Recently, even the exclusive supercar circle couldn’t resist the trend and started to roll up.
Ferrari made a controversial decision and released an SUV with a V12 naturally-aspirated engine that even their own new supercar might not have. Polestar’s first pure electric sports car, the Polestar 6 LA Concept edition, is now open for pre-orders in China, but only 10 out of the 500 available spots worldwide are allocated for China. What’s more, GAC unveiled the Hyper SSR at the GAC Aion brand launch event last week, claiming it to be “China’s first supercar”.
As supercars become more and more powerful, the attention they receive varies greatly. Ferrari Purosangue goes without saying, following the Aston Martin DBX 707 as another purebred high-performance SUV. Even Polestar 6, which is destined to have challenging sales figures, received significant attention from the automotive media at its Shanghai debut today, as Polestar has always been adept at nailing design aesthetics.
GAC, on the other hand, received praise from many media outlets, but it can be heard between the lines that people are not really awe-inspired by the “China’s first supercar” and “0 to 100 km/h acceleration in 1.9 seconds” buzzwords. Perhaps for many people, GAC Aion is just a job, while Porsche Panamera and Audi RS6 at a comparable price range are dreams.
As a newcomer to the supercar circle, GAC has to make more effort to truly master the greatest competitiveness of the supercar circle–luxury.
Nobility is more than wealth
It is believed that no one would deny that Ferrari is the absolute nobility of the car industry.
This supercar brand, born in 1947, is the only team that has participated in every season of F1 (and probably the most ridiculous team now), and has produced one of the most expensive supercars ever auctioned (250 GTO), making it the most branded and romantic supercar brand in the world. In the supercar market, Ferrari’s dominance and arrogance also directly led to the birth of Lamborghini and the Ford GT40 series in competition with them in the racing and commercial fields.
Both Ferrari itself and the brands that have competed with it in the racing and commercial circles have become well-respected names in the supercar and racing communities.This is the value of Ferrari. People admire Ferrari not only because of its performance parameters and powerful R&D capabilities, but also because of the shining red color and the classic prancing horse logo.
And what about GAC Aion? In the field of new energy vehicles in China, GAC Aion is also a leading brand in terms of market performance. However, most people come into contact with GAC Aion through services such as Gaode Taxi, Ruiqi Ride, Didi Chuxing, and local taxi companies. Its non-aristocratic background makes it difficult for Aion Hyper SSR to gain recognition from high-net-worth consumers.
First of all, you need to learn to communicate with the public like a supercar brand.
The official press release of Ferrari Purosangue is more than 20 pages long, providing a comprehensive introduction to its power system, chassis and body, aerodynamic design, dynamic performance, overall design, optional configurations and personalized customization, and 7-year factory maintenance plan. Ferrari does not cover up its technical charm for most media who are destined to not afford its products just because it is Ferrari. Instead, through press releases, it fully demonstrates the technical charm of top supercar brands, psychologically capturing these media.
Oh, by the way, only media contacted by Ferrari can obtain the official press release. Other channels cannot.
The promotion of Aion Hyper SSR by GAC Aion is confusing. The core information of a mass-produced car is not more than that of a concept car, and even in the official WeChat account, push of car model introductions have to make way for secondary news—Hyper SSR has been included in the two top Chinese supercar clubs, but the information density of the former is far less than that of the latter.
As someone who has worked in the auto industry, I know that this is related to Aion’s marketing pace. However, I also believe that the most confidential sales prices of car companies can be made public during the first launch phase. It is difficult to really believe in the product competitiveness of Hyper SSR when they do not simultaneously put more effort into introducing “China’s first supercar” to the media and the public who do not have the opportunity to participate in the press conference.
The various packaging phrases used by Aion for Hyper SSR do not really fit its supercar image.If cars are likened to people, supercars have a certain noble quality. However, the launch of the Hyper SSR was filled with all kinds of noisy atmosphere and lacked the noble atmosphere of the supercar “peers.”
For example, phrases like “competitors are all above 5 million yuan” which even experts would marvel at, as well as “peak torque of 12000 Nm on the wheels” and “comprehensive horsepower ratio is 1.5 times higher than the F1 racing standard,” and other detailed information. These words are like buying an open-top Mustang and modifying the chassis lights and the domestically produced exhaust to make it look similar to a third-hand Ghost Honda Civic in a county town, although it is worth hundreds of thousands of imported American sports cars.
Unless GAC just wants to use the Hyper SSR as a totem to package its brand and facilitate the promotion of seven-seat dad SUVs, GAC should think earnestly about how to speak to potential consumers and brand fans and introduce the “China’s first supercar” crafted by countless grassroots engineers with dignity.
China is not lacking in people who understand and love cars, as gold will always shine.
Under the supercar, there must be a backup. Ferrari’s release of Purosangue is to make money. In contrast, the Hyper SSR has a much lower profit-driven KPI. This is a car that needs to be sold for GAC.
In order to keep the title of “China’s first supercar” ringing loudly, GAC needs to not only do a good job of producing and promoting the Hyper SSR but also work with the birth of this car to produce other truly high-volume car models.
The reason why some people also look down on the Hyper SSR is that GAC has done a lot of “loud thunder and small raindrops” operations, such as the flagship Aion LX series, which sells less than 500 units per month, and the heavily researched and promoted 144 kWh “production vehicles with the largest batteries” that has basically not been produced. Last year, through an online launch, the battery and super charging technology that was high-profilely promoted as “charging for 5 minutes, with a range of 200 kilometers” also did not have many mass production laydown messages, after all, GAC Aion does not have a large-scale laying down of a high-voltage fast-charging business and product foundation.To fully realize the value of the Hyper SSR brand totem and make more people believe that EA can indeed produce a supercar, GAC EA needs to provide more convincing product technology on the mass-produced models to be released under the EA independent brand, and break away from the reliance on B-end sales. The steps taken by NIO, from the EP9 to the gradually decreasing price of the ET5, have certain similarities with higher-end models. If GAC wants to make the “first Chinese supercar”, it should also follow this rule on its own mass-produced models.
Will EA lead the business of electric sports cars?
Although I personally have many opinions on the marketing of the Hyper SSR, like many media outlets, I have high hopes for EA’s next step.
Looking at the Chinese new energy vehicle market, it has been very successful by achieving a rich lineup of new energy vehicles that Chinese consumers can choose from. Meanwhile, luxury car companies in the United States, Europe, and Japan are still vigorously developing many inexplicable electric vehicles.
There is a huge regret in the Chinese new energy vehicle market, which is that the product form is not diverse enough. Although this result is due to consideration of market demand and technical foundation, market demand will not disappear as a result. When XPeng Motors developed the P7, it did not expect it to sell so well.
Therefore, while making criticisms, it would be good if EA can do a good job on the Hyper SSR after setting a delivery time flag. Moreover, under the potential competitive pressure from peers, EA has to do a good job on this step. Just in these days when the Hyper SSR was released, another pure electric racing car project by another car company has been brewing faster than we imagined. Rumor has it that it may be the high-end brand of BYD with a positioning of over one million (unconfirmed).
EA has already established itself as the automaker that first called out the “first Chinese supercar”, but the more valuable “first mass-produced delivery” is still waiting for the first wave of ambitious pioneers to make their mark.
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.