Chapter 247
“According to this, new energy vehicles priced at 150,000 or even below 100,000 yuan in the future can also use good batteries and safer bodies.”
Lu Yan looked at the newly developed”semi-solid battery” and”high-strength hybrid steel”. He has gradually formed an idea in his mind.
It is undeniable that the current market sales of cars priced at 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, or even more expensive, are very high in profit.
But in fact, the most models on the market are always those priced below 150,000 yuan, or even around 80,000 or 100,000 yuan.
These entry-level models – almost occupy 80% of the total vehicle market!
Take the entry-level BYD Qin or Sylphy as an example. With a price of less than 100,000 yuan, they usually sell 40,000 to 50,000 units a month.
And this is just one of the models.
There are many popular models at this price. There are models for ordinary people to choose from.
Don’t forget that China is still a developing country.
There are still many people who have just solved the problem of food and clothing.
Being able to save money to buy a car is already quite good.
Including for young people who have just entered society for a few years, if they don’t have family support and want to save money to buy a car by working hard, 100,000 yuan is also a huge sum of money.
How does the saying go?
Before entering society, I thought BBA was within reach, and Porsche Bentley was just a matter of effort.
After entering society, I found that Geely Emgrand is already the ceiling for ordinary people!!
The reason why cars in the 100,000 yuan or even below level have good sales is not because of cars at this price. No matter how well it is made or how rich its configuration is, it is only because of its high cost-effectiveness and ability to solve the problem of transportation.
And this type of car usually has many pain points.
Take the entry-level new energy vehicles as an example.
The first major problem is the short battery life. Due to limited costs, it is impossible to stack 30 large battery packs. The quality of the battery packs is not as good as those produced by large manufacturers. In the face of extreme weather, the battery life cannot be guaranteed and frequent charging is required.
The second major problem is safety. Entry-level models tend to save as much as possible and save costs in all aspects to the extreme, because this is based on long-term market experience. With the same positioning, as long as you are 10,000 cheaper than your competitors, then your next month’s Sales volume can increase by 10,000, and the effect will be immediate.
But car companies have to make money after all, so the cost savings can only be passed on to consumers in disguised form from aspects such as body materials, battery pack heat dissipation, front and rear anti-collision beams, and body thickness…
The most typical example is Japanese cars, where the iron sheet of the body is so thin that it can be dented if pressed hard, and it has become a laughing stock on the Internet.
Lu Yan looked at him:”The application of semi-solid batteries and high-strength hybrid steel will be very large, and a separate factory can be built. You can see if there is anything that can be optimized for these two technologies. Don’t let the cost be greatly reduced, but in the end, there will be some fatal product defects. That would be a big problem.”
Some car companies have caused safety accidents while pursuing cost reduction and profit.
This is definitely not allowed within Hongqi.���Lu Yan
‘s consistent principle is to ensure product quality even if the cost is higher and the profit is a few tenths of a percentage less.
After all, Hongqi has come to this point today. Making defective products for a little profit will damage the precious brand value.
“Boss, don’t worry, we have put these two technologies through repeated rigorous testing to ensure that they have passed thorough inspection before we bring them out.”
Yang Xudong assured
“If it goes into production, we will conduct extreme tests with a standard that is ten times higher than the national standard to ensure that there will be no problems with the materials and batteries.”
Lu Yan smiled and patted him on the shoulder:
“That’s fine. I’ll leave the R&D and safety testing to you. I’ll first think about the supply plan for semi-solid batteries and high-strength hybrid steel.”
With the current level of Hongqi models, these two technologies are definitely not used, because Hongqi’s cheapest car is more than 500,000 yuan, so the battery pack and anti-collision beam must be the best.
Even if the car is replaced in the future, the safety and performance will only be optimized and improved, and joint venture car companies will not play the trick of replacing aluminum alloy chassis with plastic!!
As for whether to re-launch a low-priced model or directly supply it to other car companies, Lu Yan is going to consider this issue first
……
Back to the office.
