On the evening of April 26, the first pure electric vehicle of Honda's new electric brand in China, Dongfeng Honda e:NS1, was officially launched with an online conference full of futuristic technology. The new car is positioned as a "smart driving fun pure electric SUV", a total of 4 models have been launched, and the price after subsidies is 175,000-218,000 yuan, providing two kinds of cruising ranges of 420km and 510km.
The e:NS1 is not Dongfeng Honda's first pure electric product, but the first model under the Honda e:N brand. In fact, as early as 2019-2020, Dongfeng Honda changed its power through oil and successively launched the electric SUV X-NV and Siming M-NV.
However, at that time, Dongfeng Honda was still in the cautious exploration stage. With the rapid growth of the pure electric vehicle market, Dongfeng Honda's layout in the field of pure electric vehicles is also finding the right positioning and direction.
Electric vehicles focus on driving sense to reflect differentiation
In October last year, Honda China unveiled its electrification strategy in China, launching a new pure electric vehicle brand "e:N". After half a year, the official launch of the first product of the "e: N" series, e:NS1, also means that the electrification transformation of Dongfeng Honda will be accelerated again under the drive of new brands and new models.
As Honda's first pure electric vehicle model in China, the driving experience of Honda's fuel vehicle is the biggest attraction of e:NS1. It is understood that e: NS1 is equipped with intelligent and efficient pure electric architecture "e: N Architecture F", which integrates high-power motors, high-density batteries, exclusive frames and chassis platforms for pure electric vehicles, and integrates up to 20,000 scene algorithms in the control program, which can precisely control the motor driving force, so that the vehicle can respond sensitively and briskly when starting, push back feeling when accelerating, steering accurately in curves, delicate control, uniform deceleration when braking, plus Honda EV Sound acceleration sound waves set off the atmosphere and provide drivers with a dynamic and invigorating driving experience.
In terms of power, e:NS1 provides two power options, the single motor can output the maximum power of 134kW and 150kW, and is equipped with ternary lithium batteries with a capacity of 53.6kWh and 68.8kWh respectively, and the cruising range of the CLTC standard of the two versions is 420km and 510km, respectively.
In terms of size, e:NS1 is 4390*1790*1560mm in length, 1790*1560mm in length, wheelbase is 2610mm, and the storage space of the whole car is as many as 18, and the space utilization rate is greatly improved.
In terms of appearance, e:NS1 adopts the new "e:N Design" design language, the overall shape is simple and sharp, the front face is the iconic closed front grille, and the narrow LED strips on both sides extend to the "H standard". In addition, in order to meet individual needs, the new car is also available in 5 exterior colors to choose from.
Open the door, e:NS1's interior has both a sense of technology and high texture, 15.2-inch high-definition ultra-thin border central control screen, a large area of suede material wrapping, bringing visual and tactile double satisfaction, look up can also see the integrated canopy glass roof design, taking into account the open and transparent vision.
In terms of intelligence, e:NS1 is equipped with the "e:N OS" full-stack intelligent control ecosystem, and the password "Hello, Honda" can wake up the pure electric dedicated version Honda CONNECT 3.0 equipped with e:NS1, which can use AI intelligent voice, AR navigation, car home interconnection and vehicle energy management functions during driving, and support upgrades through OTA.
After the listing of e:NS1, Dongfeng Honda also launched the Dongfeng Honda App synchronously, and jointly with dongfeng Honda e-mobile mini program, e:NS1 space city tour exhibition and other global marketing, strengthen online and offline linkage, and bring users a new car purchase experience in the era of electrification.
Obviously, starting from e:NS1, Dongfeng Honda is weakening the stereotypical influence of traditional car companies in the past and labeling itself a new label of technology and intelligence. Of course, as the starter of the new era, e:NS1 also shoulders the heavy responsibility of Dongfeng Honda's new energy vehicle sales.
Where are the advantages of electric models at the same price?
The current era of new energy vehicles is actually oriented by electric vehicles.
From a long-term strategic point of view, most car companies, including Honda and Toyota, have begun to invest in the electric market.
Among them, Honda expects to launch 30 pure electric vehicles in the world by 2030; Toyota will invest about 4 trillion yen in the development of pure electric vehicles by 2030 to launch 30 pure electric vehicles; Volkswagen is expected to increase its market share of pure electric vehicles to 50% by 2030; Audi will launch new models for the world from 2026 to be pure electric models; hyundai will launch 17 pure electric models by 2030 The Stellantis Group will have more than 75 pure electric vehicles in 2030. According to incomplete statistics, since March last year, there have been at least 10 multinational car companies in the field of pure electricity.
And the reason for the pure electric power of the whole staff is also very simple. From the perspective of the Chinese market alone, the data released by the Association shows that in the first quarter of 2022, the sales of pure electric vehicles in China reached 840,900 units, about 4 times the sales of hybrid models, accounting for 78.62% of the market share of new energy vehicles. Naturally, this is also not very friendly to most Japanese car companies that are still hybrid models.
At present, including e:NS1, Dongfeng Honda has a total of 7 new energy models, including 5 hybrid models and 2 pure electric models, and the Toyota series, which has 12 hybrid models and 2 pure electric models, is in the transition stage of hybrid to pure electric tilt.
At this stage, how to seize more market share in the pure electric market may be what e:NS1 should think about.
In contrast, Dongfeng Honda e:NS1 is not superior in size and endurance compared to models at the same price. Therefore, in order to gain market recognition, in addition to brand appeal, it also depends on whether the control performance created can resonate with young consumers, and whether there are new breakthroughs and innovations in channels. In short, after the e:NS1 listing, it is worth looking forward to more!