**:Titanium**.
*From: Ideal Auto press conference "If you don't work hard, you can only buy BBA", when Ideal Mega** was announced, there was such ridicule in the industry again.
Although at last year's Guangzhou Auto Show, Li Auto has announced that the pre-sale price of MEGA is within 600,000 yuan, and before the official announcement, the outside world expects that it will not be less than 500,000 yuan, but when 55After the announcement of the ** of 980,000 yuan, some friends who continue to pay attention to the ideal mega complained to the author, "Now this ** war is so strong, this ** is set to be a bit expensive." ”
Another friend told the author, "This ** is much higher than expected, if it is less than 500,000, it will be blind directly." ”
For MEGA final pricing 55980,000 yuan, Fan Haoyu, senior vice president of Li Auto Products, explained in the communication after the press conference, "According to first principles, the pricing logic is particularly simple, according to the cost, and then we take a very reasonable gross profit that can make the company continue to develop," said Fan Haoyu, senior vice president of Li Auto Products
At present, among the new energy MPVs in volume, the main models are generally within 400,000 yuan. Last year, the Denza D9, which sold more than 100,000 units, was 34Starting from 980,000 yuan, the Xpeng X9 listed on New Year's Day this year is 35From 980,000 yuan. Before the launch of the Ideal MEGA, the most expensive domestic pure electric MPV was the Zeekrypton 009, with a price starting at 500,000 yuan, and the cumulative sales in 2023 will be 19,210 units.
Ideal MEGA not only hit the **, Li Xiang also hopes to make MEGA a hit, "become the first product with sales of more than 500,000 yuan, regardless of energy form, regardless of body form", there has never been a domestic model that has ever shown such ambition.
In the previous test drive experience of the ideal mega, there is a survey on the ideal mega, in which the author gives a bold estimate of 6000-8000 units for the monthly sales of mega. A person familiar with the matter told the author that this prediction is basically consistent with the internal sales expectation of Mega in Li Auto, but there will be a sales ramp-up process in the early stage.
The reason why the author will give such a prediction after the experience is based on the product power of the ideal mega itself. Like the product logic of the Ideal L series, the MEGA is also precisely positioned to define and design the product around the needs of families with many children.
Combined with the product functions and positioning of Ideal MEGA, the strong "family" attribute is destined to be its main target is not only BMW X5, but users with a budget of 500,000 yuan and demand for multi-person travel scenarios, they can be BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLS, Toyota Alpha, Mercedes-Benz Vito and other fuel vehicle users, can also be the target group of new energy vehicles such as ZEEKR 009 and Volvo EM90.
The classification of this market is not divided according to the traditional sense of ** range and level, for the target group, ** may not be its primary consideration, so you will find that the ideal mega has a certain degree of irreplaceability, it needs to obtain the brand recognition of high-end users.
Therefore, some friends who have experienced MEGA joked to the author, "I am still 3 children away from MEGA!" ”
A friend even said to the author, "Wealthy families who can afford to raise three children have a demand for MPV that ordinary people cannot understand." ”
So, can MEGA really impress wealthy middle-class families with many children?
*Source: Li Auto.
Is building a car for a family a false proposition?
First of all, we need to understand a question, why the ideal product that has entered the pure electric market for the first time should choose MPV. Although the new energy MPV track has been particularly hot in recent years, MPV is still a typical niche market. According to the data, the sales volume of the MPV market in 2023 will be 10930,000 units, although a year-on-year increase of 159%, but the share of the total passenger car market is only 504%, which is only about one-tenth of the sales volume of the sedan and SUV market.
At the press conference, Li Xiang explained why MPV was chosen for the first pure electric product, "The Ideal ONE and Ideal L series are products created for me and my friends, including a family of three, a family of two children and a family of three generations. But in the past few years, my friends and I, especially myself, have been unable to meet the daily travel needs of 6 seats. ”
For Li Xiang, who owns multiple brands of MPVs at the same time, he found that the high-end MPV seats of Japanese brands are comfortable enough, but there is no place to put luggage after sitting 7 people. The German MPV, which has enough space, has sound insulation and suspension performance like a truck, while the power is even worse, and it is difficult to overtake conventionally when fully loaded, and the performance of intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving is almost zero.
