Produced | Sanyan Finance by | DoraEmon
Recently, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released the production and sales of the automobile industry in 2022, and in the first quarter, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in the mainland reached 1.293 million units and 1.257 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.4 times year-on-year. In the month of March, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 465,000 units and 484,000 units, respectively, an increase of 1.1 times year-on-year, and the market share of new energy vehicles reached 19.3%.
Judging from the data, the new energy vehicle market developed well in the first quarter of this year. This obviously also benefits from the rising factors of oil prices, making new energy a hot spot again.
All along, the domestic new energy vehicle market was once occupied by the three giants of "Wei Xiaoli", which made many people think that the new energy market pattern has been determined and tends to be saturated, and it is difficult for other players to have new breakthroughs.
However, judging from the sales volume of various new car-making forces in the first quarter, Weilai was surpassed by Nezha and fell to the fourth; at the same time, the "non-head camp" began to emerge, and the "Wei Xiaoli" pattern was not unbreakable.
For example, taking Skyline Motors as an example, last year, Skyline Motors launched the Skyrim ME5, an extended-range power SUV that lasted more than 1,000 kilometers. Once launched, it achieved a number of successes, with sales up 486% in a matter of months. It has become the fastest growing model in the extended range segment. It is understood that in March this year, the monthly sales of Skyrim ME5 exceeded 1,000 units again, and the cumulative number of large orders exceeded 5,000 units. Based on this trend observation, Skyrim already has the potential to become a head car company, and even a strong opponent of the ideal ONE in the future.
The new energy market seems to be saturated, but what is the reason why the non-head camp represented by Skyrim Motors can have such a performance?
The positioning of the five tigers in car manufacturing is diverse
To seize opportunities in a competitive market, you must first be keen to identify the segments with the greatest potential. So, in the current domestic new energy market, is there a qualified choice?
Let's start with the respective product positioning of Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, Nezha and Zero Run, which are the "5 Tigers of Car Building".
The first is "Wei Xiaoli", these three are the first batch of players in the new domestic car-making forces, and their strength is naturally good. At the same time, the product positioning of these three companies is very clear, and it has also brought a certain demonstration effect to other new energy vehicle companies.
Founded in November 2014, NIO released the electric supercar EP9 in November 2016; released its first mass-produced car, the ES8, in 2017; and in 2018, NIO successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange. At present, NIO has a total of ET5, ET7, EC6, ES8 and ES6 models.
Since its establishment, Wei has been positioned as a global high-end international brand. Therefore, all of NIO's models are aimed at the mid-to-high-end market. The company's first mass production car ES8 is priced at more than 400,000 yuan; the ES6 released later, the benchmark version of which is also priced at 300,000 yuan. At present, several models announced by Weilai Automobile have a starting price of more than 300,000 yuan
Xiaopeng Automobile, which was also founded in 2014, started with the low-end market of 150,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan, and then gradually made efforts to the high-end market.
In 2014, Xiaopeng Motors was established and released its first mass-produced car, the G3, in January 2018; in August 2020, Xiaopeng Motors officially landed on the New York Stock Exchange. At present, Xiaopeng has a total of G3, P7, P5 and other models.
From the perspective of product positioning, Xiaopeng Automobile initially entered the low-end market of 150,000 to 200,000 with G3; since then, it has successively released P5 and P7 models, and exerted efforts to reach the middle and high end of the range of 200,000 to 400,000, and achieved good market performance.
Among the three "Wei Xiaoli" families, the most "alternative" is the ideal car. The company was founded in 2015, but has been "going around the world" with the ideal ONE model.
And unlike WEILai and Xiaopeng developing pure electric vehicles, the ideal ONE SUV using extended range electric technology aims at the mid-to-high-end market of more than 300,000 yuan. In July 2020, Ideal Was listed on the NASDAQ and then listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the second time in August 2021.
From the perspective of the product positioning of the three car companies of "Wei Xiaoli", in addition to individual models, the main focus is the high-end market of more than 200,000 yuan. For the low-end market of 150,000 yuan and below, these three companies rarely take into account.
The zero-run and Nezha automobiles in the "Five Tigers" focus on cultivating the low-end market, focusing on cost performance. At present, all the models of zero-run cars and Nezha Automobile on sale are priced at less than 150,000 yuan, and some economic trams are priced below 100,000 yuan.
While occupying the top five chairs in the market, the five tigers of car manufacturing also cover all the markets from low-end to high-end. After several years of development, the five tigers are also constantly exploring in their respective market positioning and polishing products.
However, positioning at market prices alone is not enough to occupy the head market. If car companies want to succeed, the essence still has to speak with products, and products must be determined around user needs.
The user requirement is the kernel
The core of the product is the user demand, and the good product is built on the basis of meeting the user's needs, and the same is true for new energy vehicles.
At the beginning of this year, the sharp rise in gasoline prices made many fuel car owners break the defense, which actually highlighted one of the core pain points of fuel vehicles. For new energy vehicles, the core pain point of users is actually the mileage.
Therefore, major new energy vehicle companies are also making continuous efforts to improve the endurance. For example, Weilai develops power exchange services, Xiaopeng Automobile cooperates with third parties to build more charging stations and charging piles across the country, and Ideal Automobile uses range extension technology to solve the problem of battery life of oil trucks and trams.
These solutions, regardless of their strengths and weaknesses, are essentially an attempt to better address user needs. On this basis, we will develop features that traditional fuel vehicles do not have, such as intelligent cockpits and assisted driving, and continuously improve the user driving experience.
