Author | Nie Yiyao

More and more people are addicted to coffee, whether it’s espresso, pour-over or cold brew, the aroma of a cup of coffee is always hard to resist. Coffee addiction seems to have become a law, and those who are immersed in it will feel anxious all day if they don’t have a cup of coffee.

This is the magic of coffee.

In the automotive industry, Wei Pai is good at brewing coffee. Mocha, macchiato, latte, just by hearing the names, you know they are classic and trendy coffee that humans crave for.

Not only that, Wei Pai has also made “0 anxiety” the signature of its coffee series – not drinking coffee makes you anxious, Wei Pai coffee 0 anxiety – which shows how attentive they are to the minds of coffee lovers.

Moreover, to meet the needs of different coffee enthusiasts, Wei Pai coffee has also launched new flavors at an impressive speed.

On July 25th, Wei Pai coffee launched a new latte DHT-PHEV. In just 8 months, Wei Pai coffee’s macchiato, latte, and mocha have all collected the DHT-PHEV model, forming a new energy vehicle fleet of Wei Pai’s latest plug-in hybrid technology in the 150,000 to 300,000 yuan price range.

The new Wei Pai latte DHT-PHEV has three configurations: two-wheel drive large cup, two-wheel drive extra-large cup, and four-wheel drive extra-large cup, with a post-subsidy price ranging from 229,000 to 263,000 yuan. The main selling points are still “0 anxiety” and “family” – providing more accessible “0 anxiety” travel choices for more families.

“0 Anxiety” Permeates the Family

“This car is a high-end new energy vehicle that is truly ‘more family-friendly’,” said Wei Pai’s CMO Qiao Xinyu at the launch event, positioning the latte DHT-PHEV officially.

Around this positioning, the various parameter indicators, as well as the visual, tactile, and sensory aspects of the latte DHT-PHEV, have been fully expressed in the context of official demands such as “0 anxiety intelligent electric” and “more family-friendly”.

For example, intelligent DHT series-parallel technology empowers all-scene travel with “0 anxiety”.

The latte DHT-PHEV is powered by a 1.5T engine, 130kW high-integration DHT transmission, 34kWh high-energy-density battery pack, and 135kW high-performance electric rear-drive axle (four-wheel drive) of Great Wall’s intelligent DHT series-parallel technology. The comprehensive power is 321kW, the comprehensive torque is 762N·m, and the 0-100 km acceleration is 5.2 seconds, perfectly realizing “performance 0 anxiety”.# Latte DHT-PHEV Two-wheel Drive Version
Latte DHT-PHEV takes the lead of the same class with a super-long all-electric range of 184 km and a comprehensive range of 1000 km +. With “range 0 anxiety,” you can easily hold it.

Latte DHT-PHEV supports three power supplement methods, including 48kW rapid charging that requires only 29 minutes to charge from 10% to 80%, 6.6kW intelligent slow charging that takes 5 hours to fully charge and supports booking charging through the mobile APP or vehicle system, and 3.5kW home charging that connects to a 220V power source. With various charging scenarios, you can fully “supplement energy 0 anxiety.”

For example, advanced intelligent driving + intelligent cabin, intelligent travel “0 anxiety.”

To reflect the superiority of its own advanced intelligent driving, Wei’s brand has 27 ultra-high-precision detection devices installed in this cup of Latte DHT-PHEV.

Among them, 5 external millimeter-wave radars + 1 intelligent front camera realize HWA advanced intelligent driving assistance; 12 ultrasonic radars + 4 high-definition panoramic cameras realize intelligent parking in any scenario; 1 millimeter-wave radar inside the car realizes vital sign monitoring, and 4 high-definition cameras in front of the car, inside the car, and behind the car realize full coverage and no blind spots.

In terms of smart cabin, Latte DHT-PHEV uses the 8155 chip to fuse the 14.6-inch central control high-definition LCD screen, 9.2-inch LCD dashboard, 9-inch touch screen, and navigation-enhancing HUD head-up display.

The voice control system, Xiao Wei Tongxue 2.0, can achieve 20 seconds of uninterrupted chatting. Also, the system can replicate the voices of children and communicate with people in the car. This feature is lovely for parents driving with their children.

Moreover, Latte DHT-PHEV also has facial recognition function for fatigue/distraction monitoring and memory function for different drivers. These are Wei’s brand’s careful attempts and extensions when modulating this cup of Latte DHT-PHEV.

However, Wei’s brand’s most dedicated care for Latte DHT-PHEV is reflected in his earnest efforts for children’s safety. The expression of this care includes up to 26 child care functions.

And this also embodies the appeal of Latte DHT-PHEV “more family-friendly”, representing that Latte DHT-PHEV can achieve comfortable and caring family travel with “0 anxiety.”

We have designed 26 child-care features around three dimensions of family safety, health, and comfort. These include an 80% body high-strength steel ratio, a battery pack safety ensured by all-round battery safety technology and 23 intelligent safety assistance functions to ensure driving safety. Additionally, we have included a rear life-sign monitoring system, one-key control of electronic child safety locks for the driver, interior using environmentally friendly mother-child level technology and the Zhihuasi sofa material, the brand-new Harman ANC active noise reduction technology, deeply customized intelligent child safety seats, and the intelligent home ecological DOCK system, together creating a healthy, safe, and comfortable interior space.