Li Xiang believes that the product power of mainstream high-end MPVs is extremely poor, "MPV, as a product that carries the whole family, can no longer be so improvised." And as an ideal car that has always been centered on family users, it is time for us to create an MPV that is more suitable for large families. ”
*Source: Li Auto's press conference shows that the successful paving of the Ideal L series, as well as the models that are well versed in the needs of family users, allow Li Auto to enter the pure electric market, and still focus on family users. At present, the mainstream high-end MPV has many pain points such as insufficient space, insufficient comfort, and extremely poor intelligent experience. This is the main reason why Li Auto locked its first pure electric product into the MPV type.
Therefore, based on its own advantages and user pain points, Li Xiang believes that Ideal MEGA can become a popular product in the market.
However, it should be pointed out that the pain points of the mainstream high-end MPV referred to by Li Xiang only exist in Japanese brands and German brands, and do not include independent brands. The new energy MPV launched by the independent brand has actually solved the pain points mentioned by Li Xiang to a certain extent. For example, ZEEKR 009, Xpeng X9, Denza D9, VOYAH Dreamer, etc. But their ** is generally lower than the ideal mega, all within 400,000.
So, how can Li Auto convince users that they are willing to spend more than 150,000 yuan to buy the same level of ideal MEGA as other independent high-end new energy MPVs?
It's better to buy a house than to buy an ideal mega".
Judging from the experience of the press conference and the first test drive, Li Auto tries to seek breakthroughs in the areas that users care about most, such as charging efficiency, interior space, and intelligent experience.
The first is charging efficiency. Thanks to the 800V high-voltage platform, Kirin 5C battery and self-built 5C supercharging station, previously, Titanium **APP also tested the charging speed of the ideal MEGA at the ideal 5C supercharging station in Sanya, and the highest peak power reached 490KW, which only takes about 12 minutes to complete the energy replenishment.
Li Xiang said that it takes about 15 minutes for a fuel truck to enter the service area to fill up the gas and go to the bathroom. Based on this, Li Xiang believes that users' psychological expectations for the energy replenishment time of pure electric vehicles are 30 minutes is the passing line and 15 minutes is satisfactory. And the ideal goal is to challenge better than to be satisfied.
It is reported that in order to achieve fast charging capacity, Li Auto is accelerating the construction of self-operated supercharging stations. At present, in high-speed scenarios, Li Auto has built more than 300 supercharging stations. In the future, it plans to invest more than 6 billion yuan to build more than 5,000 directly operated 5C charging stations, covering 95% of the country's high-speed and important national highways. For reference, as of November 2023, Tesla has built more than 1,800 Superchargers in China.
*Source: In addition to solving the anxiety of energy replenishment, Li Xiang also bluntly said that the Ideal Mega is a pure electric four-wheel drive MPV with the lowest energy consumption, with energy consumption of only 15 per 100 kilometers9kWh, it can replace fuel vehicles on a large scale.
He said that this is due to the design of the Ideal Mega in many aspects, including the overall styling design of the Ideal Mega and the extremely low drag coefficient. The extremely low drag coefficient combined with the advanced high-voltage pure electric platform and ultra-high vehicle integration efficiency can achieve extremely low energy consumption. The drag coefficient of the ideal mega is only 0215。
The second is the creation of interior space. The outside world often uses "refrigerator, color TV, large sofa" to describe the interior characteristics of ideal products, although it has a derogatory connotation, but it also shows that the internal design of ideal products does have a sense of family atmosphere. On MEGA, this was re-demonstrated and further upgraded.
Li Xiang said,The refrigerator color TV sofa has been upgraded again,It can be said that buying an ideal mega is to spend the money of a car to get a suite,It also gives away a home theater and a full set of furniture for free。
*From: Ideal Auto Press Conference Therefore, after the press conference, there was a ridicule on the Internet that "buying a house is better than buying an ideal mega", and even calculated the price per square meter of the ideal mega, which is about 530,000 yuan. Because the vehicle area is calculated according to the length and width, it is about 105 square meters.
Finally, there's the intelligent experience. Realistically speaking, the intelligence of German and Japanese high-end MPVs is indeed their shortcomings, and the performance of independent high-end new energy MPVs is also lackluster, only Xiaopeng X9 is more outstanding in terms of intelligence.
The intelligent performance of the ideal mega, according to the actual test drive experience and hardware configuration of the titanium **app, is indeed a good performance.
