Author: Feng Jingang

Introduction

For Leapmotor, the so-called 2.0 era is just a slogan. To win the future, it must solve practical problems, be pragmatic, innovative, master core technology, ensure product quality, user service and a more capable team. Only then can they achieve long-term success.

Among many new forces, Leapmotor is quite unique. It is not born from internet companies like NIO and Xpeng, nor from traditional companies like WM, Skywell, and Aiways. Leapmotor is born from the technology industry. Therefore, we see that Leapmotor’s full name is Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co., Ltd.

From technology to car manufacturing, Leapmotor can also be considered as a successful cross-industry player. Looking back on several decades of China’s automotive industry, successful cross-industry players are few and far between. However, at present, Leapmotor has the potential to win this ticket.

Looking back at Leapmotor’s car manufacturing journey, although the first car, the S01, was initially targeted by the market, its “failure” did not defeat Leapmotor, but instead made it painful and awakened. As a result, the second car, the T03, was a huge success, and the third car, the C11, is also looking to enter the mid-to-high-end market.

Yes, Leapmotor has conquered everyone with its strength, and no one will question that it is an outsider who does not understand the essence of car manufacturing.

Last month, Leapmotor held a “Jinhua Factory First Vehicle (T03 Premium Edition) Offline Ceremony and 2.0 Strategy Release Conference” in Jinhua, summarizing the past and declaring the future. At the conference, Leapmotor founder and chairman Zhu Jiangming changed his previous “indifferent” impression on the outside world and began to get along with users and the media.

Leapmotor has changed! According to Leapmotor’s own definition, from 2015 to now, they have entered the era of car manufacturing 2.0.

From Non-Mainstream to Leading the Market

In July, 4283 units of the Leapmotor T03 were delivered, continuing to be the leader in the micro-car market. With the hot performance of the T03, Leapmotor’s sales volume is stable among the top five new forces, and the future is promising. However, when it first entered the new energy market, Leapmotor’s goal was not the current largest pure electric car market, the micro-car market, but the very niche sports car market.

If we rewind to New Year’s Day 2019, Leapmotor’s first 100,000 yuan-level intelligent pure electric Coupe, the S01, was launched at the Beijing Water Cube. At that time, the vast majority of new forces placed their first car in the more mainstream SUV market, including NIO ES8, Xpeng G3, WM EX5, etc., to increase market error tolerance. Leapmotor, which launched its first car targeting the sports car market, was not regarded as good by the industry.The data shows that since its launch in 2019, the cumulative delivery of S01 is about 2,000 units. Objectively speaking, as a small sports car in the segmented market, this quantity is not bad. However, compared with other new energy vehicles’ first car selling tens of thousands of units, it seems to be inferior. Therefore, can we conclude that S01 is a real failure? This conclusion is difficult to determine.

Although the performance of S01 did not meet internal expectations, fortunately, new energy vehicles do not only have one chance to make a breakthrough. In May 2020, Zero Run’s second car, T03, was launched, which not only became a turning point in the development of Zero Run Automobile but also leveraged the micro-car market. It is a clear demonstration of “Zero Run’s strength.”

The launch of T03 is actually a very inspiring story. In the first half of 2020, the pandemic was rampant. Like most new energy vehicle companies, Zero Run also faced internal and external challenges, with only a budget of 100,000 yuan for the launch of T03, which was extremely rare in the automobile industry. Therefore, including the electric momentum, many media outlets provided strategies and support to Zero Run, hoping to achieve the impossible.

As we know, T03 was successfully launched and sold well due to the product’s features that combine “over 400 kilometers of endurance + L2 assisted driving + a minimum price of 50,000 yuan.” It once again triggered the rigid demand of the micro-electric vehicle market, and also reached the real C-end market demand.

As the new energy subsidy decreased year by year from 2015 to 2020, the heat of the electric vehicle market also fluctuated with the subsidy, from A00 to A level. In 2020, when subsidies were exhausted, and the demand for the B-side market was weak, at a time when the industry was pessimistic about new energy, Zero Run’s T03 served as the vanguard, and Wuling Hong Guang MINI became the main force in thoroughly opening up the micro-car market.

In 2020, relying on the outstanding performance of star models such as Zero Run T03, Wuling Hong Guang MINI, and Eulai Black Cat, the micro-electric vehicle market has risen again, with a market share rising from 27% in 2019 to 32%. Now, the market share of micro-electric vehicles has reached 36%, making it the largest segmented market in new energy.

The power emitted by Zero Run T03 cannot but make us start to re-examine Zero Run Automobile, as well as the amazing power contained in it. If we have to select the best new energy marketing event and the most inspiring model for 2020, Zero Run T03 is undoubtedly the winner.

Zhu Jiangming, changed!

From non-mainstream products to leading the market, many people are curious about why Zero Run has undergone such a significant transformation. In fact, this issue involves management adjustments and the changes made by Zhu Jiangming.It is well known that Zhu Jiangming comes from Dahua and Dahua focuses on smart IoT. Zhu Jiangming was not a car industry professional before. So for the first car S01, Leapmotor regarded it as an intelligent terminal, a tech product, rather than a car. The difference in positioning directly determined the operational strategy of S01.

Unfortunately, it has never been easy for China’s car industry to cross over and build cars, and Leapmotor could not escape this law. The performance of S01 did not meet internal expectations. S01’s failure led to introspection within Leapmotor and within Zhu Jiangming himself. The result of this introspection was that Zhu Jiangming handed over the front-line command to experienced car industry professionals, and the second car T03 was also operated from a car perspective.

