In the tide of new energy vehicles, Honda, the leader of the old joint venture car companies, is also going all out towards electrification. Over the past 25 years, Honda has earned the trust and support of more than 18 million users in China. In order to continue to bring more high-quality and high-performance models to Chinese consumers in the future new energy vehicle market, Honda is playing a big game.
On April 16, Honda China brought a new electric brand specially designed for Chinese users - "Ye". Along with the Ye" brand, there are also three new cars to be launched, including the Ye S7 and Ye P7, which are scheduled to be launched by the end of this year, and the Ye GT, an all-electric coupe concept car that is expected to be mass-produced in 2025. Officially, the Ye brand will launch 6 models by 2027.
A new brand, a new architecture
The brand name "Ye", just like what it means, represents dazzling and brilliance. Its goal is to allow drivers to fully enjoy the fun of driving, awaken their inner passion, let everyone's unique charm be displayed, and find their purest self. The brand is based on three core concepts: "Better to drive", "Fun" and "Unique".
The "Ye" brand is created by Honda China's young R&D team, who continue Honda's people-oriented, driving pleasure and handling philosophy, and combine the world's top Chinese technology and resources to bring a new, more driving, fun and stylish driving experience to Chinese consumers.
The "Ye" brand is also the first in the world to launch a new "H" logo designed for a new generation of pure electric vehicles, which looks more refined and modern.
As for the new "W" architecture, the official introduction says that it is equipped with a large-capacity, high-density battery that integrates a high-power drive motor and an integrated die-cast all-aluminum shell. Moreover, the split isolation battery cooling system is specially designed, which can provide multiple protection for the battery from the inside to the outside to ensure the safety and stability of the battery.
"Ye S7" and "Ye P7" will be available at the end of the year
Ye S7 and Ye P7 as the brand's fastest landing products, the official said that it will be officially launched within the year, at present, the product information we can obtain is still very limited, both models are basically a bit of crossover meaning of compact SUV, obviously for more mainstream user groups of products.
In terms of design, Ye S7 and Ye P7 have their own characteristics. Ye S7 looks more dynamic, and the design of the lamp group on the front face is very powerful. The Ye P7 is more stable and refined, and its front grille design is more square, closer to the familiar Honda style.
Both cars have a popular fastback design on the side. It's worth mentioning that all of the models on display use electronic mirrors, although it's uncertain whether this design will be retained in the final launch model.
Inside, both cars have the same design. The interior of the car is equipped with a large vertical central control screen and a full LCD instrument cluster, as well as some practical physical buttons. The steering wheel is a traditional three-spoke flat-bottom multi-function design. Judging from the current information, the Ye S7 will be produced by Dongfeng Honda, while the Ye P7 will be taken care of by Guangqi Honda.
In terms of drive, the two new cars offer two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive options, as well as V-exclusive mode and R super driving mode to choose from. A large number of high-strength steel is used in the body structure, the proportion of hot stamping steel is more than 24%, and the torsional rigidity of the whole vehicle reaches 40,000Nm/deg, which ensures the stability and safety of the vehicle.
The concept car Ye GT will go into mass production in 2025
At this press conference, the official not only brought Ye S7 and Ye P7, but also showed an eye-catching concept car - Ye GT, and announced that this car will be put into production and go on sale in 2025. The Ye GT concept car integrates the technologies of many top domestic suppliers: the battery comes from CATL, the intelligent cockpit is provided by Huawei, and the voice system is from iFLYTEK.
In terms of appearance, the design style of the Ye GT concept car is very avant-garde. The front face is a closed grille, with a through-type headlight cluster, and a new H logo that can emit light, which is full of science and technology.
The side of the car retains the classic styling of the GT model, as well as the trend-setting concealed door handles and electronic mirrors. The rear of the car is even more aggressive, in addition to the carbon fibre-style bottom surround, the huge raised rear wing is also embedded with the illuminated "HONDA" logo, which is very eye-catching.
In terms of interior, the Ye GT concept car adopts a very combative design. The interior of the car is mainly red and black, and it is equipped with a racing-style steering wheel. It is worth mentioning that there is also an LCD screen in front of the co-pilot, which provides entertainment functions for passengers, which is very intimate.
Write at the end
In fact, Honda has been on the road to electrification for a while, and as early as 2021, they launched the electrification brand e:N, and produced two cars in China: e:NP1 and e:NS1. However, due to the haste in which these two cars were launched at that time, the product power still needs to be improved, so the market response is average.
This time, Honda has done enough homework, learned from previous experience, and made a lot of localized improvements. This new brand is specially tailored by Honda for Chinese customers, and the R&D and design are all done by the Chinese team.
Moreover, in addition to the use of CATL's batteries, the models under the "Ye" brand also appear in the supplier list the names of top domestic suppliers such as Huawei, Hangsheng Electronics, and iFLYTEK, which was uncommon in the past. It can be seen that in order to cater to the Chinese market this time, Honda has really made great efforts to localize it very well.
The launch of the "Ye" brand this time can be said to be a strong counterattack launched by Honda in the electric vehicle market. Although the three new cars on display this time are quite promising, in order to gain a foothold in the highly competitive Chinese market, in addition to excellent technology, price is crucial. Set a truly impressive and competitive price for the "Ye" brand, so that they can go further and more steadily on the road of the new energy vehicle market.