Technology Self-Media/Trustworthy Star

Li Xiang is one of the most famous post-80s entrepreneurs. This is due to the fact that he dropped out of school to gain experience and connections during the first wave of the internet boom. He founded itCar homeAfter being bought by Ping An in 2015, he already noticedTeslaAutonomous driving and new energy vehicles, which are represented by autonomous driving and new energy vehicles, will become disruptive innovations that rewrite the century-old pattern of the automobile market. “Car and Home” was already established in a low-key manner at that time.

According to many car critics, Li XiangheWeilaiAuto Li Bin is an artificial car for the (automobile) media. Whether it's Auto Home or EasyCar Network, they are actually portals for the automotive industry, and they themselves are veterans in the automotive and internet fields. And after NIO's IPO, Li Xiang never hid his rightThe ideal carThe ambition of an IPO, he once said, “I have already managed a 10-billion-level company; I hope to run another 100-billion-level company and build another oneToyota.”

As a Japanese company, many Chinese people probably don't catch the cold. The market capitalization of Toyota has actually been overtaken by Tesla this year, but in terms of market share and revenue scale, Toyota can afford to be the “world's largest car company,” and is also the only company that can achieve annual sales of 10 million units. The strength of Toyota is that it can occupy a leading position in the market regardless of class and type of cars, SUVs, and attendance vehicles. This ability to “kill” different market segments is difficult for German cars and American cars. Li's ambition to build a car is evident.

1. How can Ideal Cars bypass and learn from Toyota Hybrids?

If fuel vehicles are the front wave and the new energy vehicles are the rear wave, then the fuel-electric hybrid is the “middle wave.” For any friend who wants to buy a car, there are actually three choices in terms of power type. This actually corresponds to the user's three mentalities: conservative, enterprising, and innovative. The word “innovation” is sexy, but not many people are really willing to take risks to innovate.

Although there are benefits such as unlimited travel, and no purchase tax (8,547 yuan for every 100,000 yuan) of new energy vehicles, since charging pile infrastructure is not popular in many third-tier cities and remote rural areas, there will be “mileage anxiety” even if the central city is far away. The good thing is that the construction of new energy charging piles will become a priority in the new infrastructure layout; however, in the short term, with regard to the vehicle usage habits of new energy vehicles, after-sales maintenance issues for new energy vehicles, and second-hand vehicle maintenance issues for new energy vehicles The value rate etc. are still on the sidelines, especially this year Torrential summer rains have caused flooding in many cities, and the safety factor of battery vehicles has also attracted much attention.

Therefore, oil-electric hybrid is an ideal direction for not only energy saving and emission reduction, but also enjoying the driving quality of electric drives. Toyota is the first car company to invest in oil-electric hybrid technology and achieve mass production among all car companies. In 1975, Toyota began testing hybrid cars, and in 1977, Toyota showed the first hybrid model. After decades of technical settlement until 1995, Toyota introduced the mass-produced Prius hybrid model to the market. From then on, legends began, “There are two types of hybrids in the world. One is a Toyota hybrid, and one is another hybrid.”

The principle of the Toyota hybrid is that it is equipped with an electric motor and engine, driven by a motor at low speed or idling, and at high speed, the fuel engine is used to generate electricity for the motor. The two are intelligently switched to achieve efficient thermokinetic energy recovery and fuel saving purposes. In the Chinese market, the Toyota hybrid version has been running steadily for ten years in the main sales brands such as Corolla, Railing, Camry, Asia Dragon, Rongfang, and Lexus.

However, since Japanese cars themselves are already relatively fuel-efficient, the price of the hybrid version is generally increased by around 30,000 yuan. Still, they can only get a blue card; many car owners still prefer fuel cars. Other car companies also use oil-electric hybrid solutions, such as the Honda Accord light hybrid, BMW 5 series plug-in hybrid, and the Audi A6 power plug-in type.

Ideal ONE, the first new energy vehicle launched by Ideal, did not choose pure motor drive like Tesla, NIO, etc., but instead drew on some of the advantages of oil-electric hybrids, focusing on extended-range electric vehicles that can get a green card in plug-in mode. In fact, among new energy vehicles, it seems that currently only Ideal Auto has learned the essence of Toyota's hybrid technology. The pain point solved by Toyota Hybrids is “more fuel-efficient and smoother driving experience,” which is still mainly fuel-fuel-fueled, with motors as a supplement, with refueling as the only method of refueling; extended-range electric vehicles use refueling to first convert fuel energy into electricity, and fuel as a motor to serve, thus expanding the three energy storage modes of refueling, public fast charging, and household slow charging, thus solving the biggest pain point currently faced by users in choosing new energy vehicles: mileage anxiety.

2. Facing the fiercely competitive automobile market, the ideal ONE launch is comparatively “taking advantage”

Currently, among new energy vehicles, new domestic car builders such as NIO, Ideal Auto, and Xiaopeng Motor all focus on making SUVs; only Tesla is the Model 3, andPorscheThe Taycan is a sedan because the sedan market is more mature and the brand competition is more intense than the SUV market.

Ideal ONE delivered a total of 104,000 Ideal ONE cars when it was delivered to market in the fourth quarter of 2019. This is a very good number for new car companies, but NIO Auto's ES5 is over 500,000, the ES8 is over 800,000, and mass production has already exceeded 50,000 units+. Its customer base is actually higher in net worth and gold content compared to compact SUV users, but the market value of Ideal and NIO is quite close. Why is that?

