Author: Master
It is not rigorous enough to judge a car company or a particular model solely based on sales volume. However, you have to admit that for consumers, the sales volume produced by existing users using real money is indeed the most valuable reference answer.
In September, WM Motor delivered a total of 5,005 smart pure electric vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 115.8%. In the third quarter, WM Motor delivered a total of 13,378 smart pure electric vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 137.5%, setting a new historical high for single-quarter sales volume.
As of the third quarter of 2021, WM Motor has delivered more than 70,000 vehicles in more than 200 cities nationwide, achieving year-on-year growth for nine consecutive months. From January to September this year, WM Motor sold 29,043 vehicles, which has surpassed the total sales volume of last year (22,495 vehicles), achieving year-on-year growth ahead of schedule.
From a macro perspective, this performance is quite impressive, but WM Motor has still been unable to catch up with new players in the market such as NIO and Li Auto due to chip shortages. Meanwhile, NETA and Leapmotor, among others, are closely following with the launch of their new products, intensifying competition in the market.
Faced with the current situation of temporarily “falling behind”, the most direct way for WM Motor to “return to the top players” is to produce a product that is competitively attractive, meets market demand, and impresses consumers. And on the night of October 22nd, the M7 unveiled at the WM Motor headquarters is the latest answer given by WM Motor.
First Passenger Car Product Makes Competition Saturated
As the first smart pure electric passenger car under the “M Master Series” of WM Motor, the M7 is the pioneering work in the strategy of WM passenger car. Its NEDC cruising range exceeds 700 kilometers and will be put into mass production and delivery next year.
As WM Motor founder, chairman and CEO Shen Hui said, “The more technology evolves, the closer it gets to the form of life, and this is the research and development concept and direction of WM M7”.
To achieve a more lifelike intelligent performance, the M7 is equipped with three powerful abilities: super perception, super computing power, and super evolution power. The company refers to it as the “world’s first all-scenario intelligent mobile space.”
To put it simply, the WEY M7 is equipped with 32 perception hardware components, which is the most among flagship mass-produced cars in 2022, and has top-level perception capabilities. Among them, it is equipped with 3 sets of autonomous zooming high-precision ultra-visual solid-state lidars, with a horizontal detection range reaching the industry-leading 330°, surpassing other new energy vehicle models that are also equipped with lidars.
The M7 is also equipped with 7 high-definition cameras with 8 million pixels, with a detection distance of over 600 meters and a viewing angle of 120°. The resolution is close to the 4K standard, allowing for more precise recognition of irregular objects such as pedestrians, vehicles, traffic signs, and obstacles.
To meet the strong hardware requirements for system computing power, the solution for the WEY M7 is also very “simple and crude”. Four NVIDIA Orin-X autonomous driving chips are directly arranged to achieve a maximum computing power of 1016 TOPS for the on-board system.
In addition, the M7 completely eliminates the traditional distributed ECU architecture on traditional cars, basically concentrating all hardware within one domain, which not only simplifies the communication mechanism but also reserves a broader space for further evolution.
Based on the strong perception capabilities and abundant computing power, the WEY M7 has taken the lead in achieving full-scenario intelligent driving that covers “full-scene parking – urban roads – intercity highways”, and has even achieved a complete prototype of intelligent driving.
In addition, there is also a pioneering car external “emotional” intelligent interaction based on UWB ultra-wideband communication technology, which combines intelligent hardware with fashionable design to bring more emotional and convenient human-computer interaction, fully satisfying the intelligent needs of full-scene driving.
Although we are already in the era of “software-defined cars”, hardware is still an indispensable carrier. In order to achieve “redundancy of cognition + awareness”, the WEY M7 has fully maximized its hardware configuration, achieving the L5 stage ahead of schedule, and striving to improve user experience while lowering the threshold. This may seem like an uphill battle, but WEY, who has always been labeled as “technology for all”, has already mastered the way.Because products like smart electric cars have a fast upgrade speed, it is easy to have a lag effect, and we have seen many similar cases. If the product upgrade is not done well, new users will think that the product is not good, the company’s development is not sustainable, and public opinion will not support it. But if the product upgrade is too large, it will also hurt those users who have not yet picked up the car or have just picked it up to affect their consumer rights and feel unfair.
Therefore, after ensuring that the M7 has enough hardware redundancy, WM Motor will first meet the needs of users by delivering new cars in 2022, and then gradually upgrade through software to avoid regrets caused by hardware deficiencies. The expanding user scale can also share the marginal cost, allowing mainstream users to enjoy more intelligent experiences at an acceptable price.
