With the acceleration of global new energy, the domestic automobile market has also undergone significant changes, and the market share of new energy vehicles has increased significantly. In recent years, the development momentum of new energy vehicles is flourishing, which can be described as "out of the limelight". But around the Spring Festival this year, new energy vehicle owners have encountered troubles: heavy snow mixed with freezing rain in Hubei, many new energy vehicles are lying on the halfway, and new energy vehicle owners who are blocked on the highway do not dare to turn on the air conditioning and heater in order to save electricity, and even after a long time of traffic jams, the power is exhausted, and they can't continue to drive after the traffic is dredged, and finally they have no choice but to tow away by trailers.
A sudden blizzard brought the new energy vehicle back to the prototype. Especially in extremely cold weather, the actual mileage of the vehicle is seriously reduced compared with the manufacturer's calibration. It's fine to drive in an urban area with well-established charging stations, but if you want to go far away, you really have to weigh it up. Although the temperature is getting warmer now, this problem has always plagued every new energy vehicle owner.
The Hubei Blizzard Freezing Rain incident is like a mirror, allowing everyone to understand a truth: although the new energy wave is menacing, there is still room for improvement in practicality. Therefore, I think that for a long time in the future, fuel vehicles with excellent handling and practicality will still become the first choice of consumers.
To meet the pain points of young people buying cars, fashion and comfort have become the first choice
The embarrassment of new energy vehicles encountering the blizzard in Hubei Province has also given young consumers a wake-up call. For the first car in life, the pursuit of fashion is important, but for young people who pursue driving feeling, it is not a pity to blindly emphasize intelligence and sacrifice driving pleasure and handling experience.
It is for this reason that many joint venture brands take the idea of providing young people with the ultimate driving experience, while inheriting the advantages of power and handling, they also improve the appearance design, space comfort and intelligent technology, so that the driving feeling is more prominent. Here is an example of Dongfeng Honda XR-V, as a joint venture small SUV, what kind of charm does it have to win the love of more than 1.2 million + users?
First of all, in terms of appearance, the XR-V looks stylish and atmospheric as a whole, and it is not inferior to the avant-garde new energy vehicle. The black hexagonal grille with central dot matrix chrome padding gives the front face a more pronounced look, and the AMP UP logo further enhances the front face's recognition, while the horizontal waistline outlines the smooth posture of the body, highlighting the sporty and futuristic look of the car.
Entering the car, the interior design is simple and atmospheric, with a 9-inch DA intelligent screen interconnection system, a high-insulation panoramic canopy and a leather-wrapped multi-function steering wheel, etc., which make the sense of technology and modernity come to the face.
Although positioned as a small SUV, the Dongfeng Honda XR-V is not lacking at all in terms of space comfort. The 2610mm wheelbase creates a spacious space that surpasses its peers. In particular, the rear space has been maximized by Honda's MM space design concept (maximizing occupant space and minimizing mechanical space), increasing the legroom of rear passengers and optimizing the reclining angle of the rear seats to ensure maximum ride comfort.
If the joint venture SUV successfully attracted the attention of Chinese consumers with its advantages of power and handling 10 years ago, it is now a successful fan again with its fashionable appearance design and comfortable riding space. In contrast, Dongfeng Honda XR-V's high appearance, comfort and rich configuration are impressive.
In fact, although some new energy vehicles have begun to emphasize comfort, the price is generally higher, and in the price range of 110,000 yuan, XR-V has a large space beyond its peers, providing users with a more comfortable driving experience, so it is more cost-effective.
Are new energy vehicles really smarter than fuel vehicles?
Is new energy vehicles equivalent to intelligence? This question is also debatable. In fact, although some new energy vehicles priced at more than 200,000 yuan have a certain attraction in high-end intelligence, due to the cost of car manufacturing, the intelligent configuration of new energy vehicles below 200,000 yuan is even inferior to that of fuel vehicles of the same level.
In contrast, Dongfeng Honda XR-V is also full of sincerity in intelligent configuration, Honda CONNECT 3.0 intelligent interconnection system, supporting navigation, car-home interconnection, voice assistant, entertainment retrieval, AI intelligent assistant (synchronization of personal settings), OTA, Wi-Fi Hot Spot, emergency rescue and other human-computer interaction functions. In addition to the easy delivery of various instructions through voice control, the mobile phone remote control function allows you to start the vehicle in advance, turn on the air conditioner and other operations without leaving home, fully demonstrating the convenience of smart travel.
