Written by / Meng Wei
Editor/ Zhang Nan
Design / Shi Yuchao
In the past year, China's auto market annual sales of new energy vehicles 2.989 million units, an increase of 169.1% year-on-year, new energy penetration rate of 14.8%, in the independent brands have built A0-class electric vehicles and car-making new forces focus on intelligence and technology of high-end electric vehicle two-wheel drive, The trend of China's auto market to new energy transformation is becoming more and more obvious.
Therefore, 2022 has also become the first year and important time node for foreign brands and joint venture brands to develop electric vehicles in the Chinese market.
How to stand out in the market where China's own brands and new car-making forces have been laid out for many years and seized the user's mind and communication labels?
This is the first real problem facing all joint venture brand electric vehicles.
The upcoming FAW Toyota bZ4X has also made a choice.
The rapid rise in sales of new energy vehicles has also brought about an increase in the number of complaints about new energy vehicles.
According to statistics from the China Consumer Association, in the past year, complaints related to new energy vehicles have mainly focused on eight major problems, such as vehicle safety, battery quality problems, shrinkage of battery life, and maintenance services that cannot meet user needs.
Therefore, as a FAW Toyota bZ4X for family users, although it has a highly recognizable vehicle shape and there is no lack of intelligent experience in the car, they still choose to stand on the concept of continuously creating happiness for users, so that the core selling point of this electric vehicle returns to the source.
They are not only manufacturing electric motor cars, but designing people-oriented mobile tools to provide consumers with a safe and secure pure electric vehicle product.
In faw Toyota's view, the safety of travel is always the most basic and core demand in front of consumers. And this is also bZ (beyond Zero abbreviation) contains Toyota's value concept of wanting to bring consumers beyond zero emissions.
Solve consumer pain points
Continuous intelligent voice dialogue, urban high-end assisted driving, fatigue detection, full-scene automatic parking, new intelligent electric vehicles are bringing countless new experiences to users, but the consumption of new energy vehicles still has several insurmountable pain points:
First, there is a difference between the mileage in actual use and the company's advertising data, especially in the winter, the mileage is greatly reduced, and the excellent product performance can only maintain about 70% of the original mileage.
The second is that due to the attenuation of battery life and mileage, the retention rate of used cars of electric vehicles is generally low, with an average of about 71% in 1 year and only 51% in 3 years.
Third, although various car companies have introduced fire-free battery technology, consumers are still worried about the safety of vehicles, especially the risks of battery fire.
FAW Toyota has a deep understanding of consumers' pain points and needs, and they provide a new solution on bZ4X with more batteries than other products to continuously improve the range.
This solution is the lean management of battery loss.
The bZ4X power battery is equipped with a 72.8kWh battery pack jointly developed by FAW Toyota and CALT Ningde Times on the exclusive production line, which can support the bZ4X to achieve a cruising range of about 600 kilometers.
But the important thing is that it aims to develop a power retention rate of more than 90% after 10 years. This means that through refined battery performance management and thermal management technology, bZ4X will strive to truly solve the two major pain points of battery life shrinkage and low retention rate of used cars for consumers.
At the same time, the roof solar charging system equipped with FAW Toyota bZ4X can also generate power range for the vehicle, and according to the maximum calculation value, it can help the vehicle expand the endurance of up to 1750 kilometers per year (estimated).
In addition, toyota motor company is the first automobile company to have a full range of electric mass production models including HEV, PHEV, EV and FCEVs in terms of consumer pain points for battery safety, and has maintained a record of zero battery system accidents in the past 25 years.
On the bZ4X, they not only hope to continue this excellent record, but also eliminate consumers' EV safety concerns by strengthening the "prevention" of battery failures and "detecting them in time when there are signs of failure", and introducing new technologies, using multiple monitoring systems designed to ensure peace of mind in the event of an accident.
Active and passive safety
In addition to the safety guarantee and commitment of battery technology, FAW Toyota has also improved the bZ4X's all-round capabilities in the driving experience.
Faw Toyota bZ4X adopts the X-MODE function jointly developed with SUBARU and is equipped with the newly developed "Grip-Control Intelligent Multi-Road Adaptation System", which not only meets the needs of daily life to light off-road use, but also ensures superior stability on wet and slippery roads.
The TSS3.0 active safety system equipped with the bZ4X has also been improved and innovated in terms of functions. For example, driver status detection, obstacle prediction assistance, FCTA forward traffic crossing warning, etc.
In addition, FAW Toyota bZ4X adopts a high rigidity body mechanism, the main skeleton parts of the hot stamping material, high-strength steel plate as a lightweight, high-rigid structure, especially to improve the battery pack and its periphery, BEV assembly and radiator mounting parts, front and rear suspension around and other parts of the rigidity.
In terms of vehicle safety design, FAW Toyota bZ4X is also equipped with the overhead dashboard position design adopted by Toyota for the first time, which is convenient for drivers to see the dashboard directly from above the steering wheel.
It can be said that in terms of "people-oriented" and comprehensive attention to vehicle safety, FAW Toyota bZ4X is also fully armed in all dimensions.
Quality, service guarantee
In the new energy vehicle complaints received by the China Consumers Association in 2021, the quality of vehicle products, safety and supporting after-sales service systems, maintenance outlets, maintenance technicians and other new energy vehicles that cannot meet the needs of high-speed growth are one of the top topics.
This is also one of the opportunities for FAW Toyota bZ4X to seize the differentiation in safety.
FAW Toyota has Toyota's first overseas e-TNGA plant, representing Toyota's most advanced technology factory in the world, with a welding workshop automation rate of 95%. The new energy factory that produces bZ4X is the introduction of Toyota's world's leading technology to achieve intelligent manufacturing, green manufacturing, and innovative manufacturing in the true sense, adhering to Toyota QDR manufacturing standards, and has repeatedly won "0 bad" results in Toyota's global quality inspection.
At the same time, in terms of channels, FAW Toyota has 727 4S stores across the country, and its outlets cover 1-5 tier cities across the country. In the future, these outlets will likely become FAW Toyota bZ4X's nationwide refueling network and after-sales maintenance network.
In terms of after-sales service, FAW Toyota is also one of the representative enterprises with high reputation.
They not only won the joint venture brand sales service satisfaction index and after-sales service satisfaction index in 2021, won the champion of the China Quality Association Automobile User Service Satisfaction Survey for four consecutive years, but also won the "Toyota Service Global Gold Award" for 7 consecutive years, which can provide the greatest service support and guarantee for users' pure electric travel.
At the same time, since its establishment in 2003, FAW Toyota has introduced Prius in 2005, taking the lead in undertaking Toyota's electrification strategy in China; actively introducing Toyota dual-engine models, accounting for 23% of sales of dual-engine models in 2021; and then faw Toyota Costa Hydrogen Engine, the first domestic hydrogen kinetic energy model in 2022, has accumulated certain sales and operation experience in new energy vehicles.
This time, FAW Toyota bZ4X will start a new journey of zero-emission value experience with users on the basis of 9 million retained customers.
This article was originally produced by Automotive Business Review
For reprint or content cooperation, please contact the instructions
Illegal reprints must be investigated
Scan the code to join the reader's WeChat group
Communicate about cars