"We AVATR strive to be the BMW of China's Changan Automobile", Chen Zhuo, president of AVATR Technology, said to Pinhui Automobile during an exclusive interview with AVATR at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show.
At the Beijing Auto Show, AVATR brought the AVATR 11 2024 model, with a price of 300,800-390,800 yuan, which evolved from the three core advantages of intelligent safety, future design, and luxury experience, and is committed to reconstructing the "new luxury" standard of intelligent electric vehicles.
Don't blindly follow the price war
At present, the price war in the automobile market is intensifying, but AVATR is not blindly following the trend. Chen Zhuo said that for AVATAR, it is necessary to have long-term value to pass through short-term fluctuations and build a high-end brand, so AVATR 11 and 12 should stand in the price range of 30-400,000 yuan, which is a very important goal.
"The price reflects the value, and if the price does not support the value of the product, then the price reduction is inevitable. On the other hand, if the price matches the value through the improvement of product power, or even exceeds the price, there is no possibility of price reduction. Yongjun, vice president of AVATR Technology, believes that the Chinese market is a huge market, and it is also a market with very different levels. For AVATAR, we are positioned as a high-end brand, and first of all, we must have an absolute leading level in terms of intelligence. AVATR is very leading in intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, battery technology, safety and other aspects, which can support the imagination of high-end users for products.
AVATR takes "pleasing oneself" as its brand concept, and Yongjun admits that AVATR has not done enough to please oneself, such as seat comfort. Therefore, the AVATR 11 2024 model has been improved in terms of ride comfort, seat luxury, visual and acoustic sense, etc., to make up for the brand's shortcomings in the luxury route.
Yongjun also believes that AVATR 11 has no competitors in this market, no car is like AVATR 11's strong intelligent ability, perception of the redundancy of equipment, in fact, it has both futuristic technology and luxury, this product in the market, there is no other product can be compared with it. Of course, in terms of internal positioning, AVATR 11 is the flagship, and AVATR will continue to build the brand and maintain the brand image and users.
In addition to this, AVATR also has a strong endorsement - CHN. "The AVATR brand is a brand created by Chang'an, Huawei, and CATL together, and I naturally think that Huawei's ability is AVATAR's, not that this is Huawei's, that is AVATAR's. I can proudly go out and say that this is AVATAR's intelligent driving and AVATAR's battery, because AVATR itself is the empowerment of the three parties," Yongjun said.
AVATR is well aware that brand building is a long-term line, and it took Lexus 40 years to raise a brand that is considered to be the most recognized brand in the world in second-tier luxury. Chen Zhuo said, "We at AVATR strive to be the BMW of China's Changan Automobile, and to be a luxury high-end car brand with capacity, market share and sales, which is our AVATAR goal." ”
The target for 2025 is to break even
According to Chang'an's 2023 financial report, AVATR has a loss of more than 3 billion. Some people believe that AVATR is not enough to invest more than 3 billion yuan to be a luxury brand.
"Because the CHN business model was originally designed, AVATR is completely operated as a lightweight car manufacturer. Chen Zhuo explained. AVATR can leverage Chang'an's factory, procurement chain, and management and control system, Huawei's technology research and development, and CATL's tripartite empowerment. "This business structure determines AVATAR's investment, and it doesn't need to be like other new power brands, how many factories do you want to invest, billions of dollars, tens of billions. ”
At present, AVATAR's three rounds of financing have reached about 8 billion, and the cash on the account is more than 100 million. In the past two years, AVATR has put on the market 4 models, and by the end of this year, it will be 8 models including dual power.
According to the plan, to be released in the second half of this year, AVATR will release the super extended range model AVATR 15. "We will go wherever the user is", Yongjun said, "Our extended range will form a crushing competitive advantage against competitors in pure electric range and other aspects." Range extension is not a very difficult technology for AVATAR, either if you don't make a move, you will be the first in the industry. Using such technology, I believe that in the second half of the year, our range extension will bring a very considerable sales growth to AVATAR. ”
Chen Zhuo said that this year, the board of directors asked AVATR to increase its sales by 3 or 4 times, and 15,000 were delivered in the first quarter of this year, and the second quarter will be better than the first quarter, and the fourth quarter will be a sprint, and there should be great hope for the sales target of 84,000 this year. At the same time, this year's loss control is consistent with the previous year, and strive to achieve breakeven in the third and fourth quarters of next year.
In order to ensure the growth of sales, AVATR is also making efforts in product launch and channels. In the second half of last year, AVATR expanded its stores by about 120 stores, and will expand by 120 stores again this year, and the number of stores is expected to reach about 470-500 by the end of this year. Through the overall training of AVATR to make the store operation run effectively, the sales capacity should be able to carry the launch of 4 products, so in the second half of this year, there will be 4 products on sale in the channel at the same time.