The Ideal ONE, which was delivered at the end of 2019 and became the best-selling new energy SUV in China in 2020 with a delivery record of over 30,000 vehicles, is a new contender in the automotive industry. Despite its success, the Ideal ONE has been embroiled in controversy due to various malfunctions. In order to get a better understanding of the Ideal ONE’s true customer satisfaction, we conducted a user survey on almost 1,000 registered Ideal ONE owners in Garage 42. This article aims to present a true picture of the Ideal ONE from four aspects: market competitiveness, service and ownership cost, intelligent feedback, quality and reliability.
Market Competitiveness – Who Buys the Ideal ONE?
The Ideal ONE has always been considered as a family car by middle-aged fathers. According to our survey results, 70.5% of the respondents were between 30 and 45 years old, with 96.3% of them being male and 87.6% having children. Only 27.3% of the families surveyed had the Ideal ONE as their sole car, with 72.7% owning other models in addition to the Ideal ONE.
However, what we are most concerned about is the comparison between the Ideal ONE and other car models. 74.2% of the respondents said they had compared the Ideal ONE with other car models when buying a car. For those who bought the Ideal ONE as their first family car, they were even more cautious, with 81.6% stating that they had considered other car models before making their decision.
Among those who considered other car models before buying the Ideal ONE, many have compared it to petrol-powered and pure electric cars. NIO ES8 is the most frequently compared model, with nearly 10% of respondents considering it before choosing the Ideal ONE. If we include NIO ES6 and EC6, this percentage increases to 23.6%. We compared the insurance data of NIO and Ideal from the second half of 2020 to now, and found that despite having a high overlap in customer demographic, the correlation coefficient on insurance data is only 0.94, indicating that Ideal is not simply stealing market share from NIO, but rather increasing the size of the entire new energy car market.We have also analyzed the factors that influence users’ choices of ideal ONE over competing models. Among users who considered fuel-efficient cars and ultimately chose ideal ONE, 52.76% were from cities where license plate restrictions are implemented, indicating strong correlation. Additionally, among those who considered 5-seaters such as Model 3 and ultimately chose ideal ONE, 69.8% of the users were married with children, and second-child families accounted for 25.53% of the total. 84.7% of ideal ONE owners believed that the vehicle’s spaciousness was satisfactory, indicating that ideal ONE’s large space and ability to meet family needs were also core factors influencing consumers’ purchase decisions.
Among users who considered new energy vehicles and ultimately chose ideal ONE, 76.6% had the habit of weekend driving and 60.5% had the habit of long-distance self-driving trips. As a range-extended new energy SUV, ideal ONE’s core advantage lies in its convenient charging and lack of range anxiety, providing car owners who desire freedom and self-driving with a better choice than pure electric vehicles.
When compared with other 6/7-seater plug-in hybrid SUVs that already have limited choices, the range-extended ideal ONE is the only option that has even better fuel efficiency. The ability to capture a segment that has an unmet demand, and to have core advantages that outperform competitors in the product points that are most important to potential users, is a crucial reason for ideal ONE’s breakthrough in sales and success.
Service and the cost of car ownership – What is it like to own an ideal ONE?
85.1% of ideal ONE owners are satisfied with the delivery and pick-up process. Additionally, most users indicate that they understand the dashboard status, can use the in-car system proficiently, and can effectively use the advanced driving assistance functions after picking up the car. This indicates that the staff provided training on each function when delivering the vehicle to the owner.
Compared to the “one-time deal” approach of traditional car dealerships, new vehicle brands from emerging companies maintain close relationships with car owners even after vehicle delivery. According to the survey, 61.6% of ideal ONE car owners stated that their experience with pre-sale and after-sale services was consistent. 9.9% of car owners reported that the after-sale service experience was slightly improved compared to the pre-sale service experience, while 19.3% of car owners reported that the after-sale services by ideal ONE staff were even better. By providing continuous and high-quality car ownership services, users can establish better emotional connections with the brand and tolerate inadequacies in their vehicles to a higher degree.Research shows that 56.2% of car owners experienced some car usage problems, including abnormal noise, in the first month of ownership. However, 92.1% of this group expressed high satisfaction with the Ideal ONE and would recommend it to friends and family. 92.2% of the users also expressed that they would choose Ideal Automobile for their future products, indicating a high user retention rate due to excellent service.
