Author | Roomy
Editor | Zhou Changxian
Before the launch of the JiKe 009, there were many netizens who repeatedly advised JiKe not to claim that they were the best car within a few million yuan range, as it would seem low. They suggested that JiKe should just be themselves.
Yang Xueliang, CMO of JiKe Intelligent Technology and senior vice president of Geely Holding Group, replied on Weibo on October 25, saying, “Don’t worry, we won’t do that.” The conversation was interpreted by many spectators as having a hint of “sarcasm”.
On the same day, JiKe released official product images, and the founder of the company, Li Xiang, who felt he was being criticized, commented on the JiKe official Weibo, saying, “Why do I feel like I’m crouching in the trunk? It seems like the third row of seats is gone.”
Previously, when the Ideal L9 was launched, Li Xiang claimed that it was “the best home SUV under 5 million yuan,” positioning it against the Koleos. Therefore, this time it was viewed by some as Li Xiang’s retaliation.
However, half an hour later, Yang Xueliang also responded, “Don’t talk nonsense. I wasn’t crouching in the trunk. This is the space for three rows of seats when the second row is moved all the way back. Welcome to compare and experience it for yourself,” accompanied by a picture of the third row of seats in the JiKe 009.
Zhao Changjiang, general manager of DENZA, also joined the fray, saying, “Why not give it a try? The 123rd row of seats in the DENZA D9 is very comfortable, smart, safe, and caring. The third row can even rival the second row of luxury SUVs. Welcome to compare and test drive it.”
It seems that the grudge has been brewing for a long time. The first competitor of Ideal L9 was DENZA’s MPV model D9, which means that some people who bought L9 might originally have chosen the D9. This is clearly an attempt to grab market share.This is a small episode before the launch of the Jinkou 009.
The back-and-forth communication between different players was not malicious. From another perspective, the luxury MPV which is fully electric-powered, is a market that has not been fully activated. The entry of players such as Jinkou 009 and Voyah Dreamer is just an attempt to take the initiative on this six-seater luxury car racetrack.
Therefore, Li Xiang paid attention to Jinkou 009 and also had another interpretation. In summary, to quote a Zhihu respondent, “In the six-seater luxury car competition, the Jinkou 009 is one of the contenders that the Ideal L9 cannot ignore, although Li Xiang may not think so.”
What surprised netizens was that the L9, an SUV model, could actually match up against an MPV. They took sides and supported their own camps. However, compared to MPV markets, SUV markets are indeed more mature in development.
Therefore, when interviewed, the CEO of Jinkou Intelligent Technology, An Conghui, first answered why Jinkou’s second model was an MPV, rather than a large pure electric SUV.
Why is the Jinkou 009 the second model?
First, let’s talk about the significance of the Jinkou 009.
To put it simply, as the second product of the Jinkou brand, the release of the Jinkou 009 marks the Jinkou’s entry into the market for large six-seater luxury cars priced above CNY 500,000.
For a new brand that has been on the market for just over a year, it’s quite difficult to break into such a high-priced and developing market. It takes not only courage, but also confidence. However, in the more than one year since its inception, Jinkou has been, as An Conghui repeated many times, “taking the hardest road”.
For Jinkou, what is the hardest road? An Conghui said, “For example, the first Jinkou model, the 001.”## Translation
As for why was 001 the most difficult to make? Prior to An Conghui’s response, most people speculated that “as a new brand with low brand recognition, the first model launch will always be a challenge.” Nonetheless, An Conghui gave an unexpected answer: “I asked why we couldn’t create a car that combined the advantages of an SUV and a sedan?”
For a traditional car maker, it is already a daunting task to transform towards electrification. Furthermore, to achieve innovation and fusion atop electrification is an even greater challenge. Polestar had many ideas on improving 001: it had to be spacious, fast, easy to handle, comfortable and luxurious, with good road clearance, and a great driving experience in different scenarios.
Simply put, when tackling a difficult problem, oneself may be paving the way for future success, much like the prelude Polestar 001 set for the upcoming 009.
An Conghui set high expectations for his team: “Our team must strengthen the weak spots, extend advantages, and create an effect akin to that of a cask.” He reminds that those who want to compete in the market must come well prepared. Regardless of things such as intelligent cabin or autopilot, to the driving and riding experience, An Conghui hopes that Polestar will provide the market with fresh sensations.
As a sought-after product of the “new generation” within the SEA architecture, Polestar 001 fulfilled the company’s plan by achieving over ten thousand deliveries in October of this year, demonstrating the company’s sound planning abilities and its capability to meet the needs and demands of the market and its users.
As Polestar 001 slowly emerges from the limelight of public opinion turmoil, deliveries continue to increase. Many people, including An Conghui, are frequently asked “what is the next model, and when will it be launched?”Remember, during a private discussion before, many people were surprised and didn’t understand when they heard that “JiKe’s second model is an MPV”. Everyone had their own opinions, but they were very similar. In the traditional market for gasoline-powered cars, the luxury MPV was not a mass-market product. Data shows that in the Chinese market in 2021, sales of MPVs were about 1.055 million units, which is basically the same as in 2020.
