Text: Jiang Xiaohua
Since the end of last year, most of the car market has been actively or passively involved in a wave of price reductions that have not been seen for a long time.
From a certain point of view, this wave is a group of new energy vehicle companies have been "conspiring" for a long time, only waiting for the sharp drop in raw material prices and the continuous reduction of technical costs with intelligent driving as the core, and then take the initiative to break through the "penetration rate" of the layer of window paper.
In the final analysis, if new energy vehicle companies want to roll, it is not just as simple as fighting in the same room. The coveted cake is also the territory controlled by the fuel truck next to it. Using price to expand market share affects the minds of consumers - even if there is anxiety about mileage and energy supplement, lower cost of use and smarter new experiences are undoubtedly a weight thrown on the scale.
Therefore, in this large-scale price reduction wave, companies with fuel vehicles as the core may appear to be passive. It is difficult to list the nuances of one's own products and competitors in the same table as it was a few years ago. When the competition has changed from concrete to abstract, the so-called moat in the past few years is difficult to find a force point in the face of the longitudinal ladder.
In a wave of price reductions from "electricity" to "oil",
How to get closer to consumers
If the price is simply exchanged for quantity, it is not possible to impress consumers with distinctive characteristics, and it is not possible to ensure that the product quality does not shrink, and it is difficult for brands that lack precipitation to take this trick. Whether it is a petrol car or an electric car, the key factor in how a product can not be coerced by the wave of price reductions lies in whether the value of the product can be close enough to consumer demand expectations. This is exactly what the 2024 Lynk & Co 01 solves.
A month ago, Lynk & Co 01 announced an official drop of 10,000 yuan, which has burned the war to the range of 150,000 yuan. This move first affects the minds of consumers, after all, the threshold of 150,000 yuan, the expectations of consumers inside and outside are different.
The next step in the price reduction is the overall configuration upgrade of the new model, which will give consumers who have been affected by the price more "temptation" as much as possible.
When the 150,000 yuan car has a 2.0TD T5+8AT powertrain, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip car machine, L2 level driving assistance and panoramic sunroof, and the new skin of Fun Green is added, the product value of this price range is increased from the inside out.
Moreover, the preparation of the 2024 Lynk & Co 01 for market competition is comprehensive, from the entry-level global version to the top-of-the-line dark night version, all models have not been "stolen" because of price reductions, especially the Jin Halo version, which has added a full-color W-HUD head-up display, driving recorder, vital body legacy monitoring, in-car entertainment camera, and driver status monitoring with face recognition, which greatly improves the intelligent comfort configuration. In the competition for this range of less than 200,000, the first hand is given by means of additional matching.
But this is only one of the conventional responses made by Lynk & Co 01 in the face of market changes, and the real strength of the backhand is far more than that.
What is the long-termism that Lynk & Co 01 adheres to
"Long-termism" is also a high-frequency word that has often been mentioned in the price reduction wave in recent months. To put it bluntly, most brands are also fully aware that price reductions are only temporary, and the way to win is to truly stick to the value and be seen by consumers, so as to influence consumption decisions.
In fact, this puts forward higher requirements for enterprises, not only to let consumers see what you have promised verbally, but also to let consumers understand what you have done and how you have done it.
Among many domestic brands, consumers' expectations for the quality of Lynk & Co products are very high. The reason for this naturally comes down to the past accumulation of Lynk & Co models, especially the Lynk & Co 01. Before Lynk & Co 01, the impact of domestic auto brands on the high-end was not that no one had tried, but the path that had been tried by predecessors, all of which were as close as possible to the blueprint drawn by the joint venture brand.
However, Lynk & Co 01 has found a new way, taking the quality of the car as the axis, and spreading the high-quality charm of Lynk & Co to all aspects of consumers' lives. Based on the excellent product quality, Lynk & Co 01 has gained many loyal consumers since it was listed for more than 6 years, and after continuous iteration of products, Lynk & Co 01 has always been at the forefront of the development wave.
The core of this is the "three major pieces" that made many domestic brands feel like they were on their backs, and even decided to take a detour. Since the birth of Lynk & Co 01, the first thing to solve is this problem that can most affect the driving quality. The CMA architecture shared with the Volvo XC40 has laid a good foundation for the Lynk & Co 01, and the hard core of the DRIVE-E 2.0TD T5+8AT golden power combination is standard in the whole series, so that domestic consumers can experience the mature technical skills of the international level. From strong power, to excellent handling stability, to excellent chassis tuning, I believe that consumers who have owned the Lynk & Co 01 will be deeply impressed.
The benefits of integrating global technology genes are not only more able to meet the needs of domestic car scenarios. In the overseas market, it is also the foundation for Lynk & Co 01 to be able to survive.