From the current perspective, this round of adjustment for Leapmotor is extremely successful. Not only did T03 achieve great success, but Leapmotor also gained recognition from all sides, even investment, allowing Leapmotor to rebound from the bottom. As far as Zhu Jiangming is concerned, although his business philosophy has been challenged, it is fortunate that the company’s development has become increasingly successful, and that’s enough.

Apart from the adjustment of business philosophy, Zhu Jiangming also made an important change in his role, which needs to start with a “meme”.

If you want to ask what is the most impressive thing about the Leapmotor 2.0 strategic conference, I think Zhu Jiangming’s initiative to publicly share his WeChat and let people add him during the group interview session is definitely one of them. This is because it was so unexpected. Is this still the Zhu Jiangming we knew before?

Those who know Leapmotor and Zhu Jiangming should know that since the first Leapmotor brand launch conference in March 2017, when Zhu Jiangming began to appear in the car industry, the external impression of him has generally been “cool”. After the interview, it’s done, there is rarely any more communication, and there is no chance to add WeChat for further interviews and exchanges. Over time, this became a “meme” in the industry.

As for why he is unwilling to communicate with the media, the key lies in Zhu Jiangming’s background. In Dahua, Zhu Jiangming’s identity is co-founder and CTO, and chief engineer. And on the Leapmotor communications side, he still introduces himself as an engineer. The introverted characteristics of an engineer make Zhu Jiangming more cautious about unfamiliar markets.

So how could Zhu Jiangming’s initiative to publicly share his WeChat and let others add him not surprise everyone? Leapmotor’s marketing department and Zhu Jiangming got feedback on this meme, and he also knew that he had made fun of it this time. Now, with the Leapmotor 2.0, Zhu Jiangming’s initiative to publicly share his WeChat shows that he has the willingness to change together with Leapmotor.

Zhu Jiangming’s change is necessary. Compared with a few years ago, the new forces of car manufacturing are not the same now, and one of the connotations of new forces in car manufacturing is that top executives should become product managers, interact with users and the media, thereby shortening the distance between users and increasing brand warmth and favorability.For Zero Run, which operates with user-centered logic, a manager like Zhu Jiangming who understands both technology and product is now equally needed. In late July, as for the new C11 brown interior, Zhu Jiangming played the role of product manager, collaborating with users and media to “co-create” this interior.

From an engineer to a manager, Zhu Jiangming has undergone a transformation at Zero Run. If the success of the T03 bore witness to Zero Run’s power, then in marveling at his broad vision, we must also acknowledge that he is already 55 years old. With a boss who keeps up with the times, how could they not succeed?

At the brink of his career and crossing over into new energy vehicles, Zhu Jiangming is prepared for the challenge.

Entering the 2.0 Era

On July 15, at Zero Run’s Ningbo factory, with the completion of a relaxing version T03, Zero Run obtained the valuable qualification to produce new energy vehicles. They became the only new force brand to possess a truly closed-loop intelligent automobile self-research, manufacturing, sales and service integration industrial chain, alongside Tesla.

In view of this historic moment, Zero Run formally announced their entry into the 2.0 Era. From the setback of the S01 to the explosion of the T03; from a rookie carmaker to breaching the barrier; from advocating technology to returning to the essence of automobiles, Zero Run has indeed turned a new page.

Therefore, the confident Zero Run began to plan for a clearer and grander future. At the press conference, Zhu Jiangming announced the core strategy of Zero Run’s 2.0 Era – to achieve an annual sales volume of 800,000 by 2025. In order to achieve this strategy, Zero Run will release 8 models by the end of 2025, covering a price range under CNY 350,000, and will also expand into overseas markets by 2022.

However, when Zero Run announced this strategy, there was a wave of skepticism within the industry. Indeed, most industry insiders believe that Zero Run is not as strong as companies like NIO and XPeng, making it daring to create such a aggressive sales plan. We cannot predict whether Zero Run will achieve the 800,000 sales target by 2025, but we must not underestimate them.

First of all, at the brand level, Zero Run actually has no strict brand requirements, only product requirements. Zhu Jiangming expressed that “making driving easier, making riding more comfortable, making prices more affordable, was my original intention for founding Zero Run. What Zero Run wants to do is truly make progress in science and technology accessible to the public.”Thus, we have seen that Leapmotor has launched an intelligent sports car costing 100,000 yuan – S01, an intelligent scooter costing 50,000 yuan – T03, an intelligent luxury car costing 150,000 yuan – C11, and so on. With Mr. Zhu Jiangming’s original intention to create automobiles and Leapmotor’s manufacturing philosophy, Leapmotor has no brand burden, only the determination to create one extreme product after another.

Once the goal is set on creating extreme products, the market actually becomes a perfect fit, from the popularity of T03 to the heat of C11. Although S01 did not receive market recognition at the time, we believe this was due to its product design, the immature market, and inadequate marketing. There was no problem with its product positioning, and we look forward to the arrival of the updated S01.

Leapmotor’s product-centric approach is somewhat similar to Xiaomi, which follows the product power line of extreme excellence, not only from smartphones to intelligent electric vehicles. Nowadays, Xiaomi has become the world’s second largest intelligent smartphone brand. Will Leapmotor be any less competitive?

In recent months, the shortage of chips and batteries has flooded the auto market, and Ningde Times has raised 58.2 billion yuan to accelerate the construction and production of new factories… Clearly, the explosive force of the new energy market has far exceeded everyone’s expectations. The big times require a big picture.

For Leapmotor, moving towards the 2.0 era is just a slogan milestone. To win the future, the real problems must be solved. It requires being pragmatic, innovative, mastering core technologies, ensuring product quality, user services, and a more combat-effective team. It is the long-term, winning strategy.

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.