2024 is a year for the entire automobile market, whether it is a domestic new energy brand or a joint venture fuel vehicle, this year is a critical year.
The price war against A-class joint venture fuel vehicles is particularly fierce.
An undeniable reality is that in the A-class car market, the domestic new energy vehicles in the level of intelligence and comfort have far surpassed the joint venture fuel vehicles, this year to evolve to the price of the competition, "electricity is lower than oil" slogan is extremely loud, the last barrier of the A-class joint venture fuel vehicle has been broken, and the living space has been further eroded.
Recently, the SAIC Roewe brand announced the start of the "Rong Tornado" price reduction campaign, with a direct drop of 20,000 yuan for many of its models, and it is expected to invest more than 5 billion yuan in subsidies to follow up the price war.
After the price reduction, the starting price of the Roewe D7 DMH starts at 105,800 yuan, making it the strongest superhybrid with a long range of 100,000 yuan, and the starting price of the Roewe D7 EV is 129,800 yuan, which directly breaks through the entry price of a pure electric B-class sedan. This also means that in addition to "electricity is lower than oil", grade B is stronger and more affordable than grade A.
In addition, the models participating in the price reduction also include the Roewe i5, Roewe iMAX8 and Roewe RX5 PLUS, which also dropped by 20,000 yuan.
Represented by Roewe, domestic traditional auto brands are actively seeking changes to cope with this fierce market competition, and are sparing no effort to invest in the new energy track. In fact, these traditional car brands are also becoming a force to promote the independent rise of domestic production.
Underrated SAIC Hybrid Technology: Two Industry Firsts and "Corner Overtaking"
Although the profit was 20,000 yuan, according to the official statement of Roewe, as an independent brand national team, this round of price reduction is based on the principle of "price reduction without reduction", and is not achieved by sacrificing the use value of the product and the total cost of ownership of users.
This is due to SAIC's years of accumulation. A sales channel person once told Leifeng.com, "SAIC's real advantage lies in supply chain management, SAIC is still the largest car manufacturer in China, with the most powerful supply chain system." ”
Relying on SAIC, Roewe's advantages in supply chain management and cost control are the source of confidence for Roewe to join the price war.
On the other hand, in the face of fierce competition, Roewe must also actively follow up the pace of price reduction in the market in order to catch up.
In November 2023, Roewe officially announced its D strategy and launched a new new energy product series, the D family series, and the focus of product development has shifted to new energy vehicles.
The Roewe D7 is the first model launched based on the D strategy, so both SAIC and Roewe have shown their housekeeping skills - the DMH super hybrid system developed by SAIC Motor took ten years to be used in the Roewe D7 DMH.
When it comes to hybrid systems, among domestic brands, BYD's DM-i is indispensable. In 2021, BYD launched the fourth-generation hybrid technology DM-i, which surpasses the engine thermal efficiency and fuel consumption level of Japanese cars, and breaks the monopoly of Japanese cars on hybrid technology.
SAIC's DMH super hybrid, in the technical route with strength to pay tribute to BYD DM-i, are all using P1 + P3 dual motor structure and series-parallel mode, single-speed direct drive, engine thermal efficiency of 43%, and BYD DM-i consistent.
The power performance of plug-in hybrid Japanese cars is generally poor, with an acceleration of more than 10 kilometers per 100 kilometers, and the Roewe D7 DMH equipped with SAIC DMH super hybrid system accelerates to 100 kilometers in 7.9 seconds, which is also close to the performance of BYD DM-i.
Compared to the attention that BYD DM-i has received, SAIC's DMH super hybrid system is much more low-key.
Although it has taken the same technical route as BYD, SAIC DMH has made its own innovation on the basis of DM-i from tribute to transcendence, and has optimized performance and experience.
In summary, DMH has two industry firsts.
First, the engine and P1 motor of the Roewe D7 DMH are coaxial direct drive. The rotor of the P1 motor of the Roewe D7 DMH and the output shaft of the engine are transmitted on the same shaft, while the engine of the BYD Qin DM-i is arranged with a parallel shaft with the P1 motor, which requires additional gear transmission. Compared with the structure of DM-i, the structure of DMH is more streamlined, the transmission efficiency is higher, and the operation effect is smoother, and the NVH can be increased by more than 10%.
