ZEEKR MIX: What is the fate of the new species?
Following the ZEEKR X, another ZEEKR SUV did not take the rule of naming with numbers, but was named "ZEEKR MIX".
Previously, the official explanation was that the "X" chosen by ZEEKR represents the unknown solution of the equation and refers to infinite possibilities.
As for "MIX", ZEEKR said that this is a crossover model that combines the large space of MPV, as well as the advantages of SUV passability and driving control.
Can the advantages of such a hybrid open up a new world for ZEEKR MIX?
Regarding the ZEEKR MIX, it is officially positioned as a "mid-size SUV".
The level positioning of the medium-sized car is consistent with the ZEEKR 007, and the ZEEKR MIX also uses a 90-inch giant screen light strip like the former.
By typing, displaying patterns and dazzling lighting effects, the giant light strip will give the car even more personality.
Such a rather individual orientation is also reflected in its positioning as an "SUV".
At a glance, the short nose, high body, and van side design of ZEEKR MIX make it easier to give people the look and feel of an MPV.
However, ZEEKR is not willing to put it in the MPV market with a smaller capacity, but wants to seek a bigger breakthrough as an SUV.
To this end, ZEEKR MIX provides a single-motor version with a maximum power of 310kW, which is not only stronger than the single-motor version of the M5, but also close to the entry-level model of the Model Y four-wheel drive version.
In addition, referring to the Volkswagen ID.BUZZ GTX, which is also a "macho version of the baby bus", the maximum power of the dual-motor version is only 250kW, which also reflects the fierceness of the materials used in the ZEEKR MIX.
In addition, according to the front double wishbone + rear multi-link independent suspension adopted by ZEEKR 007, it is expected that the same level of ZEEKR MIX will also choose the same configuration.
From this point of view, the driving strength of ZEEKR MIX will surpass that of many MPVs, no wonder ZEEKR has the confidence to crown the new car as an SUV.
On this basis, the official also mentioned that the ZEEKR MIX has the passability of not losing to the SUV, which indicates that the new car will be equipped with air suspension, which is worth looking forward to.
In addition to the driving control strength given to the SUV, the main focus of ZEEKR MIX is inseparable from its MPV characteristics.
With a length of less than 4.7 meters, the new car offers a wheelbase of more than 3 meters, which can be said to maximize the cockpit attributes of "four wheels and four corners".
As for the body height of 1755mm, it is basically the same as the 1760mm of the mid-size MPV Trumpchi E8, and it is significantly higher than that of ordinary SUVs.
Under such a figure, what ZEEKR MIX has to do is to give full play to the comfortable selling points of MPV.
To this end, the new car will adopt a new door opening method, in which the driver's side will adopt the usual method of "conventional front door + side sliding rear door".
It is worth mentioning that in order to achieve such a structure of side-opening side sliding doors, the new car will adopt a design that "does not have a traditional B-pillar".
It is not difficult to see that ZEEKR MIX will achieve a hardcore breakthrough in engineering.
It's just that if you want to make an engineering breakthrough, there will inevitably be a price to pay.
At present, the two single-motor versions declared by ZEEKR MIX are 2739kg and 2639kg respectively under the same CATL ternary lithium battery.
Referring to the Model Y mid-size SUV, the heaviest version is only 2,403 kg.
How much of the endurance burden that the engineering breakthrough will cause to ZEEKR MIX is left to the official for further decryption.
Walking into the car, the new car has declared a regular 5-seater version, and the combination of central control large screen interior + wide armrest box looks no different from the general 5-seater car.
As for the disconnection between the centre console and the armrest box to make it easier for front occupants to get in and out of the car, it can also be seen on more and more new car bodies.
On this basis, it is reported that when the ZEEKR MIX is parked, the passenger seat can be rotated 180° to form a cockpit scene where the front and rear seats are seated opposite each other.
Expanding the family car scene is the core appeal of the car.
In addition, ZEEKR MIX will also provide a "3+3" 6-seat design.
Such a double-row large sofa is rare in domestic passenger cars.
Seeking innovation in the seat layout can be said to be a new competitive point for car companies after rolling up the configuration.
In terms of difficulty, it is not difficult for car companies to copy the three-piece set of "refrigerator color TV sofa".
Even the Zeekr X, which is a compact SUV, is equipped with a refrigerator and a zero-gravity seat for the front passenger.
As for the larger Extreme Krypton MIX, these selling points will not be missed, and at the same time3008mmThe long wheelbase also leaves enough application space for large color TVs in the rear row.
In view of this, ZEEKR, which has always "done difficult things", was not satisfied with this, so it chose an innovative seat layout and integrated the driving control strength of an SUV.
It's just that such a new species identity, can there be a play?
Why did ZEEKR release the MIX car?
This can be said to be a decision to push the boat along with the current.
In December 2021, Geely Holding Group announced that it had reached a partnership with Waymo, a self-driving company, under which Zeekr will provide exclusive vehicles for Waymo One's driverless fleet and put them into commercial operation in the United States.
As an exclusive model, the M-Vision is based on the Haohan-M architecture and is designed and developed by the ZEEKR European Innovation Center (CEVT).
A year later, at the 2022 Guangzhou Auto Show, ZEEKR made its debut in China with the M-Vision concept car and announced that the car would be mass-produced in 2024.
And the sister model of this concept car is the ZEEKR MIX.
Referring to the M-Vision concept car, the capsule-shaped body, split side sliding doors, front and rear seats, and large central control screen are all reflected in the ZEEKR MIX.
From the perspective of ZEEKR, since there is a prototype, it is not difficult to launch it after taking it to China for localization and transformation.
