Since Evergrande Group fell into the debt vortex last year, whenever Evergrande Real Estate, Hengchi Automobile and other keywords were mentioned in the network, most of the reactions of netizens were thunderous or speechless. In fact, even if Mr. Xu Jiayin, chairman of Evergrande Group, is well-known in today's network, compared with Boss Jia who "returns to China next week", Mr. Xu Jiayin of Evergrande Group undoubtedly has the demeanor and responsibility of a social entrepreneur. It is reported that after Mr. Xu Jiayin fell into the whirlpool of debt, he has packaged and sold his mansions in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and completely poured his career focus on Hengchi Automobile.
Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. since its establishment in January 2019, often each appearance has caused a lot of discussion, perhaps Chairman Xu Jiayin once preached the slogan of "three years successively invested 45 billion yuan" is too loud, or perhaps Hengchi Automobile unveiled 9 models in one go at the 2021 Shanghai International Auto Show, but afterwards it was exposed that Hengchi Automobile's exhibition car needs staff to carry the "riot operation" that stunned most people.
In short, Hengchi Automobile started later than today's mainstream new energy new energy brand, coupled with the current large number of new energy vehicle companies by raw material price increases, production capacity restrictions, transportation inconvenience environment, Hengchi Automobile still continues to emphasize: plans to open the pre-sale of Hengchi 5 models in the second quarter of this year. In summary, the behavior and publicity direction of Hengchi Automobile are often full of contradictions, so more netizens are not optimistic about the future of Hengchi Automobile, and even some people declare: Waiting to see the day when Evergrande Group will do nothing about itself. So can Hengchi Automobile, as the only last-ditch road of Evergrande Group today, go through and go to the end?
Xu Jiayin "platform" Hengchi 5
On April 21, three Hengchi 5 new energy vehicles were unveiled at The Evergrande Center in Guangzhou. Mr. Xu Jiayin personally attended the scene, sat in the cockpit of Hengchi 5, and personally experienced the interior and some of the functions of Hengchi 5. Judging from the on-site pictures released by Evergrande's official micro, it seems that Hengchi 5 really made Chairman Xu Jiayin see the hope of "correcting" Evergrande Group in the future. However, the new energy vehicle itself as a market positioning that emphasizes young audience groups, in the official micro-tweet of Hengchi Automobile, it actually used "Xu Jiayin Experience Hengchi 5 Praise: Beautiful!" It's beautiful! Such a title, although it can not say "soil", but also with the new forces of the same industry more marketing young consumers, can only say that Hengchi Automobile in this regard compared to friends more "brand characteristics" it.
Speaking of Hengchi 5 this product itself, it is reported that the appearance of Hengchi 5 by the industry's famous Japanese designer Maruyama Gonggu led the team to create, compared to some want to hit the new power brand, Hengchi 5 as the first model of Hengchi Automobile, in the appearance design is not excessive, the vehicle shape is simple but the details are exquisite, Hengchi 5 is undoubtedly successful only in terms of the recognition of appearance.
In terms of details, the split headlight design of Hengchi 5 gives the daily running lamp a very large performance space, the "T" shape design is more avant-garde, and the closed grille is also a typical electric vehicle style, with a black front lip, bringing a strong sporty attribute. The body size of the new car reached 4725 *1925 *1688mm, which is between 4750*1921*1624mm of Tesla Model Y. But the definition of the latter is a medium-sized SUV, while the definition of the Hengchi 5 is a compact SUV, which has to be said to be very "low-key". However, this is also a "new way to play" domestic cars, which seems to reduce its self-price, but in fact it is for the sake of cross-level competition.
In the interior of the cabin of Hengchi 5, compared with the central control large screen of some new energy models "pretending to float", the large 3D curved wrapped triple screen of Hengchi 5 is eye-catching, but it is undeniable that Hengchi 5 does not have a "hard concave technology configuration for the sense of science and technology", and the entire central control screen is integrated into the central control area of the model, the same is the large screen design, the triple screen of Hengchi 5 does not make people feel cumbersome, nor will it be like Tesla, in order to simplify and deliberately simplify all functions with "big TV".
The central control system of Hengchi 5 is equipped with the H-SMART OS Hengchi intelligent network connection system developed by Evergrande and Baidu and Tencent, which supports touch screen, face recognition, voice, gestures and other ways of human-computer interaction. According to the feedback of the previous media test drive, the reaction speed of the new car and the experience of function realization are more prominent. In terms of automatic driving, Hengchi 5 is equipped with AR Driving augmented reality driving assistance function, making driving easier and safer.
