Observation of 2024 Beijing Auto Show: New Brand Debut Subverting Cognition
[car home Information] The hottest topic of this year’s Beijing Auto Show is that Lei Jun appeared in the booths of various car companies, and the "big brothers" of various car companies also paid a return visit to Xiaomi’s booth. On April 26th, the second day of Beijing Auto Show, when I passed the Xiaomi booth, it happened that Wei Jianjun, Chairman of Great Wall Motor, was invited to visit the Xiaomi booth with Lei Jun.. At that time, the author saw a dark crowd surging, and people outside were holding various camera equipment, as if there were movie stars at the booth. This was a rare scene at the Beijing Auto Show in the past, except for the visit of stars.
The booth of Xiaomi Automobile is also surrounded by fences, and the progress platform needs to queue up to enter. This scene, which only appeared in the booth of a million-level ultra-luxury brand in the past, now appears on the model of 200,000 yuan. A staff member said that it takes half an hour to queue up to see the car.
There has never been a new brand in the car circle that can be so hot as soon as it comes up, except for Lei Jun’s personal charm and the accumulation of Xiaomi brand. Xiaomi Automobile has indeed satisfied many consumers’ psychology of pursuing cost performance, and spent the least money to buy the best products. To be precise, it is the product that best meets the needs of consumers in China. Basically, Xiaomi has all the functions you can think of, and the price is in line with psychological expectations.
Xiaomi is an outstanding representative of the new brand. In fact, we can also see other new figures at the Beijing Auto Show, including China brands and overseas brands. Speaking of overseas brands, we can clearly see that they are making great efforts in new energy. Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Buick, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi all have relatively big moves. Among them, several new brands/categories appeared: Volkswagen (Anhui) finally brought brand-new products; Honda not only has Lingxi, but also Ye. For the China brand, the enjoyment of HarmonyOS Zhixing officially met with consumers; (|) surfaced. Next, let’s take a look at the actions of the new brands at the Beijing Auto Show.
● Volkswagen new category: ID.UX is in line with new forces.
At this auto show, Volkswagen launched a new category of intelligent pure electricity, ID.UX, which is a brand-new product series created by Volkswagen (Anhui). The booth of the Volkswagen brand is composed of three joint ventures of Volkswagen in China. Because Volkswagen (Anhui) did not fully display the new products, the booth was arranged in a mysterious corner on the second floor.
Different from the usual blue-and-white color scheme used in the Volkswagen booth, Volkswagen (Anhui) adopted a black-and-gold color scheme, showing a distinctive sense of high-class. As soon as I stepped into the booth, I was received by a staff member in a suit and tie. His words and temperament were more like those of a salesperson of a new power brand. He only talked to you about the information you needed and the topic of "empathy", instead of bringing you some feelings of "discomfort" for the purpose of sales.
The staff member said, "Volkswagen (Anhui) will uniformly adopt the LOGO of ID.UX, and will adopt the golden LOGO for the first time on its models. In the future, ID.UX will also have its own independent storefront, and the first storefront will be unveiled simultaneously after the launch of the new car. The new storefront will show a high-end style and show a digital style in the store. "
The booth of ID.UX is not large, but it shows a different sense of exquisiteness. The decoration style is gorgeous, similar to the VIP reception room. There are various artworks on the wall behind the sign-in desk, with a huge display screen next to it. On the other side of the booth, it is also filled with daily necessities and surroundings with the words ID.UX. The booth staff said, "In the future, the storefront of ID.UX will be stationed in shopping malls and 4S stores, and there will be a direct mode and a traditional dealer mode." As for how the store will display digitalization, the staff said that it is still in the confidential stage and can’t disclose more information.
In the center of the booth, ID.UNYX, the first model of ID.UX, was also placed in the public, but this time it was not completely unveiled, and it was covered by a reflective glass house. Only by sticking the glass can you see the relevant details of the vehicle. Judging from the real car, its appearance is basically consistent with the previously published declaration, and it is the sister car of Cupra Tavascan, a subsidiary of overseas Volkswagen.
Through the glass, you can feel that this car is quite sporty, which is completely different from the previous design style of Volkswagen ID. Family, showing a personality side. Its front face is quite fierce, especially when the daytime running lights are lit. At the same time, the front enclosure looks quite exaggerated and has the characteristics of a sporty car. The rear of the vehicle is the style of coupe SUV, including duck-tail spoiler and rear-enclosed diversion groove, which all show strong sports style. The interior of the car has not been fully disclosed.
According to the application information, the dimensions, length, width and height of ID.UNYX and other car bodies are 4663/1860/1610mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2766mm. In terms of power, the car will be equipped with a power system consisting of front and rear dual motors, with the maximum power of 80 kW and 170 kW respectively, and the battery is equipped with a ternary lithium battery made in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited.