According to Ah Xing's observations, there are the following three reasons for the success of Ideal ONE:

(1) Accurate market positioning. There are few brands you can choose from for 300,000 SUVs. Generally, compact SUVs are mainly brands such as Haval and Rongfang. There are few 300,000 mid-size SUVs that can balance urban riding and off-road performance. The Highlander, which can barely be called a competitor at the same price, has not been replaced for two years and has not launched a hybrid version. Ideal ONE is seizing this gap in the market to quickly launch and reduce sales. However, in reality, NIO's pricing rivals are strong models from brands such as Toyota Land Cruiser & Prado, Mercedes-Benz G, Land Rover Range Rover, and BMW X5. There is clearly more competitive pressure, so NIO owners own moresumptuousSecond owner of the car after the SUV.

(2) The configuration is amazing, the materials are consistent, and there is only one model. Generally, domestic SUVs use different pricing according to configuration and materials, such as the Elite Edition, Deluxe Edition, Sport Edition, Premium Edition, and Executive Edition, while Ideal Auto has a unified retail price of 328,000 yuan, only for individual changes in car paint and wheels. It actually takes user preferences into account at the same time. It can be said that it is a clear stream in the field of automobile sales. However, SUVs generally emphasize the driving experience and ignore the configuration. The Ideal ONE uses a high-strength steel and aluminum body, a 6-seater design, and is relatively well equipped with a 60-degree panoramic camera system, active braking, and active parking.

(3) The Internet properties of an ideal car meet expectations. Whether it's Tesla, NIO, or Xiaopeng, there is only one large screen in the center, while the Ideal ONE has four independent screens and voice control. It has relatively many content attributes. The rear seat is laid flat, and the co-driver's multimedia function brings more intelligent entertainment space to the family, but I personally feel that the optimization of the Internet connection is only an additional point for users to consider, not the main focus.

(4) In terms of the time point of listing, it is currently a favorable period for new energy vehicles. Basically, Tesla and NIO have both survived the darkest hour caused by losses and received strong capital and policy support. Furthermore, the capital market recognized Li Xiang's ability to operate the company, which made Ideal Auto reach a relatively high point as soon as it went public.

3. The challenge of the ideal car has only just begun

We have yet to reach the stage where new energy vehicles are fighting each other. Traditional car manufacturers continue their consumption inertia and are still mainstream in the market. New energy vehicles themselves require some time for market education. The transition of autonomous driving technology from L3 to L5 itself is also in a critical climbing period, but the brand advantages of the leading automobile manufacturers in the market have actually shown that they have already emerged.

Compared with Tesla and NIO, Ideal Auto has no layout or gap in the high-priced models, so its brand potential is not as high as these two companies; sales data for the first half of 2020 shows that in the powerful medium to large SUV market, NIO's ES6 sales are still in the top ten. In terms of autonomous driving technology, Tesla temporarily ranked first. Li Bin's NIO is superior to other competitors in terms of human-computer interaction and travel data support due to its actually long presence in the field of travel.

On the other hand, the 10,000 delivery volume of Ideal Auto is actually still at the entry level. Subsequent users will experience run-in issues during use, which can easily escalate into feedback on the brand's after-sales market, which in turn causes certain fluctuations in its market. Often, sales volume exceeds 5w+10w+, and the brand's degree of resistance to risk cannot be measured equally.

Currently, all new energy vehicles have basically moved from OEM to self-built factories. In the fiercely competitive Chinese automobile market, quality control can only be guaranteed if the supply chain is firmly grasped by itself. Currently, Ideal Auto uses Changzhou as its production base and produces 100,000 units per year, while Tesla's Shanghai plant produces 500,000 units per year. NIO's production base is mainly in Hefei, and it has received 7 billion dollars in capital and endorsements from the Hefei government, so production capacity is expected to expand further in the future. At the same time as the number of manufacturers is expanding, it also ranks third among the top three new energy vehicle builders NIO, Xiaopeng, and Ideal Auto in terms of technical reserves, and there is still a gap with the leader. Also, at present, new energy vehicles may be impacted by car builders from traditional car companies and supply chain giants, such asGuangzhou AutomobileNew energy vehicles,BYDThe wait is still strong.

Furthermore, the challenge for new energy vehicles is still the deeply rooted brand concept of the Chinese people. After all, there is no shortage of century-old factories among automobile manufacturers. BBA and luxury brands such as Volvo, Lexus, and Cadillac are still mainstream in the automobile market, and high-end models are still tied to face consumption, so new energy vehicles are still needed to break through with quality and experience upgrades in affordable models.

[Conclusion]

Ideal Auto has a very high starting point. It is a proud child of new energy vehicles. After 100 years of history, new energy vehicles are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for domestic cars to overtake cars on corners and enter the international market. Toyota still has many things worth learning about positioning strategies, internal horse racing mechanisms, multi-brand strategic differentiation, lean management, and durability for different groups of people in the market. Ideal is undoubtedly a good student at Toyota. I look forward to doing more and developing more models in the field of new energy vehicles.

▼ Author Profile

Reliable Ah Xing (Li Xing), public account: reliable Ah Xing, well-known technology self-media & media columnist, master of foreign philosophy, founder of Trustworthy Hui; focuses on Internet business model research, writes articles and strives for thorough implementation, mostly seen in mainstream media