Text | Dong Wuying
Tesla's electric pickup Cybertruck is certainly one of the most talked about models in the world in recent years. However, due to the lack of localization, if you want to buy a Cybertruck in China, you need to spend more than 3 million yuan in parallel imports. Now, there is a domestic model that can be used as both an SUV and a pickup truck on the market, and the price starts at only 249,900 yuan, will you buy it?
Recently, Changan Qiyuan E07 officially opened pre-sale, which is a model known as "panoramic intelligent variable SUV", focusing on "deformation" characteristics, which can realize SUV, coupe, pickup and other forms of switching. At the press conference, the pre-sale prices of Changan Qiyuan E07 three configurations were 249,900 yuan, 269,900 yuan and 319,900 yuan respectively.
In terms of price, the Kaizen E07 can be said to be the domestic version of the Tesla Cybertruck. As the first model of the Kaizen brand with a price of more than 200,000 yuan, can the Kaizen E07 achieve an explosion in sales?
It is a "transformed" SUV with a price starting at CNY 249,900
At the Beijing Auto Show at the end of April this year, the Qiyuan E07 was officially unveiled, and its unique design concept and multi-form changes of sedan, SUV and pickup truck have won wide attention from inside and outside the industry.
At the beginning of June, Changan Qiyuan E07 cooperated with Transformers Super IP to launch the Super IN Han Festival, allowing consumers to actually feel the characteristics of Qiyuan E07 car form switching between SUVs, sedans and pickup trucks at will, and warmed up for the launch of this model.
The reason why Changan Qiyuan E07 can change in a variety of forms lies in the rear design. The rear design is very cool, and the windshield of the trunk can be sliding. If the windshield is sealed, this car is a sleek coupe SUV. If it is fully opened, this model will be transformed into a practical pickup form. The rear tailgate can also be flipped down, which can bear a weight of 150kg, and there is no partition between the trunk and the cockpit, so the actual use space is larger.
As a model with both pickup and SUV forms, Changan Qiyuan E07 avoids the current 15-year mandatory scrapping policy for pickup trucks, and has the comfort of both a sedan and an SUV. This design is more in line with the needs of the domestic market than the Cybertruck.
In this pre-sale, the Qiyuan E07 is available in two power types and three model configurations, namely the 39 kWh Max with extended range, the 90 kWh Max and the 90 kWh Ultra with pre-sale prices of RMB 249,900, RMB 269,900 and RMB 319,900, respectively.
The Kaizen E07 is equipped with NAPPA leather seats as standard, with seat ventilation and heating functions, and the front double zero-gravity seats can realize memory, welcome and massage functions, and are equipped with panoramic canopy, electric sunshades, and double-layer laminated soundproof glass throughout the car.
Among the three models, the top-of-the-line Ultra high-performance version is equipped with a family comfort package that includes functions such as a passenger screen, electric suction door, ambient lighting, and rear seat massage, and the two MAX models can choose this package.
In the intelligent cockpit, the Qiyuan E07 is equipped with a high-definition digital HUD instrument as standard, a 15.4-inch sunflower screen, and a large Changan AI voice model, while the top-of-the-line Ultra high-performance model is equipped with a technology enjoyment package that includes functions such as intelligent vision assistance.
In terms of assisted driving, the three models are equipped with a high-end intelligent assisted driving system independently developed by Changan Automobile as standard, equipped with one NVIDIA Orin-X chip, five millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars and 11 high-definition cameras. The extended-range model is equipped with one LiDAR, while the two BEVs are equipped with two LiDARs.
Changan's high-end intelligent driving can currently realize AI interactive intelligence, high-speed pilot assistance and intelligent parking assistance functions, and urban navigation assistance and AVP valet parking functions will be pushed through OTA in the future.
At present, Changan Qiyuan E07 has launched a limited number of pre-sale rights for the first 10,000 people, and the pre-ordered models can get Changan high-end intelligent driving functions for life free (including urban navigation and other functions), intelligent magic carpet suspension set gifts, technology enjoyment package gifts, lifetime warranty for the first non-operating owner (including the whole vehicle, three electric and air suspension), 21-inch wheels + Michelin tires purchase discounts and cash deductions and other rights and interests.
