Changan Automobile recently announced that it sold 210133 units in April 2024, including 210,133 units of its own brand passenger cars, and several of its own brands achieved sales increases.
In a series of good news, a new generation of dark horses is particularly noteworthy. As a new energy brand under Changan Automobile, Changan Qiyuan delivered 11,833 vehicles in April, and the cumulative sales exceeded 88,000 units.
At this time, it was only more than half a year since the official launch of Changan Qiyuan's first model, the A07. In the past six months, Changan Qiyuan has launched four models: A07, A05, Q05 and E07, realizing the initial improvement of the product matrix. In addition, the birth of Changan Qiyuan E07 will bring the "variable new car" to the stage, or will bring a new subversion to consumers' car life.
Qiyuan shoulders the responsibility of Chang'an New Energy's sales volume
On March 5, 2024, Zhang Yuzhuo, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, mentioned in an interview that the three central automobile companies will be separately assessed for their new energy vehicle business.
Zhang Yuzhuo said that in the case of fuel vehicles has not yet had a great advantage, the enterprise layout of new energy vehicles will initially invest relatively large, so the policy does not assess the current profit, but the assessment of technology, market share and market development prospects.
"We have ushered in the most changeable, involuted, exciting and anticipated era, an era full of great opportunities and great changes." Faced with a series of transformation challenges, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, once said.
From the perspective of Changan Automobile's layout, five independent automobile brands have been built: AVATAR, Deep Blue, Changan Qiyuan, Changan Gravity, and Changan Kaicheng. Among them, AVATAR, Deep Blue, and Changan Qiyuan are the three major smart electric vehicle brands.
In terms of brand positioning, AVATR has gradually established a high-end intelligent driving brand image, and AVATR 11 and AVATR 12 have been successfully put on the market, with an average price of 350,000-370,000 yuan; Deep Blue Automobile, on the other hand, focuses on fashion technology, and has officially launched Deep Blue SL03 and Deep Blue S7, mainly in the mainstream market of 200,000 yuan.
The price of Changan Qiyuan's products overlaps with Deep Blue, but it takes "digital intelligence new automobiles" as its development direction. Compared with dark blue, Changan Qiyuan is more inclined to intelligent mainstream models, which has become the cornerstone of Changan Automobile's future development and carries the expectation of more sales.
By 2030, Changan Automobile plans to increase its overall annual sales to 5 million units, of which 4 million units will be sold under the Changan brand.
Let's look at Changan Qiyuan's sales target: by 2025, Changan Qiyuan will launch 10 new digital and intelligent evolution new automotive products around the world. By 2030, Changan Qiyuan will strive to achieve a sales scale of 1.5 million units, which will account for a large proportion of the overall target of its own brands.
Digital intelligence AI electric drive 2.0+ mass production of variable new cars
Technology is the cornerstone of brand development, and from the current four products of Changan Qiyuan, there are two major technologies that are particularly worthy of attention.
The first is the new Blue Whale Power Digital Intelligence AI Electric Drive 2.0, which is positioned as a "twin electric hybrid" and realizes plug-in hybrid and extended range. From the perspective of hardware structure, the digital intelligence AI electric drive 2.0 adopts the coaxial series layout of the engine, P1 generator, and P3 power motor, realizing that the axial size of the electric drive assembly is comparable, but the width and height are greatly reduced. At the same time, the drive train is also more streamlined, so that the weight of the entire electric drive assembly is reduced by 30 to 40 kilograms compared to the competition, only 110 kilograms.
In terms of operation mode, the engine crankshaft of Digital Intelligence AI Electric Drive 2.0 is directly connected to the rotor of the P1 motor, and the hydraulic clutch is installed into the rotor of the P1 motor, and the clutch coupling can synchronize the drive wheel end and the P1 motor to achieve plug-in hybrid mode.
In addition to the innovation of the power system, the digital intelligence AI electric drive 2.0 supports OTA upgrades, so that the vehicle has both plug-in hybrid and range extension modes, and can change the vehicle mode according to different vehicle use scenarios, such as low energy consumption and good power in hybrid mode when driving at high speeds, and high comfort in range extension mode for urban commuting.
The second is the mass production of variable new cars. On April 25, Changan unveiled the 2024 Beijing new car with its new car Qiyuan E07, and called it "the world's first mass-produced variable new car" and "China's version of Cybertruck".
It is understood that Changan Qiyuan E07 is positioned as a medium and large high-end intelligent electric SUV, with a length of more than 5 meters, a width of nearly 2 meters, and a wheelbase of more than 3.1 meters, providing two types of power, pure electric and extended range, two modes of two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive, covering four endurance levels from 550 to 1000 kilometers.
As a "variable new car", Changan Qiyuan E07 can be deformed through the combination of the tail box and the cockpit, and can be expanded at any time according to the scene. For example, when the owner wants to rest, he can fold down the front seat and connect it with the second row to form a bed; When the owner is working, the second-row seats are folded forward and connected with the tail box to form a semi-open and comfortable space; When the owner is outdoors, it can also form an "open-air viewing platform" by opening the electric swing tailgate, so that the E07 takes into account the handling and comfort of the car, the space and passability of the SUV, and the carrying and expansibility of the pickup.
Aim at the mainstream track and be at the forefront of innovation
At present, Changan Qiyuan A07, A05 and Q05 have been officially listed for sale, with the lowest official guide price of 78,900 yuan and the highest official guide price of 163,900 yuan, mainly for the mainstream range.
From the perspective of market development, this range is also the current popular range, and the proportion of sales continues to grow. According to the latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to March, except for the sales volume in the price range of 200,000-250,000 yuan and 400,000-500,000 yuan, which decreased year-on-year, the other price segments maintained positive growth. Among them, the price segment with the most concentrated sales volume is still 150,000-200,000 yuan, with a cumulative sales of 535,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 18.2%.
Relying on the three products, Changan Qiyuan has gained a firm foothold in the mainstream market, but it is still far from the sales scale of 1.5 million units.
In this context, the "variable new car" may become a market breakthrough for Changan Qiyuan. According to Changan Automobile's official statement, Changan Qiyuan E07, the first mass-produced "variable new car", is the integration of Changan Automobile's three top-level strategies: the new energy "Shangri-La" plan, the intelligent "Beidou Tianshu" plan, and the globalization "Embrace All Rivers" plan.
The new car takes digital intelligence AI electric drive 2.0 as the technical cornerstone and "variable" as the product label, which greatly improves the economy and playability of the product, and also has popular elements such as intelligence, and the product power and innovation are at the forefront of products at the same price.
A consumer who is interested in buying a "variable new car" said: "The design idea of Changan Qiyuan E07 makes the car truly a big toy, as if the Transformers in the movie have come into reality. "In the future, Changan Qiyuan will create more products based on this track, so that the mainstream automobile market will usher in a new subversion.