Huawei, Geely, and Chery besieged Tesla, but accidentally injured Xiaomi?

In April this year, the Shanghai Auto Show allowed domestic and foreign automobile practitioners to witness the "hurricane" of China's new energy vehicles.

The competition for new energy vehicles in China is so fierce that it can be turned upside down in half a year. In April this year, China sold 636,000 new energy vehicles, and six months later, in October, that number soared by nearly 50% to 956,000.

From November 17th to 26th, the 2023 Guangzhou Auto Show will come as scheduled. As one of the highest-priced auto shows in China, the Guangzhou Auto Show is known as the "vane of China's auto industry", and although it has only been 7 months since the Shanghai Auto Show, Chinese car companies still brought enough surprises.

It is reported that the total number of vehicles on display at this year's Guangzhou Auto Show is 1,132, including 59 world premieres, 20 concept cars, and 469 new energy vehicles. Among them, it was announced that nearly 20 models will be launched/pre-sold in November and December, including many popular models such as Wenjie M9, Xpeng G9, Li MEGA, and Zeekrypton 007.

It is worth mentioning that this Guangzhou Auto Show also unveiled a number of popular medium and large pure electric cars, their wheelbase is basically 2900mm-3000mm, and the price range is concentrated in 220,000-350,000 yuan, including Huawei's blessing of Zhijie S7 and AVATR 12, Geely Galaxy E8, Zeekrypton 007, Chery Xingtu Star Era ES, Volkswagen ID 7, etc. Coincidentally, they are both the first all-electric sedans launched by their respective brands, and both are scheduled to be launched within this year.

The same time node, the same price positioning, and the same special significance determine that these models are destined to face fierce competition. And in addition to competing with each other, they also have a common opponent - the Tesla Model 3, which will be a mountain that they must overcome.

In the first half of this year, even as the facelift was approaching, the Model 3, which has been released for seven years, still sold 90,000 units in China, with an average of 15,000 units per month, and at its peak, its monthly sales once exceeded 30,000 units.

Now, Huawei, Geely, Chery, and even Volkswagen have begun to hunt for the Model 3 in an all-round way.

Huawei: "Hongmeng Zhixing" is unified, and the "Chinese content" soars

On the eve of this year's Guangzhou Auto Show, Huawei's two pure electric models, the Zhijie S7 and AVATR 12, have been unveiled. The former, led by Huawei and cooperated with Chery, is the first pure electric sedan of Huawei's smart car, and has been pre-sold at a pre-sale price of 258,000 yuan to 358,000 yuan, while AVATR is a joint venture between Changan, Huawei, and CATL, and the intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving solutions are provided by Huawei, and has been officially launched with a price of 300,800 yuan to 400,800 yuan.

Both cars are positioned as C-class pure electric sedans, with prices of about 300,000 yuan, and both adopt Huawei's technologies in core technologies, such as Huawei's intelligent driving solution, Hongmeng intelligent cockpit, and Huawei's motor.

Previously, at the Zhijie S7 press conference, Yu Chengdong frequently benchmarked the Zhijie S7 against Tesla Model S, but according to its pre-sale price, Zhijie S7 is obviously aimed at Model 3, with a starting price of 258,000 yuan and a new Model 3 of 261,400 yuan.

It is worth mentioning that the booth opened by Huawei at this Guangzhou Auto Show is called "Hongmeng Zhixing", instead of "Huawei" or "Wenjie", "Zhijie", the reason has been announced at the Zhijie S7 press conference.

To put it simply, HarmonyOS will become the brand identity of Huawei's smart car in the future, which can provide a unified and open operating system platform for intelligent driving, such as intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving, and other HarmonyOS application ecosystems. It is understood that the models of Wenjie, Zhijie, and the follow-up cooperation between Huawei and BAIC and JAC will all be owned by Hongmeng Zhixing.

The reason why Huawei does this is not difficult to understand, HarmonyOS Zhixing can still be deeply branded with Huawei without directly using the Huawei brand, which is equivalent to establishing a new technology brand for Huawei's automotive business. This is also a new attempt by Yu Chengdong to use Huawei's brand influence after the unsuccessful attempt to mark the "Huawei standard" at the beginning of this year.

At present, Hongmeng has been quite well-known in China, with the continuous hot sales of Huawei Mate 60 series mobile phones, Hongmeng has been in the limelight for a while, so it is a wise choice to use "Hongmeng Zhixing" to endorse Huawei's smart car business.

