Evolutionary theory of the automotive industry
A creature wants to survive in the world, it needs to adapt to the living environment, a different perspective, different living environments will give birth to different biological forms, in today's underground rock layers we can clearly find one after another life explosion and life extinction, life after billions of years of evolution actually has also revealed the underlying logic of the world, evolution. And everything in the world from the macro level, will follow some similar logic, if the invention of the car is the crystallization of the development of human industrial civilization, like the base to DNA to protein qualitative change, after the birth of different types of models, it is like a colorful explosion of life, of course, also contains the cruel survival of the fittest. In the future, we will discuss the invention and evolution of a function, the rise and elimination of a technology, the birth and disappearance of a model, and the rise and fall of an industry or an automobile empire.
A00 mini car Chinese market ups and downs
Today we want to talk about the current Chinese market is very hot A00 level pure electric products, everyone's feelings may start from the Hongguang MINIEV hit and red, in fact, A00 level products almost throughout the development history of the entire Chinese auto market, and A00 level electric products are almost the beginning of China's new energy market. Of course, it is not only the Chinese market that has such a car, but also similar models in areas that meet its survival needs, but the Chinese characteristics are also a feature that we are talking about today. Since it is the theory of evolution, we will start from the origin and look at the ups and downs of A00-level products on the land of China through the advancement of the timeline.
Van this economical and practical model continues to this day, carried forward by Wuling and even become the totem of the Chinese automotive industry, and Xiali opened the Beginning of the A00 level of the Chinese automobile market, that is, the beginning of small / micro cars, with the gradual increase in the domestic production rate of Xiali vehicles, the technology bought out from Japan was gradually digested by Jinqi people, Xiali began to slowly erupt its production capacity potential, when in 1996 more than 80% of the domestic rental cars were Xiali, and there were also various magic models such as the Pulley Sedan. Time into the millennium, in 2001 the mainland joined the WTO International WTO, the economy and the world in line, the domestic market completely opened to the world, at this time the automobile market has undergone earth-shaking changes, it is time to say to XiaLi, "Lord, the times have changed."
China's auto market with the influx of overseas excellent auto products, into an era of rapid growth, due to the huge generation difference between the domestic automotive industry and overseas enterprises, the market for technology has begun, China's own brands have entered a dark era, but also the accumulation of wages and guts. China's automobile industry began to embark on the road of the development of the world's automobile industry, starting from imitation, reverse development, accumulating technology, trying to innovate, of course, A00-class small and micro cars are a low-cost and inexpensive object. Chery QQ can be said to be the memory of several generations of Chinese on the domestic car, this rounded car carries one Chinese family after another to run to the well-off, this model that has generated millions of sales has withdrawn from the historical stage in about 13 years.
The above historical review of fuel A00-class mini-cars does not make you have a certain understanding of Chinese characteristic mini-car products? In the process of China's economic rise, the automobile market follows the rules of development, so that as many people as possible to drive the car products in the market development of the early rise to get extra favor, the Chinese market epic scale effect amplified the final effect, with the improvement of consumption level of micro cars by the market eliminated, or even completely disappeared. It seems that the A00 mini car is completely unable to adapt to the new market environment, full of natural enemies, and there is nowhere to forage, and extinction is the result of natural selection.
The new energy era of life explosion
The remaining fire is waiting for the opportunity of the next life explosion, and as global carbon emissions face great pressure, the new energy wave set off, the entire market environment changes accordingly. The strategy of changing technology in the domestic market has also ended with the gradual end of fuel vehicles, and the rise of Chinese auto brands and the rise of China's new energy industry are unstoppable. As if it is the cycle of life, the opportunity for the rebirth of the automobile industry nirvana has activated the remaining fire, and the pure electric A00-class mini-car products have become the starting point for almost all manufacturers to test the water of new energy. Low cost, fast research and development, instantly let the once almost extinct A00 mini car come back, as if the ready-made shell of a four-wheel drive car can run with two batteries. Of course, the early policy support is huge, and the state subsidy for each off-line vehicle has also become an additional driving force, and even become a means for many brands to survive, of course, the hard-hit area of deception is still electric buses.
