➤ From the Beijing Auto Show that opened yesterday, we can see that the traffic leaders of the rim are Zhou Hongyi and Lei Jun. The ability of these two to break the circle and attract the attention of the traffic is indeed unmatched in the car circle, even if the second Li (Li Bin and Li Xiang) have become the foil.
Before talking about Mazda, let's briefly explain the market background of the brand's current electrification transformation.
It can be said that in the past few years of crazy involution of new energy vehicles, the focus of the market is mainly on the following types of brands:
First of all, it is a new brand that rose with phenomenal products in the early days, and it is also a barbarian who broke into with the thinking of Internet car making, such as Weilai, Ideal and Xiaopeng, etc., which sucked up most of the traffic in the car circle;
BYD has completely relied on its R&D strength, supply chain advantages and channel laying capabilities, and has delineated its own huge user base with its products, and is the only old car company that can bring its own traffic;
Then there are several strong brands with deep pockets and great transformation efforts, such as Geely and Changan, as well as some traditional car brands with slow transformation, such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, which can also win enough attention by relying on their original brand power;
The difficulty is that the characteristic "second-tier brand" of the traditional oil car era like Mazda is itself a small but beautiful brand, and under the irreversible trend of electrification, whether it can still find its own seat is a question that many fans are very concerned about.
This is one of the reasons why Changan Mazda attracted high attention when it revealed its new energy vehicle plan at the brand night in April 2023. After all, our huge market, despite its prejudice against the Mazda brand, is still not lacking in love.
Everyone is curious, how does Mazda play with electric vehicles?
After the background is explained, let's take a look at the sedan named EZ-6 handed over by Mazda at the Beijing Auto Show, I believe that many people will have a few soul torture questions when they see this car:
Can this car save Mazda's fortunes in the Chinese market?
Where will Mazda go in the future as it transitions to electrification?
Is the EZ-6 worth the wait?
Now that Artez has almost confirmed that it will discontinue production, there is no doubt that the new energy model will be the only way for Mazda to redeem itself in the future.
Judging from the naming of the new car EZ-6, if there is no accident, it is likely to inherit the original model positioning of Artez, which can be inferred from the vehicle size of 4921/1890/1485 (mm).
Judging from the PPT materials that came out before, this EZ-6 can basically be confirmed to be a project cooperated by Changan and Mazda - J90A/J90A-REEV, and Changan will provide it with the support of the existing EPA platform and powertrain technology.
At present, Changan's Deep Blue 03 and Qiyuan A07 are both products of the EPA platform, and both cars have very similar characteristics:
1. Both are available in two versions: pure electric and extended range, and the extended range version uses a 70kW 1.5L naturally aspirated machine as a range extender;
2. There is a 160kW XTDM16 permanent magnet synchronous motor;
3. All rear drive as the drive form; wheelbase is 2900mm;
4. The centralized electronic and electrical architecture with the three domain controls of intelligent cockpit CDC/intelligent vehicle SVDC/intelligent driving ADC as the core is used;
5. Qualcomm 8155 is being used as a car chip, etc.
Then, the background of EZ-6's life experience has basically surfaced here.
As long as you compare, you will find that the body size of EZ-6 is very close to the parameters of 4820/1890/1480 (mm) of dark blue 03, and it also uses a 14.6-inch central control screen and 8155 car machine. Although the wheelbase data of the EZ-6 has not been released so far, if you put it together with the Navy 03, judging from the similar wheelbase and L113, it is difficult to deny the relationship between them.
However, the debut of EZ-6 still has a very high degree of attention - the design language of "Soul of Motion" is too classic, even if it is similar to the posture between it and the dark blue 03, the body design with richer changes in light and shadow, plus the classic shield-shaped front face and double barrel taillight shape, can make it naturally much more recognizable.
Especially at present, in order to pursue streamlined styling and reduce wind resistance, as well as the so-called sense of science and technology, the styling design is seriously convergent.
According to the ready-made EPA electric platform, coupled with its own unique design collocation, EZ-6 has two versions of pure electric and extended range overnight, with advanced centralized EE architecture, SOA services, 100M/1000M high-speed Ethernet, high-speed 5M CAN-FD communication, OTA technology and other EPA natural capabilities, theoretically can be owned by EZ-6, completely reversing its disadvantages in key areas such as three electric and intelligent cockpits. The effect of this "strong combination" is believed to be what many fans are looking forward to.
Facing the new era, where are Mazda's hole cards?