So in the era of electrification and with cars that can accelerate from zero to one hundred kilometers per hour in two seconds, where does the market for pure electric luxury MPVs come from? After all, electric MPVs are currently seen as a blue ocean market, but ultimately, they are still competing for market share with gasoline-powered MPVs. Some experts believe that “pure electric is not very suitable for MPV models”.
An Conghui has been asked this question more than once, and in an interview when JiKe 009 was released, he once again answered this question. “Many people think that the MPV is a niche market, but I don’t think so.” An Conghui has his stubbornness, there is no niche market, only the user’s likes and recognition. This is also JiKe’s car-making philosophy, “seizing opportunities for change, starting from the most difficult and starting from the high-end.” This is exactly what JiKe 009 does.
Ten years ago, Geely cancelled the MPV project with the code name “HL-1”. The reason was simple: many pain points in the MPV model could not be fundamentally solved at that time, so it was cancelled. In the era of electrification ten years later, JiKe’s starting point for making 009 is more mature, not only targeting the MPV market, but also meeting the market demand for six-seat luxury and large space.
In JiKe’s official statement, “009 has the space of an MPV, as well as the off-road capability of an SUV and the handling of a sports car.”
Speaking of this, one can understand why Li Xiang is particularly concerned about the JAC Jiayue X7 (JiKe 009), because in the market of six luxury large spaces, both Ideal’s products and JiKe 009 share the same positioning and main scenarios. One is an SUV and the other is an MPV, which makes them rivals.
How to integrate the advantages of MPV and SUV, and break through the shortcoming of driving experience in traditional luxury MPVs? The engineers at JiKe are often in a dilemma during this process, because breaking through conventional thinking is too difficult.
“Ideas are easy, but implementation is too difficult. And then, it is even more difficult to balance the performance of MPV and SUV”, say the engineers at JiKe.
Speaking of this, it reminds me of a quote from An Conghui, “The electric vehicle race is a marathon.” So, can the JiKe 009 traverse this “most difficult road” on the six-seater luxury MPV marathon track?
In the end, it still comes down to product strength.
So, can the JiKe 009 do it?
JiKe is confident about it.
Before it was launched, Yang Xueliang repeatedly stated on social media that “the internal space and luxury sense of JiKe 009 will surpass traditional luxury MPVs, such as the Lexus LM and Toyota Alphard.”
Well, that’s still modest, at least not saying it’s the best MPV under several million.
However, JiKe 009 has received a lot of attention since its debut. There are praises, such as the “comfortable and luxurious” interior and exterior design, and criticisms, such as the appearance design with a very Rolls-Royce style of “laborious and overbearing.” But when An Conghui asked, why do all MPVs have an “Alphard face”?
Overall, JiKe 009, with its positioning as a pure electric MPV model, and a design that overturns JiKe’s style, has always been in a situation where it is not favored. An Conghui also has concerns.
However, he still believes that JiKe’s car-making philosophy is correct.
“Luxury and high-end are not equal to expensive prices, but to surpass traditional luxury standards in terms of technical and product capabilities.”He also believes that with the powerful support of the SEA Haohan architecture, Zeekr has the ability to seize the opportunity of the intelligent electric era. “Zeekr had already thought on the first day of making cars that it must master the core technology of automobiles, that is, architectural capability.” Haohan architecture is Zeekr’s core competitiveness.
With the support of the SEA Haohan architecture, Zeekr 009 has accumulated nearly 30 years of experience from Geely in manufacturing, technology, and supply chain, among others, aiming to address the long-standing problems of traditional MPVs, such as low stiffness, high wind resistance, body vibration, poor NVH performance, etc.
The starting point for solving these pain points comes from An Conghui’s six soul-searching questions.
For example, why can’t MPVs be safer? Safety has always been a problem for MPVs. Data shows that the fatality rate of accidents involving MPVs is higher than the combined total of sedans and SUVs. Therefore, safety is the top priority for product development of Zeekr 009.
“On the basis of the advanced layout of the Haohan architecture, Zeekr has invested an additional 1.3 billion yuan in special funds, covering all aspects from material innovation to production manufacturing.” An Conghui’s emphasis on safety has always been persistent.
In response to the safety challenges of MPVs, Zeekr 009 has made comprehensive considerations in the structural design stage, adopting the “6S6S Safety Development Concept” that treats all six seats equally and ensures safety.
In the weakest part of the traditional MPV, the rear of the vehicle, Zeekr 009 used a 7,200-ton giant die-casting machine to integrate cast aluminum, reducing nearly 800 welding points and reducing the deformation by 16% when encountering impact. The front of the vehicle also adopts a triangular double A-pillar design, and the world’s first frontal center pillar collision test is introduced into the MPV market and verified…
“These cannot be achieved without experience and accumulation,” said An Conghui.