Today, the number of countries where Lynk & Co 01 has gone overseas has reached 14, not only Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Italy, and Spain in Europe, but also from the implementation of Lynk & Co's European strategy in 2021 to the end of 2023, Lynk & Co's overseas shipments have accumulated nearly 70,000 units, of which 01 models account for the vast majority of sales, ranking among the best in the Netherlands, Italy and other countries.
There are also Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Israel in the Middle East, and even Vietnam and the Philippines in Southeast Asia, where you can also see a lot of Lynk & Co 01. Moreover, this is still achieved under the premise that the overseas price of Lynk & Co 01 is 40,000 euros (about 300,000 yuan), but there is no water to grab the market at a low price.
True globalization is not about consumers in other countries conforming to a certain strong consumption habits, but about allowing users with different needs around the world to enjoy excellent quality and comfortable driving experience on one product.
Having said that, quality is not only the "spear" that Lynk & Co 01 can swing overseas, but also the "shield" to resist the invasion of domestic price reductions today. The question that overseas consumers have for Lynk & Co 01 is, if you don't have a three-plank axe, why can you pry away the part of the market of local brands and luxury brands. The question for today's domestic consumers is the same, if you don't have a three-plank axe, why don't you buy a luxury brand or a tram?
It can only be said that it is possible to find the right way to solve the questions and deal with all kinds of test papers.
The value of Lynk & Co 01
What is the three-plate axe of Lynk & Co 01?
The first trick has been mentioned before, which is both the three high-quality pieces, but not just the three major pieces. Mechanical foundation is easy to obtain, but good mechanical literacy is hard to find. For example, the 2024 Lynk & Co 01 adopts the Champion chassis tuning, which is full of toughness and seeks a precise balance between handling and comfort.
The Halo and Dark Night Editions are equipped with BorgWarner's sixth-generation intelligent all-wheel drive system, which can maintain fast and accurate response to changes in driving conditions, and can achieve a four-wheel drive switch from 100:0 to 50:50 in as fast as 100 milliseconds. Fast acceleration, stable braking, and precise and stable steering are the higher values that the Lynk & Co 01 can reflect than the level of pure mechanical configuration.
The second is that the Lynk & Co brand has always attached great importance to safety. The C-NCAP Five-Star Crash Test Five-Star+, E-NCAP Five-Star Crash Test and China Insurance Research Institute Safety Crash Test Excellence Scores, the China-Europe Double Five-Star Safety Grand Slam is an affirmation of the safety pursuit that Lynk & Co 01 integrates into its DNA, and it is also a very solid trust endorsement for global consumers.
The third is the intelligent logic that is rare in fuel vehicles. The 8155 in-vehicle chip is matched with the LYNK OS N intelligent cockpit, so that the 2024 Lynk & Co 01's intelligent capabilities have far exceeded our perception of fuel vehicles at this level. The new generation of electronic and electrical architecture used in this car can support OTA non-inductive online upgrades in the chassis domain, intelligent driving domain, cockpit domain, and body domain. It integrates up to 27 intelligent driving assistance technologies, so that consumers of fuel vehicles can also enjoy the intelligence of electric vehicles and the experience of intelligent and safe travel in a higher dimension.
In these three aspects that can best determine the quality benchmark of a car, Lynk & Co 01 has shown a very high level, which naturally makes its quality have an extremely solid precipitation. And when everyone is rolling up the price and volume configuration, it needs a force to stay sober. The ups and downs of prices are like the ebb and flow of the tide, but car companies that are not driven by the crowd need quality to anchor. Lynk & Co 01, which integrated high quality into its DNA on the day it was born, naturally has the confidence not to be coerced.
In today's ever-changing automobile market, brands that can truly stick to the bottom line of value have the confidence to come from the accumulation of every step before. What Lynk & Co 01 adheres to is to impress consumers through a sense of quality, and then influence consumers.
Even though the entry-level model has entered the 150,000 yuan range, the 2024 Lynk & Co 01 is still the benchmark. Even in the current economic environment that is not so optimistic, the so-called "consumption downgrade" is not to lower standards, but to find the best choice without compromising quality within the price range that consumers can accept. At this time, what the 2024 Lynk & Co 01 can bring to rational consumers is still the most comprehensive configuration and the best quality in the price range.
With a budget of 200,000 yuan, it seems that it is difficult to have other options that can give you enough sense of consumer security like Lynk & Co 01. Even after thousands of sails, when these consumers look back at their choice at the moment, they can still rejoice that it is correct and reliable enough. This is the value of Lynk & Co 01's long-termism.
Adhering to long-termism is not a slogan, but the persistence of Lynk & Co 01 since its birth. Because of the high value of the Lynk & Co 01, it can become a representative of the quality of Chinese cars.