Now, back to the question at the beginning of the article, where are the opportunities for the non-head camp?
The answer is not difficult, one is to find the advantage of the space track; the other is to keep close to the needs of users.
Skyline's performance is a perfect example.
As mentioned earlier, Skyrim Motors just launched the Skyrim ME5 last year, and it has achieved excellent results in just a few months.
On the one hand, because Skyrim ME5 is aimed at the range extender SUV market, and this segment track still has a lot of room for growth. On the other hand, it is because Skyline ME5 has "hard power" to solve the core pain point needs of users, and the product is developed around users.
In the field of range extender SUVs, the current head brand Ideal ONE is priced at more than 300,000 yuan, while the Skyline ME5 is priced at 149,900 yuan, which is not only about half of the ideal ONE, but also its fuel consumption is far lower than that of the ideal ONE.
This is due to its self-developed iMES intelligent range extender system, neDC endurance of 1012 km. Solving mileage anxiety is the most concerned issue for users, with strong technical strength, users can use pure electric mode for commuting in ME5 cities, while long-distance driving can use range-extended mode. And in this mode, the comprehensive fuel consumption of 100 kilometers is only 4.9 liters, and the fuel consumption per kilometer is even lower than 0.1 yuan.
Therefore, it can not only solve the core needs of users, but also provide cost-effective products, which is the strength of Tianji Automobile to impact the head.
In addition, the machine system of Skyline ME5 is not inferior to the head car company in all aspects. The car is equipped with the self-developed EOS car machine system, which realizes face recognition, voice control and many in-vehicle applications.
In addition, Tianji Auto reached a strategic cooperation with JD.com in May 2021, and the two sides cooperated deeply in digital marketing, intelligent product customization, and intelligent travel life. Due to the integration of the Jingdong service ecosystem, Skyline ME5 can access the Jingdong Mini Program, support in-car shopping, Jingdong health, maintenance, roadside assistance, etc.
To sum up, in a more competitive market, the rising stars can not blindly do it; they must combine their own superior resources, take the advantageous track as the entry point, and at the same time closely follow the needs of users, so as to have the explosive power to impact the head.
Self-built factory quality assurance
In the early stage of development, the three giants of "Wei Xiaoli" also encountered many problems, such as the FOUNDRY model.
Now, many new energy vehicle companies have begun to abandon the OEM model. However, in the initial stage of new energy development, the OEM model was the most effective way of automobile production at that time. For example, the foundry of Weilai Automobile is Jianghuai; the ideal car is founded by Chongqing Lifan; and Xiaopeng has cooperated with Haima Automobile to manufacture it.
The use of OEM mode is mainly limited by the qualification of car manufacturing. When you do not get the car production qualification, you need to provide products as soon as possible, in this case, the new car production is entrusted to qualified car companies oem is the most efficient way.
However, the shortcomings of the OEM mode are also obvious, and the quality control of the vehicle is not easy to grasp. In the past few years, the three "Wei Xiaoli" companies have been repeatedly plagued by quality problems, so several major car companies have begun to build their own factories.
Skyline Motors is no exception.
In contrast, the advantages of self-built factories are obvious. First of all, car companies can effectively control product quality, and secondly, good supply chain control capabilities can help car companies independently develop products without being controlled by others.
Of course, not all companies have the ability to choose to build their own factories, which requires higher costs and a high degree of understanding of the entire car industry.
Tianji Automobile has opened an intelligent factory in Changsha, which is understood to adopt german Industry 4.0 manufacturing standards and 100% automated key processes. And the production equipment and management system are at the leading level in new energy enterprises, covering the quality management of the whole manufacturing cycle of products.
Self-built factories mean that Tianji can not only provide users with products with guaranteed quality, but also a concrete manifestation of its own hard strength.
Skyrim Motors' team is equally strong. The core members of the company include talents who have served luxury brands such as Porsche and BMW, as well as talents from mainstream brands such as Volkswagen and GM. There is no shortage of talents with rich experience in the fields of intelligent driving and in-vehicle interconnection.
On the one hand, Tianji can ensure the level of product quality through self-built factories, on the other hand, it has a strong team strength, and it is natural to make good products that are loved by users.
Strongly supported by state-owned background investment
Discovering and deeply cultivating the advantage track, closely following the needs of users, and building factories to improve product quality control is not only a chip for brand strength and impact on the head, but also a reflection of brand investment value.
The strong support of Tianji Automobile's state-owned background investment is one of the embodiments of its investment value, and it is also blessed by social capital such as Minsheng Capital, Industrial Securities Investment, and Shanghai Electric, which are all manifestations of its brand investment value.
Zhang Hailiang, chairman and CEO of Skyline Automobile, has revealed that Skyrim is currently in the end of the Pre IPO round of financing and is expected to complete the listing work within this year.
With strong hard power and continuously increasing brand value, if it successfully lands on the capital market, Skyrim will have more ample ammunition to expand its own strength. At the same time, Tianji Automobile is also pursuing a "stable, accurate and fast" marketing layout. It is understood that at present, there are more than 150 sales stores and service stores of Skyline Automobile, covering 88 cities across the country.
The company plans to build 400 sales and service stores in 2022, covering the first and second tier cities and some third- and fourth-tier cities across the country. Implement "where there is a demand, there is a response".
Nowadays, the new energy vehicle market pattern dominated by "Wei Xiaoli" and Tesla is gradually breaking the trend. And Skyline is undoubtedly one of the strong "dark horses", making the new energy market more lively.