In China's automotive market, change is happening at a much faster pace than expected.
Recently, the China Automobile Dealers Association announced that in the first half of April, the retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles in mainland China exceeded 50% for the first time. This means that new energy vehicles have become the mainstream of the market, and for every two passenger cars sold, one is a new energy vehicle. This historic milestone has been reached, 11 years ahead of the original target of 2035.
From this, we have received a clear message that the era of intelligent electrification has arrived, and relying only on the original fuel vehicle technology and product system will not be able to meet the market demand. Traditional car companies, especially multinational brands, need to make major choices about their future development strategies.
In the past two years, we have seen that multinational car companies often have two choices in the face of China's vigorous wave of smart electronics. One is to completely "lie flat", do nothing in China, and quickly marginalize until you are out. The other focuses on "letting go", and almost all electric vehicles sold in China rely on Chinese partners to feed back.
The reason why the first option is emboldened is that the cost of fuel vehicles has been spread very thinly, and now you can make an extra profit by selling one. Even if they lose the Chinese market, these car companies can rely on the still considerable global fuel vehicle market and live well. As everyone knows, this is to sit back and wait, China is the pioneer of the era of smart electricity, not an "electric island", and the wave of change will sweep the world sooner or later.
The second option is also a negative response, these companies out of suspicion of electric vehicles, unwilling to go all in early, but need to meet the domestic double points and other regulatory requirements, to maintain the brand's presence in the new energy market, so they use the most ingenious way, directly the Chinese ready-made products to change the shell and sell the brand.
Although this method can cater to the needs of domestic users to a certain extent, the author believes that it is also not a long-term solution. Because the electric vehicle market is the optimal combination of cost and technology, and the products "brought" by the joint venture brand are inevitably inferior to the independent brand in terms of cost, and the technical background is different, it is not possible to talk about empowering the brand.
In the new era of joint ventures, a more forward-looking and constructive development model is needed. Not long ago, Honda China released a new electric vehicle brand "Ye", pointing out the "third way" for the industry.
Based on China and going all out, Ye brand interprets the new Honda spirit of the Zhidian era
According to the manufacturer, Ye is an electric brand specially built for the Chinese market, but this "Chinese special supply" is not ordinary. First of all, it is completely built by Honda's young local R&D team in China, according to the needs and preferences of Chinese users, and will be the first in the world to use the new "H" logo exclusive to Honda's new generation of electric vehicles.
This means that the Ye brand, whether it is the brand presentation or the technical core, is the original Honda. According to the company, the Ye brand will inherit Honda's long-standing "people-oriented", "fun to drive", "fun to handle", and "MM concept*1". The word "Ye" originally means "bright, shining", and its name aims to express the brand connotation of "allowing drivers to enjoy the fun of driving, release their innermost desires, let everyone's personality shine, and stimulate their authenticity".
Secondly, more importantly, Honda has developed a new intelligent and efficient pure electric "W" architecture for the Ye brand. It is not uncommon to develop exclusive models for the Chinese market, but it is quite rare for multinational automakers to develop exclusive platforms for a single market, which shows that Honda attaches great importance to the Chinese market and is determined to transform to electrification.
Thanks to the W architecture, Ye brand's products will achieve a 50:50 axle-to-load ratio, which can effectively improve the stability of the vehicle and obtain a better driving experience for electric vehicles with large dead weight, and at the same time, it can provide two power forms: rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. Judging from the product information of the first model of the Ye brand "Ye S7" and "Ye P7", the new car will be equipped with a "three-in-one" high-power drive motor and a large-capacity and high-density battery with an integrated die-casting shell, and it is expected that the power and battery life will be greatly improved.
Among them, the single-motor version of the model is light and smooth to handle, which is more suitable for daily use scenarios at home. The dual-motor version is equipped with electronic suspension, which has a stronger sense of heaviness and sportiness, and accurately distributes the power of the front and rear wheels according to different road conditions and driving needs, making the body more stable and more suitable for consumers who pursue performance and sportiness.
In contrast, Honda's "e:N" brand products are based on a front-wheel drive platform and are mainly small and medium-sized cars, with a more agile driving feel. This shows that there will be obvious differences between the product positioning of the Ye brand and the "e:N" brand.
In addition to the significant improvement in mechanical performance, giving the vehicle stronger driving pleasure, the intelligent experience of the Ye brand will also bring surprises to Chinese users. Since the first model launched at the end of this year, the Ye brand has the ability to be commonly used and always new, and the new car supports OTA upgrades, provides highly expansive FoD services, and integrates Honda SENSING 360+ and Honda CONNECT 4.0 into the intelligent digital cockpit, combined with advanced active AI intelligent technology, to provide consumers with a safe and secure driving experience, as well as considerate and personalized services.
The "Ye S7" and "Ye P7" are just beginning, and the brand's second pure electric coupe, the "Ye GT CONCEPT", will be launched in 2025, and the new car will be equipped with more technological configurations and stronger interactivity. The company revealed that by 2027, the Ye brand will launch a total of 6 new models, and the pace of new products is faster than that of other multinational brands. At the same time, the global "e:N" brand products will also be sold in China, and the rich product line will help Honda quickly occupy more mainstream market segments.
According to Honda's strategic plan, "by 2035, Honda's sales of pure electric vehicles in China will reach 100%." Masayuki Igarashi, Executive Director of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and General Manager of the China Headquarters, said in a pleading manner, "Honda has seen a decline in the market share of gasoline-powered vehicles in China and an increase in the market share of new energy vehicles. Facing the future, we will go all out to actively respond to the rapidly changing market environment. "Now it seems that "go all out" is not a slogan, but a real action.
With the gradual implementation of Ye brand products, Honda will quickly enter the first camp of new energy vehicles in China, and refresh users' perception of Honda with a new value experience of "better driving", "more fun" and "more stylish".
With the cooperation and win-win cooperation, Honda has established a new paradigm for the development of multinational brands
In addition to fully demonstrating the sincerity of building good cars for Chinese users and accelerating electrification with unprecedented efforts, another extraordinary feature of the Honda Ye brand is that it has established a new paradigm of open, inclusive, cooperative and win-win multinational enterprise development in an increasingly fragmented world.
At the Ye brand press conference, we saw Honda generously introduce Chinese partners such as Huawei, CATL, iFLYTEK, and Hangsheng. "China's automotive industry, including suppliers, is indeed at the forefront. In view of the advanced technology of intelligence and electrification, Honda will actively cooperate with very good professional manufacturers in China. ”
It is reported that the Ye brand has achieved comprehensive localization from R&D to intelligent manufacturing, fully integrating China's advanced technology and superior resources in the field of new energy to empower products. Honda is the only one that is so deeply integrated into the Chinese industrial chain and embraces Chinese technology.
However, it should be pointed out that Honda's cooperation with Chinese partners is not a simple "take-it-or-leave-it" principle, but a real combination of strong and complementary advantages.
Taking China's leading battery and intelligent driving technology as an example, the Ye brand has not only cooperated with CATL for project development, but also has Honda's deep reserves in battery technology to support it. According to the information released by Honda in 2022, the company has already begun to fully develop all-solid-state batteries, and will officially launch a demonstration production line for all-solid-state batteries in Japan this year, and plans to install them on new models between 2025 and 2030.