Since the first half of this year, new energy vehicles have been rolling prices, before BYD engaged in "oil and electricity at the same price", and then NIO officially lowered, the market pattern is approaching the rhythm of price wars, even luxury brands are inevitable. In the face of such a game, can mainstream luxury brands keep up?
The answer is unquestionable, after all, based on user needs is the more important choice. In the luxury brand new energy vehicles, Cadillac fired the first shot of price reduction in the second half of the year, and its pure electric Ruige was reduced by 60,000 yuan in the form of equity adjustment, and at the same time, new car buyers can use a deposit of 2,000 yuan to deduct 20,000 yuan to buy a car, so that the starting price of the new car will drop to the 350,000 range.
In fact, the way of optimizing rights and interests, NIO has also done this before, in my opinion, this is a more flexible approach, it maximizes the benefits for consumers, but also gives consumers more choices for value-added rights. Everyone chooses according to their own car situation, and makes every choice come from the user's willingness.
Someone said before: 450,000 Ruige is a bit expensive. So is the current 350,000 Ruige fragrant?
Let's take a look at the 350,000-level pure electric SUV, the main competitors of Ruige are two, one is BMW iX3, the other is NIO ES6, both of which start at more than 300,000 yuan, but their positioning is a mid-size SUV, if the car selection conditions plus medium and large SUVs as a premise, Ruige in its price is a dimensionality reduction blow, whether it is size or space, Ruige has greater advantages.
In addition to the level dimensionality reduction strike, the technological advancement of Ruige is also a level that is difficult for competitors to achieve, because Ruige is backed by GM's Ultraneng pure electric platform. Friends who are familiar with electric vehicles know that the Autotron platform should be one of the most advanced electric vehicle platforms in history, because it can derive models of various levels, sizes and styles through extremely high modular ideas like playing Lego. Taking the battery pack as an example, the current battery pack of the Autotronic platform provides 8 modules, 10 modules, 12 modules, or 24 double-layer arrangement modules, covering the power level of 50kWh to 200kWh.
From the Cadillac Rege, Buick E4, and then to the Hummer EV, they are all masterpieces of the Autotron platform, and to adapt to so many models with a large span of classes and great differences in use and positioning, it can be seen that the scalability and high potential of the Autotron platform are strong. In contrast, the iX3's CLAR platform is essentially a transitional product of BMW's response to electrification, which relies more on pre-designed power battery packs, and the traces of "oil to electricity" are obvious.
As a platform based on global needs and standards, the battery development and testing conditions of the Autotronic platform far exceed the national standard of China's new energy vehicles, of which the extrusion test standard is 3 times that of the national standard, and the test standard of open flame burning is 2 times.
wBMS is also a highlight of the Ultra Energy platform, the so-called wBMS is the wireless battery management system, which eliminates 90% of the wiring harness in the battery pack, which is conducive to making room for more battery packs to improve battery life. After the battery pack is networked, the benefits are not only these, it can also monitor the status and health of the battery in real time through the cloud, and ensure battery safety at all times. It can be said that the intelligence of the Autotronic platform goes deep into the bottom layer of the power battery, which is a generation stronger than other competing products.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration that the Autoneon platform is the culmination of modular and intelligent pure electric platforms.
The car building platform is the basic condition that determines whether a car is advanced, but it is also an implicit condition, it is not as conspicuous and straightforward as the large screen and radar sensors all over the body, but it can allow users to perceive the value of high perfection throughout the life cycle. The platform determines the potential and functionality of a car, but also the driving experience.
Existing new forces competing products, aside from the highlights of intelligence, in the dimension of drivability can achieve a car as perfect as the joint venture car, can be described as rare. As a century-old car company, Cadillac's car-making heritage is not something that new forces can catch up. In terms of drivability, Ruige is the top level in the current 350,000-level pure electric SUV, its steering accuracy is very good, the positive force gain is linear and delicate, the hand feeling is solid, the steering feel is better than ES6, and it is not inferior to the iX3, Ruige's driving style is relatively more supple, stable and comfortable to drive; Compared with the handling, Ruige's chassis comfort is stronger than that of the iX3, although the vehicle weighs more than 2.5 tons, its suspension tuning is very good, it can effectively absorb long-wave vibration at high speed, and it has a very efficient filtering efficiency at low speed, showing the ability to iron the road surface.
