In the era of fuel vehicles, it is difficult to imagine that a domestic MPV model can compete with the Buick GL8, but in the new energy era, everything has become possible.
In the past two years, with the launch of models such as the Denza D9, VOYAH Dreamer and ZEEKR 009, the high-end pure electric MPV market has begun to enter the public eye. At the same time, the addition of leading new power brands has gradually opened the prelude to the fierce competition in the high-end MPV market.
Until the launch of the ideal MEGA, it ushered in an unprecedented wave of attention to the domestic new energy MPV market.
A few days ago, another domestic veteran car brand announced a high-profile entry, and coincidentally, its first product belongs to the same "9 prefix" series as new competitors such as Denza D9, Zeekr 009, and Xiaopeng X9.
On April 18, Dongfeng Fengxing's first luxury new energy flagship MPV, the Wind Planet Sea V9, opened pre-sale in Beijing, with a pre-sale price range of 199,900-279,900 yuan, and a total of 5 configurations in 2 sequences were provided. Equipped with a 1.5-liter plug-in hybrid system with a CLTC range of up to 200 km, the car is expected to go on sale at the end of May and will be equipped with EMB electro-mechanical brake-by-wire technology in 2025.
From the perspective of product characteristics, Xinghai V9 mainly strengthens the two aspects of power and intelligence. First of all, in terms of power, the car adopts the Mach electric hybrid PHREV that has just been released, which has the characteristics of "pure electric + hybrid + extended", this electric drive system is equipped with a 4-speed DHT hybrid special gearbox, and its new Mach 1.5T hybrid engine thermal efficiency is as high as 45.18%, which is currently in the first echelon of the industry.
In terms of chassis, Dongfeng Fengxing and "coordinate system intelligence" jointly developed, will be equipped next year with EMB+SBW electronic wire control system, is also the current ideal solution for wire control chassis technology.
Secondly, in terms of intelligence, the Wind Planet Sea is equipped with a stargazer head-up display system, with a 50-inch imaging size and 1080 resolution, which can display richer information. In addition, Wind Planet Sea also brings intelligent optical technology, Fx-Driver pilot intelligent driving system and other functions.
It is worth mentioning that the Wind Planet Sea V9 is open for pre-sale globally, covering more than 80 countries on 6 continents, including Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Oceania, which is also the first attempt of the popular brand to accelerate its global development.
With the opening of the pre-sale of Xinghai V9, in the product planning of Dongfeng Fengxing new energy sequence - Fengxing Xinghai, in addition to Xinghai V9, there is also a medium and large sedan Xinghai S7 will be unveiled at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show. The release of the Xinghai sequence also means that Dongfeng Fengxing will accelerate its transformation to new energy and accelerate its entry into the family car market from 2024.
At the press conference, Lin Changbo, general manager of Dongfeng Liuzhou Automobile Co., Ltd., announced that Dongfeng Fengxing has achieved its 2024 target of 100% product electrification one year ahead of schedule.
This stems from the company's "PS-CC Future" plan proposed in November 2022, which aims to comprehensively lay out the new energy track, and is expected to achieve full electrification within three years and stop producing fuel vehicles in China within five years. In the future, Dongfeng Fengxing plans to launch 13 new products by 2025, covering pure electric, hybrid, and extended range full-power models.
However, it should not be ignored that according to the previous 2023 performance report of Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dongfeng Group"), the group's annual revenue was 99.315 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%, but the profit turned from positive to negative, and the loss attributable to shareholders was 3.996 billion yuan, a significant decrease of 14.261 billion yuan from the profit of 10.265 billion yuan in the same period.
This is also the first time that Dongfeng Group has suffered a loss since its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2006.
The overall weak performance of the joint venture brand is also the main reason for the loss of Dongfeng Group. According to the financial report, during the reporting period, Dongfeng Motor's attributable profit and loss of joint ventures were 513 million yuan, a decrease of 11.371 billion yuan over the same period, of which Dongfeng Co., Ltd. decreased by 4.188 billion yuan and Dongfeng Honda decreased by 4.694 billion yuan.
It can be said that the decline of joint venture brands and the catch-up of independent brands have become the truest portrayal of China's auto market, and the "severance" of traditional car companies to joint venture brands has become more and more obvious. In order to gradually get rid of the impression of "relying on joint ventures", Dongfeng Motor plans to achieve a 1:1 ratio of joint ventures to independent sales by 2025.
Because of this, starting from last year, Dongfeng Motor will integrate the management of Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng eπ and Dongfeng Nano brands. Among them, Dongfeng Fengshen will accelerate the transformation from fuel vehicles to energy-saving vehicles, Dongfeng eπ is positioned as an electrification brand for the mainstream market, Dongfeng Nano is a pure electric brand for the small market segment, and plans to distinguish the Mengshi brand for the luxury electric off-road market, the VOYAH brand for the high-end new energy market, and the Dongfeng brand for the mainstream market.
In 2024, Dongfeng Group's overall sales target is 2.7 million units, an increase of 29% compared to the 2023 sales target. In the face of the more fierce price war in the domestic auto market this year and the increasingly in-depth technology game in the hybrid market, what kind of answer can Dongfeng Motor deliver, perhaps the result will be determined by the market response of the new energy sector such as the Xinghai series.
(This article was first published on the Titanium Media App)