energize" and "electric"; "N" means "New" and "Next"; and "P" means "Prime", which means "exciting (extreme) driving pleasure" brought by the car. Along with the release of the e:NP brand, it was the debut of the first model, the e:NP1 Polar 1. At the same time, Guangqi Honda announced that from this year to 2025, it will continue to produce EV models of the e:NP series at a pace of one per year.
At the press conference, Zheng Heng, executive deputy general manager of Guangqi Honda, used "real action" more than once to describe Guangqi Honda's action this time. It is true that the rapid development of the trend of electrification has not allowed the joint venture car companies to think twice, and the release of the Guangqi Honda e:NP brand is destined to become an important part of the development of the electrification of the joint venture brand.
The mid-market boom is timely
According to the data of the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2021, the domestic retail sales of new energy vehicles were 2.989 million units, an increase of 169.1% year-on-year, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles was 14.8%. In the first quarter of this year, the retail sales of new energy vehicles reached 1.07 million units, an increase of 146.6% year-on-year. Among them, the sales of new energy vehicles in March reached 445,000 units, an increase of 137.6% year-on-year. In March, the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles has reached 28.2%. In 2019, only two years ago, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles was only 4.7%, and the penetration rate of 2020 was only 5.8%.
Even many industry insiders estimate that the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will exceed 30% in 2022, which will achieve the target of 20% penetration rate set by the government in 2025 ahead of schedule. This also means that the new energy vehicle industry has begun to enter the rapid growth stage of comprehensive competition of car companies from the initial stage of cautious participation of some car companies.
From the perspective of product structure, although the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is increasing day by day, there is still a problem of imbalance in product structure. The single-month penetration rate of low-end electric vehicles represented by Wuling Hongguang MINIEV and high-end brand new energy vehicles of more than 300,000 is high. The penetration rate of mid-range new energy vehicles occupying the mainstream mass market in China is not satisfactory. The retail data of the Association also shows that in February this year, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in independent brands was 38%; the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury cars was 29.4%,, while the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in mainstream joint venture brands was only 3.3%.
In the mid-end market with the largest consumer demand, it is precisely the largest user base of the joint venture car companies. This is the best time for the electrification of the joint venture brand.
Why is GUANGQI Honda taking the lead in breaking the game?
From the beginning of its establishment, the sixth-generation Accord, the first model of global synchronization technology in the Chinese market, has enabled the Chinese automobile market, which is several generations behind the world, to obtain global synchronous treatment for the first time; to take the lead in introducing the "four-in-one" special sales service model with advanced concepts, opening the first 4S store in the country, laying a new model for China's automotive after-sales service; Guangqi Honda has always played a key role in the development of China's automotive industry with the attitude of "dare to be the first in the world".
The same is true on the road to the electrification of joint venture brands. Unlike the electrification of other joint venture brands, which is based solely on the strategic level of the model, GAC Honda's electrification strategy is comprehensive and three-dimensional, in addition to the model products, GAC Honda has also created a set of online and offline dual-channel integration models for the e:NP brand. In the four major areas of research and development, manufacturing, sales and service are systematically integrated and integrated, with the power of the system to complete this electric transformation.
The advantage of this is not only to provide users with electrified products, but to provide users with a complete set of electrification solutions based on GAC Honda's consistent full-value concept. "GAC Honda will combine product value and experience creation value as a starting point for a new brand and provide GAC Honda's new electrification full value," said Katsuying Moriyama, general manager of GAC Honda.
In the era of electrification, if Guangqi Honda wants to continue to implement the full value concept, it needs to dig deep into the value of electrification.
What can support this strategy is that on the basis of Guangqi Honda's 24 years of localization precipitation, integrating Honda's more than 70 years of experience in car manufacturing, using two major local technology incubation bases - Honda Technology Research Technology (China) Co., Ltd. and Guangqi Honda Automobile Research and Development Co., Ltd., relying on China's unique advantages in the fields of "electrification" and "intelligence" talents and partner resources, to build a strong and open localized circle of friends, forming an electrification strategy system with unique value of Guangqi Honda.
Write at the end:
2022 is a year for all joint venture brands to concentrate on new energy. Guangqi Honda is undoubtedly one of the first companies to start on this track.
The release of the e:NP brand has already conveyed to the outside world the attitude and determination of Guangqi Honda to create the ultimate pure electric value. Its dedicated new energy plant is also about to be completed and put into operation in 2024. With the new model of building an electric brand with the strength of the whole system, guangqi Honda and e:NP brands may play a leading role in this critical period of industry transformation.