There are less than 50,000 ultra-low-priced products, a huge number of consumers captured in an instant, from the consumer point of view, the threshold for obtaining automotive products has been further reduced, for manufacturers there is more than one market segment cake bigger, for the new energy industry, the penetration rate and ownership of electric vehicles has increased significantly, consumers have benefits, manufacturers have new growth points, and unexpectedly improved the industry environment and living soil. At present, the policy side is basically in place in terms of subsidies, electric vehicles are about to compete fairly with fuel vehicles, and some super-large cities such as Shanghai have implemented a one-size-fits-all policy for small-size low-cost electric vehicles, canceling the policy of free license delivery, but the scope of influence is relatively small.
The Chinese market generates real demand
A00-class mini car in the early days of Europe popular, largely because of the many old city roads in Europe under the narrow parking resources shortage, to this day Europeans still like small size models; Japan's K-car has also been small size and famous, Japan's super large urban circle matured early, road and parking resources contradictions seriously intensified, in Tokyo want to buy a car is eight, you have to buy a parking space to buy a car, the policy stimulates K-car to flourish, and space and humanized design is their strength In China's megacities, such as Shanghai, the contradiction between vehicle ownership, parking space resources, and urban road planning has not yet reached the level of serious intensification. Beijing, where the only contradiction is more prominent, is firmly occupied by the old scooters, the new energy lottery indicators are also strictly controlled, and the A00-class pure electric mini-vehicle with Chinese characteristics is still the strategy of encircling the city from the perspective of the market.
Chinese consumers from the beginning actually do not need such a small size of the car, Chinese consumers have never liked such a small size of the car, from the previous narrative we found that the huge volume of the Chinese automobile market is unique in the world, the scale effect of the impact will exceed the actual demand to a certain extent, we are not from the demand side to give birth to the A00 mini car, but there is a natural existence of ultra-low-cost models such an ecological niche, as for what the product is, in fact, it does not matter at all. Until Hongguang MINIEV pried open the consumer's last coin purse with an ultra-low price, we know that Chinese consumers are more sensitive to price, from this point of view, we will talk about the product again, in order to observe the micro-analysis more thoroughly.
Hongguang MINIEV became popular for a period of time after the listing, becoming the traffic password on the major short video platforms, but the good times were not long, many car dismantling columns began to work, the steel tube chassis was simple and the cost of the body was extremely low to ensure safety, and we returned to the era without air bags, the functional design was almost zero, the rear practicality was almost zero, and the smart cockpit degenerated to white goods. But the hot sales prove the recognition of the market, and 650,000 vehicles have been sold in just over a year after the listing, which also proves that the ecological niche of such products is actually anchored in price, and has nothing to do with the product.
After the frenzy subsided, the rationality of consumers returned, and Wuling's survey on user needs found that 29% of users wanted to improve endurance, 17% wanted to improve charging speed, and 16% wanted to upgrade quality. Now Hongguang MINIEV has experienced the update of the macaron version and the GAMEBOY version of the two versions, has a more complex product line, and the first "original personalized customization service platform LING LAB", through this platform users can choose the original accessories for personalized modification of the car, the upper limit of the price range is obviously floating, but the price of the entry car 32,800 yuan is still its core competitiveness. Upgrading products while developing innovative gameplay, Hongguang MINIEV's product vitality is much higher than many people think, and may still be the benchmark of domestic A00-class micro pure electric vehicles for a long time in the future.
At present, many manufacturers' A00-level micro-pure electric vehicle products have undergone a stage of convergence and evolution, and have begun to have different development routes and gameplay, but in the future, they will still be limited by costs, but the price is the lifeline of mini cars, and cost reduction and efficiency increase have become the most important link. In the future, the greatest potential in the battery can be tapped, and the foreseeable CTC technology may be a breakthrough, throwing away the module, losing the whole package, and integrating the battery cell directly into the site, the most obvious improvement is that the density of the battery per unit space is greatly improved, and the cost of achieving the same cruising range will be reduced. In the future, A00-class mini-cars are likely to have a longer mileage without rising prices, and you may ask manufacturers will be so conscientious? What I want to say is that it is the reality to roll in the Chinese market, as long as there is competitiveness, it will always be consumers.
(Photo/Text/Photo: Hong Xiaofeng, Pacific Auto Network)