The staff told car home, "This is a model customized according to the localization needs of China. The car will show unprecedented intelligence, but the underlying system will still be developed by the public." Volkswagen said that the new car will have a 3D intelligent voice assistant that is empowered and customizable based on the big language model. This model is designed for fashion trendsetters who pursue lifestyle and pay attention to digital travel experience. It is positioned as an A-class pure electric coupe SUV and will be launched in China later this year. However, the relevant staff said, "This car will be similar to the current ID.4 X positioning, and it may be unveiled soon, and then the rhythm will be very fast."
The next products of ID. UX will be developed and manufactured by Volkswagen Hefei Intelligent Networked Electric Vehicle Center in Anhui. Audi ag is building Hefei into the world’s leading intelligent networked automobile innovation and R&D center, forming a complete value chain covering production, R&D, testing, sales and marketing, and customer service, focusing on producing the next generation of electric, intelligent and fully interconnected automobiles.
According to the plan, by 2027, ID. UX will launch five smart pure electric vehicles with the golden Volkswagen brand logo, including SUVs and cars. The booth staff said, "The second and third models may be launched in 2025 and 2026, which will form a differentiated positioning with the ID family, specifically for China consumers, and it is not ruled out that there will be hunting models in the future."
● Honda’s new brand: Lingxi and Ye subvert cognition
Compared with Volkswagen’s still hiding half her face from us behind her guitar, Honda’s pace is faster. Not only launched a brand new brand Lingxi, but also Ye series. We met a designer from Honda Lingxi at the booth. He looked quite young. The designer told us, "Since Lingxi no longer uses Honda’s LOGO and operates as an independent brand, it will be completely built by Dongfeng Honda China team and will have more autonomy."
Judging from the design of the real car, its appearance adopts multi-profile design, and there is no shadow of Honda model at all. The interior looks quite fashionable, it is no longer a cold industrial wind, with black and white colors, and uses materials similar to suede, which is warm as a whole. At the same time, three screens are used in the car, and the whole system comes standard with electronic rearview mirrors.
According to the application information, Lingxi L has a body size of 4830/1845/1503mm and a wheelbase of 2731mm, respectively. In terms of power, the car is equipped with a model TZ200XSBT1 drive motor produced by Zhixin Technology Co., Ltd., and its maximum power is 160 kW.
The designer said, "Because there are many requirements from Japan, there are many restrictions on the selection of materials. Now, after independent brands, there is a lot of autonomy." However, the designer also added, "At present, Honda’s electric vehicle process is slow, mainly because a lot of repeated tests have to be done before the product is launched, and Honda’s requirements for quality are very high. Although Lingxi is independent of Honda brand, in terms of driving control, it will still be adjusted by Honda’s professional driving. At the same time, Lingxi also pays attention to cooperation with local suppliers, for example, the battery comes from BYD blade battery, and the car system introduces Tencent ecology. In addition, Lingxi L will also be equipped with an L2-level automatic assisted driving system. "
When communicating with us, the designer repeatedly stressed that this is a car specially designed for young people, so its price will also be acceptable to young people. After our further communication and speculation, the designer spoiled that the price of this car may be around 150,000 yuan. Next, this model will also be sold in Honda’s stores.
Compared with Lingxi, the Ye brand released at Beijing Auto Show is mainly dominated by Japan, and this brand is also applied to Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda respectively. The staff at the scene told car home that the Ye brand car was developed in China and designed by China. The official said that Ye brand will follow the concept of better opening, more interesting (AI intelligence) and more stylish (futuristic design).
From the real car experience at the scene, it is not an exaggeration to describe it as "amazing". Compared with Lingxi’s design, it does not rely on "stacking screens" to show a sense of advanced, but to impress consumers through the creation of details, which requires us to get on the bus and experience it carefully.
First of all, the vehicle uses the electric door. When the door is opened, the hidden flowing atmosphere light on the door panel will light up. The car adopts a minimalist design. Although there is only one large central control screen, the experience is smooth and the resolution is high. The voice control in the car is quite intelligent, and it doesn’t lose China brand cars at all, and it can identify the speaker’s position and make fuzzy inquiries. The vehicle is equipped with BOSE audio, and the front seats also have headrest audio.
Although the vehicle is equipped with a panoramic canopy, there is no sunshade, but the canopy is made of electronic color-changing glass, which can be transparent or pure white, completely blocking the sun. The rear seats are spacious and comfortable, without the feeling of sitting on a small bench, and the aviation headrest is also designed, which is quite comfortable as a whole. The co-pilot also provides AR glasses, which can alleviate the dizziness caused by passengers. At the same time, the vehicle can also realize projection and playback in the car. It can be said that this is a very attentive product.