It should be pointed out that at present, only Wenjie and Zhijie belong to "Hongmeng Zhixing", and AVATR is the partner of Huawei's HI model.

However, Huawei's achievements in pure electric vehicles are not obvious at present. In September last year, Huawei launched the M5 EV version, although it also has the blessing of Huawei's intelligent driving, but its sales have been tepid. From January to August this year, the sales volume of the M5 series was 22,800 units, with a monthly average of only 2,845 units.

However, after the release of the new M7 in September this year, it turned the tide and has won more than 90,000 large orders so far, and front-line employees bluntly said that "I have never been so busy".

Zhijie S7 inherits the aura of Huawei, and the popularity of this Guangzhou Auto Show is unprecedented. On the morning of November 17th, Yu Chengdong personally explained the wisdom of the world S7 at the Hongmeng Zhixing booth, the audience shouted "far ahead", the audience needs to line up to take the wisdom of the world S7 for a short time, and the flow of people in its booth is almost only comparable to BYD's looking up to the booth.

According to the information released by Huawei, the number of orders for Zhijie S7 has exceeded 10,000 units, and the number of orders for AVATR has also exceeded 11,000 units, and the current results are good.

Although the starting price difference between the two cars is 40,000 yuan, the price of the Zhijie S7 intelligent driving version and the AVATR 12 overlap, both of which are around 300,000 yuan. And both have a high "Chinese content", which may also lead to the competition between the two cars. Furthermore. There are also strong brands such as NIO, Ideal, and Zeekr at the same price range, and it is quite challenging for the two cars to stand out.

Geely: Galaxy E8 and Zeekrypton 007 go hand in hand

If you only look at the numbers, Geely has achieved initial success in the new energy market. In October this year, Geely's total sales volume was 277,800 units, of which 106,700 new energy vehicles were sold, a year-on-year increase of 65%, and the monthly penetration rate of new energy reached 38%.

In addition, in October this year, among the top ten plug-in hybrid sales models in China, except for 8 from BYD, the remaining two are Geely - Galaxy L7 and Lynk & Co 08. Both models were launched in the middle of this year, and now they have squeezed into the list in less than half a year, which is enough to see their popularity.

But in the electric car market, Geely's presence is much weaker. Geely's highest-selling EV in October was the ZEEKR 001, with 8,517 units, ranking only 19th in the EV sales list, far inferior to the plug-in hybrid model.

Therefore, this year's Guangzhou Auto Show Geely focused on pure electric vehicles, and at the same time launched two pure electric sedans, Galaxy E8 and Zeekrypton 007.

According to the current information, the Galaxy E8 is Geely's first pure electric sedan developed based on the SEA architecture, and it is also the first pure electric sedan of the Geely Galaxy series. Galaxy E8 length/width/height is 5010/1920/1465mm, wheelbase 2925mm, is currently the only B-class pure electric sedan with a length of more than 5 meters. Its most iconic feature is a 45-inch 8K screen that runs through the main driver and passenger seat, which is unique in the current market.

ZEEKR 007 is the first pure electric sedan of the ZEEKR brand, with a body size similar to the Galaxy E8, and the wheelbase is only 3mm longer than the latter. In terms of power, the peak power of the single-motor version is 310kW, and the motor power of the dual-motor version is 165kW/310kW, which still continues the performance and sports positioning of ZEEKR.

The two cars also have many similar functions and configurations, such as Qualcomm 8295 cockpit chips, both based on SEA vast architecture, and both 800V architecture.

On November 17, the first day of the Guangzhou Auto Show, ZEEKR 007 announced the pre-sale price, starting at 229,900 yuan.

How to evaluate this pricing, consumers gave an answer - ZEEKR Automobile announced that the pre-sale of ZEEKR 007 exceeded 5,000 units within 30 minutes of pre-ordering.

There is no other reason, before this, ZEEKR with an average monthly sales of nearly 10,000 units of ZEEKR 001, has gained a firm foothold in the luxury pure electric market, so most of the outside world predict that ZEEKR 007 as its first pure electric car, the starting price may be around 250,000 yuan, but the final pre-sale price is much lower than expected.

The staff at the ZEEKR booth at the Guangzhou Auto Show told ID: carviews that most ZEEKR employees did not expect the pre-sale price to be so low, and originally thought that it would be the same price as the Model 3.