“SUV + sedan” dual-line strategy opens, WM’s “high-light moment” is about to begin
M7’s appearance not only adds a new car but also means that WM’s “SUV + sedan” strategy is officially taking shape, which is of extraordinary significance to WM.
To understand why the author said so, we first need to understand the changes in the new energy vehicle market in recent years. According to the report of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in September reached 334,000, a year-on-year increase of 202.1% and a month-on-month increase of 33.2%. From January to September, the retail sales of new energy vehicles reached 1.818 million, a year-on-year increase of 203.1%, still showing explosive growth.
Note: Except for the special situation in January and February, the overall sales of passenger cars (fuel + new energy) fluctuate little, but the growth of new energy passenger cars is obvious, indicating a decrease in sales of traditional fuel cars.
At the same time, in the overall sales of new energy vehicles, the proportion of sedans is also increasing-in the top 10 cumulative sales of pure electric vehicles in the first half of 2021, except for A00-level cars, sedans account for 4, while SUVs only account for 2.
In six years, WM Motor has launched three hot SUVs covering the mainstream range of 150,000 to 250,000 yuan, including EX5, EX6, and W6. With its excellent experience, the first pure electric SUV under WM Motor, the WM EX5, has sold more than 60,000 units, firmly occupying the first place in its segment’s cumulative sales. With these three cars, WM Motor has firmly established its position in the smart pure electric SUV market.
However, a single product line cannot meet the needs of most consumers. Without the support of the times, no one can succeed alone. To truly become a “game-changer”, WM Motor must follow the development of the times and the feedback of the market to firmly grasp the remaining smart car market.
WM Motor’s development of SUVs is not because sedans don’t have a market or lack strength, but because the young company needs to be careful and cautious. It must first use the wave of “SUV fever” to gain a foothold before having the strength to develop multiple product lines. This also applies to other new car companies, especially those that started with SUVs. NIO has released the ET7, XPeng has released the P7, and NETA has released the NETA S.
Cai Ming, General Manager of JD.Power China Auto Business Unit, once said that in the past, brand and product power were the main elements that consumers considered when purchasing vehicles. However, now, the level of intelligence has become the third element that breaks the balance. Data shows that in 2021, the number of users who purchased vehicles due to vehicle intelligence increased by 206% compared to the previous year, while the proportion of users who refused to buy due to lack of new technology and technological sense increased by 50%. This fully proves that intelligence has become a very important index for evaluating new energy vehicles, and it has become the fourth decisive factor for car purchases, second only to quality, performance, and design.
In addition, according to a report by IHS Markit, the market penetration rate of mainstream new energy products with a price range of 150,000 to 250,000 yuan will increase from 3% to 40% in the next ten years, and by 2030, the mainstream market in this price range will account for about 60% of the market share.
The recovery of the sedan market, the importance of high-level intelligence, and the increase in market share of mainstream products, these keywords fit WM Motor’s positioning of the M7, which is also in line with the “technology for all” concept that the company has always advocated.
Shen Hui believes that as the mainstream market demand grows, WM Motor’s label will become more apparent: “Just like when Xiaomi started making mobile phones, maybe no one knew what Xiaomi meant. But now, those miscellaneous handsets from that year are all gone, and everyone recognizes that Xiaomi has its own characteristics.”
After all, high-tech and new technology only have the greatest significance when more people can use them and afford them. In the entire industry, such a car-making concept is more conducive to promoting the overall progress of intelligent cars.
Conclusion
WM Motor has always been jokingly called the “traditional car company” among new car companies. Indeed, unlike other new forces with strong Internet genes, in the 6 years of focusing on making cars, WM Motor has never hyped itself. They were the first to build their own factories and actively build a multi-disciplinary talent system for the entire industry chain. They have always insisted on investing in positive R&D and independent innovation.>This is certainly a very difficult and tortuous path, but since we have chosen the distance, we should only go through wind and rain together. Since the goal is the horizon, only the back can be left to the world.
Just during the National Day holiday that has just passed, WM Motor has completed the 11th round of financing, with the total amount of financing reaching nearly RMB 35 billion.
This part of the fund will be continuously invested in the research and development of autonomous driving and other intelligent technologies and products, the expansion of its product sales and service channels, and the promotion of overseas listing plans. Ultimately, it will truly realize the beautiful vision of WM Motor’s founder, chairman and CEO Shen Hui, “Technology benefits all and not just a toy for the rich, but a smart car that all Chinese people can use to achieve common prosperity.”
WM Motor’s persistence will eventually pay off. Such enterprises deserve to be encouraged, and we also believe that the market will not disappoint this enthusiasm.
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.