A Flagship New Energy Vehicle with No Weaknesses!

Famous table tennis player Ma Long has been praised by Japanese media as an impeccable “hexagonal warrior” due to his outstanding performance in six aspects: strength, speed, skill, serve, defense, and experience. This time, Zhi Ji L7 won the total points championship in the Qinghai Lake Electric Vehicle Challenge, and can be said to be the “hexagonal warrior” among electric vehicles, a flagship new energy vehicle without weaknesses.

A Flagship without Weaknesses at Qinghai Lake!

The Qinghai Lake Electric Vehicle Challenge has been held for nine stages, and it should be the largest electric vehicle challenge in China and even in the world. The biggest feature of this year’s competition is summarized below:

1. The competition uses natural open roads + closed road environments as a comprehensive mileage evaluation index for endurance.

2. The “Intelligent Technology Challenge” officially included the “Technology Configuration” evaluation project index.

3. The track racing is all conducted with unmodified mass-produced cars.

Through the above features, it is very obvious that the design of the entire competition has become more comprehensive:

For example, endurance is evaluated through more road environments to give a better evaluation of the vehicle’s real endurance ability.

Moreover, adding the intelligent dimension to the mandatory technology configuration of the vehicle confirms the important position of technology configuration in current car purchases.

Not to mention, unmodified mass-produced cars are an essential requirement for real capabilities, which increases the reflection of the real capabilities of the vehicle, and truly allows consumers to see what kind of performance their cars have on the track. This feeling is very intuitive and has a promotional effect on the sales of new energy vehicles for popularization.

In fact, summarizing the various changes above in one sentence is: “No Weaknesses.” Because under such complex multidimensional requirements, a vehicle with weaknesses clearly cannot obtain better competition results.

Why Does a Flagship Say No to Weaknesses?

In fact, electric vehicles can have weaknesses, and on the contrary, more electric vehicles have achieved good sales by doing long features. For example, the Wuling Mini EV has obtained excellent sales with extreme cost-effectiveness and convenience. However, for products positioned as “flagships,” weaknesses are not tolerable.# Flagship, Defined

The definition of “flagship” comes from ancient naval times where commanding ships needed to use flag signals to direct other vessels and display the commander’s flag as the center of the fleet. Generally, these commanding ships had the most powerful and comprehensive performance. Today, the term is often used to refer to leading products in the same category, such as flagship smartphones that are generally considered “adult choices” with top-notch specs.

Flagships are often considered all-around players, especially in the electric vehicle industry. Shortcomings in one aspect of performance often cause users great pain points, with many vehicles struggling to balance high performance and long range. Similarly, balancing intelligence and handling is also difficult, as high-performance vehicles often lack sufficient intelligence and may seem naive.

The existence of these shortcomings can bring serious challenges to users in real-life experiences. For example, during long-distance travel, although high performance has great advantages, the shortcoming in range undoubtedly increases charging time. What was once an uninterrupted journey now requires additional charging midway. Considering that holiday congestion can lead to full service area charging stations, this can even increase charging time by more than two hours, greatly reducing the user experience.

Intelligence experience is also the same. Although some car models have maximized performance, the intelligent experience is so bad that it hinders normal use and requires hardware upgrades to restore normal function. Why not provide upgraded hardware at the initial stage of product design? In fact, on the market, you can clearly see that some products with the same hardware have very smooth user experiences. From another perspective, this is also an important proof of intelligence. Due to the convenience of operation, more and more users find it difficult to accept products without intelligence. This kind of penetration makes more and more users find it difficult to stay without intelligence.

It is not the distant mountains that make people tired, but the sand in their shoes. Shortcomings are like that grain of sand in an electric vehicle that makes users especially tired. This match is difficult for flagships to accept.

L7, Redefining the True Flagship

L7’s ability to win the overall championship is actually a comprehensive affirmation of the entire product positioning and design capabilities, because automobile product design is a complex system engineering. The difficulty is not how to make one aspect longer, but how to balance the relationship between various environments.

In my opinion, L7 is a very excellent product that balances the three core contents of appearance, performance, and intelligence. Simply put, it is the kind of product that looks good, has a good body, and a functional brain.Almost every person who has seen the L7 model from IM will be impressed by its minimalist and sophisticated high-end design. In the context of extreme aesthetics, the sense of luxury is not only about lavishness, but also an experience of design capabilities. The interior space design of IM L7, which leans towards the Nordic minimalist style, undoubtedly makes it easier to meet the quality requirements of users today. The design of the two large screens is very technological and intelligent, and the screen content can also complete cross-screen operations and automatic lifting, which fully embodies the characteristics of a future car. This excellent design with a sense of fusion is truly impressive.

Next, let’s talk about driving experience. As the definition of a car itself, good handling is of utmost importance. Since the delivery of the L7 model, reviews on its driving experience have been overwhelmingly positive, such as the great convenience brought to users by the rear wheel steering, the super high responsiveness brought to the chassis by Williams tuning, and the filtering of road bumps. The stability of cornering at a certain speed even surpasses that of competing models with air suspension.

Finally, intelligent driving cannot be ignored. With outstanding design in both appearance and performance, as the crown jewel of automotive intelligence, the “more human” feature of IM’s IMAD assisted driving system undoubtedly shines. In the game of card placement during LCC, it is undoubtedly one of the best among similarly priced LCC models. For users commuting in rush hour, the “anti-cut-in game” feature greatly improves traffic efficiency, which most will definitely appreciate.

Undoubtedly, all-round evolution is the final chapter in a flagship car, and the ability of the L7 model to achieve soft and hard integration for subsequent popularization of LiDAR undoubtedly makes it the only product in the market that can achieve similar evolution. This ability endows L7 with super-strong vitality for a technological experience that will not become outdated for the next five years.

A true flagship should have flawless performance without any shortcomings. For the L7 model, Qinghai Lake is just the beginning.

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.