The best SUV under 500,000 yuan, developed globally, and equipped with LEAP3.0's six smart electric core technologies, Zero Run (09863) arrives with the C10 King.

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on January 10, the 2024 Zero Sports Auto Global Self-Development Open Day was held in Hangzhou to release the six LEAP3.0 intelligent electric core technologies, and explained the heritage of the six major technologies to users and media separately in the form of an open course. In addition, the company announced the start of pre-sale of the C10, the first global model under LEAP 3.0. The pre-sale prices for both the pure electric and extended range versions are in the range of 150,000 to 180,000 yuan.

Zhu Jiangming, founder, chairman and CEO of Zero Sports Auto, said at the open day that the core technology of the six LEAP3.0 modules released by Zero Sports has all been mass-produced. They are all in stock, and there are no futures. This is different from peers. For example, unlike the SU7 released by Xiaomi on January 10, the SU7 was not mass-produced, and the price was not announced. It is more of a “concept car,” while the C10 will be open for scheduled test drives in February, and delivery can be made in March.

They all say that the NEV market will be “too big” in 2023, but in 2024, models with higher performance and better price ratio will be concentrated within 300,000 yuan, and the market reshuffle will accelerate. The market will be reshuffled at an accelerated pace. It is bound to be a brand with technical heritage and self-developed globally. However, Zero Run is one of the few leading new power brands on the market with global self-development. After the launch of C10, it has a remarkable competitive advantage and will stabilize its position in the 150,000-200,000 yuan price range.

LEAP3.0's six major technologies, Zero Run opens the era of software-defined automobiles

In the traditional oil truck era, people often talk about the three major parts, the engine, transmission, and chassis. Due to mature technology and serious homogenization, the “standard” often determines the value; today's new energy vehicle era not only depends on the three components (battery, electronic control, and motor), but also has higher requirements for intelligent experiences such as smart cockpits and smart driving systems. Smart cars have become the epitome of the NEV industry.

Competition for new energy vehicles is fierce, and to stand out in the price war, they need to have a greater cost advantage than their peers, while global self-research builds the most important power, smart driving, cockpit, electronic and electrical systems from the bottom up to achieve independent “software+hardware” research and development, which can greatly reduce costs and achieve stronger product strength and risk resistance. Since its inception in 2015, Zero Run has always adhered to the global self-development route of core technology.

Zero Run's global self-development has experienced three historic points, namely 2019, 2021, and 2023. The product continues to evolve. LEAP continues to evolve. From the first generation to the third generation, from distributed to domain-controlled to a central integrated electronic and electrical architecture, LEAP3.0 truly brought smart cars into the software-defined automobile era.

LEAP3.0's six intelligent electric core technologies include a global vehicle architecture, a four-leaf clover central integrated electronic and electrical architecture, a new energy gold engine (CTC battery+oil-cooled electric drive), an 8295-supported smart cockpit, and intelligent driving that can be used in both cities and high speeds.

Zero-Run's global vehicle architecture, with a generalization rate of 88%, the highest in the industry, can cover A0-C class products. Each platform has the expansion and development of SUVs, cars, MPVs, etc., and is compatible with the development of pure electric and range extended-range products; while the electronic and electrical architecture of Clover acts as a “decision brain” function, it is the industry's first four-domain integrated central supercomputing platform, integrating power domain, vehicle body domain, cockpit domain and smart driving domain. The control unit includes a left domain controller, right domain controller and rear domain controller, providing common users with new OTA (OTA)), the ultimate experience of higher-level smart electric vehicles.

Among the three components of new energy power, the company showed the gold balance of the self-developed CTC2.0 battery chassis integration and the self-developed intelligent oil-cooled electric drive. Compared with CTP batteries, CTC batteries have a higher degree of integration, which brings higher safety, more battery layout and better torsional rigidity. Compared with previous water-cooled electric drives, oil-cooled electric drives have advantages in terms of reliability, comprehensive efficiency, and continuous power output capacity. CTC batteries+oil-cooled electric drives can be said to be an important condition that needs to be valued when purchasing new energy vehicles.

As a configuration for users to pursue an intelligent experience, the company showcased a self-developed smart cockpit, a full-dimensional immersive interactive experience, and a more comfortable multi-level seat structure. Using Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295, the AI computing power reached 30 TOPS, which is 2 times higher than the 8155 CPU. It can also be said that the human-machine experience is leading in the human-machine experience industry, and also achieved a super non-sensitive OTA; self-developed intelligent driving with 30 high-performance sensing elements+high computing power modules. It supports the full scene experience of urban NAC/high-speed NAP, and realizes the integration of three functions for cabin driving and parking with an 8295 chip. The first NAC (full-time ACC) navigation assist cruise. Users only need to hold the steering wheel and control the speed independently. By recognizing traffic lights, they can make a U-turn, turn, and go straight in urban scenes without opening up the city. Compared to Peer Zero Run's more practical performance, autonomous driving technology has not achieved the level of completely freeing hands and feet, and will not publicize to peers how powerful autonomous driving is and all kinds of Kaesong behavior. However, the company's level is already in the leading echelon in the industry. It is worth mentioning that the C10 is a product of the company integrating the six major LEAP3.0 technologies, and also launched the industry's “high cost ratio” technology war in 2024.

The C10 is invincible in its class due to its high price ratio, and the overseas strategy is ready to go

Zero Run is a steady stream of technology. It has worked hard in the field of self-development around the world, and has also been recognized by consumers. It has successfully become a new leading brand. In 2023, it ranked third with sales of 144,200 vehicles, and the ranking of the new car builders in the first echelon changed from “Wei Xiaoli” to “Liwei Zero”. Zero Run focuses on creating quality products. Each technical iteration creates one or two products, such as C11 and C01. Based on the LEAP2.0 framework, the C11 became a popular product in the market. In 2024, the C10 adopted the LEAP3.0 framework, and the technology iteration also made the market have high expectations for popular models.

