In the past two years, the new strategies finalized by major car companies in the electrification transformation of the industry are either conservative or radical, and their purpose is to follow the pace of social development of the new four modernizations and take the lead in the new round of industrial upgrading.
Automobile companies rooted in Western countries such as Europe and the United States like to emphasize their own industry status and regard it as a bargaining chip to compete with newcomers. Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, etc., are counted as one, and the maintenance of the emotional value of the brand is still consistent with the past.
In contrast, looking at the Asian market's more and more resolute consideration of electrification, it is stronger than Japanese and South Korean car companies, on the one hand, they also have a strong self-awareness, and on the other hand, in the wave of China's new energy development, they have also put down their historical burden step by step and began to examine the future trend of the industry from scratch.
Earlier in 2023, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. gave a detailed list of its own electrification transformation under the planning of President Toshihiro Mibe.
Today, no matter how the turmoil in the industry will affect those in the game, for Honda, it is always something that needs to be considered again and again at this stage to fully follow the pace of industry development and strengthen self-evolution.
The launch of the all-new EV brand "Ye", the new "H" logo for the new generation of BEVs, and the new intelligent and efficient EV "Architecture W" are the concrete embodiment of Honda's efforts to coordinate the present and better inspire the future.
On the whole, this time, when all of Honda's new plans related to electrification transformation are deeply bound to China one by one, we may understand that with the full investment of global auto giants, China's current new energy market pattern will not remain unchanged.
"By 2035, Honda will account for 100% of its BEV sales in China. ”
Perhaps this is the vision given by Honda (China) General Manager and General Manager of Honda Motor Industry (China) Investment Co., Ltd., and General Manager of Honda Motor Technology (China) Co., Ltd., Masayuki Igarashi, but from Honda's perspective, the determination to make a change in China is undoubtedly evident behind such a plan.
New brand, new expectations
Since China's auto market is betting on electrification, the joint venture company is indeed nervous in the face of such a positive market surge. This is not only due to a certain sense of confusion about the rapid market changes, but also due to the poor industrial process in various regions of the world, and the insight into consumer trends cannot be followed up in real time.
For this reason, in China, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda and other first-line car companies have been thinking about a question, how can they graft their innate advantages to the Chinese market?
So far, with the help of China, they have unearthed some feasible solutions. Through the improvement of the industrial chain to reduce costs, joint Chinese technology companies to explore the development direction of intelligence, or simply work with Chinese new energy vehicle companies to create new cars, such measures are being implemented, more or less let us see a different market scene.
As for Honda, from leading the two joint ventures to promote the transformation of electrification, to now standing in a more ambitious perspective to finalize their next development path, after a period of precipitation and analysis, the deepest brushstrokes will always fall on how to root Honda's genes in a more Chinese way on the blueprint of China's new energy industry.
Therefore, no matter what kind of idea Honda is based on for the birth of the new electric brand "Ye", backed by the Chinese auto market, which is the environment of electric for all, the new background color of "electric" Honda will have strong practical significance, but it is in a class of its own.
"Inspiring the True", Honda uses these four words to convey to us the vision of the new brand.
However, as Masayuki Igarashi explains, "'Ye' means 'bright, shining', and is designed to 'allow drivers to enjoy driving to the fullest, release their innermost desires, and let everyone's personality shine and bring out their authenticity.'" ”
I believe that on the basis of adhering to Honda's innate brand spirit, Honda can change for the changes in the Chinese market when Chinese consumers in the new era have extremely persistent consumption expectations for the bloom of individuality.
In addition to bringing the most interesting products to Chinese consumers, it also shows its own more technological attributes, which seems to be very conflicting. However, taking a series of new-generation products as an example, presumably, this is Honda's latest thinking of relying on China.
At the press conference, Honda announced that as the first model, "Ye S7" and "Ye P7" will perfectly integrate passion and wisdom, and are the backbone of the "Ye" brand. Adopting Honda's intelligent and efficient pure electric "W" architecture for the new generation of pure electric vehicles created for Chinese consumers, it aims to sublimate the fun of electric driving and become a car that consumers "want to drive".
Next, the flagship sedan developed based on the "Ye GT CONCEPT", the "racing cockpit" design is integrated into the car, highlighting the pursuit of power and speed. At the same time, in view of the first installation of Huawei's light field screen in the passenger seat of the car, the new car hopes to create a "more interesting" high-quality private space for emerging people through the linkage of sound, light, and aroma devices.