Ruige currently has single-motor models and dual-motor models, as the main sales of single-motor models have 255kW (347Ps) of power, 6.35 seconds "breaking 100" acceleration faster than BMW iX3, for most users is already a surplus level. As for the 369kW (510Ps) dual-motor version, it is suitable for those who are obsessed with the absolute acceleration of electric vehicles.
In terms of performance, the efficiency of Rego is more worthy of mention, thanks to the extremely high level of integration and design capabilities. Even if the car weighs more than 2.5 tons, the power consumption is only 16.3kWh/100km, and the CLTC range can reach 653km, which is stronger than the iX3 and ES6, and the performance is not worth the standard, which greatly alleviates mileage anxiety.
And in the era of electrification, the low center of gravity and the 50:50 axle-load ratio make Cadillac's handling more pleasant and neat, and the 265mm wide tires also make it have a higher control limit, which is a "very comfortable fast car" in summary.
It is rumored that mainstream luxury brands are not as intelligent as new forces, and in the eyes of Ruige, this statement is not entirely true.
As a latecomer, the new force took the lead in capturing the minds of consumers in advance through the highlights of intelligent driving assistance that came later. The lag of mainstream luxury brands in publicity does not prove that they have been left behind by new forces on the road of intelligent driving. On the contrary, the accumulation of intelligent driving assistance technology of mainstream luxury brands may be more than that of new forces, but it may be subject to more stringent safety standards and are still being verified and optimized.
The new generation Super Cruise super assistant driving system equipped by Cadillac Ruige has a record of more than 80 million kilometers and zero accidents. Relying on 1 long-range radar + 5 short-range millimeter wave radars + 4 surround view cameras + 12 ultrasonic radars, as well as the perception logic combined with centimeter-level high-precision maps, it has high hardware redundancy. In addition to the basic functions of lane keeping, adaptive cruise, and driver facial monitoring, it will automatically overtake if it encounters a slow car ahead, and the latter function can only be implemented on the LKA PLUS, which is ideal for the recent OTA push.
As for the intelligent human-computer interaction level, Ruige is equipped with a 33-inch 9K resolution surround curved screen with 271PPI display accuracy. This curved screen has an extremely narrow border, the display effect is very delicate, the simple UI and clear font are clear and intuitive to read, and like ES6, Ruige has a built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, and its potential in functionality and continuous OTA upgrades is not lost to the former. Around this curved screen, Ruige's wrap-around cockpit design is not only innovative, but also does not forget the inheritance of classics, that is, the consistent luxury atmosphere of the Cadillac brand, the fine workmanship of the interior, and the selection of materials, whether it is visual perception or tactile are superior level. In contrast, the interior of the iX3 is almost identical to the X3 of the fuel, and the traces of the oil truck are obvious; ES6 is a subtraction in design to create a cleaner and purer minimalist style.
The above are the hard power of Ruige's rational level, and the emotional appearance part is where Ruige is discussed more. Its exterior is very conceptual, combining Cadillac's classic car elements with a sense of technology, the gorgeous front face has a diamond-cut sharpness, and the through-the-line taillights that extend to the D-pillar are also a highly recognizable design.
Even if the logo is covered, it can be recognized as a Cadillac at a glance.
Back to the question at the beginning, after the official drop of 60,000, is Ruige worth buying? My answer is yes, after all, cars are not fast-moving products, safety, reliability and durability are still the underlying needs of consumers to buy cars, and these considerations are precisely where mainstream luxury brands are more willing to spend.
Looking for 350,000-level medium and large pure electric SUVs in the product library, the mainstream luxury brand model is only Ruige, which alone is enough to make it the "most preferred" label. On the other hand, looking at competing products at the same price level, the space, power, endurance and even mechanical quality of the iX3 are not as good as Ruige, although ES6 is better than iX3, but its mechanical quality and platform completion are not as good as Ruige.
I am optimistic about Ruige's product itself, not only because of Cadillac's American luxury, nor just because of the extremely high completion and potential of the Autotron platform, but because a luxury brand with a century-old car manufacturing heritage is determined to break the old and make a new one when facing the electrification transformation. The product power displayed by Ruige is the most innovative one among the mainstream luxury brand competitors, and it is also the one with the highest degree of perfection among the new competitions, which is worth savoring.