In terms of car usage costs, the average fuel consumption of the entire sample is 8.38 L/100 km. 41.8% of car owners are satisfied with the fuel consumption of their cars. Moreover, 65.5% of car owners have a charging pile, and 82% of them mainly use the pure electric priority mode in their daily lives. The most common actual pure electric driving range reported by car owners is 120 km. As a hybrid model, this pure electric driving range is already high, but 41.2% of users still hope that the pure electric driving range can be further extended.
Feedback on Smart Features – Is the Ideal ONE Smart Enough?
In the user satisfaction ranking of the Ideal ONE’s features, the advanced driving assistance system is second only to space and driving experience, with an overall satisfaction rate of 58.8%. In terms of usage frequency, 53.6% of car owners are moderate or heavy users of the advanced driving assistance system. They use the system in more than 50% of highway scenarios, and 97% of them indicated that they will consider purchasing a car with advanced driving assistance functionality for their next vehicle. This shows that users highly approve of the Ideal ONE’s advanced driving assistance functions.
The most profound impression that the Ideal ONE’s advanced driving assistance system conveys to car owners is safety, with 30.2% of car owners reporting that it has helped them avoid accidents. The most common feedback is for emergency braking in the front, where AEB helps the driver stop successfully.
19.5% of car owners have experienced inconvenience when using the Ideal ONE’s advanced driving assistance system. Through detailed analysis and description of the car owners’ experiences, we found that most of the incidents occurred at crossroads with missing or nonexistent lane markings, where the system made incorrect judgments and the drivers had to take over in time. Other reported issues included the car’s inability to recognize pylons or triangular warning signs.
The majority of dangerous scenarios, such as driving on irregular or lane-less roads, and failure to recognize markers and triangular warning signs, have been warned by Ideauto in the user manual of the Ideal ONE. However, consumers still encounter problems when using these functions in such scenarios, indicating that the ability boundaries of the current version of the ADAS system have not been clearly conveyed to consumers by the Ideauto authorities. In fact, this is a common problem in the entire industry, not just Ideauto. To ensure the safe use of ADAS features, car manufacturers should do more education and promotion work to enable consumers to fully understand the functionality of each version and use it properly.
Secondly, these scenarios are indeed essential to car owners as they often require the use of these functions. However, they may find it challenging to use these capabilities or create inconvenience due to operational errors. Therefore, these capabilities should certainly exist, such as the ability to track city roads crossing intersections, recognize markers and triangular warning signs, handle close-range Cut-ins, and navigate through tight curve bends. These should be the directions with which to improve the ADAS capabilities of the next version.
Regarding the Intelligent Cockpit, car owners are most satisfied with the 360-surround and hub modes, UI interface, and auxiliary driver screen. The Ideal ONE is the first domestically designed car model equipped with an auxiliary driver screen, and 44.8% of car owners believe that this feature is the best. Therefore, it does meet the needs of many car owners and is the correct attempt. Intelligent voice recognition is the direction for enhancing the next Ideal auto product, as 44.1% of users have more expectations for the “Ideal Companion” in the current version.
On the topic of quality and comfort, 26% of car owners perceived traffic noise within one month of the car being delivered. However, upon a longitudinal comparison according to the delivery time, the proportion of car owners experiencing abnormal noise within the first month of delivery is gradually decreasing, reflecting that the manufacturing quality of the Ideal ONE is continually improving.
Additionally, car owners are also dissatisfied with the brightness of the headlights, suspension tuning, voice assistant, seat comfort, and NVH of the Range Extender.## Concerns about Range Extender NVH
Most car owners feel that the dissatisfaction rate of Range Extender NVH is not high. Most of them think that they can only feel obvious shaking and noise when the car is stationary at idle. When comparing with pure electric vehicles, most car owners would use them to feel the NVH of the Range Extender. However, it is almost impossible to make users not feel the existence of the Range Extender at all. Based on the feedback from most car owners, the NVH of the Range Extender in IDEAL ONE is within an acceptable range for users and will not become a negative factor for purchase.
