At the beginning of this year, in addition to BYD, which is indiscriminate everywhere, it is Chery that dares to take the initiative to provoke ** competition.
February 28th,Chery's first car under the new brand icar, the iCar 03, was launched, with an official guide price of 10 for six models98-16.980,000 yuan. This is a very aggressive pricing - the official guide price is up to 20,000 yuan lower than the pre-sale price, and it is also an unprecedented ** for a pure electric A-class SUV model.
The official guide price of iCar 03 is up to 20,000 yuan lower than the pre-sale price.
Moreover, Chery is not making money at a loss, and expects ICAR 03 to make money on this **. Zhang Hongyu, deputy general manager of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. and general manager of the ICAR brand division, said in an interviewYin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Holding Group, put forward the goal of "double 10,000" for iCar 03: monthly sales of 10,000 units and a profit of 10,000 yuan per vehicle.
Of course, Zhang Hongyu said that the "double 10,000" goal includes both domestic and foreign markets, and "there is still a certain gap today".
At present, Chery Group's four major brands: Chery, Xingtu, Jietu and ICAR are all accelerating the transformation of new energy in an all-round way. icar is the "new force" of Chery Group and the only brand focusing on new energy. After ICAR 03 hit the market with **, how does ICAR launch a new energy brand offensive?
The iCar is outstanding in terms of value for money
The pre-sale of the icar 03 started on December 18 last year, and the pre-sale price at that time was 1298-18.580,000 yuan.
For the final selling price, it is customary in the industry to be lower than the pre-sale price, so that the pre-order consumer has a surprise. However, the official guide price of the icar 03 is more "ruthless", and the 6 cars** are 1 lower than the pre-sale price60,000-20,000 yuan, and the final ** is 1098-16.980,000 yuan.
In addition, iCar 03 also announced the rights and interests of car purchase, including lifetime vehicle, three-electric warranty, free rescue (the first private user) four-wheel drive long-range intelligent driving version Dading users will be given the rights and interests of free advanced driving assistance functions for life for a limited time.
Compared with the first, the product strength of ICAR 03 is relatively prominent.
In terms of design, the iCar 03 thoroughly implements the square box shape, with tough lines and square shapes everywhere. Zhang Hongyu explained the reason in response to the modeling question, saying that the shape of the square box is more differentiated, and it is easy to modify, and young people prefer it, which can show their personality. In terms of interior, the iCar 03 offers 156-inch large central control screen.
iCar 03 interior.
In terms of power and handling, although the icar 03 is not a hard-core off-road, it also gives young people the capital to "go wild". The four-wheel drive version of the iCar 03 is equipped with the only IWD intelligent electronic control four-wheel drive system in the same class, which can realize two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive intelligent switching, and the front and rear dual motor layout provides a strong power guarantee for the vehicle, with a peak power of 205kW, wheel torque of 4100N·m, and zero acceleration of only 65s。
In order to cope with off-road scenarios, the iCar 03 uses icar's original hybrid super strong chassis to bring class-leading all-terrain capabilities. 8+x all-terrain driving mode for most non-paved scenarios.
In terms of intelligent driving, the non-intelligent driving version is equipped with 16 active safety configurations of ADASThe intelligent driving version can realize L2++ level intelligent driving assistance functions, and can achieve more personalized settings through OTA in the later stage. The iCar 03 four-wheel drive long-range intelligent driving version is only 10,000 yuan more expensive than the four-wheel drive long-range version, but it will be equipped with a lever to change lanes, full-scene automatic parking, and one-key remote control parking functions as standard. These functions, nominally, can basically align with the functions of the top intelligent driving models.
Zhang Hongyu said at the press conference that through the optimal combination of AI software and hardware, iCar 03 realizes equal rights in intelligent driving, which is to bring down the high-end intelligent driving for young people.
The intelligent driving ** business of the icar 03 is DJI, and it is a pure vision solution, without millimeter wave radar and ultrasonic radar, only a pair of 8 million pixel forward-looking inertial navigation stereo binocular cameras, a 3 million pixel rear-view monocular camera and four 3 million pixel surround view fisheye cameras, that is, the 7V solution of the DJI Chengxing platform.
