PART 1 Weekly Index
PART 2 Weekly News
① Volkswagen CEO warns of Nokia-like fate if reform isn’t accelerated
Following a global board meeting last Thursday, Herbert Diess told Volkswagen senior managers that “it will be very difficult if we continue to develop at the current pace”.
In addition, Diess also stated that cars are no longer just means of transportation, and automakers are no longer just automakers, the era of classic car manufacturers has ended.
Quick Comment: If Tesla’s success is only an exception, then the addition of giants signifies the industry’s shift. From Diess’s words, we can see that Volkswagen has come to a “crossroads” of fate and has enough attention and thinking about lessons from other industries.
In the face of the global energy revolution, new forces have the advantage of being flexible and changeable, while old giants have a deep foundation in the overall development of vehicles. Who will win? Let’s leave the “microphone” to the market.
② Tesla replaces Tencent Maps with Baidu Maps as map data service provider
On January 17th, Tesla officially announced that “Tencent Maps”, which previously provided map data for vehicle, will be replaced with “Baidu Maps”, and this update will also add more entertainment functions.
To put it in the words of a map app product manager, fundamentally, maps are complex products, and if you are not an industry insider, it is difficult for users to understand the complicated relationship between data, base maps, and navigation engines.
Without professional knowledge, users can only attribute the blame to the corresponding enterprise through the logo displayed on the screen, so the usefulness of the on-board map depends on the joint efforts of the automaker and the map supplier.
Quick Comment: Compared with other aspects of the vehicle experience, Tesla’s on-board map has been criticized by many car enthusiasts. It is believed that Tesla has found the current issue by partnering with Tencent Maps.
Looking forward to its early real solution to user pain points in the next update, bringing a better driving experience to users.
③ BYD Han is expected to be launched in mid-2020 with a “blade battery”
The BYD Han DM/EV model declaration map was recently exposed, with both new cars expected to be launched in mid-2020.
The DM model (silver) continues the design language of the Dragon Face family, while the EV model (red) is more aggressive, using a fully enclosed front face design. The wind resistance coefficient of both models has not yet been announced.
The pure electric model has two versions: two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. The front-wheel drive version uses a single motor drive with a maximum output power of 163 kW. The four-wheel drive version is a front and rear dual motor, with a total maximum output power of 363 kW.
In addition, on January 12, Wang Chuanfu revealed at the 2020 Electric Car Hundred People Conference that the pure electric Han will adopt BYD’s latest “blade-shaped” battery in the battery field, and the range can reach 600 km, with the battery type being lithium iron phosphate.
Comment: From the choice of announcing at the Electric Car Hundred People Conference, it can be seen that the weight of the “blade-shaped” battery released by BYD is not weaker than that of the new car release.
Looking at the development status of the entire industry, 2020 will be the beginning of the “follow-up voyage era.” In this year, there will be continuously more car models with a range of nearly 500 km, and consumers will gradually begin to dim their anxiety about the range.
So, can the “blade battery” become the entry ticket for BYD’s follow-up navigation era? Let’s wait and see.
④ The results of XPeng G3’s mid-term retention and recommendation test are good overall
On January 14th, the collision results of XPeng G3’s mid-term retention and recommendation test were released, and the scores of the four major projects are as follows:
- Collision resistance and maintenance economy: P (poor)
- Passenger safety: G (excellent)
- Pedestrian safety: G (excellent)
- Vehicle auxiliary safety: G (excellent)
China Insurance Research Institute (China Insurance Research) leads and initiates the establishment of Mid-term Retention and Recommendation Test (MRT). Insurance companies directly refer to the collision scores of MRT when formulating vehicle insurance prices, and the tested vehicles are sponsored by MRT. Therefore, compared with the five-star wholesale C-NCAP, the test results of MRT are more referenceable.
The two versions of the car participated in the test. The low-profile version of the 2020 520 Yueshare version, which participated in the first three tests, and the medium-matching version of the 520 Zhixiang version, which participated in the vehicle auxiliary safety test.Translate the following Chinese text in Markdown format into English Markdown format in a professional way, keeping the HTML tags inside the Markdown and only outputting the result.
Also, at the 2020 Electric Vehicle Conference, He XPeng, the Chairman and CEO of XPeng Motors, stated that 92% of G3 models sold in 2019 were equipped with assisted driving, meaning that 92% of the models were mid- or high-tier.
Quick Comment: The collision test score is an important indicator of automotive safety. Previously, there has been a lot of skepticism about the ability of new energy vehicle manufacturers to produce safe cars, and safety is the primary concern.
Although the safety test level of the XPeng G3 falls short of perfection, it is enough to show XPeng’s attitude towards vehicle safety. In this market environment where safety is constantly emphasized, we believe that these achievements will help XPeng establish a better brand image in the minds of consumers.
⑤ WM Motor Launches “WM Direct Buy” Sales Model
On January 16th, WM Motor officially launched a new direct purchase sales model, which, in short, solves the problem of high initial purchase costs, inconvenient charging, and low retention rates for electric vehicles through three measures: a half-price truck delivery, a transportation contract package, and a repurchase contract.
At present, the “WM Direct Buy” model only applies to the WM EX6 Plus 400 light version, and WM will consider promoting it to all WM products based on market conditions in the future.
Quick Comment: There is a saying in the used car market, “Better to buy a third-hand gas car than a second-hand electric car.” Due to early technological limitations, new energy vehicles have left the market with intrinsic impressions of slow charging and low retention rates, and one of the key influencing factors is the lifecycle of the power battery.
In response, the state has enacted relevant regulations for the quality assurance of power batteries, and major companies in their own ecosystems are constantly seeking innovative business models to provide consumers with more flexible and varied purchasing options.
For car companies, a lower starting price can indeed bring better bookkeeping data to the company in the short term, but it also presents new requirements for the company’s financing, disposal of scrap equipment, recycling and reuse, etc. We believe this will also be a new challenge for WM.
Author and editor: Junmeng
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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.