In terms of smart cabin, Ideal MEGA is equipped with Qualcomm 8295P high-performance flagship chip, with computing power of 60TOPS, in addition, MEGA also uses two sets of IR+RGB binocular vision sensors and 6 groups of dual-microphone array microphones.
In terms of intelligent driving, the ideal mega uses dual NVIDIA ORIN-X chips, 1 128-line lidar and 360-degree camera, in addition to realizing full-scene intelligent driving, it can also achieve automatic parking.
According to the plan, in the second quarter of this year, Li Auto's no-map urban NOA function will be opened to all cities across the country, and the OTA will be upgraded to all AD MAX vehicles. The ideal goal is to enter the first echelon of the industry in a short period of time for high-level intelligent driving capabilities.
However, for family travel scenarios, high-end intelligent driving may not be a rigid demand in the short term. After all, driving on an MPV full of family members, it's hard to leave the main task of driving to the machine with confidence.
If charging efficiency, space design and intelligent experience are the main selling points of the mega, then the controversial styling is an uncertain factor affecting its future sales. Although the appearance of the shape is "turnip greens have their own love", the ideal MEGA is too unusual, resulting in the appearance of MEGA has been the most controversial point in the outside world since its launch.
When talking about why he chose such a shape, Li Xiang mainly gave two reasons. First, MPVs should achieve coupe-level drag coefficients to reduce energy consumption and improve battery life; The second is that Li Auto does not want to be a clone of Alpha, but wants to create a symbolic design that leads the aesthetics of the next era.
It is true that the shape of the mega has abandoned all traditions, but whether it will meet the aesthetics of the next era is still uncertain. If Li Auto cannot change the user's preconceived view in the short term, it will inevitably affect the market prospect of Li MEGA. On the contrary, if the shape of the ideal mega can lead the aesthetics of the new era like the Apple mobile phone of the year, then the ideal mega will be sought after by users and become a popular product in the market.
However, it is still unknown where the shape of the "high-speed rail head" will bring the ideal MEGA.
A "very new" luxury brand?
Although it has been controversial because of its styling, the launch of Ideal MEGA has opened the prelude to a big year for Ideal Auto products.
In addition to the four new products consisting of the Ideal MEGA and L9 L8 L7 facelift models launched on March 1, there will be 25-300,000 Li L6 and other pure electric models on the market. At that time, the number of products on sale will increase to 8, with 4 pure electric and extended-range models.
The sharp increase in the number of products is expected to support the sales target of 800,000 units for the full year of 2024. At the previous results conference, Li Auto's delivery in March will return to 50,000 units, and it will continue to be delivered since then. Deliveries in June are expected to reach 70,000 units. By the end of the year, the company aims to sell more than 100,000 units per month.
In the past February, Li Auto delivered 20,251 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 218%, with a total of 51,416 units delivered in the first two months of 2023. This means that in order to successfully achieve the annual target, 750,000 new vehicles will be delivered in the next 10 months, with an average of 750,000 units.
Screenshot from: Li Auto.
Li Auto's ambition is to break the pattern of the luxury car market being dominated by BBA (Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi) for a long time. The year before, BMW was the No. 1 luxury car market in 2023 with more than 800,000 units sold, followed by Mercedes-Benz and Audi by a narrow margin.
Li Xiang recently made a judgment that in the new energy vehicle market of more than 200,000 yuan, the fourth quarter of this year will show the result that the top three leading brands will eat up 70% of the market share. According to the data, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Li Auto's market share in the new energy vehicle market of more than 200,000 yuan increased to 16%, ranking first among Chinese auto brands.
Stretching the timeline into the next 10 years, Li Auto's ambition is to account for one-third of China's more than 200,000 household user market by 2030. According to Li Xiang's judgment, at that time, the ideal will achieve a revenue scale of more than one trillion yuan.
In the past 2023, Li Auto achieved revenue of 1238500 million yuan, the annual net profit reached 118100 million yuan, which is 33.9 billion, 3 days net profit 1 small target. With this best financial report in history, Ideal has not only become the first new force to achieve profitability, but also the first new force to achieve a revenue scale of 100 billion yuan.
So looking to the future, can the Chinese auto market under the shroud of the first war support the trillion-dollar ambition of Li Auto? As a "very new" luxury brand, can the ideal MEGA that does not fight the first war become a market hit or a phenomenal product again? Everything is unknown, and everything is possible.
This article was first published by Wang Ruihao, Li Yupeng, and edited by Zhang Min).
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