Although the Galaxy E8 was also unveiled on the first day of the Guangzhou Auto Show, the price information has not yet been announced, and the outside world predicts that its price may be 220,000-300,000 yuan.

Galaxy E8 and Extreme Krypton 007 are facing a similar situation to Huawei, on the bright side, they can help Geely to go both ways, double insurance, but at the same time, they also need to make certain differentiation in terms of functions, products, prices, etc., otherwise it is very easy to "kill each other".

The above-mentioned ZEEKR employee said that it is not clear about the price positioning of the Galaxy E8, but as far as the current information is concerned, the positioning of the two does overlap slightly.

Chery: Independent research and development on the left side, and cooperation with Huawei on the right hand

Chery may be one of the slowest car companies in the new energy transformation of its own brands, after the new energy models have long relied on the support of Chery QQ ice cream and other mini cars, and have not been able to launch medium and large pure electric vehicles, in the new energy vehicle market of more than 100,000 yuan, Chery's sense of existence is far less than that of Changan, Geely and other independent brands.

Now, the arrival of Chery Xingtuxing Era ES fills this gap.

The length, width and height of the Star Era ES are 4945mm, 1978mm, 1489mm, and the wheelbase is 3000mm. On the first day of the Guangzhou Auto Show, the Star Era ES also announced the pre-sale price: 248,000 yuan-358,000 yuan - almost coinciding with the Zhijie S7.

It can also be seen from the blind pricing that the opponents of the Star Era ES also include the popular new cars mentioned above.

Chery also has a "backhand" - the aforementioned Zhijie S7 in cooperation with Huawei.

Zhijie S7 is equipped with a series of Huawei technologies, such as Huawei high-end intelligent driving, Huawei Turing intelligent chassis, HarmonyOS 4 intelligent cockpit, etc., "Chinese content" far exceeds the previous Huawei smart car.

For Chery, the Zhijie S7 is also a double insurance of "not putting eggs in one basket".

But Chery is also facing the same problem as Huawei and Geely, because the pre-sale price is only 10,000 yuan apart, and the Star Era ES and Zhijie S7 may also compete with each other and consume each other.

The staff of the Guangzhou Auto Show Star Era booth told Zhixing Driving Road (ID: carviews) that the Star Era ES focuses on comfortable home use, and the whole system is equipped with air suspension as standard, which is different from the sports driving control style of Zhijie S7, and users can choose it on demand.

In any case, Chery needs to make the Star Era ES form enough differentiation from the Zhijie S7 in terms of functional configuration, so that the two models can complement each other as much as possible and cover more different user groups, rather than self-internal friction.

Volkswagen: Grab new energy tickets

At present, if measured by monthly sales of more than 10,000 yuan, no joint venture brand has really achieved sustained success in the new energy vehicle market. The Volkswagen ID 3, the best-selling electric car among the joint venture brands, sold more than 10,000 yuan a month for the first time in October - at the cost of a price reduction of more than 40,000 yuan. Exchanging price cuts for sales is a last resort for car companies.

Therefore, for Volkswagen and other joint venture brands, competing with their own brands for new energy tickets is the most urgent task at present.

The ID 7 unveiled at this year's Guangzhou Auto Show is Volkswagen's latest attempt, and it is also the first time that Volkswagen has launched a medium and large electric sedan in the Chinese market, so many people see it as the pure electric successor of the Passat.

Last year, SAIC Volkswagen Passat sold 180,000 units in China, which is undoubtedly Volkswagen's popular model, and its popularity in China is beyond doubt. It can be seen that the outside world also has high hopes for the ID 7.

However, there is an essential difference between the two, the ID 7 is a new pure electric model based on Volkswagen's MEB platform, which is the electrification platform that Volkswagen is currently fully promoting. The ID.7 is also larger than the Passat, with a length, width and height of 4940mm/1860mm/1530mm and a wheelbase of 2970mm, which is nearly 100mm longer than the wheelbase of the Passat.

In terms of chassis tuning, interior space, etc., it has always been Volkswagen's strong point, and the ID series has been mediocre in domestic sales, mainly due to the lack of three-electric technology and intelligent capabilities. Relying on accumulation, it is difficult to have a thorough innovation for a while, but intelligence can be relatively quickly supplemented.

According to media reports, the production and commissioning of the ID 7 was completed as early as September this year, and one of the main reasons for the delay in going to market is the car engine. According to AutoPix, the ID.7 has undergone at least seven rounds of in-vehicle system upgrades internally, some to improve features and optimize the experience, but more to deal with the problems that continue to be exposed.

