Author丨Fang Poetic
Editor丨Six sons
For a brand of new energy new forces that has not been established for a long time, how much monthly delivery can be regarded as crossing the dividing line of key points? If you have observed the development process of a series of new forces, monthly delivery of more than 10,000 may be the most popular answer. But what if this car brand is not an ordinary "parity" brand, but a high-end product pattern?
Perhaps the most convincing answer to this question is VOYANT. As a high-end new energy brand born from Dongfeng Group, VOYAH completed the closed-loop high-end product pattern of "SUV + MPV + sedan" in 2023, and entered the new competition year with outstanding results without a small peak in the overall sales of the auto market at the end of the year - according to VOYAH's official data, in December 2023, VOYAH delivered 10,017 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 479%, and in 2023, the annual sales volume reached 50,552 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 160% , successfully rushed to a new highland of development.
*Source: VOYAH official website
Nowadays, there are not many brands and models in China that boast of being high-end, but there are still a few groups like VOYAH that have a consistent overall tone and consumer recognition. Perhaps, in order to challenge the "old power" of the market that traditional luxury brands have accumulated over the years, it is necessary to rely on a series of overall routes set by VOYAH from the beginning of its establishment. This kind of strategic correctness, like a kind of gene, dominates VOYAH to constantly seize the leading position in the market.
01
"The Victory of "Three Masterpieces in Three Years"
New energy is surging, and China's luxury car market is not stable. In particular, the existence of the price war in 2023 has caused the prices of many models with traditional luxury positioning to fall to "leapfrog" and grab business with other peers.
In a report last week, Jiemian News quoted the statistics of Li Yanwei, an expert of the Expert Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, that in 2023, China's luxury car sales will reach 3.8224 million, of which CR4 occupies about 77% of the share, and all the four major brands have increased to varying degrees, which perfectly interprets the high-end, The brand Matthew effect in the luxury market: the more brands are positioned in this range, the more they will form an overall identity at the level of social sales, so as to continuously focus on high-end concepts and focus on them.
Conversely, as luxury brands have a stronger corporate heritage, in the face of the price war in 2023, they will share risks with dealers through subsidies and other means to ensure sales, so as to maintain their market position and brand image in a volatile market.
Obviously, to emerge a new high-end brand in such an environment, and it is also a domestic brand, undoubtedly means a huge challenge. But it is precisely because of this that VOYAH's performance is precious: it not only responds to the market's doubts and concerns with annual sales of more than 50,000 units and the overall sales volume of "seven consecutive increases", but also demonstrates the strength of domestic high-end brands to develop by leaps and bounds in subdivided models.
*Source: VOYAH official website
Taking the MPV VOYAH Dreamer as an example, data shows that 64% of its owners come from luxury car trade-ins. In December 2023, the monthly sales volume of the VOYAH Dreamer exceeded 5,000 units, achieving four consecutive monthly sales increases, while also firmly standing in the first echelon of the high-end MPV market.
In April 2023, VOYAH launched the VOYAH FREE, in October, the new VOYAH Dreamer was launched, and in December, the VOYAH PHEV completed the VOYAH product matrix puzzle. So far, VOYAH has achieved a comprehensive refresh of the fourth generation of the models on sale in 2023.
A notable sign of the market acceptance of these products is that since August, VOYAH has seen an increase in deliveries of more than 1,000 vehicles per month. You must know that even the VOYAH Chasing Light PHEV, which is positioned at the lowest price level and positioned as a luxury hybrid, has a starting price of more than 250,000 yuan. Car owners who can firmly choose VOYAH are bound to be high-value users.
Moreover, market data shows that according to the matching of annual sales and deliveries with the annual targets announced by car companies, only a few brands such as VOYAH, Ideal, BYD, and Geely have successfully completed their 2023 targets. For example, Xpeng's annual delivery of 141,600 vehicles is only 70% of the original target of 200,000 vehicles. Xpeng, like VOYANT, originally had its own perfect product matrix, but from the perspective of its delivery, Xpeng's product strength obviously did not reach its expected positioning, which dragged down the market performance. Similarly, NIO, which delivered 160,000 vehicles for the whole year, only achieved 65% of its annual target, and after enjoying the early market dividends, the brand's novelty gradually disappeared and the growth momentum was lacking.