The essence of JiKe 009 is still an electric vehicle. Therefore, in terms of electrification and intelligence, JiKe needs to come up with more chips.
Here, we need to mention another question from An Conghui: why can’t pure electric MPVs run farther than gasoline cars?
In terms of power batteries, JiKe 009 WE edition is equipped with JiXin battery pack with a capacity of 116kWh, with a range of 702km; JiKe 009 ME edition is equipped with Ningde Times CTP 3.0 Kirin battery pack, with a range of 822km.
When other car companies launch a new car, they basically make a lot of option packages, but JiKe 009 is very straightforward and simple, with only two options. “Not letting users do more multiple-choice questions is also the philosophy of our product development,” said An Conghui.
This is the first time Ningde Times Kirin battery has been used in a car. Compared with LanTu Dreamer, JiKe 009 is more expensive, but it has a significant advantage in endurance. In addition, JiKe 009 is equipped with a high-performance permanent magnet synchronous electric drive system as standard, with a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 4.5s, making it the only MPV member of the “4-second club”. These configurations answer one of the six soul questions, “Why can’t MPVs have good handling?”
In addition, in terms of battery safety protection, JiKe 009 pioneered the “ten-grid” battery anti-collision structure, using aluminum side anti-collision beams, which can provide the battery with layers of collision buffering when impacted. Combined with non-thermal propagation and non-flammability technology, it can achieve a higher safety standard.
However, JiKe believes that it is still not enough. Improvements in materials and structure only fill the gap of passive safety for MPVs. Only the all-domain coordination of intelligent driving, intelligent driving, and intelligent space can bring systematic protection for active safety.So, when it comes to intelligence, Zeekr 009 is willing to spare no effort in technology configuration. As An Conghui put it, for safety reasons, many things need to become standard.
Zeekr 009 comes with two 7nm process technology Mobileye EyeQ5H high-performance chips, 7 8-megapixel high-definition cameras, 4 2-megapixel surround-view cameras, 1 long-range millimeter-wave radar, and 12 short-range ultrasonic radars, among other hardware, all of which enhance algorithm and perception capabilities in an all-round way.
Additionally, based on intelligence, there is a question: why does buying an MPV mean buying two sofas? Zeekr believes that electric luxury MPVs should roll luxury to the extreme in a “sofa-style” and rely more on intelligent experience architecture. Zeekr 009’s six seats are all matched with some intelligent configurations.
The last question involves Yang Xueliang and Li Xiang’s Weibo dispute: why isn’t there an MPV that dares to talk about the third row?
Zeekr 009’s third-row backrest has a stepless backward adjustment and flattening function, relying on a 1.1m electric super-long slide rail, one-click control, which is Yang Xueliang’s retort to Li Xiang’s “this is the third-row space that comes from adjusting the second row to the end.”
After six questions, at the press conference, An Conghui shouted, “Zeekr 009 is the best MPV so far and will be the best six-seat luxury car.”
And he gave out four bests: the longest pure electric four-wheel-drive endurance range; the toughest in history; the safest, most comfortable, and most ceremonious MPV; the best MPV so far; and the best six-seat luxury car.
These four “bests” have a bit of a similar meaning as “the best SUV under several million yuan.”# “Zeekr 009” combines the luxurious space of MPV, the sturdy safety of SUV, and the excellent handling of sports cars into one, paving new ways for MPV in the form of pure electric luxury. With the advent of “Zeekr 009”, the solidified boundaries between traditional MPVs and six-seater luxury cars will be broken.
An Conghui’s six questions and confidence have been regarded as the “soul questioning of all MPVs” by the CEO of Zeekr, and even made it to the hot search on Weibo.
Regarding the title of “the toughest MPV in history”, Voyah Dreamer expressed her disagreement and immediately invited “Zeekr 009” to play a violent game of high-speed rear-end collision at 90 km/h.
Let’s see who is tougher.
It is quite explosive. However, for the electric MPV market, this kind of back and forth “fight” is a good thing. As Voyah Dreamer said, “let’s create a new era of electric and intelligent MPVs together.”
In conclusion:
An Conghui, who questioned all MPV models, was also asked a sharp question by the media.
In Zeekr’s plan, is “Zeekr 009” positioned to make money or lose money?
“People think that selling one smart electric car will lose money, but the fact is that Tesla is making money, which means that the road of smart electric cars is feasible.”
He believes that it is difficult to say whether “Zeekr 009” is profitable now, but the gross profit margin will be better than that of “001” at today’s prices. When will it make money? For Zeekr, platform-based car manufacturing is an advantage, and it will naturally make a profit when it reaches a certain scale.
As for what that scale is, An Conghui did not say.
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.