Honda China unveiled a new electric brand on April 16. The current plan is to launch two new cars this year, launch the flagship product next year, and by 2027, lay out six electric products, and by 2035, Honda will achieve 100% electrified product layout in the Chinese market.
Under the impact of the domestic electrification process, Honda has opened its mind, no longer fighting alone, but embracing a large number of domestic suppliers and localizing the development of products, I wonder whether this operation will become a template for overseas brands to regain market share in the Chinese electrification market.
Embrace localization and save the laggard electrification
Choosing to embrace localized brands is not a sign of weakness, but a rational thinking at the moment.
At present, the domestic electrification field has formed a world-leading supply chain pattern, who has stronger capabilities to cooperate with whom is obviously the right choice, and for consumers, the leading supply chain and the current mainstream technology and products, will naturally become an important reference factor when buying a car.
The current partners of the Honda Ye brand include CATL, Huawei, Hangsheng, and iFLYTEK, the leading domestic suppliers in the field of electrification and intelligence, and Honda China's head minister Masayuki Igarashi also said at the press conference that the Ye brand was independently designed by the Chinese R&D team, and the average age is only 32 years old.
There is no doubt that Honda has recognized that only the Chinese themselves know the electric vehicle market best, so it also intends to hand over this part of the business to the Chinese themselves.
For electrification, the start time of overseas car companies is not too late, and it is not without products, but in the domestic market, it is not able to make waves, the fundamental reason is that they do not understand the actual needs of domestic consumers, but are still advancing with the previous judgment of the domestic market.
So the feedback from the market has now appeared, the transformation of electrification is becoming an important factor for these brands to lag behind, the speed is not fast enough, the corresponding demand for product points is not accurate enough, and more importantly, the domestic market pattern has changed, and the domestic products and supply chain are forming a leading role in the field of electrification.
Originally, the car building thing is a process of relying on globalization, the era of internal combustion engines is obviously dominated by overseas, we lack technology in this regard, just rely on our own integration capabilities in the layout of products, but now in the field of electrification, Honda at this time to choose localization, obviously found a right direction.
Product positioning, accurate pulse?
Easy to open, interesting and stylish, this is the brand gene of the current Honda Ye brand to the outside world.
The two new cars that will be launched this year are "Ye S7" and "Ye P7", and through technical introduction and on-site demonstration, we also have a general understanding of some of the product features that the first product of the Ye brand wants to express.
First of all, the brand's electric vehicle products will be derived from the exclusive all-electric "W" architecture, which has the following features: a "three-in-one" high-power drive motor and a large-capacity, high-density battery with an integrated die-cast all-aluminum housing, a single-motor version with 50:50 weight distribution between the front and rear and a high-power dual-motor version with electronic suspension, and a suspension form with double wishbones in the front and 5-link in the rear suspension with a high degree of freedom to reduce the vehicle's dynamic pitching.
It can be seen that among the electrification brands, Honda also wants to integrate the characteristics of handling into it, combined with the average age of the previous R&D team, the products of the Ye brand are undoubtedly developed in response to the demands of young consumers, and want to amplify this feature in the product.
Secondly, "Ye S7" and "Ye P7" are equipped with OTA online upgrades, and provide highly scalable FoD services, including R super mode and V exclusive mode. Among them, the R Super mode greatly improves the vehicle's acceleration, handling and braking performance, providing a more exciting driving experience, and the V exclusive mode provides a high degree of freedom of function options, which can be set according to personal preferences, bringing a more interesting and personalized customization experience.
Finally, safety, the pure electric exclusive platform means a special skeleton for pure electric vehicles with higher rigidity and toughness, of which hot-stamping steel accounts for more than 24%, and torsional rigidity reaches 40,000 Nm/kWh.
For Chinese consumers, what is the current demand for electric vehicles? This problem can actually be summarized into two points, one is just demand, the second is safety, and the third is enough fun. In view of these two points, Honda has not revealed too many detailed details, but considering the capabilities of CATL, there can actually be a more positive expectation in this regard, and there is not much to say about safety, at least from the design level.
As for the fun, it basically refers to driving control, which actually has room for development in China, especially in the field of electric products, there are still very few electric vehicles with driving control advantages that can really be put on the table, and the driving control here is not only faster acceleration, after all, this product point is easy to achieve with the blessing of electrification, in fact, it is a kind of overall vehicle handling, but at the same time, there is also a certain risk.
Driving feeling is relatively a product force that is not very easy to perceive, especially in the domestic market, to put it mildly, the Chinese market will really have an in-depth understanding of the driving experience of the product, in addition to the people who really love the car, is the automotive media practitioners, most of the other consumers really do not have this preference, or can perceive the ability to perceive which is better or worse in this regard.
At the same time, it is also necessary to amplify the differentiated advantages in other fields, such as the cooperation with Huawei in the field of joint ventures, which is now a point of difference, so there are both the advantages of driving control and the addition of independent technology, and at the same time, whether it can get cutting-edge technology from the cooperation and combine the tuning of local engineers is the top priority of the Ye brand in the follow-up development.
At the same time, the domestic electric vehicle market is now not only the volume of who piles up more materials, but also the volume of the price, there is no doubt that the fire of the price war will inevitably burn to every brand participating in the competition in the Chinese market, then in the face of many competitors in the electrification market, Honda also needs to make the cost performance become a significant label of the Ye brand.
The products are in place, and the promotion needs to be accelerated
HONDA'S CURRENT PLAN IS THAT THE "YE S7" AND "YE P7" SUV PRODUCTS WILL BE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED AT THE END OF THIS YEAR, WHILE THE FLAGSHIP "YE GT CONCEPT" WILL WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR.
At present, the domestic electrification market has been involved in an almost anxious state, so at this time the first product has to wait for more than half a year, for consumers, the waiting time is a little long, then from the release to the official listing period, there will inevitably be a lot of independent brand products on the market, replacement, so for Honda who wants to regain market share, this rhythm is obviously not able to fight for the radical autonomy.
Overall, seeing Honda's determination to promote electrification in the domestic market, the decision to embrace localization is also correct, and the subsequent performance depends on the specific promotion process.