The staff at the booth said that the YeS7 and Yep7 I experienced were built based on the intelligent pure electric platform W architecture. Compared with the previous predecessor models, the YeS7 and P7 will be a rear-wheel drive model and also provide four-wheel drive models. The rear-drive model can realize the weight distribution of 50:50, and the dual-motor four-wheel drive relies on two groups of high-power drive motors, which can accurately distribute the power of the front and rear wheels according to different road conditions and driving needs. Ye S7 and Ye P7 also use the front double wishbone and the rear five-bar independent suspension, through the motion level adjustment technology. Ye S7 and Ye P7 have three-in-one high-power motors, equipped with large-capacity and high-density batteries, and their endurance performance is not expected to be inferior, but the official has not disclosed specific information yet.
At the same time, the staff said that the Ye brand model will be a relatively high-end model, and the estimated price may not be cheap. According to the plan, Ye S7 and Ye P7 will be the first models to be launched at the end of 2024, while Ye GT concept car will be the second model to be launched in 2025. It is estimated that by 2025, the proportion of Dongfeng Honda’s electrification products will exceed 50%, and more than 10 pure electric vehicles will be launched in 2030.
● Huawei HarmonyOS Zhixing: Enjoy the world and bring a flagship model.
At HarmonyOS Zhixing booth, this year’s auto show showed a model of Enjoy the World S9 (), which only announced its appearance. Its size looks very large and its body is slender. Its body structure is somewhat similar to that of the previous Smart World S7, but its size is obviously larger. And the lamp integrates the design idea of M9.
A staff member at the scene said, "Enjoy the world S9 is a model developed by Huawei and manufactured by BAIC New Energy. It is positioned as a D-class model with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited battery, with a cruising range of over 800km, and the pricing may be around 400,000-500,000 yuan, which will be listed in the second half of the year." At present, there is not much official spoiler information, and what kind of technology will be carried has not been made public.
According to the application information, the dimensions, length, width and height of the car body of Enjoy World S9 are 5160/1987/1486mm and the wheelbase is 3050mm, respectively. In terms of power, according to different models, the car will provide two versions of single motor and dual motor for consumers to choose from in the future. The former is equipped with TZ210XYA03 drive motor produced by Huawei Digital Energy Technology Co., Ltd., with a maximum power of 227 kW; The latter is equipped with front and rear dual motors YS210XYA03 and TZ210XYA03 produced by Huawei Digital Energy Technology Co., Ltd., with maximum power of 158 kW and 227 kW respectively.
Due to the limited information available, the on-site staff did not spoil any more news, but he said that HarmonyOS Zhixing will launch Aojie in the future, which will be a high-end MPV jointly launched with Jianghuai. And HarmonyOS Zhixing’s new models will focus on the pure electric vehicle market, and will no longer focus on extended-range vehicles. At present, Huawei has also applied for trademarks such as Enjoy World, Respect World and Fantasy World, which will be applied to new brands launched by subsequent smart car partners.
● Tucki new brand: MONA pushes 150,000 yuan compact car.
At this year’s Beijing Auto Show, Tucki released the preview of the first model MONA. The new brand is expected to be released around June, and the first car will be launched this year. The official said that MONA will be a brand-new species that subverts innovation and is committed to becoming a global AI smart car popularizer. According to previous information, the new car is positioned as a compact pure electric car, and the price is expected to be around 150,000 yuan. In MONA project, Xpeng Motors has integrated the technical foundation of Didi Chuche, and added the intelligent software capabilities such as XNGP and intelligent cockpit developed by Xpeng Motors. The new car will be manufactured in its own production base in Xpeng Motors.
We didn’t see any publicity about MONA at the booth in Tucki. The staff at the booth said that all the information is confidential at present, and only so much information can be spoiled at the press conference. The details are still to be announced at the subsequent press conference. Previously, there were also spy photos of this model, and you can also refer to it briefly.
Write at the end:
Judging from this year’s auto show, overseas brands continue to exert their strength in the field of new energy, and even Japanese brands that have been watching before have made substantial moves. Judging from the actual production models, overseas brands have indeed injected more efforts into new energy products, completely breaking traditional cognition and redefining products. On the other hand, China brand car companies are gradually forming three camps: Xiaomi, Huawei faction and first-line new forces. In addition, Tucki MONA, Weilai Ledao and Tesla will break into the electric vehicle market of 100,000-200,000 yuan, so it can be said that the competition in the new energy market will become more intense. (Text/car home Qin Chao)