Lu Yan had no idea in his mind.
It is certainly not difficult to make an entry-level model.
And there is no doubt that
Hongqi will definitely sell well after it is made.
But what Lu Yan considered was whether it was appropriate to launch a very low-priced model at this juncture, and whether it would affect Hongqi’s own brand. After all
, since the launch of the first”Land Tank”, the brand tone of Hongqi has been very high.
Suddenly launching an entry-level model would lower the brand tone a bit.
Otherwise, we can also set up a sub-brand like others? ?
Lu Yan couldn’t help but think secretly.
There is another problem – that is, to win the low-end entry-level car market, it is necessary to build a large number of factories corresponding to it. You can’t just build a battery pack and a whole vehicle frame, and purchase everything else from outside, otherwise you won’t make money.
Now China’s car manufacturing supply chain is so developed that many car companies have completely produced 80% of the parts of the whole vehicle in order to win prices and reduce costs.
If we can make everything from speakers, seats, glass, chassis parts, body parts, even an electronic screen and a floor mat, we can make them ourselves, so the profit will naturally be higher and the selling price can be lower.
BYD is a leader in this field.
Hongqi now makes most of the core components of its own cars by itself, but it certainly cannot reach the level of 80%-90%, and the production lines of these components are dedicated to high-end cars.
If we want to expand the low-end production line, we have to re-plan and build the factory on a large scale, and the final area and scale will not be smaller than the current cars.
So there are still many issues to consider here.
While Lu Yan was still thinking.
Wang Youwei walked into the office to report something:”Boss, several state-owned enterprises have contacted us recently and want to purchase our solid-state battery packs. They are all relatively powerful traditional car companies. Why don’t you take a look first?……”
Lu Yan was slightly startled, and immediately nodded slightly:”Well, bring it to me first.”
Although Hongqi has expressed its intention to supply solid-state ion batteries to the outside world and seek partners, it has not rashly signed supply agreements with other car companies except for the traditional large manufacturers that have signed supply agreements before.
This is not because Hongqi is self-sufficient. It only supplies such a strong battery pack to a few car companies and does not open it to other domestic car companies. It is not that Lu Yan does not want to make money.
It is simply to supply large car companies such as BYD, Geely, Great Wall Changan, etc. with the production capacity of Hongqi’s current super factory. In addition, the cars produced by itself also need to be used, and the entire production capacity has been fully utilized.
You must know that these companies are not small-scale.
BYD and Geely have to sell 100,000 or 200,000 units in China every month, and Great Wall Changan is not much weaker, because the domestic automobile market is so large.
This sales volume can top other countries.
At present, Hongqi’s second super battery factory has reserved land from the government and is under construction.
However, it will take at least until the next quarter for it to officially go into production. Lu Yan opened the email and immediately saw letters from more than a dozen car companies. Not only domestic companies, but also foreign brands are interested in purchasing.
And their tone was very sincere, saying that they could offer very favorable conditions and wanted to invite Lu Yan to discuss in detail.
Presumably, these companies also learned some”intelligence” from several other large manufacturers, and knew that in the case of limited production capacity, it would take”sincerity” to obtain the priority supply rights of Hongqi solid-state ion battery packs.
Lu Yan saw a familiar name here, and was immediately surprised:
“Wow, Wuling, the car company, is also purchasing our solid-state battery packs? I remember that the most expensive model under their brand is only 150,000 yuan, right? ?”
“Can they keep costs down?”
“Wuling Hongguang, this Chinese magic car, is almost known to everyone in China. (To read the exciting novels, go to Faloo Novel Network!)
Although Wuling’s cars are sold at low prices, they really make money.
They have made a name for themselves in the market of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan.
However, Lu Yan was not wondering about this. He was wondering about
Wuling’s purchase of”solid-state ion battery packs”.
Because according to the pricing cost of Hongqi solid-state batteries, if they are installed, the price of this car cannot be lower than 100,000 yuan, and even more than 150,000 yuan can only be said to have room for profit.
