There are talented people from generation to generation, each leading the way for decades. For the past seven years since BAIC New Energy’s models have been ranked first in sales, the inescapable “seven-year itch” has brought too many “mixed blessings” to BAIC New Energy.
The sales list for September is released. The top three sales of pure electric cars are Wuling Hongguang MINI EV (ranked first with 20,150 units) and Model 3 (ranked second with 11,329 units). ) and the Great Wall Euler Black Cat (ranked third with 5,141 units).
Among the top three new energy models, BAIC New Energy has not been seen for a long time. It is reported that in September, BAIC New Energy sold 2,245 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 77.57. The sales champion who once had continuous sales growth is now undergoing a long transformation journey. The automobile industry has long since changed hands, but BAIC New Energy must move forward with a "burden" to find its place of "a village with hidden flowers and bright flowers".
It is a new product but also a rebirth
On October 24, the first mass-produced new car of BAIC New Energy’s high-end ARCFOX brand, ARCFOX αT, was officially launched, with a guide price of 241,900~ 319,900 yuan, no matter from the perspective of brand or model, everything about ARCFOX is interpreted as "will shoulder the important task of revitalizing BAIC New Energy."
On the official website of ARCFOX, there is such a description , "ARCFOX was born to break boundaries - committed to becoming the leading brand of smart new energy vehicles in China, continuing to pursue ultimate performance and innovative design. The brand mission is to "protect the last piece of pure land in the polar regions of the planet with clean energy, travel with green, and "Smart technology drives the beautiful civilization of human society", with "boundless aesthetics", "humanistic technology" and "ultimate experience" as the core brand values."
"Unbounded aesthetics", "humanistic technology", "Extreme experience" is the mission of the ARCFOX brand, and of course it is also for the new model αT. However, after being silent for less than three seconds, I was suddenly brought back to reality by the voice next to me, "This English It takes a long time for ordinary people to digest the brand and model name in English, and it takes a long time to read just the model name."
One sentence reveals the small bug of ARCFOX on the road to high-end, how can this slightly difficult-to-pronounce brand name be so fast? To form users' understanding, how does the new model αT, a Greek letter far away from life scenes, win the favor of users at first sight? Perhaps the ARCFOX brand belongs to the fairy world and is not suitable for landing in the mortal world.
Judging from its subsidized price of 241,900 to 319,900 yuan, ARCFOX αT is also destined to compete head-on with the domestic Tesla Model 3, BYD Han and Xpeng P7. I don’t know what kind of path ARCFOX?αT, which has “made enemies on all sides” since its birth, will take.
Undoubtedly, BAIC New Energy once stood at a high position without stepping down, and those glorious moments were left in the torrent of taking advantage of the situation. But this time ARCFOX?αT is different. It can be completely Classified into the list of new brands, it is a product of a new force in car manufacturing. It is both included in BAIC New Energy and can be completely separated. However, no matter how it is classified, ARCFOX?αT must face a tough battle. Yes, no choice.
At the press conference, Liu Yu, general manager of BAIC New Energy who just took office, said in his opening speech, "ARCFOR is neither a state-owned enterprise nor a private enterprise. ARCFOX is the 2.0 era of new car-making forces. Compared with new car-making forces such as Weilan and Xiaopeng, ARCROX has obvious characteristics of being deeply integrated with Magna and Huawei."
Look, even the manufacturers themselves have chosen to be reborn, hoping to use the name of ARCFOX. , erasing the label of BAIC New Energy. The rear of the new car is even pasted with an ARCFOX Magna sticker. This wave of operations has undoubtedly made ARCFOX more determined to break away from BAIC New Energy. In fact, this is a good thing.
Brand independence is conducive to the innovation and scalability of new brands in marketing and promotion, and the key to the first step of rebirth is to escape from the previously solidified thinking mode. ARCFOX does need a brand new Blood stimulates itself and the market.
In this list with many suppliers, Daimler, Magna, Huawei, Fuyao Glass, CATL, Baidu, Tuopu, Nippon Paint and other top companies in the industry are all Became a partner of ARCFOX.
Using the world's top resources to create the world's leading IMC intelligent module standard architecture, ARCFOX?αT was born in the Blue Valley Magna high-end intelligent manufacturing base. The only way out is to succeed and not to fail.
