On November 25th, the Star Yue L Hi·P was officially launched with two models:
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Extended-range electric flagship version with a comprehensive subsidy price of 253,700 yuan and a post-equity payment price of 243,700 yuan.
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Extended-range electric ultimate version with a comprehensive subsidy price of 239,700 yuan and a post-equity payment price of 229,700 yuan.
Among them, the high-end custom car paint shown in the picture, LOMOGrey matte gray, is priced at 8,000 yuan; optional 20-inch particle low-drag wheels, priced at 3,000 yuan; optional starry gray environmentally friendly suede double-layered interior, priced at 3,000 yuan.
The biggest highlight of the Star Yue L Hi·P Thunderbolt Extended-Range version is the use of a 41.2 kWh large battery plug-in hybrid system. This system can provide a pure electric range of 207 km under WLTP and support 85 kW fast charging.
The Star Yue L Hi·P is equipped with a 1.5T engine with a maximum power of 110 kW and peak torque of 225 N·m. The motor uses a P1+P2 motor layout, and the gearbox is a 3-gear DHT Pro. It can reach a top speed of 220 km/h.
In addition to providing engine direct connection, parallel connection, hybrid connection, and pure electric drive, the Star Yue L Hi·P also provides the main extended-range mode, which can achieve a range of 1,250 km.
Equity
In terms of equity, the new car is launched with 10 major car purchasing equity benefits (limited to locking and ordering users before December 31, 2022):- Deposit Gift: Enjoy deposit expansion, and get 13,000 yuan with 3,000 yuan deposit.
- Subsidy Gift: The price after the national new energy subsidy is guaranteed for customers who complete the order and lock the car before December 31, 2022.
- Renewal Gift: Up to 10,000 yuan trade-in subsidy for Geely’s old users.
- Finance Gift: Purchase subsidy of 5,050 yuan, with 0% interest rate for 24 months.
- Supplementary Energy Gift: Free household charging pile and basic installation service, as well as 220V household charging gun.
- Quality Assurance Gift (for first-time car owners): A five-year or 150,000-kilometer warranty, free lifetime warranty for the three-electric system, and free lifetime warranty for the range extender.
- Camping Gift: An exclusive camping kit worth 1,999 yuan from Thunderobot Homie and a 220V discharge gun.
- Traffic Gift (for first-time car owners): Unlimited data without limit for five years, and free unlimited basic data for life.
- Delivery Gift: Orders placed before the end of November are expected to be delivered by December 31.
- Boutique Gift: The original 3D foot pad worth 318 yuan.
The first batch of major order users who purchase the range-extended flagship version can upgrade to a 20-inch particle low-drag wheel worth 3,000 yuan for free. Users who have purchased can replace and upgrade for free within 12 months after registration (if the first batch of big order users change their configuration, they can enjoy the rights of lock-in benefits, but not the surprise blind box benefits).
In addition, users can participate in the lock-in activity and the small order activity at the same time, and the corresponding benefits can be superimposed.
Really Comprehensive, But Cost Cannot be Reduced
From a product perspective, the Lynk & Co ZERO L Hi·P has indeed achieved “comprehensiveness” in many ways.
For example, the battery part has a 41.2 kWh large battery plug-in hybrid that can provide a pure electric range of 207 kilometers (WLTP) and support 85 kW fast charging. Undeniably, sales champion BYD Song Plus DM-i in the same class can only provide a maximum electric range of 110 kilometers, and Honda’s light hybrid HEV mode mainly uses oil and electricity.
In terms of the engine part, the 1.5T engine has a maximum output power of 110 kW and a peak torque of 225 N·m, with a thermal efficiency of 43.32%. The motor P1+P2 layout, three-speed DHT Pro gearbox, can reach a top speed of 220 km/h. Undeniably, this power system is also advanced enough, and compared with the DM-i parallel axis direct drive, it can also achieve better high-speed acceleration performance and low fuel consumption performance at low battery levels.Is the battery big enough? Yes it is. Is the engine strong enough? Yes it is. In fact, the Star Yue L Hi-P includes pure electric, hybrid, parallel, direct drive, and even range-extender modes. Further, the range-extender function of the Star Yue L Hi-P has been optimized to achieve a 1,250 km range, only 50 km less than the 1,300 km range of the hybrid mode.
However, we need to keep in mind that ultimately, the car is sold to customers, not just imagined by engineers. From an engineer’s perspective, this is indeed a product that has achieved “balance” in engineering design. However, the issue is, what is it that our users, our target customers, need?
Upon careful examination of user requirements: what we need is a plug-in hybrid vehicle with a relatively large battery, and we need a car that achieves balanced cost and product performance.
Firstly, plug-in hybrid users typically have a home charging station, thus its all-electric driving range should not be too low. The Star Yue L Hi-P has a WLTP all-electric range of 207 km, which is 107 km more than the 110 km seen in the BYD Song PLUS. Assuming a daily commuting distance of 50 km, the Song PLUS needs re-charging every two days while the Star Yue L Hi-P can commute at low cost every four days.
So, the 110 km range version of the BYD Song PLUS DM-i has a price range of 165,800 to 185,800 yuan, which is nearly 70,000 yuan less than the Star Yue L Hi-P.
What can be purchased with this extra 70,000 yuan? It can be exchanged for an additional 22.9 kWh battery capacity, a faster charging speed, a turbocharged engine, better chassis quality, and better interior materials. In addition, the Star Yue L Hi-P’s 3-speed DHT Pro has two more gears than the DM-i, and it can achieve a top speed of 220 km/h.
The question is, is anything other than more battery capacity and faster charging speed important to customers at this level? In other words, if you were given an additional 70,000 yuan to make a choice, what would you do?The higher-end consumers may care since the IDEAL ONE is also a hybrid. However, the IDEAL ONE offers unique advantages such as intelligent cockpit, spaciousness, and advanced driving assistance, which are far more appealing than plugging and unplugging the charging cable twice less than the STARLUX L Hi·P among existing hybrid models.
Furthermore, there is still a LYNK&CO brand under Geely, in which the STARLUX L Hi·P even outperforms the LYNK&CO 01 EM-P by a considerable margin. After being recognized by consumers for its cost-effective cars under 200,000 RMB, can Geely’s brand value withstand a sudden increase in the price to the level of 250,000 RMB?
You will find that the pricing strategy of Geely and LYNK&CO is confusing compared to Volkswagen and Audi’s clear-cut strategies. As for the STARLUX L Hi·P, it has indeed achieved comprehensiveness on all aspects, and the engineers can finally relax. However, at this price, Geely’s marketing department might need to come up with some head-scratching ideas.
After all, the previous MOCAP DHT-PHEV that attempted to achieve validation on all aspects while ignoring consumer demands now only has a monthly sales volume in the double digits.
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.