Here, you can still ask:
- "As the market structure begins to loosen, do foreign forces, including Honda, still have the strength to stick to the front line and become the car brand that the majority of Chinese consumers have never been able to bypass?"
——"Will the final market performance of each new car under the 'Ye' brand really play as the mainstay in the joint venture camp as it wishes?"
However, in the context of the incomparably lively global new energy vehicle market, Honda, like Toyota and Nissan, is not a dead Japanese car company. This means that in overseas markets, Honda can choose to join hands with GM, Sony and other companies to build a new pure electric product system;
In China, in this market where the electric vehicle industry is diversifying, Honda's charm may be multi-dimensional regeneration through the release of "Ye". And in order to please local consumers, in order to firmly lock its market position, any attempt to benefit the development of the brand, Honda has no reason not to bow down.
Things are man-made, and the environment is created by the heart
What will the future of China's auto market be?
Previously, there has been a voice in the industry: under the crazy involution offensive of Chinese car companies, the market share of joint venture brands will eventually be fixed at about 10%. The theoretical basis is that the market environment in the past two years is not conducive to traditional car companies to maintain their own foundation. From the moment the transition to electrification accelerates, cautious joint ventures are too weak to cope with the rapid changes in the market.
Yes, such speculation is indeed exciting. However, seeing that the majority of new energy vehicle companies that rely on burning money have not been able to find exports, and the pattern of market segments has not been broken one by one, I always believe that it is not a rational thing to underestimate the traditional large factories with obvious resource advantages.
Like many leading companies, in order to take care of the existing base users, but also to keep its models in sync with the world, because of the huge fuel vehicle business, Honda could not achieve overnight transformation.
But have you ever thought that if "the automobile industry is moving towards electrification" becomes more and more a global consensus, and China has become 100% the power bridgehead to drive this chain, how can the real industry powerhouses turn a blind eye?
In the past, Stellantis hooked up with Leap, Volkswagen took a fancy to Xiaopeng, Toyota established cooperation with BYD and Huawei, and now, even Mazda has chosen to have in-depth exchanges with Changan, which are all telling the outside world that "let the bullets fly for a while" is never a line used by traditional giants to prevaricate bystanders.
"We are well aware that the market share of gasoline vehicles is shrinking. In the face of the rapid expansion of the new energy industry, Honda will adjust in various aspects. ”
Similarly, when Masayuki Igarashi, who has just taken office, no longer shy away from sharp questions from all sides, I think that the Honda in 2024 will finally "wake up".
At a critical time when the market has entered the critical period of brand survival, Honda launched a new electric brand "Ye", which is intended to show its importance to the Chinese market with practical actions. From e:N to "Ye", the update and upgrade at the product level will naturally not be confined to simple configuration stacking or the abundance of mood pieces.
The "Ye" brand will be independently designed by Honda (China)'s young R&D team. Inheriting Honda's long-term philosophy of "people-oriented", "fun of driving" and "MM concept", and gathering the world's leading Chinese technology and superior resources, high-dimensional integration of Honda's latest technology, so as to provide Chinese consumers with a new value experience of "better driving", "more fun" and "more stylish", and push the "joy of free movement" to a new height.
Not only that, when the sentence "Made in China fully embraces Chinese technology" was officially hit on the public screen of the "Ye" brand press conference, it can be seen that Honda also gave the most appropriate answer to self-transformation.
Joining hands with CATL, iFLYTEK, Huawei, Hangsheng and other Chinese forces will be just the beginning. As the industry thrives on the rise of these active technology companies, Honda will further strengthen its territorial cooperation based on its market insights to "How we move you." As the goal, we will experience greatness again in China.
In fact, just by opening the official website of Honda (China), we can easily see Honda's redefinition of the brand slogan in the new corporate reform measures announced for electrification and other aspects.
- We hope to help people break through the limitations of time and space, and expand people's own capabilities and possibilities by "Create" the mobility of our dreams by "creating" the "heartfelt" inner motivation, and realize the fundamental value of all mobility, thereby helping more people realize their dreams and become the driving force for society to move forward.
Therefore, on the eve of the Beijing Auto Show, Honda (China) is "eagerly" laying out its future electrification strategy based in China, whether it is to wash away the traditional traces of Honda in this new era, or to let Chinese consumers feel a little different brand ecology, which is worthy of our recognition.