The Release of Aiways U6: A New Middle-Class SUV

Yesterday, Aiways unveiled its second electric vehicle product, the U6. It is not a completely new product since it was originally planned to be released in the fourth quarter of 2021, but for various reasons, the release was postponed until Q4 of this year.

However, as the saying goes, better late than never. After all, spectators only care about how high you can fly, not how tired you are. For Aiways, fatigue is inevitable, but bringing the U6 to market proves that they have overcome another obstacle.

But the hurdles don’t stop there. Aiways has entered into an extremely competitive pricing range with the U6. As for what kind of vehicle the U6 is, Li Hui, the vice president of Aiways, said at the launch event, “The Aiways U6 is not a sedan, not a coupe, and not an SUV – it is simply the Aiways U6.”

In fact, this statement is easy to understand because at this point, the product’s type does not matter. What is important is whether the car can be sold well enough to attract more customers to become Aiways car owners. Increasing sales volume is the top priority for the company to survive and thrive. Therefore, not limiting the car’s definition, at least not letting it be restricted by its predetermined positioning, is the most urgent task.

Of course, even though Aiways does not categorize the U6 into any particular type of product, we need to figure out what kind of car it is. The U6 is still positioned in the A+ level middle-class SUV market, just like Aiways’ first model, the U5. They both have a wheelbase of 2800mm, and the length of the car body is about 4.8 meters. Furthermore, compared to the U5’s ordinary and traditional SUV design, the U6 looks bolder and has a clearer positioning – a SUV coupe (although this is just a guess and has not been officially confirmed).

Ignoring the so-called positioning ambiguity and focusing on this more Coupe-oriented product, the design tone is set higher. For example, a unique “Starship Aesthetics” design concept has been introduced. With this design concept, the overall body of the U6 appears elongated in visual effect and the styling has become flatter, along with a large 2.1 square meter panoramic sunroof. The benefit of this design is that it looks more Coupe, better-looking, more fashionable, and inevitably has a better wind resistance coefficient. However, the question that follows is: can such a product provide enough passenger space, especially headroom for the driver? Obviously, this problem needs to be discussed and evaluated after seeing the actual vehicle.

More importantly, the U6’s price has been positioned in the most fiercely competitive market of 200,000 to 3 million yuan, and the official discounted price is still above 210,000 yuan (the starting price of Aichi U5 is 179,900 yuan). Simply put, the U6 is the differentiated product that Aichi hopes to completely open up, and establish the brand line. But if you want to say how big the change is, it seems that you can’t say it completely.

In terms of the core three-electric technology when buying an electric car, at least in terms of range, U6 didn’t bring us much surprise. The range of the two models currently released is 505km and 590km, respectively. Compared with the previously released U5, whose NEDC comprehensive range was 503km, there is basically no particularly big difference, except that the range standard has been changed to CLTC.

Compared with the products that can easily run up to 1000 kilometers today, Aichi’s calmness may stem from its insistence on principles or perhaps it does not have the ability to introduce a product with a stronger range.

So where did their ability go?

Perhaps it is an important choice for them to create a car that is more in line with the entertainment habits of young people; more likely, Achi hopes to put more energy into technology and the atmosphere of riding. For example, creating a cockpit with a stronger technology atmosphere is not only the AI interactive ambient light that changes color without steps to create an atmosphere, but also a powerful smart voice interaction to drive the fever-level audio and video space hidden in the cockpit. As a “2022 China’s Good Voice” official exclusive partner, Aichi also launched a special edition of the “Good Voice”.

The U6 has 22 driving assistance functions, including CLC turn signal control for changing lanes, RPA remote parking, and RC intelligent vehicle control, among others, which maximizes its technological attributes. While many people do not have any special expectations regarding what Aiways can offer in terms of products, the U6 has all the ingredients and at least from a configuration standpoint, is not inferior to any other mainstream product of its kind and level.

However, the actual experience will have to wait until the real car is available to draw a conclusion.

The Real Challenge Lies in the Aftermath

From a product perspective and at least from an online perspective, the U6 seems to be a decent product with competitiveness. However, the release of the U6 is only the first step towards a grander goal for Aiways.

From a brand perspective, as one of the earliest new energy vehicle brands, Aiways has already established a reputation, surpassing other new energy vehicle brands that have captured the basic market. Furthermore, Aiways has been labeled by the outside world as the most reliable new energy vehicle brand (for example, during the launch event of the U6, Aiways emphasized its “fully self-developed” technology, which indicates their pursuit of technology).

This label has two layers of meaning: First, it reflects their insistence on technology, which was widely recognized at the time. Second, it may also implicitly indicate that they are the kind of brand that is willing to focus on technology but not able to tell their own story convincingly, being engineering straight male.

There is nothing wrong with engineering straight men, but the problem lies in their being busy developing technology when they should be telling stories. This has led to a lack of attention in the market and difficulties in sales.

In the context of Aiways’ exportation of the U5 to Europe, we can see that their technology and quality are at least to some extent accepted by markets outside of China. However, in the actual sales process, the B-side sales in the domestic market has not taken off, and the overall brand awareness at the C-end is not as high as compared to NIO and Xpeng. Obviously, it cannot be solely attributed to the slogan of being passionate about technology and building the most reliable cars.

At the same time, from a product strategy perspective, mature and well-run new energy vehicle brands have shifted from early SUV models to producing sedans, and even MPVs, indicating that their product lines can be further expanded. Additionally, this shift also indicates that their technology has improved to the point that they no longer need to rely solely on SUVs with a thick shell and high chassis that compete for space with batteries.

From this point of view, U6 has also made good progress, at least from the SUV of U5 to the more sporty style of U6, which also represents some kind of progress (if the space is not compressed very tightly).

Of course, the more important brand strategy is to recognize your own market position. For example, like Leapmotor, first occupy the market awareness and user mindset with micro electric vehicles, and then expand to richer product types. This is also a good way to play.

Currently, it is difficult to see the overall conditions for Aiways to change its product line in a short period of time (such as technology, funding, and positioning), but for more people who are willing to seriously make cars, perhaps the “latecomer” U6 can bring more opportunities for Aiways to continue on a “reliable car-making” path.

So, what is the Aiways U6 that is nothing?

It makes Aiways more youthful, fashionable, and open-looking; it is a new work that comprehensively improves the design, atmosphere, and technology of the Aiways brand; and it is even more important as an important dependency for the Aiways brand to continue to win a turning point. These are more important than simply a single product.

So, a new question now is when U6 can be delivered, because this time, it really needs to be faster.

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.