South Korea's "large square box" challenges the Chinese market, and the competitiveness of less than 200,000 should not be underestimated
With the Beijing Auto Show approaching, many new cars will be unveiled or even launched during the auto show. Among these cars, the most eye-catching is still the "square box" theme.
If nothing else, there may be two square boxes at the Beijing Auto Show that will attract attention, one is the new generation of Haval's H9, and the other is Beijing Hyundai's 2024 Xinshengda.
Interestingly, the price of both cars is around 200,000 yuan, and the starting price may be below 200,000 yuan.
Among them, the new generation of Haval H9 with the Raptor design scheme is still the leader of hard-core off-road. Its listing not only gives a shot in the arm to the entire hard-core off-road market, but also allows the off-road veterans of the H9 brigade to achieve a new generation.
Although the sales of the Raptor did not meet expectations, the H9 with a non-load-bearing body is believed to have a higher market influence than the Tank 300, and it is likely that it will be the sales responsibility of the Haval brand.
The Hyundai square box, the new Shengda is different, this car is more like the SUV version of the Kia Carnival, and the design of the previous generations of Santa Fe is different. Its selling point is mainly comfort, as well as the space used in the first, second and third rows.
Judging from the data of the overseas version of the new Shengda, the first and second rows of the car have a leg rest design, while the third row of the six-seat version is also spacious. So the selling point of the car is not off-road.
In addition, the Korean version of the new Shengda uses a 1.6-liter hybrid engine, while the North American models all use 2.5-liter supercharged power and a 2.5-liter plug-in hybrid version.
According to speculation, the power of the new Shengda after domestic production is likely to be a combination of the 1.6T fuel version and the 1.6T hybrid version, or a plug-in hybrid version will be added to the top configuration.
The 1.6T fuel version is likely to be priced below 200,000 yuan because of its weak power.
What is more interesting is that the appearance of the 2024 new Shengda looks very similar to the Land Rover Defender, and the body proportion looks very similar to the 5 meters + 3 meters level, but in fact, the body data of this car is one size smaller than the previous generation Santa Fe.
The length, width and height of the 2023 Shengda are 4930/1910/1720mm, respectively, and the wheelbase is 2865mm. The length, width and height of the 2024 Shengda are 4831mm/1900mm/1719mm, respectively, and the wheelbase is 2814mm.
However, due to the square design concept, the room efficiency of the interior space of the body has become higher, so the space of the second and third rows has been increased.
Inside, the new Shengda features a BMW design scheme with a beautiful panoramic curved display at the top of the dashboard, one of which is a 12.3-inch screen for the infotainment system, and the other screen with a clear digital instrument cluster.
There's a touch-screen climate control panel under the central vent, but with a temperature knob, which means it's easier to make subtle adjustments.
In addition, the new pocket gear design is also very stylish, and the position of the original gear knob is reserved for two mobile phones for wireless charging, at least visually it is already on par with domestic cars.
As for the configuration, it is difficult to determine the configuration of the final listed model due to the lack of data from China, but from the official website of Hyundai overseas, the L2 level intelligent driving system must be complete, but from which price point the standard configuration will be announced at the time of the auto show.
Finally, there is the price of this car, which is currently priced at $33,950 in the United States, which is equivalent to 246,000 yuan. However, all models released in the U.S. are equipped with a 2.5T full-time four-wheel drive version as standard.
The 1.6T version of the model should be launched in China, and its price must be around 200,000. If Beijing Hyundai can design the price like the new Sonata, the starting price of the new generation of Xinshengda will be about 15/60,000 yuan, and the competitiveness will be quite outstanding.
So after the Beijing Auto Show, Hyundai Shengda and Haval H9 two square boxes, if the listing price is the same, who will you choose?