On the other hand, in 2023, VOYAH will completely complete the strategic layout of "SUV + MPV + sedan" and "three cars in three years and three categories in three years", and realize the sales volume within the year, achieving the synchronization of high quality and high efficiency. It is clear who is advancing and who is retreating in the market.
02
"The Hard Power of the "High-end Bureau""
One of the key reasons why VOYAH is different from other car companies is that its initial positioning tone is not low.
You must know that doing high-end in China's auto market means that "breaking the old and creating the new" requires strong confidence and strength. Although discerning Chinese consumers have gradually attracted cutting-edge brands in the perfunctory performance of traditional luxury brands, they are still worried about the existence of factors such as "IQ tax" and "fake luxury". In order to truly raise the ceiling of China's luxury brands and refresh market awareness, VOYAH has carried out a comprehensive and multi-dimensional brand and product layout.
For example, why can the VOYAH Dreamer refresh the image of the Chinese brand MPV as soon as it makes a move? Not only because of its 5.33-meter length, three-zone automatic air conditioning, seat heating/ventilation/massage and other luxury models necessary for strong experience configurations, but also because it has the only front double wishbone rear five-link million-level all-aluminum chassis in the same class, the only million-level magic carpet air suspension + CDC in the same class, and other high-end new energy MPV in the same class of differentiated configurations, which has played the uniqueness of the brand.
*Source: VOYAH official website
In the same way, for the first time, the VOYAH FREE is equipped with Baidu Apollo pilot assisted intelligent driving, which is equipped with air suspension and luxury four-wheel drive as standard, and the Chasing Light PHEV is equipped with the only L2.9 intelligent driving assistance in its class and a million-level magic carpet chassis (air suspension + CDC). The strength of VOYAH's products comes from the strength of hard power.
This is not the bottom line that all car companies can stick to. In 2021, ZEEKR was attacked by users for "cutting leeks" due to disguised price increases and configuration reductions, and An Conghui, then chairman of Geely Automobile Group and CEO of ZEEKR, had to publicly apologize on Weibo; In 2022, Xiaopeng's original turnaround was known as "taking over Porsche" Due to the mistake of strategic positioning, the price allocation management stunned users, and was forced to adjust the price and configuration just after the listing, and continue to make internal adjustments in 2023; in 2023, Nezha Automobile's impact on the high-end was blocked, due to the low end led to poor sales, and exposed the internal shortcomings in the product system, Nezha Auto co-founder and CEO Daniel Zhang publicly reflected on Weibo and made a commitment to "start anew" in 2024.
It can be seen that the new forces are not easy to do, and it is even more difficult for the position of high-end brands of new energy to sit firmly. VOYAH has become a benchmark in the market. As reflected in its product strength, VOYAH's real leading power comes from its internal understanding of high-end and its grasp of the supporting factors for brand development.
From the perspective of product strength, its three series have many "unique in the same class" and leading configurations, which not only grasp the preferences of high-end customers, but also allow the advantages of new energy vehicles to be brought into play.
From the perspective of technical background, VOYAH's product strength essentially comes from a solid underlying support. For example, the Chasing Light PHEV adopts "the industry's first series-parallel hybrid technology based on a pure electric platform", which VOYAH officially calls a hybrid built on the basis of electricity, which is the native technology of the new energy era. Lu Fang, CEO of VOYAH Automotive, said: "In the industry, the ability of our architecture is not far ahead, but we say that it is definitely ahead. ”
In 2023, VOYAH officially upgraded its SOA (Centralized E/E Architecture) launched in 2022 to the "Tianyuan Architecture". The new architecture focuses on intelligent capabilities, connects the software, hardware and electronic modules of the whole vehicle, greatly improves the overall efficiency, and can be customized and developed according to user needs, truly realizing software-defined vehicles, making luxury more intelligent and flexible. According to official data, the Tianyuan architecture reduces the number of controllers by 20%, reduces the weight of the vehicle by 15%, and improves the communication efficiency by 400%, which can meet the technical needs of the next five years and is forward-looking.