However, the use of the Chang'an platform will also become a "blessing and misfortune" for EZ-6 in the future.
With the continuous fermentation of the spread of EZ-6, the relationship between EZ-6 and Chang'an and Deep Blue 03 cannot be avoided. Projects such as the J90K series, which were launched later, also have to face this problem.
Considering that Mazda itself is a brand with high fan stickiness, such information will be easier for "horse fans" to know. So in the future, when facing the market terminal, EZ-6 will most likely have to answer a question - since it is made on the platform of Chang'an, why don't I buy a Chang'an directly? Even, it is not impossible for Deep Blue 03 to become a direct competitor of EZ-6.
Moreover, the competition of EZ-6 in the future is not limited to Chang'an. As early as the era of fuel vehicles, the Accord, Camry, Regal and other joint venture mid-level cars that take the sporty route have already formed a competitive relationship with Artez. In the future, the EZ-6 will probably have to face these problems as well.
Mazda's unique personality and interdependent platform advantages with Changan will be the key to facing future competition.
Mazda is based on three major concepts - "soul of motion design", "integration of people and horses", and "SKYACTIV" to gain a foothold in the market. And they have also become synonymous with Mazda's label, which points to the three major selling points of design, handling and fuel consumption.
Although in the era of electric vehicles, the low fuel consumption of SKYACTIV has lost its meaning, the differences in design and handling are still valid. Back in the days of Artez, its excellent road reading ability, excellent dynamic response and precise steering were the charms that countless drivers fell in love with. Therefore, the driving experience is still expected to constitute an important advantage of the future EZ-6.
At the same time, in the face of traditional inter-venture mid-level cars such as Accord and Camry, the Changan pure electric platform on which the EZ-6 relies can bring it the advantages of cost, electric drive technology and intelligent level, so that the EZ-6 has lower energy consumption costs and better intelligent experience.
What will happen to Mazda in the future?
Perhaps, without the compression ignition power of "SKYACTIV", Mazda will lose some feelings and storytelling capital, but the reinforcement of the three-electric platform and intelligent technology is a real benefit. Moreover, the characteristics of appearance and control can also help Mazda continue to establish its own "personality" in the new era. At a time when domestic new energy vehicles are becoming more and more homogeneous, this can constitute a good differentiation advantage. This is a great benefit for Mazda to increase its sales in the future.
However, we must also realize that the "personality" it has set up in the era of fuel vehicles is itself a relatively niche personalized brand. Even in Mazda's heyday, its annual sales were only at the level of 192053 units (2017), and Mazda's annual sales in the domestic range fluctuated in the range of about 6-150,000 units for a longer period of time.
As a global brand, Mazda's presence in the domestic market is naturally less prominent than its global million-dollar volume. Take the global market sales performance in the past four years as an example:
In 2020, Mazda's global sales were 1.243 million units, and the sales volume in the Chinese market was 214,600 units, accounting for 17.3%;
In 2021, Mazda's global sales were 1,287,500 units, and the Chinese market sales were 184,000 units, accounting for 14.3%;
In 2022, Mazda's global sales will be 1,116,100 units, and the Chinese market will sell 108,100 units, accounting for 9.7%.
In 2023, Mazda's global sales will be 1,244,600 units, and the Chinese market will sell 88,600 units, accounting for 7.1%.
As a result, Mazda's sales in Japan and its share of global sales are declining. In addition, the body volume is limited. This has also led to the follow-up of the domestic market, which is largely subject to the rhythm of Mazda's global layout.
Of course, this does not mean that Mazda cannot make further achievements in the Chinese market.
For example, taking the route of personalization and differentiation is not a feasible path for foreign brands today, and Ford, which is now focusing on the SUV market, has come up with the Bronco, which is a good example. A charismatic model like the MX-5 is a good fit for this kind of path.
In addition, Mazda's global model layout has many models developed for higher-weight markets such as North America, Europe, and Japan, such as SUV models such as CX-60, CX-80, CX-90, and even PHEV versions. Among them, whether there are products that can be introduced into the domestic market and can be redeveloped to meet domestic demand at a reasonable cost is a question worth studying.
If Mazda can make good use of the brand equity brought by its own "personality", combine the mature and rich domestic electric vehicle supply chain, and the advantages of having long-term and stable partners in China, accelerate the electrification of its own products, and help it accelerate the launch of new products in the future, we believe that it can still find a feasible way to survive at the moment of extreme involution in China.