Edit | Yuer Lake
Produced | Tide Rising Network "Yu See Column"
For the new energy vehicle market, which is in the Spring and Autumn Warring States competition for hegemony, the Matthew effect of local brands is intensifying, resulting in huge brand internal friction.
In February this year, Jiangnan Automobile's first pure electric vehicle, Jiangnan U2, was officially launched. With Jiangnan U2, this long-dormant veteran automobile company has returned to everyone's sight.
Jiangnan Auto has the intention to make a comeback, but the problem is that Jiangnan U2 is in the subdivision of pure electric micro, which is a red sea market that has long been white-hot. Jiangnan U2, as a belated "late player", may not succeed if it does not come up with tricks that are enough to make people shine, and just chooses to follow the trend of new energy.
Especially at present, consumers' requirements for new energy products are also increasing, in addition to the product power of the car itself, but also measure brand reputation, brand after-sales service and other comprehensive strength factors. However, Jiangnan Automobile has always lacked advantages in these aspects, including its parent company "Zotye Automobile", which is always jokingly called "Leather Ruler Factory" in the industry. This makes the survival of Jiangnan Automobile, which is already in the downwind, more difficult.
Gangnam U2, which is involved in "plagiarism" rumors, has little future
Jiangnan U2 is the first new energy model launched by Jiangnan Automobile Manufacturing Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zotye Automobile, after brand upgrade, and mainly targets young families. At present, Jiangnan U2 has been put into production at the Chongqing production base, and it can be delivered as soon as the second quarter of this year.
Jiangnan Automobile, perhaps many young consumers are unfamiliar with this car brand. In fact, Jiangnan Automobile is not a new brand that has just been founded, and its qualifications are much older than many new energy brands today.
The Jiangnan U2, which has just been on the market for two months, has a decent appearance and does not have much highlights. It is reported that Jiangnan U2 has a total of 6 configurations, including 151km, 305km and 406km three endurance versions, and the official guidance price is 56,800-98,800 yuan.
Similar to the Gangnam U2 with a minimum configuration of 151km, and the price is comparable to the Panda MINI2023, both of which are new cars that will be launched this year.
Although the starting price of the Panda MINI is 1,000 yuan more than the Jiangnan U2, the battery life is also nearly 50KM more, and more importantly, it also supports the two relatively important functions of fast charging and rear battery. The only advantage that the Jiangnan U2 can call an advantage is the "L2 level assisted driving" that is rarely equipped in A0-class models.
At present, A0-level pure electric vehicles on the market range from the 20,000-30,000 yuan Wuling Hongguang MINI EV to the Changan Lumin that sells 50,000-60,000 yuan. Among them, the more practical 300-400km endurance configuration is generally priced between 60,000 and 80,000 yuan.
The 403km endurance model of the Leap T03 is priced at only 80,000 yuan, and BYD's dolphin is a strong player with A0 class pure electric under 100,000 yuan. In the face of the current new energy market with such an involuted price, the 150km range configuration price of Jiangnan U2 has actually gone to nearly 60,000 yuan, and the 406km top-equipped model has come to the level of 100,000 yuan.
As a pure electric vehicle, Jiangnan U2 provides 3 types of power, the maximum power is 35KW, 55KW and 80KW, and the acceleration time per 100 kilometers corresponds to 19s, 14.98s and 9.5s respectively, and the acceleration performance is also flat.
For Jiangnan Automobile, which is still a novice in the new energy market, the performance of the first work Jiangnan U2 is very important. But the bad thing is that Jiangnan U2, which has just been listed, ushered in a brand trust crisis at the beginning.
The Gangnam U2 fell into the "plagiarism" scandal because it looked very similar to the Honda E. The controversy over plagiarism intensified, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange sent an inquiry letter to Zotye Auto on this matter, asking Zotye Auto to explain whether Jiangnan U2 is independent in terms of intellectual property rights.
A few days ago, the relevant person in charge of Zotye Auto has come forward to deny the claim of plagiarism. However, consumers judge the appearance of the two models from the naked eye, and still believe that there is a highly similar look and feel.
In fact, from the perspective of the launch of the convertible version of Wuling MINI EV and the pure electric micro MPV under Hongri, the mini car in the atmosphere of high involution has moved towards the stage of diversified attributes. As a latecomer, Jiangnan U2 failed to make its own product features, but fell into the suspicion of "plagiarism".
In general, whether in terms of price or product power, you can't see the sincerity given by Jiangnan U2. Nowadays, models with "homogeneous" product performance cannot easily impress consumers. Therefore, Jiangnan Automobile's goal of entering the field of micro pure electric and then sharing a piece of the cake in the new energy market may be difficult to achieve.
Jiangnan Auto has a bumpy life and its own strength is not sufficient
Gangnam Automobile, which was born in 1980, dates back to the Hanyang Arsenal in the 1890s, and was a state-owned military enterprise before it switched to the automobile industry.