At the same time, in terms of intelligent safety, Dongfeng Honda XR-V is equipped with Honda SENSING safety super sensing driving assistance system, which provides L2 level assisted driving functions. In the event of fatigue during long-distance driving, the ACC active cruise control system can automatically follow the vehicle in front or drive at a fixed speed, providing a more relaxed driver and effectively avoiding dangers and accidents in the vehicle.
When the vehicle is driving in narrow traffic and large urban road sections, the BSI blind spot monitoring system and CTM dynamic reminder system in the Honda SENSING safety super sensing driving assistance system can effectively avoid blind spots and accidental collisions, making travel more secure.
In addition, compared with the problem of range anxiety of new energy vehicles, the advantages of fuel vehicles are highlighted. The XR-V is powered by Honda's Earth Dream 1.5-liter self-aspirating engine mated to a CVT transmission. The maximum power can reach 91kW (124Ps), and the comprehensive fuel consumption is as low as about 6.3L while smoothly outputting power, which is close to the fuel consumption performance of some hybrid models on the highway.
It can be seen that Dongfeng Honda XR-V inherits the excellent power and handling performance of the joint venture SUV, and at the same time, it has also been comprehensively upgraded in terms of intelligent experience, bringing young people a more comfortable experience, and successfully setting a benchmark for small SUVs of the joint venture brand.
Although new energy vehicles are known for their intelligence in communication, in the absence of electricity, no matter how high the technology configuration is, it is a decoration. As a result, in extremely cold weather, some new energy vehicle owners use quilts to heat themselves in order to save electricity. However, fuel vehicles do not have this concern, whether they turn on the air conditioner in summer or the heater in winter, they can be used in unlimited quantities.
New energy vehicles are prone to depreciation, and fuel vehicles have a high value retention rate, which is more reassuring
Finally, let's take a look at the comparison of the value retention rate of fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles. To put it bluntly, despite the current menacing new energy vehicles, but in terms of value retention, even the taillights of fuel vehicles can not be seen.
To put it simply, after a few years of driving, if you want to change your car, then the fuel car can still be sold at a good price. For new energy vehicles, it is facing an embarrassing situation. First of all, second-hand new energy vehicles are basically "cabbage prices", and the vehicle has no value retention rate at all. Secondly, new energy vehicles also face the problem of battery attenuation, and if you want to continue driving, you have to replace the battery. However, what is worrying is that the current cost of replacing the power battery can buy an A-class fuel vehicle. Do you say it's troublesome?
In the "Purple Sandalwood Award 2023 China Automobile Retention Rate Billboard" released by J.D. Power|Jundi and 58 Automobile at the end of 2023, Dongfeng Honda XR-V ranked first in the value retention rate of small SUVs with a 3-year value retention rate of 55.6%, and has been ranked No.1 in the value retention rate ranking of the market segment for many consecutive years.
In terms of value retention, Dongfeng Honda XR-V not only makes new energy vehicles unmatched, but also some mainstream high-end independent fuel vehicles in China. So in the past two years, there have been some new energy car companies to rent battery marketing model, that is to say, consumers spend more than 200,000 to buy a new energy vehicle, but the battery does not belong to themselves, but also to spend a few hundred yuan per month to rent the manufacturer's battery, not to mention the increase in the cost of the car, that is, when not driving to park the basement, the money for renting the battery can not be less. Think about it this way, when you plan to change the car, a new energy vehicle whose power battery does not belong to the owner, will anyone be interested?
For rational consumers, buying and using a car is a comprehensive choice, not only in terms of product considerations, but also in terms of cost performance. As a large-scale car company with a large user base, Dongfeng Honda's product strength is still very stable even under the involution of the industry, and the common choice of 1.2 million+ users has witnessed the product advantages and good reputation of XR-V.
In all fairness, despite the obvious development trend of new energy vehicles in recent years, fuel vehicles have advantages in practicality and comfort in the process of daily travel and long-distance driving. At the same time, for users who pay attention to the driving feeling, the driving feeling of fuel vehicles is also incomparable to that of new energy vehicles. Therefore, as a representative of small SUV fuel vehicles, XR-V's excellent product power and high cost performance are the wise choice of young people today.