Taking into account the limited-time pre-sale rights, the Qiyuan E07 is basically the same as the configuration of the three models except for the power, some exterior configurations and family enjoyment packages.
As the first product of Changan Qiyuan brand to enter the price range of 20-400,000 yuan, can Qiyuan E07 lead Changan Qiyuan to achieve sales explosion and brand improvement?
Can the Kaizen brand successfully achieve premiumization?
In recent years, with the acceleration of new energy transformation, three intelligent electric brands have been formed under the Changan Automobile system: AVATAR, Deep Blue Automobile and Changan Qiyuan. Among them, Changan Qiyuan belongs to a new product series of Changan Automobile, which is aimed at more mainstream consumer groups.
At the end of October 2023, Kaizen began to deliver models, which has been less than a year ago. According to the official website, there are currently three models on sale under the Qiyuan brand, namely Qiyuan A07, Q05 and A05, with starting prices of 135,900 yuan, 96,900 yuan and 78,900 yuan respectively.
As Changan's "pro-son" brand, Changan Automobile had high hopes for the Qiyuan brand at the beginning of its release: it is expected that the sales volume of the Qiyuan brand will reach 1.5 million units in 2030. According to Changan Automobile's recent plan, Changan Qiyuan's annual sales target for 2024 is 250,000 units.
In the first eight months of this year, the cumulative sales of the Kaizen brand were 94,000 units, which is slightly far from the annual sales target of 250,000 units. However, as a brand established less than one year ago, Qiyuan's sales performance has been quite outstanding with sales exceeding 10,000 for 6 consecutive months.
At present, the sales volume of the three models on sale is relatively balanced. In August this year, Kaizen A07 sold 4,563 units, Kaizen Q05 sold 3,503 units, and Kaizen A05 sold 3,300 units.
Compared with the A series and Q series, which focus on the mass market, the E series to which the E07 belongs belongs to the high-end sequence of Changan Qiyuan. The launch of the Kaizen E07 can be seen as a signal that Changan Qiyuan is moving towards the mid-to-high-end market, directly raising the starting price of Kaizen brand models to 249,900 yuan.
In order to form an effective support for this price, as mentioned above, Changan Qiyuan has packaged a number of optional or top functions worth tens of thousands of yuan, including smart driving for life free, magic carpet suits, etc., into pre-sale rights, but even so, considering that the high-end experience of Chang'an brand is slightly lacking, and the newly established Kaizen brand power is slightly insufficient, whether Kaizen E07 can be recognized by the market still needs to be verified.
Since its establishment, the Kaizen brand has been trying to enhance its brand positioning. Previously, Qiyuan A07 once wanted to hit the 15-200,000 yuan automobile market, but ultimately failed. At the end of October 2023, the initial price of Kaizen A07 will be 155,900 yuan to 176,900 yuan. However, a few months after its launch, Qiyuan A07 sales failed to explode, with the highest monthly sales of only 3,830 units.
Only 4 months after the launch, at the beginning of March this year, Changan Qiyuan launched the Qiyuan A07 true fragrance version, the official guide price of the two pure electric models is 135,900-159,900 yuan, and the starting price is more than 30,000 yuan lower than the first version of the same mileage pure electric model. From April to July this year, the monthly sales volume of Qiyuan A07 remained between 5,000 and 6,000 units.
After the pre-sale price of Qiyuan E07 was announced, a large number of netizens said that the model was very cool, but some netizens said that "the price is high" and "looking forward to the real fragrance version".
Even with the unique and cool attribute of "SUV and pickup", considering the fierce competition in the current new energy vehicle market, the Qiyuan E07 is facing great challenges. From the pricing point of view, Qiyuan E07 faces strong competitors such as Tesla Model Y, Li L6, Wenjie M7, Wenjie M5, and Equation Leopard Leopard 5. At the same price, it is still unknown how many consumers are willing to choose to buy Kaizen E07 for the "deformation" attribute.
On the whole, as the first model of the Kaizen brand to hit the mid-to-high-end market, the Kaizen E07 has put a lot of thought into pricing and configuration. However, for a new brand, it is worth paying attention to whether Kaizen E07 can afford the price of 249,900 yuan and successfully lead Kaizen to achieve sales explosion and brand growth.