Can the "road tank" save the all-electric MPV?

Text: Han Xu

Abstract: The MPV new energy market is still in the blue ocean

On July 19, ZEEKR officially released the all-new ZEEKR 009, a luxury flagship MPV.

Three months ago, ZEEKR launched the flagship 009 Glorious Edition, a "quasi-million" four-seater MPV that was snatched out of stock by bigwigs and stars.

Next, ZEEKR 009 shouldered two important tasks, on the one hand, it continued to consolidate its influence among high-end MPV customers, and on the other hand, it competed with the "old money" in the domestic and foreign markets, and made the high-end name of ZEEKR known all over the world.

But many industry observers are more concerned about another question: can the new ZEEKR 009 save the "half-dead" pure electric MPV market?

1. The high-end story of ZEEKR

That night, the ZEEKR 009 was updated with a 6-seater version and two new 7-seater models. Hardware refrigerators, color TVs, electric recliners, AI assistants, intelligent driving and other hard technologies are all standard; In order to be more suitable for the use scenarios of high-end users, An Conghui also tried to make attempts in health, mobile office and even "bringing a baby"; At the core safety level, ZEEKR 009 even collided directly with the truck to prove its safety and reliability.

In addition, the starting sales threshold of 439,000 yuan for 009 this time is a little more than the original 500,000 yuan + "close to the people", but in the field of pure electric MPV, there is still no new force that can sell at the same price.

It can be said that in order to capture more bigwigs, An Conghui broke his heart.

Therefore, how to tell the high-end story of ZEEKR to more people has become An Conghui's top priority. Expanding the market scope and strengthening the brand image is the solution he gave.

It is worth mentioning that before the release of the new ZEEKR 009 in Hong Kong, domestic new energy MPVs such as Denza's D9, Xpeng X9, and SAIC Maxus's Dajia 9 have entered the Hong Kong market in a big way, and SAIC Maxus has won the sales championship of MPVs in Hong Kong in only three months.

Obviously, the new energy market in Hong Kong, Macao and overseas is still a depression with huge imagination. ZEEKR took the opportunity to fight high, and used the 009 family to directly cut into the high-net-worth circle, strengthen the image of its luxury brand, and expand the influence funnel. An Conghui even gave the right to use business jets for those users who spontaneously promoted the brilliance of 009.

Next, ZEEKR can also use the Hong Kong market as a springboard to go global. According to the plan, ZEEKR will enter the market in 8 countries this year, and will enter other emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Australia in the future, and will carry out business in 50 countries.

After 009 and other models have laid a good front station and completed the cultivation of the international market, perhaps the follow-up models of ZEEKR will be able to quickly open up the situation and blossom more. By 2025, its product matrix will be expanded to six models, including the recently unveiled ZEEKR MIX and the five-seater SUV ZEEKR 7X.

2. Why can't MPVs sell?

However, the success of ZEEKR 009 is nothing more than an embarrassing fact: the cumulative sales of passenger cars in 2023 will be 21.703 million units, of which the cumulative annual sales of the MPV segment will be 1.093 million units, accounting for less than 1 percent. Rationally, MPVs cannot be compared with sedans and SUVs. Because for a long time, compared with the latter two, MPV is a lower market segment in China, and it is more niche in terms of terminal sales and public opinion discussion.

Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, said that although it has received many user demands, NIO has no plans to produce MPVs for a relatively long time. "MPV can't play too many flowers, MPV is more function-oriented, and everyone should also lower their expectations for our NIO MPV models."

It can be said that the MPV market is hardly optimistic, especially the pure electric MPV, which is basically in a half-dead state.

There are many MPVs on the market now, but there are still very few that are actually bought and used as family cars. Not buying MPVs is due to both stereotypes and the MPV market itself.

In fact, the full name of MPV is turned down and positioned as a "multi-functional vehicle", but it is basically used as a commercial vehicle in China.

Gradually, a stereotype will be formed among customers: this kind of car with a long appearance, like a car with an extra butt and an elongated butt, is used by companies to pick up customers, or is used by civil servants.

The "2020 China MPV Market Consumption Insight Report" jointly released by iResearch Consulting and NetEase News also talks about the same meaning as before, and most people think that MPVs are used as commercial vehicles.

And as a family car, many people think that MPVs are not good-looking, and they are even a little resistant in their hearts.

The problem is that the MPV is "not good-looking", mainly because of its body proportions, which are more aesthetically pleasing: the total height of the body should be between 2.25 and 2.5 times the diameter of the wheels. However, in order to ensure space, MPVs are often designed with a higher body, and at the same time, the front of the car is also short, which is somewhat out of proportion and looks bloated.

In addition, in the early days, the impression of the domestic god car Wuling Hongguang was really deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and anyone who looked like this felt that it was a truck.

There are also some people who don't choose MPV when buying a car, mainly because they are afraid that they will be particularly easy to be borrowed by others when they buy a car, and they have a feeling that the car will be bought for others. Compared with sedans, MPVs have more space and more people to sit, which is particularly easy to be borrowed, and MPVs are more comfortable to sit than SUVs, which is simply the best choice for borrowing cars.

In addition to the situations just mentioned, there are some people who don't want to buy MPVs, and the demand is actually there, mainly because they can't find a suitable one.