*Sourced from VOYANT's official WeChat
In terms of power, the "heart" of new energy, VOYAH Lanhai Power is based on the world's first native intelligent electric architecture ESSA, and has the industry's first central computing platform, which can realize one architecture to extend multiple power solutions and empower different products. It is also equipped with an industry-leading engine and battery kinetic energy system, reflecting VOYAH's leading position in the industry.
From the perspective of user insight, VOYAH's emphasis on security details and user feedback mechanism is more in line with the current target customer group's requirements for the brand, and also enhances VOYAH's position in the hearts of users. For example, as a luxury MPV, the VOYAH Dreamer has the only Chinese new energy MPV C-NCAP five-star safety certification in its class, and once won a 66 km/h offset collision with a Japanese million-class luxury MPV. In 2023, VOYAH will also set up a user co-creation committee to help the brand iterate and upgrade through in-depth communication with user groups.
In fact, the luxury car market is facing the most discerning and appreciative consumers, and the market needs "hexagonal warriors", and it is difficult to break through by price or a certain aspect of the advantage alone. VOYAH is able to lead in every detail, laying the foundation for its overall brand growth.
03
"People-centred Philosophy"
Returning to the new energy vehicle market, fierce competition has become an open trend, and the luxury brand sequence cannot stay out of it. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2023, the domestic production and sales of new energy vehicles will be 9.587 million and 9.495 million units, respectively, an increase of 35.8% and 37.9% year-on-year, respectively, and the market share will reach 31.6%. In November last year, the penetration rate of new energy exceeded 40% for the first time.
The good news is that this pattern will give potential users a sense of goodwill towards expensive luxury new energy brands. However, it will undoubtedly make competitive brands more aware of the opportunities in each market segment. Where is the space in the face of competition? The answer is structural opportunities. Today, brands should learn from the more macro changes in the auto market: under the general trend of the rise of domestic new energy, how to make their brand the role that drives the market segment into a new era.
A typical example of this is the MPV track in which its benchmark model, the VOYAH Dreamer, is located. In the early MPV market, only the low-end had a foothold in models such as SAIC-GM-Wuling, as for the mid-range and high-end, Buick GL8, Toyota Alpha and other models occupied the right to speak "luxury" for a long time. It can even be said that in the memory of a generation, luxury corresponds to foreign companies.
But the VOYAH dreamer tore a hole, not by brute force, but by the sincerity of the brand and the strength of the product. Foreign companies have been in power for many years, and luxury is regarded as a brand style. VOYAH Dreamer illustrates with a series of essential configurations that users can perceive that luxury is a kind of respect for the user experience. In the quiet transformation of this discourse system, more and more people in China have discovered that domestic brands can also be more high-end and more luxurious, and can bring first-class car design and experience. The other two series have undergone similar developments.
As a "national team" born out of Dongfeng Group, it is more meaningful for VOYAH to realize this change. Lu Fang, CEO of VOYAH Automotive, once said: "VOYAH does not do anything that deviates from value and price, and will fully consider the long-term interests of users. ”
"User-centric means 'people-centered', and VOYAH, as a state-owned enterprise and a central enterprise, must resolutely implement the development concept of 'people-centered'. This is Lu Fang's statement.
*Source: VOYAH official website
It can be seen that although VOYAH is not an early player in the new energy market, its brand growth has lofty intentions, sticks to the luxury track, and gradually establishes the right to speak as a domestic brand with real product power, so as to have "brand confidence". For the brand itself, domestic substitution and function mining will naturally help to increase its penetration rate, which is still at a low level, and for a brand like VOYAH with the advantage of precision, this is a development window worth grasping.
In the end, if the strategy is right, the efficiency and quality will be high, and the differences with peers will naturally become prominent. Although the involution of the market will continue, VOYAH still has a higher user penetration rate to sprint, and there are many overseas markets to explore. On the new energy track, VOYAH's blueprint is full of flowers.
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