It takes a long time to sharpen the sword
If you say wait, then it does take a lot of time to wait for ARCFOX? αT to be launched.
But in fact, the ARCFOX brand debuted as early as 2016. In 2018, the ARCFOX-7, known as "China's independently developed pure electric GT supercar", also participated in many international competitions, and then in April 2019 At the ARCFOX brand conference, three models were unveiled, the pure electric supercar ARCFOX GT track version and street version, and the SUV model ECF. However, it now seems that the ECF that was a concept car last year should be today's ARCFOX αT.
However, the ARCFOX process took a long time, and it was also a sweat. However, after listening to part of the introduction at the scene, you will find that ARCFOX?αT also has its own reason for being slow. After all, some things are like red wine. If you put it in the right space, the longer it takes, the better it will be. I hope ARCFOX?αT is like this too. A car.
No wonder Liu Yu said that ARCFOX is neither a state-owned enterprise nor a private enterprise, because ARCFOX?αT is not produced by BAIC New Energy Factory, but by Magna.
Who is Magna?
One of the world's largest auto parts manufacturers and the most diversified auto parts supplier in the world. It produces almost everything related to automobiles and can also participate in the design and engineering of powertrain systems. Development, testing and manufacturing, as well as vehicle design and assembly, in short it is the "King of Everything".
In its cooperation with ARCFOX, Magna holds 49% of the shares. Half of the intellectual property rights of the ARCFOX platform also belong to Magna. Magna controls the production and manufacturing of products. BAIC Blue Valley Responsible for parts procurement, marketing and channels.
Whether this wave of operations is worth the price of admission? With Magna in control, it seems that there will be no "intrusion" in ARCFOX's high-end quality control process. Not only that, BAIC also built the BAIC Magna factory in one go. This factory also became the first vehicle manufacturing plant set up by Magna outside Graz, Austria. BAIC, which is full of sincerity, also took advantage of the opportunity to complete the realization of Chinese brands and foreign brands. A zero-breakthrough cooperation model, no matter how tortuous and complicated the process, the outcome is very good. ARCFOX? This is still worthy of recognition.
Let’s take a look at other data provided by ARCFOX?
The NEDC range of 653km is the highest range of pure electric SUV models currently known to have a range of 653km. It is 3km more than the 650km of the previous GAC New Energy Aion? LX, and the " The killer feature is that ARCFOX?αT uses batteries from South Korea’s SK, with a battery capacity of up to 93.6kWh.
Yes, ARCFOX ? For a long time, BAIC New Energy's two electric vehicles, ES210 and EV200, have been equipped with South Korean SK ternary lithium batteries. In terms of installed capacity, South Korean SK is basically ranked fourth in the world.
In addition, Huawei’s 5G technology interconnection will also be used in the ARCFOX?αT model. In January 2019, BAIC New Energy and Huawei jointly established the "1873 Davidson Innovation Laboratory" and developed intelligent connected electric vehicle technology. At the press conference, Liu Yu also promised users, "In the future, BAIC will always be the first brand to apply Huawei technology in terms of intelligent connectivity, and ARCFOX will definitely lead other customers for at least a year."
Nowadays, car companies frequently throw out the theory of "software-defined cars", and ARCFOX? "Define a car" is actually an iconic saying. In the future, software will inevitably be integrated into every aspect of car definition. For traditional manufacturing, it is a major disruption. But after disruption, there will be a new era, and ARCFOX must seize this opportunity. ”
After all, BAIC New Energy, the “mother and embryo”, once had an extremely glorious history. It sold 158,000 vehicles in 2018 and 150,600 vehicles in 2019, firmly ranking first in the domestic pure electric vehicle market. First, such an endorsement is both motivation and resistance. Even though ARCFOX is working hard to remove its labels, it also knows that ARCFOX and BAIC BJEV will still be firmly tied together in a short period of time. At this time, how to give skills to The "four ounces of effort" is worthy of scrutiny.
The launch of the ARCFOX? In addition to the product strength itself, ARCFOX’s marketing team has a heavy burden on their shoulders. At the end of the press conference, Wang Qiufeng (vice president of ARCFOX? During the Beijing Auto Show, 20,000 intended orders have been received. ”
20,000 is a good start for a new car that took nearly 3 years, but no one can predict the future. I hope there is a long road ahead and ARCFOX will be reborn and go well.
Text/linlin
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome