Author: Xu Jinkai

In the marathon race, it’s not about who runs the fastest, but who lasts the longest.

Building cars is like running a marathon.

In recent years, with the increasing penetration of intelligence and electrification, “new forces” have undoubtedly overshadowed traditional “unchanging” car markets with each new brand that emerges donning a technological façade, mounted attacks on the common place.

Even in the public opinion, many consumers have been led to believe that smart electric cars should be guided by ‘technology’, ignoring the practical and safety-related factors that are closely related to everyday driving.

But the occurrence of events such as Lin Zhiying’s collision and fire of a Tesla, the death of the owner of the Porsche Taycan in a fire, the exorbitant battery replacement fee for Polestar 2, and the extremely high repair costs for XPeng P5 have caused more and more people to realize that the development of the new energy industry should not be like this.

Against this market background, Dongfeng Nissan, launched ARIYA IRAYA, which represents its new thinking about the development of the new energy industry.

Smart Electric Vehicle Internet Thinking Should Not Overshadow Engineering Thinking

Since China’s auto production and sales surpassed the United States and became the world’s largest automobile-producing country in 2009, the influence of domestic brands on the development of the automobile industry has been growing. In order to realize the dream of overtaking the curve as soon as possible, national support for the new energy industry has also become increasingly stronger:

From exemption of purchase tax on new energy vehicles to “enterprise promotion subsidies” and charging/replacement subsidies, the full support of the new energy industry has made China the world’s largest market for new energy vehicles.

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association, in August, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 529,000 units, an increase of 111.2% YoY and 8.8% MoM, while the cumulative retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in the first eight months of this year reached 3.262 million units, up 119.7% YoY.

This rate of growth has obviously exceeded most people’s expectations. As a result, the China Passenger Car Association has raised its forecast for the sales of new energy passenger vehicles in 2022 to 6 million.

If we calculate based on the narrow definition of passenger vehicles, this approach will reach a penetration rate of over 28%, far ahead of other countries in the world.

As the new energy market grows rapidly, the industry’s internal competition becomes increasingly intense.

XPeng G9 was on the market for less than 48 hours before its price was reduced and its configuration changed, and AVITA gifted 40,000 equity benefits … The direction of market competition seems to be getting further and further away.Aesthetic design that floats on the surface, blindly piling up cold and emotionless intelligent configurations, and emphasizing internet thinking over engineering thinking… Faced with the diverse and uneven electric products on the market, many consumers are caught in the dilemma of choice.

“Some so-called technology or materialism has actually caused consumers to suffer from choice paralysis. Making electric cars is not like building blocks. Dongfeng Nissan’s solution is to integrate and design in a simple and practical way without flashy tricks.” said Xin Yu, General Manager of Dongfeng Nissan Motor Sales Co., Ltd at the launch of the ARIYA.

Indeed, compared to the new forces that advocate functional redundancy, the intelligent performance of ARIYA is not outstanding, but it is not inferior in terms of functionality.

ARIYA is equipped with Nissan’s latest ProPILOT system, comprising 22 hardware devices including 5 high-definition cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radars, and 12 ultrasonic sensors, which can achieve many functions such as S-ALC one-key intelligent assisted lane change and FAP dual-mode intelligent parking.

What’s worth mentioning is that this system has also optimized some details of travel scenes, for example:

• Lane centering can eliminate the pong effect of left-right swaying in the lane, and bring a sense of comfort by slightly shifting to the left when overtaking slow-moving trucks;
• When meeting other cars, it can also slightly shift to the right to eliminate the “visual compression” of the driver and passengers.

Compared to the new forces that are radical in assisted driving, Nissan’s ProPILOT “old driver”-style caring can better demonstrate traditional car companies’ meticulous competitiveness.

As stated by Gao Guolin, Vice President of Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. and Vice General Manager of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company:

“As a pioneer leading the industry, Dongfeng Nissan’s ambition is to grow into a powerful and eternal tree. We will grow strongly in the fertile Chinese automotive market, provide customers with solid support, and present unique scenery to customers with the changing times. The era of electrification for Dongfeng Nissan begins with ARIYA!”

Not conservative, but in awe

Like many traditional car companies such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, Nissan has equipped the ARIYA with a Mobileye Q4 chip, a product that has already been used up by NIO’s 866 model and the Ideall ONE. According to the standards of new forces, this belongs to the previous generation of products.

The reason for the difference between traditional car companies and new forces lies mainly in their different development processes. Unlike the new forces that advocate internet genes, traditional car companies value the craftsman spirit.Not only that, new brands that have just started out have relatively limited target customers, while traditional automotive giants such as Toyota, Nissan, and Volkswagen need to face global consumers, and even a slight mistake can trigger a series of chain reactions, as demonstrated by Toyota’s global recall of BZ4X and the emergency suspension of its launch in China in the first half of this year.

