Lead
Introduction
Chang'an Deep Blue will face a test without reference cases.
Author 丨 Yang Jing
Responsible editor 丨 Cao Jiadong
Editor 丨Zhu Jinbin
Does China still need a new car brand? In recent years, the industry has been asking questions all the time.
Suzuki, Opel, Fiat, Renault and other international car companies lost to China, Lifan, Cheetah, Zotye and other independent brands bankruptcy and reorganization, byton, Sailin, Singularity and other new forces have disappeared in the public vision. In the current Chinese auto market, the Matthew effect is obvious, black swans appear frequently, industrial elimination is accelerated, and so many brands have been abandoned.
Whether it is a traditional car brand with a long history or an independent car company that has grown barbarically, it proves that car brands that cannot adapt to the Chinese market have finally been swept into the old paper pile. On the other hand, Tesla's rapid growth, BYD's halfway out, Andan Auchan rising, people have found that the original Chinese market still needs some car brands with unique charm.
These new auto brands just follow a law, that is, to conform to the trend of the times, continuously innovate, accelerate transformation, and survive and develop in the fierce competition of China's auto market. In particular, the rapid development of New Energy and Intelligent Connected Vehicles in China is an opportunity that cannot be missed for brands that aspire to run forward.
Therefore, in recent years, there have always been people who have questioned why independent brands always love to create a new electric brand. The answer is actually very simple, just like many people began to call for Changan's high-end UNI sequence to be independent of the brand, rather than continue to hang the V mark forward. Because, cutting with the traditional brand image, the value of the new brand can be rediscovered and diffused.
Product force first
Smart electrification gives everyone involved in the automotive industry an equal opportunity, but very few can really seize the opportunity. There are many reasons, such as the parent company's brand power is not enough to support the development of new brands, there is no more and more solid technical strength reserves, insufficient transformation of Internet thinking, and a series of reasons, making some new electric brands difficult.
In the first two years, the formation of a new force group for the national team to build cars was completed. These new electric car brands are backed by a powerful parent company, and everyone calls them Tesla killers, but to this day they still haven't been able to show their strength in the market. On the contrary, "Wei Xiaoli" and BYD, several electric vehicle companies, have occupied the market highland from the perspective of mind and sales.
The reason is that in the new automobile era, consumers value technical strength, brand tone and characteristic services. Even if many international car brands with centuries-old car manufacturing technology still have to face the critical eyes of consumers in the Chinese market, they will still be compared with the leading electric brands.
Therefore, car brands that respect technology, respect the market, and respect the consumer experience have the opportunity to emerge in this vast but bloody market. Today, with the arrival of Changan Deep Blue, It has slowly opened the curtain of Changan Automobile's conquest of the new energy market.
At the first event of Changan Deep Blue, Yang Dayong, vice president of Changan Automobile, introduced the new brand in only 5 minutes and less than 800 words. The focus of the event was that Deng Chenghao, general manager of Changan New Energy, spent 50 minutes and 8,000 words sharing the technology of Changan Deep Blue EPA1 platform and the first model C385.
From 2017 to 2022, five years of grinding a sword, about 2,000 people insisted, pure electric drive exclusive platform EPA1 and C385 officially ushered in the mass production moment. In the past 5 years, China's new energy vehicle market has grown by leaps and bounds, but many products have also been criticized by consumers as "IQ tax", "fraudulent compensation", "industrial waste" and so on. Therefore, those who sink their hearts into technology are worthy of admiration.
For Changan Deep Blue, this is 5 years of losing the new energy vehicle market, and it may also be 5 years behind others. Fortunately, Chang'an Deep Blue clenched his teeth and endured loneliness. Today, we can see an EPA1 platform with high efficiency, high performance, high intelligence and high security.
The platform also adopts Changan's new generation of super-collector electric drive, micro-core high-frequency pulse heating technology, and takes the lead in mass production of autonomous car range extension system and autonomous car hydrogen fuel cell system. The first model, the C385, is based on a wide body design with extreme performance and a platform design with a low center of gravity, achieving a 50:50 front and rear gold axle-to-load ratio.