With the complete liberalization of the two-child policy in recent years, the level of domestic consumption has been continuously improved, and there is a more diverse demand for cars in family travel. For example, family road trips, weekend trips to the suburbs, and going back to their hometowns on holidays have all come out. In fact, these scenarios need to have a car with enough space and more comfortable ride to complete, and MPV is actually the most suitable. Generally speaking, MPVs in the same price range have more space than SUVs, have a more reasonable seating arrangement, and are more comfortable.

But many times, it's not so easy to buy a suitable MPV. At present, this market is actually a bit polarized, most of them are concentrated in low-end models and high-end models, and the middle gear is lacking. The data shows that 44% of users buy MPVs in the price range of 15 to 250,000, accounting for the largest proportion. In fact, more users who want to buy a family car want to be between 10 and 200,000, but there are few choices in this range, and this part of the customer will inevitably lose.

3. What is the way out for MPV?

It should be noted that among the MPV models, the pure electric MPV is especially not optimistic.

A number of media people in the car circle have said that pure electric MPVs are unreliable. Industry insiders also believe that pure electric is the "dead door" of MPV models.

This is confirmed by the words of an MPV salesperson, "The only advantage of pure electric MPVs is the low cost of ownership, but MPV users, they are willing to spend money to buy more time." I've found that these customers have a habit of not turning off the car even if they leave the car on an errand, because they want to keep the temperature in the car constant. ”

The range limitation of pure electric MPV will also make this part of the users who pursue efficiency rather than cost "prohibitive". At present, many pure electric MPVs have a maximum range of 700km, and the urban area can run, once driving on the highway, the energy consumption of the car is much greater than that of urban commuting, which will greatly reduce the mileage. Some media have calculated that it is basically 5-6% off. On the highway, whether the boss asks the driver to charge, or the family waits for charging, the experience will not be good.

On the whole, the current sales of new energy MPV models are still plug-in hybrid models.

In 2023, the sales of plug-in hybrid MPV models in China will reach 164,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 430%, while the sales of pure electric MPV models will only be 81,000 units, far lower than plug-in hybrid models, and the growth rate will only be 40.9%, far less than MPV plug-in hybrid models.

The new energy MPV models that have entered the sales list, including the Denza D9, which has repeatedly exceeded 10,000 units in monthly sales, and the VOYAH Dreamer, etc., are also dominated by plug-in hybrid versions, and the sales of pure electric versions are not excellent.

Taking the Denza D9, which has monthly sales of more than 10,000 units, as an example, the sales volume of the pure electric version is still less than 10%, which is difficult to support the position of the main sales force, while the monthly sales of Zeekrypton 009, which focuses on pure electric MPV, are only about 2,000 units.

Wall Street Insight · Research believes that MPV plug-in hybrid models are more recognized by the market and consumers than pure electric models, for the following two reasons:

First, the price of MPV plug-in hybrid models is lower than that of pure electric models, and the overall cost of buying a car is smaller. Taking the BYD Denza D9 as an example, the price of the Denza D9 super hybrid version is 329,800 yuan to 439,800 yuan, while the price of the pure electric version of the Denza D9 is 389,800 yuan to 459,800 yuan.

Second, as a large family car, MPV models are used to undertake long-distance travel tasks, and even travel to and from before and after the Spring Festival, while the cruising range and convenient energy replenishment of MPV plug-in hybrid models are important advantages. Taking the BYD Denza D9 as an example, the Denza D9 super hybrid version has a range of up to 900 kilometers on a full tank and can be refueled at any time, making it convenient for families to travel, while the Denza D9 pure electric version has a range of only 600 kilometers.

In addition, plug-in hybrid MPVs have advantages that fuel and oil hybrid MPVs do not have: they can be on the green card, lower energy consumption, and higher intelligent configuration.

Therefore, plug-in hybrid MPV may be the best solution for MPV at present, and it is also a magic weapon for car companies to enter the MPV market with the help of new energy.

As a result, car companies that are aware of the "limitations of pure electric MPV" no longer bet solely on pure electric vehicles, and have begun to turn their spearheads to the plug-in hybrid MPV market. No, everyone rushed to launch plug-in hybrid MPVs: Buick GL8 brought the new GL8 Luzun PHEV, Dongfeng Fengxing brought the Xinghai V9 with a range of up to 1300km, and Hongqi HQ9 launched a PHEV version.

IV. Conclusion

The data shows that from the perspective of penetration rate and sales proportion, the penetration rate of new energy in the MPV market is on the rise, especially the growth rate of the sales proportion of mid-to-high-end new energy MPV models is very obvious, and the proportion of sales from January to June 2023 has increased from 22.8% in 2022 to 80.2%, becoming the main product of the new energy MPV market.

As a result, the mid-to-high-end MPV market is now a competitive focus, and plug-in hybrid models are clearly more promising.

At present, the MPV new energy market is still in the blue ocean, and the biggest task of the new energy MPV may not be the competition between new energy models, but to achieve competition with MPV fuel vehicles. With the launch of many new energy MPV models that have attracted much attention in the market, it is believed that some brands are expected to reproduce the peak performance of DENZA D9, and 2024 will also become the year of the rise of new energy MPVs.