Wang Youwei saw Lu Yan’s surprise and also laughed
“Boss, you are mistaken. According to the news, Wuling wants to purchase our solid-state battery pack. It should be planning to launch a new energy vehicle with a price of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan in the near future. First, it is to impact the high-end market, and second, it is to keep up with the trend!!”It is normal to think about it. When too many low-priced products are made, they want to impact the high-end market!
Xiaomi only sold 80,000 yuan at the beginning.���Block, now the flagship mobile phone is also sold for seven or eight thousand, and all kinds of home appliances and smart products are selling very well.
It can be said that impacting the high-end is definitely what many domestic companies want to do.
Wuling also has this idea.
The cost of solid-state battery packs is high, but as long as the price of the car is raised, once this car opens up the market, Wuling’s cars will be able to gain a foothold in the mid-range market in the future, and the overall brand tone will also be improved!!
Even if it really doesn’t work, Wuling can afford the loss with its size.
At worst, we can change a car and develop it. These days, car companies frequently launch new models. It’s pretty good to have one or two popular cars a year.
Lu Yan looked at Wuling’s email and thought about it for a while.
He soon had an idea.
…………
At the same time, at Wuling Company headquarters,
Lv Jun is the current chairman of Wuling Group. Born in the 1970s, he is considered young among entrepreneurs.
He is currently in a meeting with a group of senior executives.
“For the next car, we are targeting a price range of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan. If the momentum is good, we can even launch models above 250,000 yuan. In addition, we must keep up with the trend of new energy and launch pure electric models. I believe everyone knows that according to the country’s intentions and the current industry trend, new energy vehicles will definitely be the mainstream in the future.……”307
In China, the will of the country is often the direction of the enterprise.
In the beginning, the state provided a large amount of subsidies to develop new energy vehicles. At that time, few car companies took it seriously. Only BYD and a few new forces went all in. Traditional car companies with capital, technology and market share, on the contrary, engaged in subsidy fraud.
As a result, today, the penetration rate of new energy is about to reach 60%, but they have no chance to enter the market.
Although Wuling has been making new energy vehicles for a long time, the price is too entry-level. Moreover, unlike BYD, it does not have its own battery technology and can only be lucrative through raw manpower.
“The low-end market will become more and more competitive in the future. Now the mainstream expectation of our country’s people has left the stage of just having a car for transportation. Ordinary people want a car with exquisite appearance, rich configuration, and the best power and safety. This is also an opportunity for Wuling to turn around in the new era.……”
Lü Jun said.
Although Wuling has a great reputation in the low-end market, the few models it has released over the years have all been a flop.……[]
Moreover, BYD has raised the price of some entry-level models to 70,000 or 80,000 yuan.
This has also made them feel a huge sense of crisis. The key is that they cannot compete with BYD in terms of batteries and hybrids, so they might as well go up the market. As long as they can open up the market with a more expensive car and hold on to their small piece of land in the low-end market, the company’s development will be much better than it is now.
“Mr. Lu, now there is a problem. If you want to join the mainstream new energy vehicle market, Hongqi’s solid-state battery pack is the only ticket. Otherwise, it will not be competitive at a higher price. Consumers have very high requirements.……”
A senior executive spoke.
He basically agreed with the company’s development views, but here comes the crux of the problem.
If you want to enter the mid-to-high-end market, you need Hongqi’s”solid-state battery” as a ticket, but Wuling doesn’t have it now.
Not only Wuling doesn’t have it.
Many other car companies of average size are also waiting eagerly!!
Speaking of this.
Lu Jun paused for a moment:”I have contacted Hongqi, and I believe there will be results soon. In any case, we must strive for it.”
Although he didn’t show it, it’s impossible to say that he is not anxious.
Since Hongqi launched a series of battery technologies, the entire market has been completely reshuffled.
And new energy vehicles are also divided into ordinary new energy vehicles, and new energy vehicles equipped with Hongqi solid-state batteries!!
If the price is not too expensive.
Consumers can imagine what they will choose with their toes!!.