In July this year, Volkswagen announced a partnership with Xpeng, in which the two companies announced that they will jointly develop two Volkswagen-branded electric models for the Chinese mid-size car market based on the MEB platform, which are scheduled to be launched in 2026.

However, the staff of the Volkswagen booth at the Guangzhou Auto Show told Zhixing Driving Road (ID: carviews) that the ID 7 car machine is still developed by Volkswagen. From this point of view, the intelligence level of ID 7 may still be one of its biggest shortcomings.

Although Volkswagen's pace of new energy has accelerated significantly compared to other joint ventures such as Toyota and Honda, the bigger problem now is that Volkswagen needs to compete with faster independent brands, and its biggest competitor is no longer joint venture brands.

According to the data of the China Passenger Car Association, in the first half of this year, the cumulative retail sales of the mainland passenger car market were 9.524 million units, of which the sales volume of independent brands was 5.986 million units, a year-on-year increase of 22.4%, and the market share reached 53.1%, which is also the first time that the independent brand has achieved a semi-annual market share of more than 50%. In the same period last year, this figure was 49.2%, and in one year, independent brands ate nearly 4% of the market share of joint venture brands.

In the new energy market, the retail share of mainstream domestic brand new energy vehicles exceeded 70%, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in October was 60.4%. In comparison, the penetration rate of NEVs under joint venture brands is only 6.5%.

Time is running out for the masses.

Xiaomi: The auto show is absent, but it is everywhere

Although Xiaomi did not participate in this Guangzhou Auto Show, Xiaomi was everywhere at the auto show.

Two days before the opening of the Guangzhou Auto Show, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "ID photo" of Xiaomi Auto - a coupe-style medium and large pure electric car. After the news came out, the keyword "Xiaomi Auto" landed second on the Weibo hot search list, which shows its high market attention.

According to previous revelations, Xiaomi cars will support high-end intelligent driving, 800V high-voltage architecture, etc., and some car reviewers who have visited Xiaomi cars said that its price may be around 300,000 yuan.

However, as mentioned above, in addition to the overall price of AVATR 12 is higher than 300,000 yuan, the starting price of several other models that have announced pre-sale prices is basically around 250,000 yuan - a price point that is close to the Model 3. And ZEEKR 007 "broke through the bottom line" and became the "catfish" in the "catfish" at a price of less than 230,000 yuan.

At this Guangzhou Auto Show, when the above-mentioned models were unveiled, almost all of them were indispensable to a type of discussion: how should Xiaomi cars be good now?

It is also a medium and large pure electric car, can Xiaomi cars achieve stronger technology than Huawei, or is it lower than the price of ZEEKR 007? This is a topic that countless viewers are curious about, and it is also a question that Xiaomi must answer.

Now, everyone is waiting for Xiaomi to make a move, and the most difficult problem is in the hands of Lei Jun.

epilogue

In the domestic automotive industry, there is an analogy quite popular: the current new energy vehicle market is like the smartphone market ten years ago, with a large number of start-up brands mixed, but only a few large factories survived in the end, and Apple will become the final winner.

Many people have moved it to China's new energy vehicle market, thinking that Tesla is another Apple — Apple reinvented the smartphone and made it take the world by storm, and Tesla reinvented the electric car and led the new energy vehicle wave. In the past few years, the sales of the Model 3 and Model Y have indeed proved that Tesla's sales in the same price range far exceed the strength of other rivals.

But when China's new energy vehicles go to the 2023 Guangzhou Auto Show, Tesla's "Apple story" may not repeat itself.

Ten years ago, except for Huawei, almost all domestic mobile phone manufacturers have been "dwelling" in the comfort zone of the low-to-medium price for a long time, and rarely hit the high-end. And now, independent brands are more volatile than Tesla in terms of technology and price in the field of electric vehicles.

In the case of the new Model 3, which was redesigned just two months ago, it is already difficult to find in it any features or capabilities that cannot be achieved by domestic brands. Now, domestic brands can even be sold at lower prices.

Of course, the most important task of car companies today is obviously not to beat a certain company, but to be in the new energy vehicle knockout competition must try to keep themselves alive and become the final winner.

From this point of view, whether or not you can beat the Model 3 is not so important.

This is a "single-plank bridge" that Huawei, Geely, Chery, and even Xiaomi, Volkswagen, and other car companies have to take.