Gangnam Automobile was originally established as a truck and bus manufacturer, and at that time, Suzuki Alto's production equipment and R&D technology were specially imported from Japan. But Jiangnan Auto seems to be not good at other aspects except making cars. It spent about twenty years in obscurity until the "Gangnam Alto" came out in 2003.
An Alto car with a price of less than 20,000 yuan broke through the price bottom line of the automobile market at that time. Therefore, Jiangnan Automobile took advantage of Jiangnan Alto to catch fire and successively launched more new models to the market, such as Jiangnan Fairy, Jiangnan Scenery, Jiangnan Legend, etc.
It is a pity that Jiangnan Automobile has suffered from marketing for a long time, and more importantly, Jiangnan Automobile has always taken the low-end product route, and has not paid enough attention to the investment in automobile quality and after-sales service. As a result, Jiangnan Auto has been selling no splash for so many years, except for Jiangnan Alto.
BYD Dolphin and Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, the reason why they have become "explosive" products in mini cars, in addition to having a first-mover advantage, is also inseparable from the multiple advantages of the brand itself. BYD's own deep cultivation in the new energy market aside, Wuling Hongguang has always been a fish in water on the route of cost performance, and successfully found a blank spot in the market segment to launch products first.
Although Jiangnan Automobile, which was on the verge of bankruptcy that year, received financial support from Zotye Auto and ushered in the resumption of work and production. But if Jiangnan Auto cannot find a new breakthrough, the future of Jiangnan U2 may be the same as the previous Jiangnan elves, so obscure that it disappears and stops production.
In the past few years, there are many local brands that have gradually faded out of consumers' vision, such as Hanteng Automobile, Bisu Automobile and so on. They and Jiangnan Auto have such a commonality - neglecting brand building.
Moreover, now that the new energy market is dominated by mainstream car companies, it is too difficult for a car company that has failed countless times. Punk cars, Reading cars, these are living examples of teaching materials.
As for the parent company behind Jiangnan Automobile, Zotye Automobile, it has just completed its restructuring plan and is still seeking help from the capital market. Although Huang Jihong, the new helmsman of Zotye Automobile, said that the future of new energy is the company's main direction.
However, in the case of its own shutdown, delisting, bankruptcy and reorganization, the help that can be given to Jiangnan Auto may be very limited. Even industry insiders believe that Jiangnan U2 is just a "test piece" of Zotye Automobile, not a real ambition.
Compared with competitors, Jiangnan U2 entered the game late and lacked advantages. Therefore, whether the resurrected Jiangnan Auto can make changes and innovations in brand building, original ability, service quality and other aspects in the future can determine whether it can level the distance with other competitors.
The micro pure electric vehicle market is not very beautiful
Soon after entering 2023, in addition to Jiangnan U2, Dongfeng Nano and Yundu Yutu are all new miniature pure electric products that have just been launched, and this market segment is becoming more and more lively. After all, entering the new energy track from mini vehicles is relatively the path with the lowest threshold.
The reason why so many car companies are actively deploying the mini vehicle market is largely because after the withdrawal of new energy vehicle subsidies, the price disadvantage of compact pure electric vehicles compared with fuel vehicles may be further expanded. Therefore, car companies have set their sights on the micro body that is more cost-effective for consumers.
But the ideal is full, the reality is very skinny. Mini vehicles initially existed as "economical scooters", but in recent years new trends have changed. Mini vehicles are gradually moving towards a more personalized and high-quality direction. This is a great test of the ability of major car companies to control the product power of mini vehicles.
However, it should be noted that although the competition in this market is becoming increasingly fierce and new car companies are constantly joining, the performance of the entire market is not as good as they thought.
According to the data, in the cumulative sales of new energy vehicles from January to October 2022, the year-on-year growth rate of micro pure electric vehicles was only 19%, significantly lagging behind the entire market of 90%, and the growth rate was the second lowest among all models.
In addition, because the price of mini cars is really low, even the best-selling Wuling Hongguang MINI EV has not made any money. If even the best-selling cars are struggling to make profits, the current configuration performance of Jiangnan U2 may not allow Jiangnan Auto to be reborn in the field of new energy.
If Jiangnan Auto continues to proceed in the past, it can only play out the same tragic ending again. This means that Jiangnan Auto's idea of relying on mini vehicles to gain a foothold may be too naïve.
The new energy vehicle market has been surging over the years, and with the passage of time, new energy vehicle companies are not only facing changes and maturity in consumers' concepts, but also the increasingly rational capital market.
epilogue
Jiangnan Automobile, which has been silent for many years, has returned to the public's field of vision again. Although Jiangnan Auto has a bumpy development road, it even faced the darkest moment. However, Jiangnan Automobile not only has vehicle production qualifications, but also has been deeply cultivated in the automotive industry for many years, and the foundation is still there.
Although the growth rate of micro-electric vehicles has slowed down, they are still the main force of new energy vehicle sales. Optimistically, the final pattern of the mini pure electric car market has not been formed, and Jiangnan Automobile, as a new entrant, still has the opportunity to find its own acre and three points of land in it.