On April 26, the 2024 Beijing Auto Show Ora brand conference was successfully held, and at this auto show, the 2024 Ora Good Cat > Mulan Edition ushered in the launch, with a price of 105,800-135,800 yuan, and a number of upgrades, which brought us a lot of surprises. After the meeting, Che Zhilian conducted an exclusive interview with Dong Yudong, general manager of Great Wall Motor's ORA brand, to have a deeper understanding of ORA Good Cat and more information about ORA brand.
It is very important to do a good job in the quality of service in overseas markets
As the first batch of pure electric brands of China's new energy to go overseas, since ORA Good Cat landed in Thailand in October 2021, ORA has successfully entered many countries and regions in Europe, Oceania, Asia, Africa, and South America.
Dong Yudong, general manager of Great Wall Motor's ORA brand
So the development of overseas markets, and why it can be recognized by many overseas markets. Dong Yudong said: I think there must be some difficulties for China's new energy vehicles to go overseas, such as economic barriers, policy restrictions, including subsidies and gambling mechanisms. Our response is "factory selection", and we have factories in Southeast Asia and South America, and we will all produce locally. In the early stage, we have already done a lot of research work, including site selection, negotiation with the local government, how to apply for follow-up subsidies, what is the local productivity, etc. The Thai factory has been running since 2021, and in January this year, Goodcat began to roll off the production line, which is the first preparation.
The second preparation, when all car companies go overseas, or foreign companies do the most in the early stage of China's layout, is after-sales accessories and after-sales training. In overseas markets, when customers encounter after-sales problems, the maintenance time is one or two months. It is very important to be able to advance the accessories, central warehousing and transshipment warehouses to the central market and serve the local user groups. Last year in Russia, the cars exported by our country received a not very good reputation from local users due to the problems of after-sales parts and quality in the early stage. Therefore, in these aspects, Great Wall Motors must be in the front and must make long-term preparations in order to gradually exert force, and not let users wait too long. I think in this regard, there is a business philosophy, long-termism and the concept of bottom-line thinking, so that we can continue to make efforts, in order to accumulate the user's reputation, and the brand can win a place in the overseas market. We see that car companies in overseas markets have been deeply cultivated for a longer period of time than us, and we want to gain a foothold in the local market, not only because of the good product experience, but also because of the quality of service.
Therefore, this is a process of strengthening policy coordination with the local government and localizing production, as well as reshaping, charging and deposition of the sales and service system.
Safety is the bottom line of Ora The 2024 Good Cat is fully upgraded
The 2024 Ora Good Cat has been upgraded in terms of starting price, but the product has been upgraded quite a bit. In response to this, Dong Yudong said: First of all, from the battery life. As I mentioned at the press conference, we have done many calibrations for different working conditions in the last year. Including the wind tunnel laboratory, the Great Wall Company has invested 300 million yuan in this laboratory alone. It can go from minus 40 degrees Celsius all the way up to 60 degrees Celsius and from 0 to 95% humidity. Because the car is refined, it takes a lot of wind to imitate the state of driving, and we can achieve 250 kilometers per hour. This number does not mean anything, the largest typhoon we can feel in nature is 198 km/h, and we can do 250 km/h. All extreme conditions, it can be imitated. At the same time, this laboratory has the ability to rain and snow, and imitates the scene of all working conditions. We did a lot of simulation work in this laboratory, and at the same time did on-the-spot charging and discharging processes, driving processes, and tests on vehicle reliability, durability, rubber, and tire matching in Heihe. Because these systems will affect the range, as well as the scheduling of the AGS air intake grille, we have done a lot of work to improve the overall range by 5%.
This year's CAERI did 6,608 kilometers of testing in Heihe, and the whole process was zero failure, which was indeed very good, and it was also recognized by them and two certificates were issued. So we have done a lot of deep research in this area, and we have also updated the data of our system for low temperature endurance.
Furthermore, we have always said that safety is the bottom line of Euler, and it is also the bottom line of Great Wall to make cars. Some people say that the Great Wall company's car is heavy, and we hope to make the places we see the same as others, and the different places can also be given to users. For example, health and safety, many car companies use top door felts in invisible places, which is commonly known as black-hearted cotton seen by media teachers, and are bonded together after being broken with some waste fabrics. However, considering that the main sales area of new energy vehicles is in the east and south, a lot of benzene and formaldehyde are volatilized in high and low temperature cycles and humid environments. We replaced it with PET white cotton and two-component sound-absorbing foam. When I first entered the industry, I learned about it, it was used for the down jacket of the Antarctic scientific research team, and then the weight was too large, and the sound-absorbing cotton was used on it, of course, it had a very good effect on the car, and the cost was very high. There are also water-based glues, etc., and we have done it for the overall interior, which is basically close to 0 benzene and 0 aldehyde. So we've done a lot of work on cockpit health and safety, in places that many users can't see.
In addition, in terms of vehicle safety, because when any vehicle is out of control, it will not be hit according to the strength defined by the regulations, so we have strengthened the side impact, and there are two horizontal and one vertical beams of the battery pack. Some people say that it will affect the floor area ratio? Definitely. But with the impact of cell energy density. Although it has increased its weight, it has been able to protect not only the space in the cabin but also the battery when it crashes into poles and trees after losing control. We did a standard test of a bar scan from the front wheel to the rear wheel, and we also got a five-star rating abroad. Many car companies do not advertise five-star in China, because they can only use low-cost measures when competing abroad. We are not stingy and give users a sense of security. So in addition to letting people see the delicacy of the good cat, we also did a lot of publicity work overseas, and they also understood that this car is different from previous cars. It does the best in the A0 class of small cars, and it is also the first in its class.
