Sure enough, Zhiji L6 is on fire. "There are already more than 29,000 pre-orders." As soon as the Zhiji L6 listing meeting opened on May 13, the official announced its orders. This is the case of an order obtained only at the pre-sale price. The price range of Zhiji L6 listed on the same day is the official guide price: 219,900 yuan ~ 345,900 yuan. After superimposing the equity, the price starts at 199,900 yuan, directly breaking through the psychological bottom line of 200,000 yuan.
"L6 is not profitable." After the press conference, Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiji Auto, said in an exchange with the media. The Zhiji L6 is positioned as a medium and large pure electric sedan, and its competitors are directly targeting models such as Xiaomi SU7, Zeekr 001, Tesla Model 3, and BYD Han EV. Although it lost money, compared with the loss of 60,000 or 70,000 yuan of some competing bicycles, Zhiji was much better. "When we reach a certain scale of sales, we can be profitable." Liu Tao said. It said that Zhiji will reduce costs through technology research and development and other means.
Such a ruthless pricing made L6 attract more consumers to make a decision after the pricing was announced on the evening of the 13th. That night, the middle of Zhiji's official app was once crowded, which led to systemic problems.
From the perspective of the industry, whether it is price or product power, Zhiji L6 is very advantageous. For example, compared with the popular competitor Xiaomi su7, the starting price of Zhiji L6 is 15000 yuan lower. The starting price of the Xiaomi SU7, which was launched in March this year, starts at 215,900, and the standard version is a 400V architecture, equipped with a 73.6-degree lithium iron phosphate battery from BYD, and a single motor provides 299Ps horsepower. In comparison, the entry version of the Zhiji L6 is also a 400V platform, with a 75-degree lithium iron phosphate battery, a range of 650km, and a maximum motor power of 216kW (250 horsepower).
However, the Zhiji L6 provides the standard NVIDIA DRIVE® Orin 254TOPS chip, LiDAR, urban NOA to high-precision maps, digital chassis, etc., which make Xiaomi su7 feel cold in the back. Judging from other versions, the Zhiji L6 also basically maintains the dual suppression of price and product power. For Xiaomi SU7, in addition to Extreme Krypton 001, there is now officially a super strong competitor. This also makes the expectations of this product very high, "There is no specific target number, but I am sure that this car can enter the forefront of the segment." Liu Tao said.
From the perspective of the industry, in the 200,000-yuan pure electric car market where the Zhiji L6 is located, the Tesla Model 3, which currently sells the best, sold 136,000 units last year. Among its own brands, the BYD Han EV, which is currently the most competitive, sold 102,000 units last year. The Xiaomi SU7 was launched at the end of March this year, and sold 7,058 units in April, but there are rumors that the number of locked orders has exceeded 100,000. The ZEEKR 001 sold 11,729 units in a single month in April, and the cumulative orders also exceeded 40,000.
This also means that in order to enter the top five, the monthly sales of Zhiji L6 must also exceed 10,000.
Driving control: digital chassis + crab mode
As Zhiji's trump card this year, L6 has reached its peak state in both hardware and software, and its competitiveness is also very strong from the perspective of the industry. In summary, the core advantages of Zhiji L6 are in the following aspects: first, quasi-900V high-voltage platform; second, light-year solid-state batteries; third, hurricane motors; Fourth, the digital chassis of the Skinkler. In terms of configuration, the whole system is equipped with the six king fried configurations with the highest scientific and technological gold content, including the civet digital chassis, intelligent four-wheel steering system, ultra-long-range high-precision lidar, NVIDIA DRIVE Orin X chip, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip, ISC smart light language system, etc.
In terms of hardware configuration, Zhiji L6 adopts a quasi-900V dual-silicon carbide high-performance platform, with a maximum working voltage of 875V, a rated voltage of 751V, a peak charging power of 396kW, and a charging capacity of 200 kilometers in 5 minutes and 500 kilometers in 15 minutes. Combined with the solid-state battery jointly developed by SAIC and Qingtao, its range can exceed 1000km.
Zhiji has always been very manipulative. At the L6, Zhiji Auto showcased the company's all-digital intelligent management center "Grey Lizard Digital Chassis" to upgrade the handling again. It is reported that the L6 can achieve a turning radius of 4.99 meters (Xiaomi su7 is 5.7 meters), and the agility is comparable to that of the small car Volkswagen Polo, which has a wheelbase of only 2.5 meters. At the same time, with the help of the digital chassis, driving safety will also be improved. For example, on slippery rainy days, it can help reduce skidding and tail flicking, and it can also help reduce deviation by 80% on snow-residual roads.
In order to make the label of driving control clearer, the Lizard digital chassis + intelligent four-wheel steering system will be equipped as standard on the L6. L6 can realize the super-large horned crab row mode, the collar radius in situ U-turn, and the vector traverse mode, which is also the world's first car that can walk sideways and turn around in situ. It's very powerful. In addition, in the elk test, which is a measure of vehicle handling, the Zhiji L6 also showed off. Previously, Zhiji showed that the L6 has a test score of 71km/h in the case of unmanned driving.
On the evening of the 13th, Zhiji announced that the L6 achieved an excellent score of 90.96km/h in the elk test, and no certification has reached more than 85km/h. In international tests, the vehicle elk test is generally excellent above 70-79km/h, and the score above 80km/h is the top. For example, the elk test of Xiaomi SU7 is 82km/h. It is reported that the civet lizard digital chassis can be OTA in the whole life cycle.