In terms of computing power, according to DJI's introduction, the Chengxing platform can be as low as 32 tops.
Such a solution, of course, has obvious cost advantages. Shen Shaojie, the person in charge of DJI Vehicle, once said that the hardware cost of the Chengxing platform can be as low as less than 10,000 yuan, and even reach the level of 5,000 yuan, which is roughly equivalent to the ** of a long-range lidar.
On other configurations,The iCar 03 adopts an all-aluminum body with a torsional rigidity of 31,812N·m deg, leading its class. The power battery iCar 03 uses high-quality battery cells provided by CATL, and the sandwich battery pack can withstand 22 tons of extrusion without deformation.
The iCar 03 has an extra storage space.
In addition, the iCar 03 also has a lot of room for modification. At the press conference, Chery presented several modified versions of the iCar 03, including outdoor off-road style, exquisite coffee stalls, and band tour cars, ......It is also a selling point for young people who like to mod.
Yin Tongyue released the platform for the icar 03.
Such product strength also makes Chery quite confident. Yin Tongyue said: "ICAR should be in the range of 10-150,000 **, to be the coolest, trendiest, safest and smartest, and will definitely take advantage of the momentum and become an instant hit!" ”
New energy brand: break and stand
At the Chery Technology Day in 2023, Yin Tongyue said, "Chery 'got up early in the morning and caught up late' in terms of new energy vehicles. ”
What he said about "getting up early" refers to Chery's subsidiary Chery New Energy Vehicle Technology ***, hereinafter referred to as Chery New Energy). Chery New Energy was formally established in 2010 and took the lead in opening the road of independent research and development of new energy vehicles. At the beginning, Chery New Energy was mainly engaged in the research and development of cutting-edge technologies for clean energy vehicles such as hybrid vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles, as well as the construction of demonstration test models. Later, Chery New Energy became the earliest promoter of pure electric vehicles in China. Since 2014, Chery New Energy has launched the EQ pure electric vehicle, and subsequently launched models such as the Little Ant. In September 2018, Chery New Energy also obtained the "dual qualification" of complete independent production and sales.
In the era of subsidies, Chery New Energy's little ants have been prosperous for a long time, and the subsequent sales of ice cream are also good. However, in the past two years, subsidies have been introduced, and new energy vehicles have turned to market dominance. BYD and other car companies design models based on consumer needs, supplemented by first-class offensives, leading the popularization of new energy vehicles. At this time, although Chery still has a certain sales volume in micro electric vehicles, it has not won the market or consumer recognition in the mainstream market and high-end market.
This is exactly what Yin Tongyue said, "I caught up with a late set".
However, starting from the 2023 Technology Day, Chery has issued a declaration of full electrification, and on the Chery, Xingtu, and Jietu brands, each brand has begun to launch new models to face the competition.
Chery brand pure electric, previously had the popular Little Ant, Ice Cream, Unbounded, Arrizo's E series, and the relatively new Comfort Home; In terms of plug-in mixing, there are Fengyun series and so on. The new energy of Jietu is a plug-in hybrid model. Xingtu is also a plug-in hybrid and pure electric two routes, pure electric is the Star Era car series.
At the same time, Chery has also established a new new energy brand iCAR to replace and surpass Chery New Energy.
After the establishment of the iCar brand, Chery integrated the original Chery New Energy into the iCar business unit and began to launch new models with a new approach.
Zhang Hongyu is at the helm of the ICAR division.
Zhang Hongyu said that in the field of new energy vehicles, the early development path is mainly presented in two directions: one is low-priced, policy subsidy-oriented products, such as small ants, ice cream, etc.; The second is the high-end market, such as more than 300,000 models launched by new power brands. "This dumbbell-shaped structure has led to the involution of the market. However, we at Chery do not want to just follow the pace of the market, but hope to create products that truly meet the needs of users based on the market and user needs. ”
However, Chery will also maintain its products for small ants and ice cream.
