The sales of the ideal MEGA are not ideal, and Li Xiang underestimates the cruelty of pure electric competition

[Introduction: When the ideal of the sun has just stepped into the pure electric track and is ready to do a big job, the new car Ideal MEGA has been pushed to the forefront. Among them, it was an ideal MPV that meant to satisfy the happiness of the whole family, but it was made into a "hearse" by various malicious P pictures. If you put aside this unexpected factor, I don't know what kind of report card Ideal MEGA will hand over today, just over a month after its launch?]

Written by Cai Jialun, edited by He Zi

On March 26, Li Auto suspended for the first time the weekly sales data fixed on Tuesdays, which attracted the attention of many car enthusiasts. Since April last year, Li Auto has broken the convention of the automotive industry to release monthly sales and took the lead in releasing weekly sales data, which has received positive marketing results, which has triggered a competition among "friends" to imitate it for a while. Although Li Xiang did not explain the reason for the stoppage, this behavior is believed to be related to the decline in sales and fierce competition in the market. Li Xiang, who has been chasing digital growth, has realized the problem and returned to focusing on product value and user value, and pursuing healthy growth.

On March 21, Li Xiang publicly released a letter to all employees, reviewing the problems that occurred in the listing of the ideal MEGA new car, and said that he was overly concerned about the consequences caused by sales and proposed future solutions. In the letter, Li Xiang believes that there is a rhythm problem with the ideal MEGA, and the company mistakenly treats the operation of the ideal MEGA from the 0 to 1 stage (commercial verification period) as the 1 to 10 stage (the high-speed development period), and Li Xiang admits that he misjudged the pure electric strategy. It has to be said that the cruelty of competition between the pure electric vehicle market far exceeds ideal expectations.

理想mega遇冷症结在哪?

The Ideal MEGA was cold after its launch, which was considered by many to be expected. The highly anticipated launch of the Ideal MEGA is an important watershed in the company's development stage for Li Auto, and all employees, including Li Xiang, are full of confidence in the Ideal MEGA, but Ideal, which has never set foot in the field of pure electric vehicles, obviously thinks about this battle too simply. In the initial listing stage, it is estimated that Li Xiang and the entire team are thinking about where the biggest problem of the ideal MEGA is cold, and the ideal MEGA that is deeply caught in the storm of public opinion may let them attribute the crux of the problem to the "external attack": on the day of the official delivery of the first batch of ideal MEGA, Li Xiang said fiercely on social media that he would use legal means to deal with the illegal and criminal acts in this public opinion incident. But soon Li Xiang changed some of his minds, admitting that part of the problem with Ideal MEGA was internal.

Judging from Li Xiang's reflection, the reason why Ideal MEGA is cold lies in two points: the pace of Ideal MEGA is too fast and Ideal is too focused on the desire to sell. Previously, the ideal company was immersed in the joy of the 2023 L series big sales and turning losses into profits, and the ideal MEGA as a "winning pursuit" product was pinned on high hopes, but they ignored a question, when consumers choose the ideal is to value its range extender models, how many people will be willing to try pure electric models? Obviously, the ideal that is thriving on the range extender track is not enough to make consumers pay for pure electric models. The Ideal MEGA was too eager to go public, which also made Ideal forget that the product was more focused on the needs of users themselves, rather than competing with other car companies. Ideal also re-emphasizes the company's three principles: putting user value first, reaching consensus through co-creation, seeking truth from facts, and correcting mistakes. Li Xiang, who was not fully prepared, introspected himself and adjusted his strategy in time.

The unpredictable MPV market

Ideal has always built its own products around the family, and the success of the Ideal L series is largely due to the family concept proposed by the L series, so that more consumers who want to give their families a safe and comfortable way to travel pay for it. Ideal MEGA still continues the theme of deeply surrounding the family in order to gain a foothold in the MPV market, but is the family MPV market really easy to enter?

With the change in the competitive landscape of the domestic automotive industry, the family MPV market has also begun to change unpredictably. Once in the field of mid-to-high-end MPV, Buick GL8 has absolute dominance, but now the situation of a monopoly no longer exists, independent brands with electrification and intelligent advantages, quickly launched an impact on the MPV market: Denza D9 facelift is the peak, only in early March this year has delivered 3498 units, ranking first in the MPV market sales since March, becoming the fastest MPV facelift on the market; Xpeng X9, Trumpchi M8, Many domestic models such as the Hechuang V09 are among the family MPV market, and these models are mainly favored by consumers with intelligence, youth and low car cost. In terms of the sales of domestic mid-to-high-end new energy MPV models, plug-in hybrid models are the main force, and in the sales of DENZA D9, plug-in hybrid models account for more than 80%, and consumers still favor MPVs without range anxiety as family models.

Putting aside the technical problems of Ideal in the field of pure electric vehicles, only from the current scale of the ideal battery swap network across the country, it is impossible to completely solve the energy supply anxiety of Ideal MEGA users, and the pricing of Ideal MEGA has no advantage over models such as Denza D9 and Xpeng X9. In the past two years, the family MPV market does have room for upward development, but it does not mean that anyone can get a share of the pie in this field.

The ideal MEGA from scratch

Li Xiang gave a solution for the development of Ideal MEGA in the future: it will go through a stage from 0 to 1 similar to Ideal ONE and Extended Range Electric, focusing on the core user groups. The ideal MEGA starting from scratch needs to be improved in many aspects, first of all, the core competitiveness of the ideal MEGA is still insufficient, and the key technical highlight created during the previous winter test is 5C supercharging technology, but it was released by ZEEKR 001, which can be seen that "charging for ten minutes, battery life of 500 kilometers" This biggest attraction is not exclusive to the ideal; the Xpeng X9 released earlier than the ideal MEGA is also a pure electric model, and the technical highlights of the dual-chamber air suspension and active rear-wheel steering system are the first to seize the opportunity as soon as they are announced, and the more important thing is that the price of the Xpeng X9 is much lower than that of the ideal MEGA. In this way, the ideal MEGA is only left with space and the classic "three-piece set": the refrigerator color TV sofa can be promoted. For Ideal MEGA, a new beginning must be built from scratch.

Comments

In the final analysis, the ideal brand potential energy is brought by the extended-range model, and in the case of the lack of full coverage of the energy supplement network and the lack of core technology, it may not be realistic to let users buy it only by virtue of the appeal of its own brand. The design concept of Ideal MEGA is bold and radical enough, but when the appearance is caught in a storm of public opinion, what other product power can Ideal MEGA attract consumers?

(This article is the original of "Heyan Reading Cars", and may not be reproduced without authorization)