Article by KiKi

Editor | Zhou Changxian

On August 26th noon, I arrived at the NIO booth and found that NIO CEO Qin Lihong was accompanying Chengdu City Government leaders for a visit. In a hurry, I took a photo.

Half an hour later, during an interview with Qin Lihong, he told the media that he had just said to Secretary Shi Xiaolin, “We can rest assured since you have come.” He said that this sentence came from the heart. He had been worried in the morning whether the Chengdu Auto Show could be held, but now he was at ease.

However, four days later, the organizing committee issued a notice that the Chengdu Auto Show was still suspended.

It was unexpected but also within expectations. No one wants to hear this news, but under the pressure of the epidemic, the auto market and we all urgently need a lively event to experience the joy of life and the hope for the future.

“Only by mingling in the crowd can we feel the joy of life,” people say when they meet.

From the south to the north and from the north to the south, the floating media reporters are all running around, not knowing where they will end up tonight with their cameras and microphones. They have to ask themselves, “Where am I?” every morning… This is the real auto market we are used to.

After being affected by the epidemic for more than half a year, when the Beijing Auto Show was postponed indefinitely, the organization of the Chengdu Auto Show sparked great excitement. Even when packing their bags, people couldn’t help feeling a little emotional.

Many people who had not seen each other for a long time met in the aroma of Chengdu’s hot pot and enjoyed a drink. Many unsaid words were exchanged along the exhibition halls and booths, along the new cars. They encouraged each other and imagined that the auto market in the second half of the year would be “out of the woods.”

Before the collective imagination had time to take off, the automobile market that had just gained momentum was hit by the epidemic again. After four days of operation, the exhibition was closed early, leaving a great regret.

This scene is very similar to the Shanghai Auto Show in 2003 when SARS broke out. The exhibition was opened for only three days before it was closed early. Many people’s fate was rewritten that year, but after SARS, the word “soaring” unexpectedly emerged in the turbulent trend.

After the end of the SARS epidemic, house speculators stepped onto the historical stage for the first time, and a frenzy of buying houses swept across the country in no time. As for the auto market, it ushered in an unprecedented soaring period, and the golden decade of China’s auto market, which quickly zoomed in, officially began with the tide of the times.No one could have foreseen how grand the subsequent events would be, but for those who experienced it, none of it was unfamiliar. It was a constantly struggling automotive industry, with falls, rises, melancholy, and joy.

We experienced the rush of mainstream joint venture car companies being established and the chaotic battle, “our own hometown, but someone else’s home field”. We also experienced Geely, Changan, Great Wall, and Chery rising from obscurity and becoming the leaders in the independent brand in the midst of stumbling, and finding a way to transform through continuous challenges.

We have also experienced Li Bin, Li Xiang, and He XPeng sitting side by side and self-mockingly “remembering the bitterness and cherishing the sweetness”. After a few difficult years, they finally had the confidence to shout, “in the era of electric cars, we will replace BBA”…

The traces left by the grand history and the sediment accumulated by small details have finally led to today’s Chinese automotive industry.

Recalling all this is not meant to comfort anyone. Actually, it can’t really comfort anyone. It’s just to give us, who are in the midst of the industry, a little bit of energy.

“Not at ease with home, power, suitability, or the world.”

This sentence gave me some energy in 2020, although I have to admit that that energy was only sufficient for “surviving”. Too many people said that 2020 was a year full of helplessness. The pent-up anger in their hearts always hoped to find a new idealistic place in 2021.

In fact, from 2003 to 2020, and to the first half of 2022, we have all been looking for an idealistic place. It’s just that, in the process of searching, we have become increasingly clear of one thing, that sadness cannot be spread out in the folded space, we can only move forward with all our strength.

Let’s go back to the Chengdu Auto Show.

For those who have experienced more than two years of the pandemic, the suspension of the Chengdu Auto Show is not surprising. It will inevitably be covered with a layer of “gray”, interrupting the just ignited enthusiasm, and making the market once again become gloomy due to a lack of chips and electricity flying around like black rhinos.

Yes, we cannot deny and cannot deny the spread of these emotions. Because we are always hoping, “pandemic, go away”.

BC and I often chat while drinking, and during these times, he always asks an unanswered question.

“How long has it been since we traveled?”

Then, we count all the places we’ve been like a side dish, even remembering how much we drank in each of them. While counting and drinking, we accidentally spend a little more money.

After we finish drinking and spending money, we return to reality.“`

Author Lizichao said in his book “Arriving before Midnight Falls”: “The world is like a tireless soldier, marching at lightning speed according to its own rules, paying no attention to the audience.”