Zhai Xiaobing, assistant general manager of the icar brand business department, and executive deputy general manager of icar automobile marketing company, said that small ants and ice cream are the starting point of Chery New Energy. "As long as this market is still there, we will continue to iterate and upgrade our products. ”
iCar makes cars for young people.
In terms of differentiation from Chery's other brand new energy models, Zhai Xiaobing said that the Chery brand is committed to meeting the needs of popular family cars. Xingtu takes the high-end route, emphasizing luxury and luxury. JT focuses on the travel and off-road markets, providing the right vehicle for those who love adventure.
icar's mission is to build cars for young people and strive to build brands with different values.
He said that icar makes cars for young people and "will not be bound by a fixed ** label". If there are young consumers who are willing to pay 300,000 or more for higher-quality models, ICAR will also set this**.
Trading at a loss?
The ** of icar 03 is unexpected, and the outside world will ask: Will this ** lose money.
Judging from the "double 10,000" required by Yin Tongyue, supplemented by the high profits in the international market, icar 03 has a lot of profit margin.
Zhang Hongyu said, "Overseas markets have always been an important profit for Chery. Therefore, when we launched the iCar 03, we also fully considered the needs and characteristics of overseas markets. Last month, we have sent several hundred vehicles to Costa Rica, and we plan to develop them in Europe, the Middle East, and other countries and regions. ”
In addition to asking for profits from the terminal, the production side also has to exert force.
"We would also like to thank the entire market and partners for their efforts, especially in the cost reduction of the new energy sector. He mentionedIn the past year, the largest cost part of new energy, such as batteries, has dropped significantly. In addition, intelligence is not only a matter of computing power and the cost of software, but also the improvement of technical level and the superposition of scale.
Like the previous Chery New Energy models, the iCar 03 also uses an all-aluminum body. Doesn't this body increase the cost?
The iCar 03 has an all-aluminum multi-chamber cage body.
Zhang Hongyu said that although the cost of the all-aluminum body is higher, the all-aluminum body has the advantages of lightweight and corrosion resistance. "In the early development of new energy vehicles, we have adopted all-aluminum bodies in products such as Little Ant and Shuxiangjia, and have accumulated rich experience. In the development of the iCar 03, we still chose the all-aluminum body, which is mainly based on its stable chassis structure and excellent driving experience. At the same time, the reuse of the all-aluminum body also meets the requirements of ESG responsibility, reflecting our concern for environmental friendliness and social responsibility. ”
Chery will also adopt new technologies to reduce costs. Zhang Hongyu said, "With the wide application of integrated die-casting and other processes, we believe that the production cost of new energy vehicles will be further reduced, and the performance and quality of products will also be greatly improved." ”
To sum up, Zhang Hongyu believes, "We believe that only with scale advantages, extreme cost capabilities and technical skills can we be invincible in this market." ”
After the iCar 03, at the upcoming iCar Beijing Brand Night, iCar will unveil three new cars in the iCar series, including the V23. The V23 will be available for pre-order at the Guangzhou Motor Show in November and will be launched at the end of December.
For the three years from this year to 2026, iCar will launch two new vehicles per year.
The launch of the icar 03 is vigorous, reflecting Chery's pursuit in the field of new energy. The iCar team also has high self-expectations.
At the beginning of January this year, Zhang Hongyu released an internal letter from employees.
Zhang Hongyu said: "In 2024, we will do 4 major things to give the industry some color. The first is the launch of the icar 03, which is carefully prepared and breaks the convention, so that the first electric little jeep and electric little guard for young people have become a topic of discussion; The second is the Beijing Auto Show and Brand Night, iCar wants to show a sharp brand image to the world, and the three new products in the future will also be a stud, showing everyone what they want is potential energy and traffic; The third is the construction of a comprehensive to C marketing system, digital system, and sales service system driven by icar 03, which is the sharp gun we will win in the future; The fourth is to take the V23 project as the traction, the product definition ability, the rapid development ability, and the cost and quality ability to strengthenicar's shot must be a clearance-style hit.