Nowadays, new energy in the global market can be described as a popularity, many car companies have been transforming in the direction of electrification, although many people are still unhappy about such environmental changes, but some manufacturers see it as another way out. Today, we're going to take a look at the brands that have been resurrected by borrowing electricity to see what these brands will bring us.
Borrow power resurrection turned on:
smart
The first thing to say, of course, is the recent sprite new concept car is very hot smart brand. Smart originally relied on a fortwo model, a small body design, and Mercedes-Benz as a backer, becoming the "net red" at that time. However, the excessively high price and the uneven power performance made the performance of this car flat. It also led to the development of Smart's follow-up products, and in 10 years, Smart only derived a four-door four-seat forfour model, and after a rebranding, it was too far away from the RICH MINI brand.
In 2019, Smart stopped selling in China, and in the same year, Geely acquired a 50% stake in the Smart brand and announced that it would become a pure electric smart car brand. After a gap of 2 years, Smart unveiled a new model genie #1 concept car at the 2021 Munich Motor Show, which means that the brand has opened the road to resurrection.
With the passage of time, the smart pure power production model - Genie #1 was also officially released recently, and the new car is built based on Geely's vast SEA architecture, and will be produced by the Xi'an factory and will be produced in China and sold worldwide. Unlike in the past, small shapes have become a thing of the past, Genie #1 returns with a four-door and five-seat shape, adding designs that many young users like or need, while designs such as through-line daylights, through-line taillights, and frameless doors still have a lot of personality.
According to the plan, smart will also adopt the popular new car marketing method, consumers can get a close look at the new car through the official mini program, website and APP, and will adopt an online sales model. It is not difficult to see that with Geely's support behind it, smart has been fully changed, whether it is design, configuration or marketing methods, it has finally kept up with the trend of the times, coupled with the return of transformation in the form of electric, the overall increase in a lot of opportunities for success.
Volkswagen - Beetle
The same year as smart production, there is also the Beetle after 81 years, three generations of product evolution, in July 2019 the last Volkswagen Beetle drove off the production line in Mexico, ending this history. However, not long ago, overseas media exposed a set of public Beetle electric version of the rendering, the overall appearance of a lot of ID series product features, it is reported that it will be based on the MEB platform development.
In fact, as early as 2018, the then chairman of Volkswagen had hinted at the possibility of launching an electric version of the Beetle in an interview with the media, and then Volkswagen applied for the trademark of e-Beetle in Europe in 2020, and declared that it hoped that the ID. family would become the next generation of classics, which reflected from the side that Volkswagen did have plans to revive the classic Model Beetle through electrification.
Since the SUCCESS of ID.3 as the first model of the ID.family in the global market, Volkswagen has successively launched ID.4, DI.5, ID.6 and several ID.BUZZ models released not long ago, plus meb pure electric platform architecture, and now Volkswagen is still relatively mature in the field of pure electricity products, compared to up! The age of the model has improved a lot, and it is not difficult to create a pure electric Beetle. At the same time, as the official said, I hope that the ID. family will become the next generation of classics, then this must be the addition of a classic model, and the Beetle with a history of 81 years is undoubtedly the best choice.
Lotus
In the past 26 years, with its superior performance and handling, Lotus has become a very classic brand in the hearts of many car fans, but because it is really niche, its overall sales are not outstanding. At the end of 2021, Lotus officially announced the official suspension of the three classic models of Elise, Exige and Evora, which means that Lotus will enter a new stage and will move towards a pure electric route under the leadership of Geely.
On March 30, Lotus released the first model ELETRE after entering the era of electrification, which is Lotus's first pure electric SUV model, positioned as a medium and large SUV, built based on the EPA platform, providing a maximum power of more than 600 horsepower, which will be produced in the Wuhan smart factory, and officially announced the domestic price in September, once again showing the global sales of Chinese production. It is worth mentioning that the name ELETRE comes from the Hungarian language and translates to "new life", which shows that the brand is full of hope for new cars.
Today, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Maserati and even Ferrari have joined the SUV field, and Lotus's joining under the leadership of Geely is actually not an accident, after all, Geely still understands the real needs of domestic users. Unlike smart, although the new car appears as an SUV, it ensures relative practicality, but also retains lotus's excellent power performance to meet the different needs of users, and the opponent is directly aimed at Lamborghini and Ferrari, two major supercar brands.
In addition, according to the current official plan, the electric four-door coupe model code-named TYPE 133 will be launched in 2023, followed by the TYPE 134 and TYPE 135 in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
Chrysler
Speaking of Chrysler, everyone should be no stranger, as one of the three major automobile companies in the United States, Chrysler, in the domestic sales can almost be described as "miserable", and with the product suspension launch, in recent years, only occasionally on the road to see Chrysler 300C, the great Jet Dragon, will think of this brand.