In terms of three-electric system, Hengchi 5 battery is provided by the Ningde era, the motor controller is from the industry's top coffee Bosch, from the parameter point of view, Hengchi 5 acceleration performance is not particularly prominent, the maximum driving power of the motor of the new car is 150kW, basically equivalent to the output power of the 2.0T engine. Compared with the maximum output power of more than 200kW selected by mainstream new energy models, Hengchi 5 emphasizes the practicality of the cruising range, and the comprehensive cruising range of 700km also exceeds the mainstream configuration with higher sales in most new energy models.
Hengchi 5 product strength has no obvious drawbacks, how to enter the mainstream market is the focus
Judging from the current situation of Evergrande Automobile, Hengchi 5, as the first model launched by Hengchi Automobile, its importance does not need to be emphasized. According to the previous planning of Hengchi Automobile, Hengchi will be mass-produced in the second quarter of this year in 5 years, and it is planned to be put on sale this year. In fact, the mass production of Hengchi 5 is basically no suspense. According to the information released by the ministry of industry and information on the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology "Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products" (batch 353), Hengchi Automobile has obtained a sales license. Liu Yongzhuo, president of Hengchi Automobile, told the media that the work of Hengchi 5 is progressing smoothly, the pre-sale is about to be fully launched, and the first batch of hengchi exhibition experience centers and sales centers will be opened in 15 key cities such as Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou in the near future.
But Hengchi Automobile has only solved the problem of car manufacturing now, and has not solved the problem of selling cars. In terms of market competition, Hengchi 5 will directly face the competitors SUCH as BYD Song PLUS, GAC AION Y and other traditional car company products, as well as Xiaopeng G3, Zero Run C11, Nezha U and other new power models. In addition, if Evergrande Automobile's previous debt problem erupted like a "volcanic resurrection eruption", the current trust crisis of Evergrande Group is like "volcanic ash after the volcanic eruption". Previously, many people had purchased Evergrande Wealth Management and had not fulfilled their promises, and many buildings could not be delivered on time, etc., which made Evergrande Group's credit fall to the bottom, which would undoubtedly affect consumer choice. Therefore, the challenges faced by Hengchi 5 and their own limitations are still very many.
If the competitors of Hengchi 5 and the trust crisis of Evergrande Group are only "external factors", then the biggest "internal factor" in the sales of Hengchi automobiles lies in the problem of sales channels. In September 2018, Evergrande spent 14.49 billion yuan to purchase 40.964% of the equity of Guanghui Group, using equity investment to open up the automobile distribution system, becoming the second largest shareholder of Guanghui Group. However, after Evergrande's debt exploded, Evergrande was forced to transfer its equity in Guanghui Group to Shenneng Group for 14.85 billion yuan. Today, Hengchi 5 is about to achieve mass production and listing, but Hengchi Automobile has to rebuild sales channels.
Auto network review: Hengchi 5 is important, but it is not enough to turn the tide
All in all, from the current situation of Evergrande Group and the difficulty of development of Hengchi Automobile, if it is really as many media have said: relying on the sales success of Hengchi 5, let Hengchi Automobile carry Evergrande Group forward and turn the tide. This kind of fairy tale-like ending is undoubtedly unrealistic, and the market will not tell you that "the luck of people who love to laugh will not be too bad".
In the editor's view, the initial stage of sales of Hengchi Automobile may start from the B-end market. It is reported that on March 2 this year, Hengchi New Energy Vehicle Sales Co., Ltd. was established, and its business scope includes online reservation taxi operation services in addition to the sales of new energy vehicle-related facilities. In the early stage of the promotion of new energy vehicles in the past, many car companies also faced great pressure in the early stage after the listing of new cars, and sold new cars to online ride-hailing platforms, effectively driving sales in the short term. For example, Geely's Cao Cao Chuxing, GAC Group's Ruqi Travel, and FAW, Dongfeng and Changan's three major automobile companies jointly established T3 Travel.
If Hengchi Automobile uses the form of online car-hailing to let more ordinary people convince consumers who hold coins to buy through the actual action of Hengchi Automobile through "indirect contact", perhaps this is the future of Hengchi 5.