Author: Yu Feifei

The epidemic seems to have pressed the “pause button” for everything in the world. If you ask anyone on the street right now, nine out of ten people will not feel that they are already in 2022, and the remaining one has just looked at the calendar.

2021 was too magical. So magical that while we were still amazed by 2021, 2022 has quietly arrived.

It’s a new year, my friend. Don’t be complacent or let your mind down. If shouting is not enough, maybe only a new car can make you feel alive.

On January 5th, the first global metaverse cloud release conference of AION LX Plus was held, bringing a heavy new car launched by GAC Aion in the beginning of 2022. AION LX Plus features four models: 80 intelligent deluxe edition, 80D flagship edition, 80D Max edition, and Qianli edition, with a subsidized price starting from 286,600 yuan.

A brand new energy vehicle and a metaverse release conference bring the hottest concepts of new energy and metaverse together. It must be said that GAC Aion knows how to play.

A new “ace”?

Two years ago, GAC Aion released AION LX, the world’s first electric car with a range of up to 650 kilometers. It seems that they are going all out on the “long range” feature, and now on the basis of AION LX, GAC Aion has launched AION LX Plus, with a range of 1008 kilometers, nearly twice that of the previous model.

Once becoming the “world’s first 1000 km range electric car”, AION LX Plus undoubtedly sets a new “ace” in the field of pure electric cars.

In fact, backed by GAC Group, GAC Aion has accumulated a lot of experience in new energy. In 2021, GAC Aion released multiple new technologies, such as sponge silicon anode battery technology, ultra-fast charging battery technology, and A480 fast charging pile.

AION LX Plus is built based on the sponge silicon anode battery technology, with a total energy of 144.4 kWh and an energy density of 205 Wh/kg. Compared with the 811 ternary battery, it is not inferior. In high-speed and urban road tests, the actual range of this car exceeds 600 km and 1000 km, respectively.Although the industry claims that the new energy market is booming, in fact, the penetration rate of new energy will only exceed 20% this year, and the era of faster market growth has not yet arrived. Pure electric cars in the north are far less popular than those in the south. After the launch of the AION LX Plus with 1008 kilometers of endurance, should other car companies follow it?

In addition to endurance, AION LX Plus also has highlights in intelligence and services.

For example, in terms of hardware, the new car is equipped with three second-generation intelligent variable-focus lidars. The total number of hardware is up to 35, which is the most in the industry and can cross-cover the surrounding 300° field of view of the vehicle.

In terms of software, it has the city NDA intelligent navigation assistance system that is unique to the same level. The vehicle can not only choose the optimal lane to travel on the highway based on navigation information and high-precision map data but also realize various functions such as autonomous acceleration and deceleration lane change, active avoidance, on-off ramp, and remote-summon parking.

Another example is the cabin design with a simple and technological style without buttons. With the ADiGO 4.0 intelligent connected system, it has added voice control driving mode, energy recovery, and vehicle control to enhance the human-machine interaction experience. With the assistance of the 7-nanometer 8-core Qualcomm 8155 cabin chip, it can realize the third-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon flagship digital cabin.

There is also the “One-Click Enjoyment” hosting service: lifetime free warranty for three-electric/vehicle, lifetime free basic maintenance, APP one-click maintenance reservation, and guest charging.

Leading the New Energy “Metaverse”?

Xiao Yong, deputy general manager of AION, is full of confidence in AION LX Plus. He regards this car as the “terminator of endurance competition” and also calls it the “new starting point for advanced intelligent driving.”

“The endurance mileage is basically over at this point, and there is no need to make it longer than 1000 kilometers; if the intelligence cannot reach our level, don’t even say that you are an intelligent car.” Although the statement is somewhat exaggerated, the reason is correct.

There is ongoing debate in the industry about “how much range electric cars really need”. One perspective is that a range of 600 kilometers is enough to meet daily travel needs, while another insists on achieving 1000 kilometers to meet occasional needs. For example, in the cold winter in the north, the actual range of most electric cars is halved, and 600 kilometers can only travel 300 kilometers in reality.

The direction of the industry can also be seen from the flag set by various car manufacturers. Starting in 2021, companies such as NIO, Huawei, and IM have all expressed their intention to launch models with a range of 1000 kilometers. Pursuing a range of a thousand kilometers is still the mainstream concept among new energy vehicle companies when charging facilities are not yet widespread, but it is often impossible to achieve due to technological limitations.

The AION LX Plus with a range of 1008 kilometers has surpassed the level of existing fuel vehicles and truly brought the “thousand-kilometer” era.

In addition to range, current consumers are also concerned about the level of vehicle intelligence. High-end intelligent driving capabilities can free up users’ hands in specific environments, and better intelligent cockpit functions can provide users with a more comfortable driving experience.

For companies, intelligence is like internet technology: as it increases in level, it can bring an exponentially increasing imagination to the enterprise.

However, AION has clearly not completely focused its business on product development. In the past year, Gu Huinan has publicly stated on multiple occasions that AION brings users “advanced, fun, trendy, high-quality” technology brand genes. Therefore, COSPLAY, esports, and other trendy factors have become common elements of AION press conferences.

As mainstream car buyers gradually transition from post-80s to post-90s, young users have become the group that all car companies want to capture. But in the fiercely competitive new energy field, will these measures really be effective? Statistical data shows that from 2019 to 2021, the age structure of AION users has decreased by 5 years. Some post-90s users stated on social media that they are “esports fans” and immediately decided to buy the AION Y cyber esports edition after its release.In the current trend of the metaverse, cosplay, e-sports, and other elements seem to be a bit like the previous generation of trendy products. In October 2021, Facebook announced its name change to Meta, which is derived from Metaverse and represents its ambition to gradually integrate its products into a “beyond reality” metaverse platform. Riding on the concept of the metaverse, a new Douyin account, “Liu Yexi,” gained 1.3 million fans overnight.

