Boiling wine on whether car iCAR 03 can make the brand come from behind.
[car home Industry] In the field of new energy, it is obvious to all that the "new forces" have suppressed the traditional car companies. Faced with this situation, an important strategy for traditional China brand manufacturers is to change their thinking and create a brand-new brand which is significantly different from the original brand in terms of design style, positioning and concept. This kind of brand, which is different from both new forces and traditional car companies, is called "traditional new forces" by many people. From the earlier Ai ‘an, Polar Fox, Lantu and Euler, to the more recent Polar Krypton, Tengshi, Zhizhi, Feifan, Aouita and Deep Blue, the camp of this new category has become increasingly large.
After experiencing some initial twists and turns and the pains of some brands, the "traditional new forces" camp has gradually found the right direction and gradually got better. For example, in Ai ‘an, sales in May exceeded 45,000 vehicles. Up-and-coming stars like Krypton and Deep Blue, the monthly sales can also be stabilized at the level of seven or eight thousand and continue to grow. Aouita, Zhiji and Feifan, including Lantu, are gradually getting rid of the dilemma of traditional car companies in the field of new energy.
You may start snapping your fingers: Great Wall, Chang ‘an, Geely and even BYD, Guangzhou Automobile, SAIC and BAIC all have them, but who is worse? Chery! Indeed, although Chery set foot in the field of pure electricity very early with "Chery New Energy", the market performance of products such as small ants and QQ ice cream is also remarkable, but obviously this is not a "traditional new force". Thus, there is the protagonist discussed in this paper: iCAR.
Chery released a brand new brand iCAR as early as April this year, and its first production car (|) also rolled off the assembly line in June. So, as such a latecomer, is iCAR going with the flow, or is it going to catch up? Perhaps, we can find some answers from iCAR 03, which has partially released information.
Positioning: a very clever "young card"
When it comes to new forces, many people will subconsciously pop up a keyword: "high-end". Both Tesla and Wei Xiaoli are following this idea. It is precisely because of the success of these pioneers that more imitators have been inspired-look at the "traditional new forces" listed at the beginning of the article, from Lantu to Krypton, from Zhiji to Aouita, all of which started with 300,000 yuan.
Regardless of whether this move is right or wrong, the result is undoubtedly that the track is very crowded. This year’s price reduction tide, the products in this price segment also belong to the "hardest hit"-the decline is less than 50,000 yuan, which is considered very "firm". If iCAR also participates in this battle group, obviously there will be no good results.
ICAR repeatedly stressed at the brand launch that its target group is young people, without consideration and multi-level coverage. The "I" LOGO, which is like a grid and a jigsaw puzzle, and a series of interpretations of the "I" letter at the press conference all seem to emphasize that this is a new brand of power for young people. Of course, a more accurate measure of positioning is the price range of ICAR 03.15 million yuan, which completely avoids the confrontation with the mainstream new forces.
Note that this "150,000 yuan interval" of iCAR 03 is completely different from the "150,000 yuan interval" of second-line new power products such as zero running. Instead of creating a homogeneous product with a size similar to that on the market, it relies on new product design ideas to create a model that faces a specific group, fills the gap in the market, and has strong product strength.
Those who win the youth win the world. These "great truths" are simple to say. Many manufacturers may also think so when they set up the project. However, if we really want to do well and succeed, it will test the team’s basic skills-not only the innovation ability, but also the control of market demand. Of course, we can’t judge whether iCAR 03 can be successful at present, but it doesn’t prevent us from seeing how it is done.
Design: Re-innovation under the trend of hard core
When you see iCAR 03, most people may think of the key word "hard". Obviously, this just resonates with the trend. In the past two years, from the Bronco, tanks and big dogs in fuel vehicles to the "big hits" in new energy vehicles that have not yet been listed, all of them confirm the preference of the current user groups for this style.
However, from the official announcement, iCAR does not seem to regard iCAR 03 as a hard-core SUV. The official definition is ARV. This AR can be understood as ALL ROAD or ALL ROLES. From some known information, iCAR 03 has indeed been strengthened in some aspects. For example, although it adopts a full-load all-aluminum body structure, it also adopts an integrated die-casting longitudinal beam. That is to say, while being extremely lightweight, the demand for body stiffness is fully considered. However, this does not mean that iCAR 03 is a hard-core SUV. It is more like a design product under this style trend, but it is by no means a big toy to satisfy cross-country enthusiasts.
From our point of view, iCAR 03 adopts this design idea, which is more to reflect another level of understanding of pure electric vehicles and another creativity in vehicle design.