It can be seen that to cater to the needs of young family consumers and to make them fall in love with this cup of latte DHT-PHEV, Wei Brand has added the latest technology, the trendiest embellishments, and of course, rich and delicate intentions in their blends.

Do You Love Wei Brand Coffee?

Wei Brand started brewing coffee in 2021.

In May 2021, Wei Brand Mocha was officially launched, marking the debut of the Wei Brand coffee series. However, this is not the best thing that Wei Brand has to offer. How to enter the trend of new energy through the fashionable name of coffee, this is what Wei Brand intends to do.

In Wei Brand’s official website description, there is a statement: “Wei Brand has created a new category of 0 anxiety intelligent electric vehicles and long-lasting intelligent DHT PHEV architecture, opening up a new path for 0 anxiety intelligent electric travel, leading the energy structure revolution, and guiding the development direction of new energy technology for the industry.”

Wei Brand avoided the dispute over pure electric vehicles and instead applied the advantage of Great Wall Motors’ Lemon hybrid DHT system to the coffee series, creating a declaration of hybrid smart electric vehicle categories, which is straight to the point.

Not only does this utilize and promote the technological advantages of Great Wall Motors, but it also opens up a future development path to fully showcase Wei Brand’s competitiveness in the most appropriate time. And at the same time, Wei Brand has successfully entered a new and promising channel – hybrid technology.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in 2021, the sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China reached 3.334 million units, of which pure electric vehicles were 2.734 million units, a year-on-year increase of 173.5%; plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were 600,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 143.2%.In the first half of 2022, the sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China reached 2.09 million units, an increase of 111% year-on-year, including 1.6349 million pure electric vehicles (up 98.9%) and 0.4558 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (up 170.2%).

In an era where fuel prices are soaring and the prices of raw materials for electric vehicle batteries are skyrocketing, consumers’ preferences for cars are rapidly leaning towards hybrid models that are more economical and environmentally friendly.

Wei Pai has officially launched its coffee series of new energy vehicles, including Maquiduo DHT, Maquiduo DHT-PHEV, Natie DHT, Mocha DHT-PHEV, and Natie DHT-PHEV, based on the Great Wall Lemon Hybrid System, within less than a year from September 2021 to July 2022. In terms of the fit between product layout time and market demand growth, Wei Pai has made accurate decisions.

Is Wei Pai’s Coffee Good?

First, Wei Pai’s coffee covers different consumer needs in the price range of CNY 150,000 to 300,000, and each product has obvious targeted audience, which is quite advantageous for consumers to make quick purchases according to their own needs.

Let’s talk about the essence of Wei Pai’s coffee, DHT, which is the most representative, as well as its derivative PHEV.

The Wei Pai coffee series DHT is not the first generation of Wei Pai’s hybrid models. Wei Pai’s first hybrid model was the P8, which was launched in April 2018 and equipped with a Pi4 hybrid system.

This Pi4 hybrid system can be traced back to 2013 when Great Wall Motor initiated its research and development. “P” stands for “Plug-in”, “i” stands for “Intelligent”, and “4” stands for “4WD”.

Therefore, Great Wall Motor’s research and development of hybrid systems, or Wei Pai’s hybrid models, have their origins relatively early. Although the electric motor equipped with the Pi4 hybrid system had the shortcoming of not providing an ideal power source switching experience, this attempt laid the foundation for Great Wall Motor to timely adjust its research and development direction in 2018, clarify the technical logic, and once again march into the high-end field of global hybrid technology.

In 2018, Great Wall Motor started the research and development of a new hybrid platform, while its subsidiary Honeycomb Power was working tirelessly to develop a hybrid-specific engine with higher thermal efficiency.

In December 2020, the “Great Wall Lemon Hybrid DHT System” was launched. In June 2021, BEIJING Automotive Group Powertrain Co., Ltd. took the opportunity of producing the 10 millionth engine to release multiple “Hybrid-Specialized Engines” used for “Great Wall Lemon Hybrid DHT System”.

The Great Wall Lemon Hybrid DHT System actually refers to a highly integrated hybrid system. It includes a hybrid-specialized engine, hybrid-specialized transmission (i.e. DHT), motor, and electronic control, supporting both HEV and PHEV powertrains.

Among them, the hybrid-specialized engines released by BEIJING Automotive Group Powertrain Co., Ltd. include 1.5L and 1.5T hybrid-specialized engines. Compared with the turbocharged engine, the naturally aspirated engine is more focused on fuel economy while the turbocharged engine is more balanced in performance.

The Great Wall Lemon Hybrid DHT System has pure electric, series, parallel, kinetic energy recovery, and a two-gear direct drive special mode. According to official introduction, the various modes of the Great Wall Lemon Hybrid DHT System can help vehicles achieve the most leading fuel economy under different operating conditions.

The highly integrated structural design can reduce the volume of the powertrain, not only reducing the weight, but also improving the transmission efficiency and NVH control.

As an important strategic technological reserve for Beijing Automotive Group’s overall transformation, the advantages of the Great Wall Lemon Hybrid DHT System cannot be fully expressed through words. However, based on market feedback, its popularity is continuing to rise as domestically-produced hybrid vehicles are increasingly recognized by Chinese consumers.

So, do you love Wei Brand Coffee?

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.