In the near future, the Grey Lizard digital chassis will undergo an OTA to provide gimbal body control, which can make the vehicle more stable to drive in large curvature corners and reduce the feeling of motion sickness in the rear. With the blessing of this chassis, it can provide a smaller avoidance distance and a shorter response time. In addition, with the Cheetah mode turned on, the vehicle can also eject and start on the spot, and the performance will not be weakened at minus 30°. Zhiji's senior management said that the Skink digital chassis will provide a cross-generational ascension experience.
In terms of motors, the Zhiji L6 will be available in both single-motor and dual-motor versions. The single-motor version has a maximum power of 216 kW, while the dual-motor version has a maximum power of 200 kW and 379 kW, respectively, making the 0-100 km/h acceleration time in the 2-second club.
Intelligent: Intelligent driving without a map will be fully realized within the year
In terms of software, Zhiji demonstrated a number of new technologies on L6, including a new generation of electronic and electrical architecture and IMOS 3.0, DZT virtual and real space dynamic area tracking technology, new multi-view Carlog, etc., and announced the latest progress of NOA in the city without pictures. Zhiji L6 intelligent driving continues the practice of LS6 standard lidar in all series, and there is no difference between the high and low versions of intelligent driving ability. In addition, at present, the intelligent driving of Zhiji products is free of charge, and it is expected that the same will be true on the L6. In terms of intelligent driving, this one saved more than 10,000 yuan.
According to Zhiji's disclosure, the company has now entered the stage of intelligent driving on high-precision maps, and the official said that at present, IM AD to high-precision map city NOA has started public testing, and it is expected to be mass-produced in the third quarter and open nationwide within the year. In addition, Liu Tao also announced that this year, Zhiji will challenge to become the first company to mass-produce end-to-end large models on the car, which will also further improve Zhiji's intelligent driving ability. At the press conference, Zhiji also highlighted the display of measured videos in many places across the country, demonstrating the ability of autonomous driving.
In terms of intelligent driving function, the standard version of Xiaomi SU7 does not support the urban NOA function. If you need to use City NOA, you can only choose the Xiaomi SU7 Pro or Max version, and you need to pay for a subscription.
In addition, at the launch conference, the Zhiji L6 made a more powerful functional upgrade for the AEB that consumers are currently concerned about. It is reported that the AEB of Zhiji L6 covers 8-130km/h, which can deal with ghost probes, stationary faulty vehicles in front (Han night), stationary two-wheeled vehicles in front, and ghost probes of two-wheeled vehicles. Recently, the rear-end collision incident of Wenjie M7 in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province has made people's attention to AEB unprecedentedly increased, and this time, Zhiji's strong AEB ability is believed to attract the attention of many consumers.
In addition, the full-frame digital cockpit screen that has been displayed on LS7\LS6 and other car products, as well as high-end functions such as specially developed rainy night mode, global digital vision blind correction, and one-click AI driving, focus on solving the pain points of deterministic driving scenarios and make driving easier. In terms of the interconnection between mobile phones and car machines, Zhiji can achieve close integration with the Apple and Android ecosystems for the IMOS system. Zhiji said that it will break the "brand wall" and allow users to freely choose to form a super terminal system of people, cars and homes, so as to achieve a true panoramic ecological interconnection.
Interestingly, Liu Tao responded to Tesla's FSD entry into China in terms of intelligent driving. Liu Tao said that because the proportion of FSD buying Tesla's products is actually not large, it has not become the fundamental reason for its best-selling in the Chinese market. After FSD enters the Chinese market, the industry will definitely face huge challenges, because Tesla is "intimidating" in terms of basic technologies such as visual capabilities and algorithms. "But Chinese companies also have their own advantages in smart driving. For example, it has a better understanding of China's road conditions and driving habits, more data accumulation, and at the same time, it also has advantages in cost.
Change the pace: iterate every year
For Zhiji, L6 will be its "big game" this year. At present, Zhiji has three products, including L7, LS7 and LS6, of which LS6 is the main sales force. In 2023, the annual sales of Zhiji Automobile will be about 38,200 units, and this year's goal is to hit the sales scale of 100,000+.
Liu Tao said that LS6 has become the champion of the medium and large new energy SUV market for many consecutive months, and there is a certain gap in the current market. This is because the whole market is "very volatile" and there are many variables. He said that LS6 will make some adjustments in the future, including LS7 and other products. At the same time, Liu Tao said that Zhiji will adjust the update rhythm and playing style of the entire product. "Electric vehicles are already the rhythm of consumption in the nature of electronic products." Liu Tao said.
According to the consumption rhythm of electronic products, the update speed of the entire automobile product will be accelerated again. Zhiji will complete the product change in 18-24 months, and all products will be iterated every year. He believes that according to the characteristics of electronic consumers, the product will have a hot sales period and then enter the platform period after a few months, and finally there will be a new product change in about 13 months. "We're going to play at that pace." Liu Tao said.
For the follow-up competition, Liu Tao said that he would make changes in marketing. He believes that the current development of electric vehicle technology has far exceeded the level that ordinary consumers can understand, and some very explosive technologies are not well perceived in the terminal, and even worse than refrigerators and adding a little body color to make it easy to understand and accept. For example, the digital chassis of the lizard needs to allow consumers to experience the value it brings more practically and break the barriers of cognition.
In addition, Liu Tao also said that the Zhiji L6 will soon be launched in Europe. Zhiji Auto disclosed its plans to go overseas this year. According to the plan, Zhiji will have two products, L7 and LS7, which will be launched in Mexico, the Middle East, South America, and Southeast Asia in 2024. In 2025, LS6 and L6 will enter the world and deploy in developed markets including Europe, Australia and New Zealand. This will also open up a new situation in the development of Zhiji.
With the arrival of L6, a popular product is doomed, so the next challenge for Zhiji is how to make it continue to explode in the market and maintain competitiveness.