Why are the products of the new forces popular? There are many reasons, but the bold breakthrough in design is absolutely indispensable. The new forces, represented by Tesla, pay more attention to streamline modeling and sense of movement, which has a lot to do with their demand to flaunt the high performance of fuel vehicles at the same price.
However, if we change our thinking, from another point of view, this straight-line style design actually fits well with the positioning of pure electricity.
You can pay attention to a data. ICAR 03 has a body length of 4406mm, but its visual impact on people is much higher than this figure, which is roughly equivalent to that of a compact fuel SUV. The reason for this is that, in addition to its straight line "significantly larger", the wheelbase of 2715mm also contributed.
Yes, the exaggerated axle length ratio is a major feature of pure electric vehicles. The addition of hard-core style modeling will also be revolutionary for the expansion of the interior space. Although we haven’t actually experienced it, we boldly predict that the driving space of iCAR 03 will exceed many people’s expectations.
Another reason why we agree that iCAR 03 is not "hard-core" is that it does not take the retro route in modeling, which is a significant difference from many hard-core SUVs at present. On the contrary, iCAR 03 pays more attention to the sense of the future in many detail designs. For example, its logo, the shape of the front and rear lights including the integration of logo elements, and the straight lines with a concept car style can clearly reflect this feature.
Because of this, we believe that design creativity is likely to become an important plus item of iCAR 03 product strength. This is also in line with the consistent logic of the success of new forces, including traditional new forces products.
Application: keep up with the tide and pinpoint the pain point
If positioning and creativity "pass", a new product will have a high probability of "passing". And the final key will be reflected in the product strategy. Since iCAR 03 is only offline, we can only analyze and "look forward" based on the existing information.
Judging from the official announcement, iCAR 03 repeatedly emphasizes "scene intelligence". This can be understood as a feature of its intelligent car machine. There are more and more signs that cars, or more accurately, smart cars, will become the most important intelligent terminal after PCs and mobile phones. Some analysts in the semiconductor industry even hope that semiconductors will be intelligent in vehicles for a long time from the growth cycle. As a new brand with young people as the target group, it is normal for iCAR to focus on this aspect.
Before the actual experience, what we can do at present can only be "talking from pictures" and "talking on paper". Judging from the published interior drawings, the technological atmosphere of iCAR 03 cockpit can be described as "full enough". Many people’s eyes may be attracted by the color matching of rose gold and the elaborate crystal shift knob for the first time, but we are more concerned about its screen and the content displayed on it. Although the size of the central control panel is unknown at present, it is quite impressive from the visual effect-it is large enough, and the visual effect brought by the narrow side screen is advanced enough. Of course, the more important point is the interface and system.
Since I haven’t experienced it, is this link "nothing to say"? That’s not true. You can notice the i-VA virtual human on the interior diagram, which will be an important part of the iCAR 03 intelligent car machine and the "scene intelligence" advocated by it. From the official announcement, iCAR 03 will pay more attention to interaction and intelligent service. This is different from the current "volume" culture that pays too much attention to computing power and chip equipment. It can be seen that iCAR 03 wants to better satisfy young drivers and passengers through "scene intelligence", so that they can not only experience the intelligent service of iCAR 03 without influence, but also be willing to interact with iCAR 03 system.
At present, there is no clear information about the three power companies that everyone is concerned about. Officially declared as "intelligent adaptive electric four-wheel drive equivalent to 2.5TGDI power", this description should be enough to make people "relax" about its power. As for the battery life, there won’t be much suspense: based on the current industrial chain, Chery New Energy’s precipitation in the three-electricity technology and the control of the mainstream market demand, the final result should not be disappointing. Instead of "speculating", it is better to leave a suspense until the listing to see how many surprises it can bring.
However, one thing is certain, and it is also the strength of traditional new forces, that is, service and channel construction. According to Chloe Wang, iCAR has already started channel construction, and it is estimated that 200 brand updates and 100 sales centers can be achieved by October. These 300 stores can cover more than 78% of the cities in the country. Combined with the interaction of virtual digital people and the establishment of MY iCAR user brand, iCAR’s service card can also have more expectations.
Summary:
Although there are frequent new cars in the new energy market, the competition seems to be getting more and more intense (otherwise there will be no remarkable price reduction tide), but in the price range of about 150 thousand, there are still few products that are creative enough to attract young consumers and cost-effective. ICAR 03 has found a blue ocean for itself while meeting the needs of specific groups through its unique design and accurate card position. Judging from the available information, iCAR 03 has the foundation of catching up, but the final result depends on its product strategy at the time of listing, as well as its service and quality. (Text/car home industry commentator locks)