That’s the reality, so what can we do?

In the zigzag alleys and winding streets, in the low valley of the automobile market, we have to find a new foothold to face this unavoidable and enormous trend again.

Haval has decided to stop selling fuel-powered cars by 2030, which was considered by some commentators as Wei Jianjun’s “following” of Wang Chuanfu. However, from another perspective, this is a “foothold” that Wei Jianjun has sought for Haval and for Great Wall Motors to strive for and make progress.

Coincidentally, dozens of car brands including Geely, Chery, Roewe, Mercedes-Benz, and Kia have all launched hybrid products to cope with the turbulent hybrid market, even directly squeezing out the Japanese brand with technology advantages from the C position.

As a senior player in hybrid technology, BYD has brought the flagship 07, hoping to continue to stabilize its dominant advantage in the hybrid market. The third-generation Roewe RX5 has put its hybrid product in the C position of the stage, hoping to use hybrid power to return to Roewe’s heyday…

The situation of hybrid development is self-evident, and more and more companies are seeking footholds. However, this does not affect the “inward” trend of electrification and intelligence.

On the 10th and 11th, two new energy exhibition halls, all the autonomous brands and new forces were deployed in electrification and intelligentization, singing one after another, and the technology war is getting more and more intense.

Not long ago, XiaoPeng announced a brand new power supplement system and the S4 super fast charging pile born from the 800V technology architecture. It also brought the first model G9 at the Chengdu Auto Show. With super fast charging, high endurance, and self-operated super charging stations, He XPeng hopes to change the market structure with this. Salon Mechadragon, which debuted with four models, is equally impressive. It regards 800V charging technology as a “foothold” and tries to grab the future in its own hands…

The highly anticipated autonomous driving technology is also a topic of intense discussion.

“`The Avita 11 is equipped with the AVATRANS intelligent navigation system based on Huawei ADS, while the Flyin R7 unveiled its first self-developed fully-integrated and advanced intelligent driving system – RISING PILOT, and Wei Xiaoli, who is currently leading the market, is eager to develop the core hardware of autonomous driving after launching its own software and algorithm.

With cutting-edge technology, NIO even boldly declares that “NIO ET5’s sales volume will exceed that of BMW 3 Series within a year,” displaying full determination to showcase electrification, with no regard for BMW’s large outdoor advertising campaign.

“Now they have already sold out their first round, and the situation seems not to be that great, of course, they have achieved good results. In contrast to their relative position in the market with their gasoline cars, it can be ignored,” said Qin Lihong, President of NIO, who did a simple calculation that the monthly sales volume of BMW 3 Series is probably between 10,000 to 15,000, and NIO ET5 could be quite competitive in one year.

“But there’s another possibility, if the monthly delivery of ET5 in the future also exceeds 10,000 vehicles, and BMW hasn’t lost any sales, then I think it’s even more interesting,” Qin Lihong acknowledged. Although Mercedes-Benz is still an object that needs to be pursued, NIO’s average ticket price is already over 100,000, surpassing Audi, “I think it’s not easy to compare,” and he had no qualms about Audi’s deep-felt pain.

At the launch event of the Ideal L9, Li Xiang claimed that the L9 was “the best domestic flagship SUV under 5 million.” He also declared, “Even if compared with the current Curinan, we have complete confidence.”

As a newcomer, SAIC’s Zhi Ji Auto also joined the group, with Liu Tao, Joint CEO of Zhi Ji Auto, having grand ambitions to “completely subvert the rules of the game in the automotive industry that have been represented by BBA for 136 years through electrification,” holding only 2,000 orders for the Zhi Ji L7, but thinking about overturning BBA’s grand strategy.

See, even the competition for “replacing BBA” is escalating beyond expectations. In fact, this kind of energy, in my opinion, is excellent. Everyone is competing, with no lack of passion.

With such fierce competition, internal competition is expected, and everyone hopes that the “starting point” is at their feet. The changing environment tests the resilience of all industries, and only technological change can seal the gaps in the world.

“Spread the cold to everyone,” Ren Zhengfei calls for artillery fire, “From 2023 to even 2025, ‘stay alive’ must be the primary motto. Stay alive, and stay alive with quality.”Although the world does not revolve around the audience, as spectators in the automotive industry, these “unyielding” individuals continue to leverage more technological breakthroughs and plan for a future where they “do not conform to the status quo or circumstances.”

Within the exhibition hall, people rush to keep up with time, but unlike the triumphant steed carried by a spring breeze, they strive to “survive with quality.”

As for us, meeting up, having a drink, enjoying hot pot, and waiting for the next reunion is satisfaction enough.

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.