Car owners have higher tolerance for models that support OTA
Half of the car owners encountered various unsatisfactory problems during the first month of picking up the car. However, as high as 92.2% of users said they would still buy IDEAL’s products, which is unimaginable in the familiar traditional car consumer market. Only by understanding this “unimaginable” phenomenon can we understand the “strange phenomenon” mentioned at the beginning of the article.
According to survey data, IDEAL ONE has high owner satisfaction in intelligent driving, space, vehicle cost, and flexible energy replenishment. IDEAL is also actively conveying its confidence in product optimization to consumers in terms of quality control. Of course, these data are far from enough to explain this phenomenon, so we have also conducted in-depth interviews with many IDEAL ONE car owners to understand the reasons why IDEAL’s fans are in pain and happiness.
The interviewed car owners have also encountered problems such as abnormal sounds and car machine bugs during the use of the car, but they have high satisfaction in IDEAL ONE and actively recommend their friends to buy IDEAL ONE. The main reasons for this are summarized as follows: the cost-effectiveness is irreplaceable, the after-sales service is good, and OTA continuous iteration optimization makes car owners have higher tolerance for current products.
“I am willing to give the opportunity to make mistakes to new domestic car makers, but the way, speed, and attitude of solving problems are very important. IDEAL has given me great confidence in this regard,” said an interviewee. In addition to IDEAL ONE, many interviewed car owners also own other new energy vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles. They generally have higher tolerance for new energy vehicle brands. One car owner said that compared with the first car model of a new car maker, IDEAL ONE has the highest degree of completion and is also the most proactive in dealing with problems. This makes him admire IDEAL, and he is willing to introduce family and friends to buy IDEAL ONE.
Why do car owners have higher tolerance for IDEAL ONE?
The main reason is that the model supports OTA continuous iteration optimization. Interviewed car owners have stated that multiple OTA upgrades of IDEAL ONE have indeed improved user experience. Vehicles can be continuously optimized through OTA, which will establish a belief in car owners that “the experience of this car will become better and better”, and increase their expectations for future car use experience. This will to some extent increase car owners’ tolerance for current minor problems in the vehicle.Superb after-sales service is also a bonus. Many Ideal ONE car owners have expressed that Ideal does not boast about its service quality, but the actual experience exceeds expectations. The response speed is fast, problems can be solved, and when necessary, a replacement vehicle is provided. Meeting these needs already satisfies car owners’ after-sales requirements, and the after-sales staff show enough attention and a good attitude, which adds extra points.
In addition, some car owners have stated that, during the car purchasing process, they have compared multiple models and Ideal ONE is the most cost-effective. Compared to fuel vehicles, getting the same configurations (such as space and power) would be much more expensive. In contrast to purely electric vehicles, Ideal ONE does not have range anxiety, meets most of the needs of car owners, and has no obvious shortcomings, making it the only choice after considering purchase comparisons.
In conclusion
As a new force in car manufacturing and with multiple OTA upgrades that greatly enhance the user experience, car owners have a higher tolerance for Ideal ONE. When car owners encounter problems, they can get an active response from the after-sales team to solve the problem, which increases their trust in the brand. Core elements such as space, comfort, intelligence, power, and cost all perform at a good level in Ideal ONE, with no obvious shortcomings, creating a highly cost-effective product and leading to high customer satisfaction which has contributed to the continuous increase in sales of Ideal ONE.
At the same time, we can see that OTA capabilities can have a significant impact on car purchasing decisions. For car models that support full-vehicle OTA upgrades and users can perceive the continuous improvement of the user experience brought by OTA upgrades, they will have a higher tolerance, as if users are comparing the future product power of one vehicle to the current product power of other vehicles, and the advantages are obvious.
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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.