Author | Ke Xin

As you finish your performance, a new player joins the crowded new energy vehicle race track.

On October 30th, BeyonCa held its first brand launch in Beijing, along with the unveiling of its concept car, the BeyonCa GT Opu 1 (short for Gran Turismo Opus 1), positioned as a smart luxury coupe.

The debut ceremony featured an immersive musical show about chasing the beautiful legends of “Light of Life.” This showcases the original intention of BeyonCa – to inherit classics, break with tradition, and explore a whole new future. And the “Light of Life” was also brought to the scene by GT Opus 1 – it is the world’s first Dynamic Logo released.

Back to reality, the current automobile market is unpredictable, and it takes courage to create a foothold in the new energy luxury car field.

Who is BeyonCa?

BeyonCa is known as Binli Automobile to the public, but the official brand name in Chinese will not be announced until next spring.

According to public information, Binli Automobile’s parent company, Beijing Binli Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Binli Information), was established in June 2021 with a registered capital of US$200 million. Its legal representative is Su Weiming, and investors include Dongfeng Motor Corporation, Renault Group, Hubei Province Yangtze River Industry Investment Group, etc.BeyonCa’s founder, Wei-ming Su, has a rich background in the automotive industry. He joined Volkswagen Group in 2005 and served for 16 years, holding various positions including Executive Vice President of Volkswagen China and Chairman of Volkswagen China Sales Limited, as well as CEO of Renault China, accumulating rich operational experience in marketing management, investment layout, service travel, luxury brands, and more.

BeyonCa has institutions located in three countries and five cities, including three R&D centers in China, a design center in Munich, and a Singapore branch that is planned to be upgraded to a technology center in the future. Meanwhile, the brand’s car-making philosophy has gained high recognition from strategic investors at home and abroad, including Dongfeng Motor Group.

The unveiling of its first mass-produced model will be in the first quarter of next year and it will officially roll off in 2024.

Aiming for the “rice bowl” of Porsche?

At the beginning of the brand’s introduction, insiders revealed that “BeyonCa’s first car will compete with Porsche’s Taycan.”

It is understood that the Taycan is Porsche’s first pure electric model with an official price range of 888,000 to 18.08 million yuan, which leaves unlimited room for imagination.

BeyonCa said it will use a “beyond the car” way of thinking based on deep insight into user-vehicle inside and outside scenarios, to build travel solutions and a healthy ecosystem, and bring users a unique experience, creating a better life.

Su Wei-ming said, “Scenes are not just a simple superimposition of functions and configurations, but rather the perfect combination of art and technology. The development of technology should serve the most core needs of people, so we focus on deep scenarios and on health.”Under the subsidiary of Beryl Intelligence of Beryl Information Associated Company, a total of 171 trademark applications with the prefix “BEYON” have been submitted, including a large number of trademarks related to medical equipment and services, in addition to 24 registered trademarks related to transportation vehicles.

In Su Weiming’s view, “healthy ecosystem services” is an innovative model supported by digital technology. It cannot be achieved through functional development alone, but requires a redesign of the ecosystem service system starting from the product definition stage. This is the core concept of our car manufacturing: “Defining Cars with Deep Scenarios”, where software is the tool for implementation. BeyonCa’s vision is to be a valuable enterprise for users and society- this is also why we named the company BeyonCa, meaning “Go Beyond the Car”.

In addition to luxury and quality, BeyonCa also has a deeper understanding of intelligence.

“Intelligence” is not just the simple addition of chips, sensors, cameras, software, and other technologies, but also requires the integration of these technical configurations so that the car can truly improve the travel and lifestyle experience for users and their families.

So far, BeyonCa has developed an intelligent cockpit with a real-time health monitoring system that can achieve a fully-perceptive, responsive, and touch-sensitive health solution.

As a new car manufacturer, BeyonCa’s high starting point is not common. In the early stages of its establishment, a Hong Kong-registered company, BeyonCa HK Limited, invested 50 million US dollars in Beryl, and now, BeyonCa’s investment amount has reached 200 million US dollars. This also confirms the capital’s favor towards luxury car brands.

The new product positioning of BeyonCa’s new car is high-end intelligent electric vehicles. China’s electric vehicle industry has gone through more than a decade of development, and now has a mature industrial chain. For newcomers, there are still opportunities.”Approximately 80 million new cars are sold globally each year, of which 25 million are in China. Today, the penetration rate of electric vehicles in China is 25% to 30%, making it the world’s largest market for electric vehicles. As this market enters the upward phase of the S-curve, the luxury electric car market will also explode rapidly, becoming a market of millions of units per year. The window of opportunity for the luxury electric car market will last from 2025 to 2030.” BeyonCa founder and chairman Su Weiming expressed his position without reservation.

Su Weiming’s view is also reflected in the data. According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) data, in September, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 755,000 units and 708,000 units respectively, an increase of 1.1 and 93.9% year-on-year, with a market share of 27.1%. In September, the sales of high-end domestic passenger car brands reached 383,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 48.5%.

The competition in China’s new energy market is fierce, even moving towards saturation, and this is an indisputable fact. The competition is particularly intense in the price range of 50,000 to 500,000.

Some car companies have turned their attention to the high-end new energy vehicle market, seeking new breakthroughs.

Regrettably, whether it be the Avita collaboration between Huawei and Changan at the 600,000 RMB level, or the high-end HiPhi brand, or even the million-level attempts by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Porsche, there have been no products that have sold in large volumes.

Compared with many new forces in the automotive industry, Su Weiming believes that BeyonCa’s advantage lies in its adherence to traditional car manufacturing and strict quality control.

“We pursue some traditions of BBA, which new forces find it difficult to grasp. The difference between luxury cars and non-luxury cars in the first six months lies in the design, such as the proportion of the body, configuration, and tuning, etc. We need a long time to refine it,” says Su Weiming.

From a global perspective, as the world’s largest automotive market, China’s new energy vehicle market is still in its upward phase, and the million-level luxury car market still has vast room for growth.To enter this high-end market segment and gain a foothold in the development of new energy vehicles is not an easy task. The requirements for brand building and technology are higher.

This requires not only sufficient capital, but also more high-end resources and advanced technology for new entrants. Even after the brand has been launched, it is still a long and arduous path for BeyonCa!

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.