In addition, when we look at the parking rate, we are in the automatic parking link. In general, high penetration rate and long-term experience, everyone will say. Our first- and second-tier city parking space specifications, with clear markings, clear size, these parking spaces are better. With the increase of penetration, the parking scene in third- to fifth-tier cities is more complex, with flower ponds, road teeth, and irregular parking, so can we be reliable and easy to use in these scenarios?
Therefore, it is not that the L2 level of assisted driving is backward, but to see whether its reliability and applicability are better. Its applicability is the best in order to get a good experience for users. We've done a lot of iterations on this.
In addition, from the car paint, we have done a lot of in-depth interviews with users. In the early stage of product definition, we need to find 200 to 300 users, we will find users in N+3, N+6 on the market, and every year, let the product director visit for half an hour, at least more than 100 users throughout the year, to know the user's demands, what are the difficulties in the car experience, and what are the scenarios. In the interactive link, the texture brought to them by the whole vehicle is very satisfying. They asked if they could put the ragdoll white and smoke cold ash on the car, and we stopped sticking the car clothes in the store, and gave us the color of the car and the black wheels. Of course, there are other interior changes, and they have a lot of opinions. So we try to satisfy them in terms of color matching and decoration.
It is worth mentioning that in response to the price reduction of vehicles, Dong Yudong also said: When dealing with the price war, ORA cannot reach old users and backstab old users without a bottom. You can't go to the bottom in order to win market share and win the favor of capital, and I answer this point with great certainty.
The first issue is price setting. We have to calculate the cost of the whole link, the cost of operation, the cost of service, how much our industrial chain advantage has been reduced, what negotiations we have made with suppliers in each structural design optimization and material optimization of the whole vehicle, how much the reduction is, and then calculate what is the profit range and the acceptable range for users. For products below A0 level, the three-electric system accounts for 50% of the total cost, and the largest investment is the power battery. Last year, 600,01 tons of lithium carbonate was produced, and this year it is 100,01 tons. A price difference of 500,000 yuan, how much do you think about it? Therefore, the cost here is decreasing with the industrial chain, and it is in a reasonable space range.
The company will launch an A-segment SUV to create an intelligent and global product
The undercurrent of the joint venture car at this year's auto show is surging, what is the improvement of the ORA brand's ability to resist risks in the future stage? How to innovate the ORA brand or the Great Wall brand new energy brand? Dong Yudong said: We are now looking at the entire industrial chain again, the pursuit of performance, the pursuit of the ultimate parameters, has been pulled to the ceiling level, I think there will not be much breakthrough in the short term. In terms of user experience, the use of software to define life, and the IoT ecological linkage of people, vehicles and homes, in this regard, everyone's demand is higher. As for the car itself, I think we should return to the user portrait of each market segment, what are their demands? Our country has made a lot of efforts, including the introduction of the new energy trade-in policy this year, in fact, it has been promoting and promoting the rapid development of new energy. But we have to look at what is the best electric car for China, for the world? I think it should be the A0 to A class, which is the main range of Volkswagen's economic cars. For the BC level, there are some data that need not to be mentioned here, and the impact is very large from the perspective of national income and so on.
Therefore, large and super-large cars are very experiential and attractive to high-net-worth individuals. But for the public, they can experience better electrified products, only in this range. How to do a good job in these products, how to do a good job in these experiences, I think the most critical, not the pursuit of the ultimate, moving all the above parameters to this car is the best. The demands of the crowd are different, the mileage is different, and the work done in the car is not the same, today it seems that it is still navigation and music, but everyone is updating and iterating on the UI and UE interactive interface and logic, which is continuous. We must listen to the needs of users in every market segment.
Dong Yudong, general manager of Great Wall Motor's ORA brand
For Euler, it has been deeply cultivated from A0 to A. In the future market, we will definitely come out with an A-class SUV to meet the demands of market users. Its power should not be too large, the cost should not be too high, and it must have the blessing of intelligence in the driving domain, and it must have the driving functions of NOA and GE, so that users can experience the pleasure and experience brought to them by intelligence. If both the air suspension and the high-power bridge are added, these are not what the user wants. Because these are piled up, a product of more than 20 tens of thousands has been made, and users don't buy it.
In addition, in terms of product layout and technical reserves, Dong Yudong also said: We are the earliest in pure electric technology, and I remember that in 2006, we exhibited a pure electric car at the Beijing Auto Show. At that time, it was a two-door car, and the product code name seemed to be CH051. The name Euler was born in the early days, and then gradually became a system, a brand. We have a lot of deep cultivation in this field, and the Great Wall company's technical reserves on the BBW track, to be honest, the person in the technology center tells you, he may not have the guts, because he can't give you all the bottom. Therefore, you don't have to worry about the technical reserves above, there are different levels of high, medium and low grades on the market, and we will have competitive technology in them for the demands of different groups of people. At the same time, we will also cover B-level and C-level products, needless to say in the field of intelligent driving, the deployment of intelligent driving systems in Blue Mountain and Alpine has now been synchronized on Ora and tanks, and they are already being calibrated synchronously. So this time, our five brands of Great Wall Motors, in addition to off-road, are intelligent and global products that go overseas.