This is definitely a new trend. At the beginning of 2022, Aiways released a new model, the AION LX Plus, in the form of the “world’s first metaverse cloud launch event”. In order to make it easier for users to enter “Aiways’ metaverse”, Aiways prepared the audience in advance with a series of publicity, such as the first global travel and the first space travel, instantly bringing the audience’s emotions to space.

After indicating that “human footprints have arrived in the metaverse,” the event invited the host, the metaverse AI explorer Du Xiaoxiao, to introduce the new model. She not only introduced the new car and marvelled at “Aiways’ black technology,” but also took photos with Gu Huinan, Xiao Yong, and others.

Aiways is building its own metaverse, where there are new cars, users, and car companies. They are trying to provide a “metaverse user circle” for young users in early 2022. After laying such an ecological foundation, Aiways may have even more plans to “expand their horizons” in the future.

How does Aiways create its trump cards?

Aiways has always regarded EV and ICV as its two mainstays.

Gu Huinan once revealed Aiways’ plan in the ICV field: “By 2025, unmanned driving cars will gradually be launched into the market, not for trial operation, but for real operation.” Calculation reveals that this is only three years away. Nowadays, high-level intelligent mass production applications are in line with the pace of enterprise development.

More than a year ago, at the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, Aiways officially changed its name from “GAC NE” to “Aiways” and began its independent operation. At that time, the new name was once a topic of discussion in the industry because it was “difficult to read”.

Nowadays, perhaps no one talks about Aiways’ new name anymore, replaced by the focus on products, sales, and youthfulness.

Having been operating independently for over a year, the world still seems to have hit the “pause button” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Aiways has already achieved a full range of product upgrades and plus version releases. The four models are: “AION LX Plus, the smart EV flagship that travels a thousand miles”, “AION V Plus, the interstellar mothership pure electric SUV”, “AION S Plus, the king of 150,000 RMB sports cars”, and “AION Y, the 100,000 RMB tech first-class cabin”.The core driving force for the comprehensive Plus-ification of products is AEOLUS’s ability to control the development quality and speed. On the one hand, AEOLUS has achieved one breakthrough after another through self-research and cooperation, with the technology of intelligent electric vehicles as the core, from the ultra-long range of 1000 kilometers in the EV field, the “Super-Fast Battery Technology” of charging for 5 minutes and driving for 200 kilometers, to the safe battery system technology of the magazine battery due to the “first time to achieve that the ternary lithium-needle does not ignite” and the global first application of the second-generation lidar and ADiGO 4.0 system in ICV (Intelligent Connected Vehicle) field… AEOLUS’s high development quality is evident.

In addition, the fierce competition in the new energy field today has destined relevant enterprises to win with speed. Car companies not only need to meet the current industry’s requirements for technology but also improve their products according to consumers’ ever-changing preferences at any time.

In the past year, AEOLUS has updated its product line rapidly. While many new car-making forces such as 小理蔚 are still regretting being slightly short of entering the 100,000 units annual sales club, AEOLUS, also a new energy vehicle enterprise, has achieved sales of 124,000 units in 2021, a year-on-year growth of 119%, far exceeding the annual target of “100,000 units”.

If we delve into why the sales target can be exceeded and how AEOLUS phenomenon of “high development quality and fast development speed” can be formed, institutional reform must be a topic that AEOLUS cannot avoid.

As a new brand launched by many traditional car companies, AEOLUS faces the same problem as friendly businesses: can they get rid of the relatively rigid system of traditional car companies and develop flexibly? This determines whether the brand can be truly accepted by young users.

In the past year, AEOLUS has carried out a bold organizational reform under the leadership of Huinan Gu, such as removing cadres at and below section chief level and replacing them with project management system, combining it with digitization and implementing a three-tier approval system, and changing the marketing model to “direct sales + cooperative operation + dealership”.

“The collaboration efficiency of the whole work has been improved by 90%,” Gu Huinan said that this improvement is unimaginable.

Looking at the new year, one of AEOLUS’s main events is mixed ownership reform, which is far “leap” than simple internal reform. In 2022, AEOLUS will become a technology company integrating research, production and sales, ushering in the era of employee stockholding, and introducing strategic investors, with opportunities for listing.

Mixed-ownership reform is not uncommon, but unlike most of the previous cases of mixed-ownership reform, AEOLUS’s mixed-ownership reform is actively seeking change. Financial considerations are secondary, and the thirst for new technology resources may be the main reason.In traditional car companies, GAC Group belongs to the group that is more sensitive to new technologies. It began researching electric technology in 2011, launched the first domestic medium-heavy hybrid model, and developed its own intelligent technology. However, the development of new technologies has far exceeded expectations, and the number of competitors is rising rapidly. GAC Group realizes that in the future intelligent automotive industry, it will no longer be a solo battle, and it is necessary to transform EA into a new technological entity.

After completing the mixed-ownership reform, the “new brand of traditional car companies” will become EA’s second identity, and EA’s first identity may be a technology company, an ecological company, or a travel service provider. When the main business is not limited to selling cars, car companies are no longer just car companies.

The capital market will not only enlarge the imagination of EA, but also become a new endorsement of EA.

Every one of the new automakers that entered the capital market achieved a surge in sales thanks to the capital market. In turn, the surge in sales brought them an increase in market capitalization. This is a positive cycle.

Today, the market capitalization of new automakers is soaring in the capital market. EA, which has already entered the “100,000 Club”, how big will its imagination space be? As of the beginning of 2022, readers can wait and see.

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.