Author: Feng Jingang
In April 2019, the launch conference of the Geometry brand was held in Singapore. Li Auto’s President, An Conghui, said that the reason for holding the launch conference overseas is that Li Auto has positioned Geometry as a global high-end electric vehicle brand from the very beginning.
Perhaps Li Auto was not ready to do new energy at that time. In the first one or two years, Geometry stumbled along and changed its general manager frequently. The hot market had nothing to do with them, and it was difficult to describe Geometry’s success at that time.
Until August last year, the news of Ye Qin as the new leader of Geometry spread. Over the past year, Geometry seems to have quieted down in the rhythm of the storm and gradually moved towards its development track.
In October this year, Geometry’s sales reached 12,570 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 116%. From January to October, Geometry’s cumulative sales reached 116,822 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 215%. According to the data of the China Passenger Car Association, the retail sales of new energy passenger cars in China from January to September was 3.877 million, a year-on-year increase of 113.2%.
Yes, whether it is compared with its own vertical comparison or horizontal comparison with industry performance during the same period, Geometry has redeemed itself and is moving towards its own highlight moments.
So, is this the Geometry that Li Auto has been anticipating?
Three years ago, Geometry was positioned as a global high-end new energy brand, and Geometry has now launched entry-level commuter cars such as Geometry E, and will launch a microcar “M2” later, and the brand will further explore the lower-end market.
According to Li Auto’s current overall brand plan, Geometry is aimed at the mainstream pure electric vehicle market, and the brand should explore the lower-end market. The more eye-catching market performance undoubtedly proves that this is the true form of Geometry.
After three years, Geometry finally recognized itself.
Regarding the ups and downs of this road, at the Chengdu Auto Show in August this year, Ye Qin, the vice president of Geometry Auto Sales Group, summed up, “Geometry Auto has taken some detours in the past, but Li Auto’s ability to correct errors is still strong.”At an event in August, I confirmed with several senior leaders of Geometry, including Ye Qin, that we will return to the auspicious occasion and become the focus of Geometry’s future development.
Although this sentence sounds light, it is actually very heavy for Geometry. It took a traditional brand three years to finally learn how to play in the new energy market.
For Geometry, although the process is painful, it is still happy because many traditional new energy brands have not taken this step and are still deeply trapped in the development quagmire and cannot extricate themselves.
The re-planning of brand positioning, the readjustment of development concepts, and the continuous improvement of the market… all signals are pointing to the arrival of a “new” Geometry.
Of course, although the new Geometry is gradually improving, it still has a long way to go before it can reach its comfort zone, especially when compared with its old rival, EA.
For Geometry, the most urgent problem at present is to reduce its market share in the B-side market and continuously increase its influence in the C-side market. Because in the new energy market, brands that perform well, whether they are new forces or traditional car companies, generally regard enhancing the influence on the C-side as the core of enterprise operation.
At the Chengdu Auto Show, Ye Qin has set an example for the above issues, “Next, Geometry brand will continue to vigorously expand the C-side market.”
In November 7th, Geometry launched two new cars, M6/G6, which can also be regarded as the upgrading and replacement of Geometry A/C. Of course, because these two “old cars” still have market demand on the B-side (even it can be said to be a rigid demand), they may not be discontinued in the short term.
At the Chengdu Auto Show, Ye Qin said, “From now on, Geometry will sell over 20,000 vehicles every month.” Based on Ye Qin’s sentence and Geometry’s current sales composition, combined with the delivery pace of M6/G6, it is not difficult to speculate that Geometry A/C will continue to support Geometry’s sales.After the Geometry E, the M6/G6 are Geometry’s another heavyweight product for the C-end market. Compared with the Geometry E, which has a simple volume task, the M6/G6 not only needs to achieve its own sales, but also needs to establish a foothold for Geometry in the crucial mid-range price zone of 150,000 to 200,000.
Therefore, for Geometry, the battle for M6/G6 is crucial and also the second big test for Ye Qing since he took over Geometry.
Although this battle is still not easy, things are not as bad as when the Geometry E was launched. The team has withstood the test, confidence has become even stronger, and the market continues to improve. There is an unstoppable trend. Of course, more importantly, Geometry’s product strength has also been renewed.
Although Geometry’s development has been criticized in recent years, its product strength has always been there, and it has received high praise, especially the “true range” that it has persisted in for the past one or two years, which has not only left a deep impression on users and the media, but also played a positive and leading role in the industry.
Therefore, when it comes to the range mileage data of Geometry’s M6/G6, it is completely possible to “buy with your eyes closed”. Geometry’s efforts in the true range deserve this trust.
In terms of intelligence, this used to be Geometry’s shortcoming, but they made a big comeback with the M6/G6, directly taking down Huawei’s HarmonyOS, which has a ceiling in the smart cockpit industry. The vehicles are also equipped with standard assisted driving and fully loaded with intelligence configurations.
In the industry, there has always been doubt about cooperating with Huawei, as it has been accused of “selling its soul”. However, Geometry believes that the definition of “soul” requires more dimensional thinking, and the real “soul” should be the continuous advancement of user experience.
It must be acknowledged that Geometry has a deep understanding of the product definition and comprehension of the intelligent car.Solid three-electric power, fully equipped smart configuration, coupled with excellent handling, high-quality, and health inherent product power, make the product power of M6/G6 leap off the paper, and it is not difficult to choose.
Ye Qin said, “Geometry Automobile has always treated users as true friends of pure electric life, so we must be more sincere in treating customers, uncompromising on intelligence, uncompromising on safety, and absolutely uncompromising on endurance, so that users can absolutely trust us. We have an internal concept of car making, only making pure electric products that meet user needs. This means that we don’t play gimmicks or fancy things, and we really build better pure electric products for users. We are such a group of geometry people in the industry who are known for their truth-seeking, product-focused, and user-focused.”
Putting the user at the center is not the patent of new forces.
The always-online product power, coupled with the emerging combat power of the new geometry, makes the market performance of M6/G6 worthy of expectation.
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.