For the past of this brand, it is not difficult to understand why it failed, first of all, in the design is too personality, not acceptable to the average user, secondly, the product line is not rich, and then for the only model in terms of upgrading is also very slow. Over time, the product force naturally can not keep up with those products that keep pace with the times, in the eyes of users is a very backward product, although in 2018 there was a version of the Great Jielong PHEV, but the high price coupled with insufficient product strength, and finally withdrew from the market.
And as Hyundai gradually moves towards electrification, Chrysler seems to see new hope, at the 2022 New York Auto Show, Chrysler Airflow concept car officially unveiled, the new car shows the Chrysler brand in the exploration of electrification design, it is reported that the model is expected to be mass production in 2025, launched in SUV or crossover model. At present, whether it is the appearance or interior design of the car, or the data on the power, the overall is really keeping pace with the times, compared with the past has undergone great changes, which will be a considerable advantage.
Borrowing electricity resurrection is about to start:
Fiat
For Fiat, there are already plans to move towards electrification, and since the merger of the original FCA and PSA groups, the newly formed Stellantis Group has accelerated the electrification process of its multi-brand brands, including Fiat. At the same time, the president of Fiat has publicly stated that the brand's product lineup will gradually become a pure electric vehicle between 2025 and 2030, and will become a pure electric brand by 2030, and the first new model is expected to be launched in 2022 or 2023.
In March 2020, Fiat unveiled a new generation of Fiat 500e models, one of the few electric mini cars at the time, equipped with a 42kWh battery pack that can run 320km in WLTP conditions. Up to now, it has become the best-selling electric vehicle of the Fiat brand, with a total of 44,492 units sold in the European market in 2021, ranking 6th in the European pure electric vehicle sales list, and becoming the best-selling micro-electric vehicle in 12 countries around the world.
At ces 2022, which opened at the beginning of this year, Fiat brought a 500e 3+1 model, and the new car adopted a unique two-door design on the co-pilot side compared to the ordinary version. However, the car is more of a derivative of the current Fiat 500e, according to the current development plan of major brands, I believe that Fiat's new model will focus on the SUV model, after all, if you simply rely on a Fiat 500e to compete with other brands, it is indeed a very difficult thing.
Jeep
Also to start the "rebirth of electricity" is the Jeep brand from the same group as Fiat, among which Jeep plans to launch a series of all-electric SUVs by 2025, covering various sizes and price points, and confirmed that the first model will be launched in 2023, when the car will be launched for the first time in Europe. However, considering the Chinese market's love for pure electric vehicles and the Jeep brand, its future domestic production probability is extremely high.
According to previous reports, Jeep's first pure electric SUV will be lower than the Free Man in positioning, and the price will be lower than the price of the Jeep Free Man plug-in mix. In addition, according to official disclosures, the new car will use the developed STLA Small platform, which supports a battery capacity of up to 82kWh and a cruising range of 300 miles.
According to the exposure information, the car will leave the Jeep family's iconic seven-hole design, with a split light group with strong recognition, and will add the e logo to highlight its pure electric vehicle identity. Of course, the most classic Jeep Wrangler will also join the ranks of pure electric in the future, which will be a big regret for some off-road fans or Jeep fans.
Electrification is already an irreversible trend
No matter how obsessed you are with fuel models, or hate electrification, but at the moment, electrification is already an irreversible trend, whether it is like the common Toyota, Honda, or Lamborghini, Ferrari these supercar brands, or like smart, Lotus, Fiat these need to regain life, every car company has joined the electrification. However, brands like Lotus and Smart, with the support of big brands such as Geely, whether it is product planning or in marketing, it is more like having a navigation lever, while other brands that are constantly groping are like crossing the river by feeling the stones, and they need to explore step by step.
At the same time, from a realistic point of view, these brands or most of the traditional brands, in terms of electrification development speed is still slow, compared to most of the domestic car companies in this regard to develop more rapidly, while the current product system and construction are more perfect, which is a great advantage of many domestic brands, but also the ability to enter the overseas market.
The editor said: At present, whether it is the domestic market or the world, independent brands do have great advantages in this regard, and most of the traditional brands are planning to start the formal transformation and force from 2025, so this means that there will be a new round of reshuffle at that time, and today's fuel competition will be fully converted to electric battle, and at that time, how will the development of our independent brands be, and how many advantages will there be compared to those traditional brands?