Second, the concept of "energy domain" is proposed, using the industry's first powertrain brain PICU. Relying on this PICU brain, DMH integrates the control of five major systems, including motor, engine, hybrid transmission, air conditioning thermal management and battery thermal management control, saving 70% redundant components, reducing in-vehicle network load and data latency, and increasing the computing speed by 50%, thereby increasing the power response speed of the hybrid system from 0.5 seconds to 0.26 seconds, making the response more sensitive.
SAIC completed the development of the PICU in 6 years, which can be seen as "overtaking in corners" in the engine field.
Qiu Jie, vice president of SAIC Innovation Research and Development Institute, once told Leifeng.com that PICU is the most difficult and real breakthrough in DMH research and development, "The engine control unit has always been the dominant of the three multinational Tier 1, and after the hybrid, if the efficiency of the engine and the entire hybrid system can not be integrated for homogeneous and homogeneous control, it will be difficult for SAIC's efficiency to improve." ”
These technological innovations ultimately convey to users a better experience: the interior of the Roewe D7 DMH is quieter, and the noise at 60 kilometers can be reduced by nearly 12%, and the efficiency has been improved, as the latest B-class car, the fuel consumption is only 2.8L per 100 kilometers, and the measured range is 1962 kilometers when fully fueled and fully charged.
"BBA" strategy: Fight A-class cars with B-class cars, and attack sideways with the lowest entry price
When Roewe released its D strategy last year, it also redefined its brand positioning - Roewe wants to provide cost-effective, high-quality cars for the most mainstream people in China to meet the needs of national cars.
As a standard B-class family car, Roewe D7 not only has more space, but also works the chassis and ride comfort, bringing the riding experience of B-class cars to A-class cars, and truly popularizing quality.
Inheriting the experience of German joint venture brands, SAIC has a deep accumulation in chassis tuning and handling, which is also a significant impression left by SAIC's brands to users. Roewe D7 is no exception, according to the evaluation of many KOLs, the chassis texture of Roewe D7 is good, which is closer to the level of German cars.
In addition, the Roewe D7 is equipped with a front MacPherson independent suspension and a rear multi-link independent suspension as standard, which can effectively reduce the bumpy feeling of the front and rear seats.
In terms of interior permeability, the Roewe D7 adopts a 930x870mm panoramic sunroof, with an area of 0.77 square meters, which is more than a 55-inch TV.
For the cockpit, the Roewe D7 also has its own set of understanding, taking a comfortable and luxurious style. For the Roewe D7, Roewe has designed a set of Yunsu intelligent cockpit, which adopts an enveloping design as a whole.
Roewe D7 is equipped with dual 12.3-inch central control screens and LCD instruments, the seats are specially customized, using U-shaped design, the seat width has a strong sense of wrapping, and the front seats have a one-key folding function, which can provide a support length of nearly 1.7 meters, which is suitable for family car scenes.
Since the Roewe D7 EV adopts a rear-wheel drive architecture, in addition to the 376-liter trunk, the Roewe D7 EV also reserves a front trunk with a capacity of 101-liter.
In the price range of 10~150,000 yuan, the advantage of Roewe D7 is not small.
Compared with the BYD Qin PLUS DM-i, which has the highest sales volume in the plug-in hybrid field, the Roewe D7 DMH is equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery with a capacity of 21.4 kWh as standard, and the CTLC pure electric range is 125 km.
The price of BYD's long-range version also starts at 105,800, while the Qin PLUS DM-i is an A-class car, and the Roewe D7 DMH has more advantages in interior space and ride comfort.
Compared with the popular B-segment pure electric models, including the Deep Blue SL03, BYD Seal, as well as the best-selling joint venture B-segment cars such as the Passat 2024 Outstanding and Camry Gasoline Edition, the current starting price of the Roewe D7 EV is lower than these four models.
Relying on the product power of "BBA", that is, the experience of B-class cars, the quality of B-class cars, and the price of A-class cars, the Roewe D7 can play A-class cars downward, and can also tie B-class cars with higher cost performance.
Back in July 2016, more than 7 years ago, Roewe won great recognition from the market for launching the world's first connected car, the Roewe RX5. It can be said that Roewe does not lack the gene to create a good product with technological innovation.
What Roewe is doing now is to define a car with good technology and design concepts, and make it visible to the market at a better price. In the price range of 10-120,000 yuan, the Roewe D7 DMH and D7 EV provide consumers with a better experience of new energy vehicle options, which is also the sincerity brought by Roewe as an independent brand national team.