The C385 is equally stunning in terms of parameter configuration, with body dimensions of 4820/1890/1480mm, wheelbase of 2900mm and a drag coefficient of 0.23Cd. Equipped with 14.6-inch sunflower screen, electric hatchback door, 19-inch wheels, frameless doors, hidden door handles and other 100 major industry first-in-100 industry first or the same level of leading technology and configuration, up to achieve L4 level intelligent driving.
In terms of power form, the C385 adopts three drive versions of pure electric, extended range and hydrogen electric. Among them, the comprehensive endurance of pure electric and hydrogen electric versions can reach more than 700km, and the comprehensive endurance of the extended range version can reach more than 1200km. The whole series adopts rear-wheel drive and adopts a rear H-arm type multi-link independent suspension system.
Many people say that building electric vehicles is simpler than building fuel vehicles, so for a time, cross-border car manufacturers flocked to it. In fact, this is the biggest misunderstanding of the layman about the new energy automobile industry. Therefore, those crossovers who hit their heads on the road to build cars and bleed, even if one foot has stepped into the threshold of car manufacturing, they are still trembling to accept the market test.
Technological force, whether for new energy vehicles or intelligent vehicles, is an extremely important part. In the endless emergence of technical solutions brought about by scientific and technological progress and the continuous penetration into the lives of consumers, Changan Deep Blue has chosen an incomparably correct start.
A lonely start
Not long ago, I joked with an employee of Changan Deep Blue: As a technology brand, you should reflect with the leaders about moving the headquarters to a city like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. It is not that Chongqing is not good, in recent years, the rapid development of Changan Automobile in the fuel vehicle market is obvious to all.
However, China's Internet companies and technology companies are all distributed in large cities, and these cities also provide these companies with a higher vision and pattern. For Changan Deep Blue, in order to be reborn in the era of intelligence, it is necessary to carry out changes from the inside out, essentially to strengthen the creation of the Internet and scientific and technological genes, as well as the recruitment of talents.
Opposite the lonely Detroit Big Three, Tesla from Silicon Valley is popular all over the world; the Volkswagen of Wolfsburg no longer has the ferocity of wolves, and the Toyota of Aichi County has not yet recovered from the hybrid. As the world's largest automotive market, the development of new energy vehicles in China is changing the pattern of the world's automobiles. How hard it was for the elephant to turn around.
The difficulty is also China's own brands. At present, the overall sales volume of domestic new energy vehicles shows an imbalance of "two large and small in the middle". Electric vehicle companies led by "Wei Xiaoli" and Tesla have successfully occupied the high-end new energy vehicle market, while with the outbreak of a series of products such as Wuling Hongguang MINIEV and Changan Benben EV, a relatively large-scale low-end new energy field has been formed.
In fact, with reference to the fuel vehicle market, it can be seen that the healthy situation of China's automobile market should be a "spindle-shaped" mid-range market that is broader. Among them, BYD announced in early April to stop the production of fuel vehicles, which means that the mid-range market has ushered in a real entrant.
The success of BYD is actually the success brought by DM-i and EV in new energy, while the high-end "Wei Xiaoli" and Tesla are the models of smart cars.
The level of intelligence, Changan Automobile has shown a level in fuel vehicles and has been recognized by the market. However, in terms of electrification, consumers choose BYD because BYD has begun to develop electric technology from the beginning of its establishment. The accumulation of Changan Automobile in new energy is not deep, which also sows the seeds of hidden dangers for the market volume of Changan Deep Blue.
In addition, the choice that Changan Deep Blue must face is that there is a bottom of Changan New Energy under it, and a place occupied by Avita Technology on the top, how to take into account both new energy and intelligent advantages in the mid-end market. If you take both into account, you also have to consider the input-output ratio of costs, which is another difficult problem.
The solution to this problem has no reference object for Chang'an Deep Blue, and it needs to be slowly explored by yourself, but the time left for Chang'an Deep Blue will not be too much. Three years later, Changan Automobile's new energy sales target is 1.05 million units, of which Changan Deep Blue will bear about 50% of it, which will be an extremely difficult test.
| Yang Jing |
No sleep at noon
Afternoon crash