For those who are paying attention to Nissan, it is not difficult to find out that it took nearly two years from the preview to the official launch of the ARIYA. This cycle is much slower than that of traditional fuel vehicles.

This is partly because the ARIYA is Nissan’s first model under the Yun Tu pure electric platform, and its success or failure is crucial to Nissan’s transformation to electrification;

On the other hand, Nissan has also been continuously improving the product capabilities of the ARIYA during these two years, giving it the ability to surpass many competitors.

Compared with the development status of new forces starting from scratch, consumers have some knowledge of traditional brands such as Nissan and Volkswagen, and this cognitive inertia in the traditional fuel vehicle field will also affect consumers’ perception of these brands’ electrification products.

As the earliest traditional automaker to firmly transition to new energy, Volkswagen has spared no effort in the field of electric vehicles, with ubiquitous city showrooms and “rental and sale” sales models both promoting the electrification process of the Volkswagen brand.

According to the data from the China Passenger Car Association, the overall sales of new energy vehicles (including plug-in hybrid vehicles) of Volkswagen in August exceeded 20,000 units.

But in the minds of many consumers, 20,000 units per month should not be Volkswagen’s level, so in terms of public opinion, the new brand with monthly sales of over 10,000 units is breaking through the sky, while Volkswagen with monthly sales of 20,000 units has few followers.

This logic applies equally to Nissan. If the performance of the ARIYA falls short of expectations, the public opinion market will inevitably see another wave of discourse about new forces climbing steadily and traditional automakers retreating.

But all of this is temporary.

Long-termism: Traditional automakers fight again in the new energy field

“Traditional automakers are all striving to make efforts. When the market is activated, some of the good factors and resources they have accumulated previously will be fully utilized, especially when consumers realize that not only new energy brands can produce new energy vehicles. Therefore, I think there is an opportunity for traditional automakers, especially for pure electric models that need to be experienced,” said Xin Yu.# ARIYA: The Right Choice for Conservative Consumers

Unlike new entrants in the automotive industry that aim at customers pursuing technological experience, ARIYA targets conservative consumers with a larger market base. Compared to pioneers who dare to be the first, conservative consumers care more about driving safety and experience.

As one of the earliest brands that has ventured into electric cars, Nissan has accumulated 75 years of technology experience in pure electric technology, and over 25 years of battery research and development and manufacturing experience.

Nissan LEAF has achieved the record of driving over 21 billion kilometers with zero major safety accidents. This excellent performance has raised high expectations from experts in the industry for ARIYA.

Aside from its ultra-safe battery features, Nissan has creatively combined permanent magnet synchronous motors and AC asynchronous motors to create a powerful and energy-efficient electric-excited synchronous motor that is comparable to the “VC-TURBO motor version.”

With a 1/10000 second ultra-high precision torque control and e-4ORCE Snow Fox Electric 4WD, ARIYA offers consumers a fast and stable driving experience.

“As a people-oriented company, Nissan remains committed to using technology as the foundation and innovation to drive its growth. It is the same initial intention as 75 years ago and is like shining stars in the night sky, guiding Nissan’s continuous progress. Today, Nissan faces another moment of innovation, and ARIYA is the product that is best suited for Chinese consumers,” said Yamaguchi Takeshi, Vice President of Dongfeng Motor Corporation and General Manager of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company.

Unlike many new entrants who focus on shortening the acceleration time per 100 km or developing smarter driving assistance systems, Nissan focuses more on improving vehicle safety and comfort. This pragmatic approach is geared towards appealing to more consumers.

With the rational return of the new energy market, a safety-oriented consumption mindset will gradually become the mainstream, which presents the best opportunity for Nissan to showcase its strengths.

It is not difficult to imagine that, with the penetration rate of new energy markets increasing, conservative consumers will gradually become the mainstream market for automobiles, and ARIYA will be the natural choice for more consumers.

What is even more noteworthy is that with sales growth, the scale of car manufacturing will gradually emerge and the room for price reduction will become more significant. This competitive approach is the main strategy for many traditional car companies to capture market share, and new entrants will face an increasingly challenging situation.New brands pursuing cutting-edge technology are pushing traditional car companies to add more technology features, while conservative traditional car companies are urging new brands to develop more user-friendly features.

These two seemingly separate groups are driving the transformation of the new energy market in their own unique ways. In such a market environment, whoever can change quickly will gain the initiative in the market.

ARIYA is already taking action, and a new showdown between old and new is about to begin.

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.