According to the press conference, the C10 has higher competitive advantages compared to cars in the same class, such as the most comfortable, best rear seat comfort space, and the best space variable combination in the same class; the smartest in its class, the new-generation LEAP OS visual and interactive experience surpasses Hongmeng. The Leapmotor Pilot 3.0 intelligent driving system and hardware capabilities have an L3 redundancy level; the safest in its class, with 42500N.m/° torsional stiffness surpassing Rolls Royce, while AI real-time monitoring ensures the safety of all three electric devices.

Integrating LEAP3.0's six self-developed technologies, the high-cost C10 did not “save the way” for cars of the same class. The pre-sale price range for the extended version was 15.18-181,800 yuan, and the pre-sale price range for the pure electric version was 15.58-185,800 yuan, deeply cultivating and stabilizing the market share within 200,000 yuan. In the C10 competition, there are almost no rivals at the same price. Compared with the Xiaopeng G6 and Ideal L7 with similar configurations, they are more cost-effective.

Smart driving and safety are the two most important references in the user's car buying experience. In terms of smart driving, the Zero Run C10 supports NAC navigation assist cruising and NAP high-speed intelligent piloting. It has the first batch of Qualcomm Snapdragon fourth-generation cockpit platforms in the industry. The smart cockpit has excellent computing power, leading new car builders. In terms of safety, vehicle body strength, pedestrian protection, and three-electric safety technology are all at the leading level in the industry. Among them, the proportion of vehicles using high-performance materials containing aluminum alloy is as high as 73.6%.

At the beginning of the year 2024, Zero Run offered the C10, which really made it difficult for peers to compete. Xiaomi did not announce pre-sale prices at the last SU7 press conference, but since then, many brands held new product launches, mostly within 300,000 yuan. The launch of the C10 lowered the price, and other newly launched brands reduced their prices or became mandatory options. Thankfully, with the exception of Xiaomi, it is expected that no new “new car builders” will appear in the future.

Zhu Jiangming said that a “roll” is a good thing. Only a “roll” can “roll out” the competitive advantage of new energy vehicles, and it is possible to get a share from fuel vehicles as quickly as possible. It is worth noting that the C10 targets the global market and will be launched domestically in the first quarter of this year and enter the European market in the third quarter. Zhu Jiangming said that the C10 will go overseas and first enter Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and the European market is being deployed intensively. The company is expected to rely on Stellantis's global business network to accelerate C10's overseas market expansion.

The industry has reached the second half of the “technology war”, and global self-research “leads” peers

Users benefit from “adding volume to roll” in the industry, but for car companies, the consideration is capital affordability, no cost advantage, or blind expansion, which is bound to run out of capital in this wave of knockouts. Zero Run knows the importance of cash flow, and global self-research has given it the initiative to fully reduce costs and increase efficiency. The company began comprehensive optimization of product configuration and cost in September 2022.

In Q3 2023, the company achieved a positive gross profit for the first quarter, with a gross margin of 1.2%, and achieved self-hematopoietic function in business activities. In Q3, it achieved a net cash flow of 1.4 billion yuan from operating activities, and achieved a total net inflow of 4.162 billion yuan in Q2. Peer losses expanded under the price war, and the company went against the current trend. Judging from quarterly changes, the company's profit and cash flow conditions improved at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Zhu Jiangming said that on the one hand, the gross profit correction is that the company carried out comprehensive cost control optimization on products and carried out the third round of cost reduction measures in Q4 of 2023. On the other hand, core battery costs have dropped drastically. In 2024, the company will seek greater improvements in cost reduction and efficiency in C11, C01, and C10. The company adheres to the principle that a good car is not expensive and that the customer comes first. Product pricing is relatively friendly and has a high cost ratio. The ambition of global self-development also allows it to have more room for adjustment in pricing. Meanwhile, in the capital market, Zero Run is actively introducing industrial capital and cooperative capital. The ones that have already been implemented include international giants Stellantis and Stellantis.

The cycle of massive expansion by burning real money is over. Existing car companies in the knockout competition have already begun to enter the second half of the competition, which relies on technical strength and hard core competition. Zero Run's self-developed and self-built ratio accounts for 70% of the total vehicle cost, and the competitive spirit is strong. The launch of the C10 was pioneered in several industries, including the first four-domain integrated central domain control, the first integrated cockpit sensing, the first NAC function that did not require opening, and the first unsensitive OTA upgrade. The sales price within 200,000 yuan was full of sincerity. It is likely that it will become a hit among new products in the market, continuing to bring profit improvements and net cash flow inflows.

In fact, in addition to the C10, the second C16, based on LEAP3.0's six self-developed technologies, will also be released this year, while 2025 is a major product year, and five or six new products will be launched to meet market demand. In terms of channels, the company introduced the “1+N” model for the first time in China. Through regionalization of dealers, competition among them is weakened, and at the same time, it can also develop better markets. Overseas, with Stellantis's support, LEAP3.0 products have an innate advantage over their peers.

Overall, the 2024 Zero Run Global Self-Development Open Day was full of stories. The management fully popularized the iterative history of its technology and the latest LEAP3.0 six self-developed technologies to the market. As the first model to integrate many technologies, the C10 is undoubtedly the best SUV under 500,000 yuan. However, the price of the C10 is in the 150,000-200,000 yuan range, which is expected to explode. However, it was only delivered in March, and performance growth is expected to be achieved only in Q2.

The NEV industry has reached the second half of the “technology war”. Whether Zero-Run, which has developed technology from around the world, can continue to take the lead, time will verify, so let's wait and see.