Under the objective conditions, "whether you want to, whether you should or not, and whether you dare" to launch such an SUV + MPV hybrid product in China is the thinking point of the top management of ZEEKR.
Since the establishment of ZEEKR, An Conghui, as the CEO, has repeatedly emphasized "doing difficult things".
In addition, he also emphasized that ZEEKR will have products in every market segment, and the goal is to be a benchmark for market segments.
"Whether it's Tesla or some other new force, what it does, I follow it, it's definitely not going to work. 」
"You follow along, always one step slower than others. 」
"Starting from the most difficult product and technology market segments, we have been determined to be the "king of volumes" from the beginning of our establishment."
This also explains why ZEEKR will have a hunting car like 001, and the 009 that dares to launch a luxury pure electric MPV.
As for ZEEKR MIX, as a hybrid, based on the fact that there are no similar products in the current market, it gives it a reason to localize.
Further, many of Geely Holding Group's brands have now adopted the vast structure.
Among them, smart, Lotus, LEVC and other brands have launched a vast number of models, which also makes Geely Holding Group more or less like the Volkswagen Group.
In this regard, An Conghui generously said that Geely Holding Group's goal is to become a Volkswagen Group in the new energy era.
In view of this, based on the fact that Volkswagen launched a ID.BUZZ that is also a "baby bus", this move provides a solid reason for the arrival of ZEEKR MIX.
An Conghui emphasized that it should be a Volkswagen Group in the new energy era, on the one hand, to illustrate Geely Holding Group's multi-brand strategy, which is based on different brand positioning and different market segments.
Secondly, the sharing of multi-brand architecture will bring a large enough scale to reduce costs.
With this, ZEEKR also has enough bargaining power.
An Conghui said:
"The same car, ZEEKR must be cheaper than others. 」
"In the same period and at the same price, except for Tesla, the gross profit of ZEEKR is in the first echelon of the pure electric category. 」
"Now Geely is a multi-brand supply chain with a unified price, which is an advantage that other companies do not have. 」
It is not difficult to foresee that ZEEKR MIX will also give full play to the core value of "Volume King" and take powerful pricing measures.
Like 007, ZEEKR MIX will divide the intelligent driving hardware solution according to different configuration versions.
It is expected that the low-end version of the new car will use "vision solution + single Orin chip", and the high-end version will be equipped with "single lidar + dual Orin chip", both of which are ZEEKR's self-developed intelligent driving solutions.
In addition, it is not ruled out that the low-profile version of ZEEKR MIX will adopt a "5-seat layout + traditional door opening structure", while the high-end configuration will be "6-seat layout + side-opening side sliding door scheme".
If you simply look at ZEEKR MIX as a 5-seater car, the biggest selling point of the car is basically "large space".
In addition, the combination of "refrigerator sofa and large color TV", as well as the traditional strong power selling point of ZEEKR, will also add a lot of color to the new car.
In this way, the positioning of the ZEEKR MIX is a larger ZEEKR X.
Regarding the Zeekr X, the car has a variety of space, dual motors and luxury characteristics that are rare in the A-class.
For this reason, officials had expected to sell up to 7,000 units a month, but in the end it backfired.
Among the A-class luxury SUVs, only the BMW X1, which provides a cross-level rear space, can reach monthly sales of 10,000 units.
"Big is good, big is good to sell", this is still the theorem of China's auto market.
Of course, this theorem is not absolute.
As early as 2007, Nissan launched the Liwei, which also emphasizes large space and is also an SUV + MPV hybrid.
But in the end, this product did not leave much success.
In fact, the Chinese market has always had a high market threshold for "hybrid models".
As a hybrid of sedan + SUV, Honda Costa once hoped to win with a large load space, but the abrupt shape was somewhat inconsistent.
As for the degree of preference for coupe SUVs by Chinese users, only the Model Y has enough market convincing power so far.
So when it comes to the ZEEKR MIX, will it repeat the mistakes of Nissan Liwei and Honda Costa, or will it complete the breakthrough like the Model Y?
As a hybrid of MPV + SUV, this means that ZEEKR MIX will face two competitors in different market segments.
In terms of the independent second-row exclusive configuration that MPV has, ZEEKR MIX does not.
In terms of the domineering shape that an SUV should have, as well as the ground clearance passability that gives people confidence, ZEEKR MIX does not either.
At this time, only focus on the selling point of large space, is this enough for a 200,000-level pure electric car?
You know, there are more options for MPVs and SUVs at the 200,000 level.
In addition, if ZEEKR MIX emphasizes the car use scene of multi-person families, this is also contrary to the demand characteristics of the current MPV market.
Last year's MPV, which ranked among the top sellers, all had engines.
Among them, the Trumpchi E8, which is a plug-in hybrid MPV, was sold at 209,800 yuan, trying to reproduce the hot sales of the 300,000-level Denza D9 DM-i, but the results were not ideal.
As for the high-end pure electric link, the recent failure of the ideal MEGA has sounded the alarm for the whole industry.
From this point of view, it is worth looking forward to how the ZEEKR MIX will break the game in the future and whether it can reproduce the unexpected performance of the hunting car ZEEKR 001.
ZEEKR has to do difficult things, and its attitude is worthy of affirmation.
For latecomer brands, doing difficult things means not only rolling out value in the red ocean, but also daring to attack the blue ocean market segment and find their own market dividends.
In the 001 of the hunting car, ZEEKR did find such a market opportunity.
But when it comes to ZEEKR X and 009, the market seems to present a different answer.
Therefore, whether ZEEKR 001 should be regarded as an example with luck colors, or as a follow-up model can be used as a reference, only ZEEKR itself can figure it out.
After thinking about it, it is natural that you will be able to take the market expectations that ZEEKR MIX deserves.