Article: CH_Chen Han
The success of Zeekr 001 is not only the success of technological strength but also the success of user enterprises.
In just one month, 2022 will be gone in a hurry.
Looking back on this year, if I had to choose the most memorable event in the Chinese auto industry, the “Zeekr 001 cockpit upgrade event” must be on the list.
On the evening of July 11th, when Zeekr CEO “Congcong” An Conghui announced at the Zeekr Evolution Day that all Zeekr 001 new and old car owners would receive a free upgrade to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 intelligent cockpit, both online and offline boiled over, and my colleagues and I were shocked.
3 billion yuan! Zeekr invested a whopping 3 billion yuan for this upgrade!
At the time, Zeekr’s behavior was like a gamble, exchanging “nearly one billion yuan” for the subsequent high visibility and praise from new and old car owners all over the internet for the next few days. This advertisement was not cheap.
But now, looking back, Zeekr’s 3 billion yuan was well worth it!
This extravagant spending was an important part of Zeekr’s strategic deployment and the climax of Zeekr’s reversal amidst adversity, whose excitement was not inferior to the ongoing World Cup.
Born with a silver spoon in its mouth
Like all legendary stories, Zeekr 001 was born with a shining halo.
As the first mass-produced car under the SEA vast architecture, Zeekr 001 combines the most advanced electrification and intelligence technology of the Geely Group, and had already garnered a lot of attention during its concept car phase.
After its launch, Zeekr 001 did not disappoint, impressing many with its unexpected mechanical qualities and handling performance, causing many to take a second look at China’s auto industry’s capabilities.
What’s more, Zeekr 001’s cost-effectiveness is just too high!
Looking at the price alone, the Zeekr 001 sold for 281,000-360,000 yuan before subsidies during its initial launch, and even after subtracting the 15,000 yuan in national subsidies that can be received in 2021, the actual selling price starts at 266,000 yuan. This is not cheap for a Chinese brand car.However, when China’s brand-new long-wheelbase luxury hunting SUV-coupe style, unparalleled comprehensive mechanical performance, 3.8-second 0-100km/h acceleration, large battery capacity of 86/100 kWh, and high-end features such as air suspension, NAPPA leather seats, and electrically adjustable rear seat back angle are all present in the JiKe 001, “Wow” becomes the keyword on everyone’s lips.
In April 2021, when the JiKe 001 was launched, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China was still less than 10%. In contrast to the current market environment, where the penetration rate exceeds 30%, consumers who held their money in anticipation generally had strong doubts about new energy vehicles.
The JiKe 001 almost arrived at the most suitable time as the most suitable product, with the endorsement of decades of technological accumulation by Geely Group, a high-end product form that conforms to the cognition of traditional fuel vehicle consumers, and an extremely attractive product price. As a result, it naturally occupies a favorable position in the new energy vehicle market takeoff phase.
When we asked the first batch of JiKe 001 owners about their reasons for buying it, many of them answered “reliability”, which dispelled many people’s doubts about electric vehicles and made them embrace new energy vehicles instead of fuel vehicles.
The launch of the JiKe 001 was undoubtedly successful and smooth.
However, the first impression of “reliability” foreshadowed the crisis that was about to come.
“Achilles’ heel”
As delivery volume continues to rise, there have been some complaints about the JiKe 001 online.
This is understandable because there is no perfect car in the world, especially the first new car of a new brand and platform. It is abnormal not to have any problems.
However, things did not go as expected. Complaints from JiKe 001 owners became more and more intense and even evolved into a crisis.
In fact, the JiKe 001 does have problems. Its initial software stability and telematics are its “Achilles’ heel.” However, the most fundamental reason for the crisis is not the problem itself, but the gap between user expectations and reality.
Car owners who purchased Geely Ji-Ke 001 with a first impression of “reliable” soon found that this car was much more complicated than a traditional fuel vehicle, and many operations had to be realized through the car’s computer or software. Unfortunately, Geely Ji-Ke’s car computer had a problem at this critical point.
When asked about the most unsatisfactory aspect of Geely Ji-Ke 001 by its first batch of owners, almost all of them answered “the car computer”.
Although Geely Ji-Ke quickly launched a new OTA software for repairs and improvements, the expectations and requirements of the public for Geely Ji-Ke are obviously higher than those of other new car manufacturers in the same period.
For many consumers who originally intended to buy fuel vehicles but finally chose new energy vehicles, the car computer may not need to have so many functions, but any lag of the car computer is unacceptable. They are more concerned about stability rather than novelty.
This is different from the consumers who buy new energy vehicles with a mentality of trying something new, who tend to have a higher tolerance and value novelty more than stability.
The same expectation gap also appeared in the delivery speed. Waiting for three months for a traditional car manufacturer to deliver a car is already considered a long cycle, but the target consumer group at the time could not accept a delivery period of more than six months from a new car manufacturer, although Geely Ji-Ke had set a record for the fastest delivery of new car models with over 10,000 units delivered.
In addition, at the time, the network environment did not understand new car manufacturers, and Geely Ji-Ke, which had clearly made a good car that meets the definition of the era of fuel cars, but fell into the heavy public opinion crisis unique to the new energy era.
Of course, if users are unsatisfied, it is a problem for the enterprise. Where did the problem lie in not meeting user expectations?
Geely Ji-Ke went through a deep reflection from top to bottom during that period.
Numerous user communication meetings, upgrades, and improvements have laid the foundation for the arrival of the moment of reversal.
Birth of Hexagonal Warriors
After the announcement of the free upgrade to the cockpit by Geely Ji-Ke Evolution Day, the entire network not only covered the Geely Ji-Ke owner group and potential users, but also covered other new energy vehicle user groups.At one moment, Xpeng became a representative of conscience automakers. Not only did it clear away the true and false complaints flooding the Internet beforehand, but it also brought some pressure to other brands that offered cabin payment upgrades at the same time.
The homogenization competition in service levels is welcomed by consumers. However, regarding Xpeng itself, the turning point brought by this Xpeng Day of Evolution is far more than simply spending 300 million yuan to upgrade a faster new infotainment system for both new and old car owners.
After upgrading to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 intelligent cockpit, Xpeng’s infotainment system will have a 7nm process 8-core CPU, 16GB of memory and 128GB of storage space. The CPU’s computing power has been increased by 177%, the GPU’s computing power by 94%, and the memory bandwidth by 100%.
With the upgraded cabin system, not only is the response speed faster and the human-computer interaction smoother, but it will also have more sufficient computing power to support subsequent OTA updates.
According to the tests, the wake-up time of the upgraded infotainment system is only 2 seconds. Its cold start-up speed in low temperature / low battery situations has been improved by 3 times, the sliding frame rate has increased by 66.1%, and the average time for the car’s application to open takes only 1.3 seconds, reaching the top level of the industry in terms of operating fluency.
In addition to hardware updates, on Xpeng Day of Evolution, Xpeng also pushed OTA updates for the ZEEKR OS 3.0 version. This update covers 25 ECU units, adding 29 functions and optimizing 204 functions. Especially in terms of assisted driving, new functions such as LKA lane-keeping assistant, full-speed range active cruise control (ACC+LCC), and ADB adaptive high-beam lights (including intelligent partition lighting) have been added.
Moreover, on the Xpeng Day of Evolution, Xpeng also released new technologies such as “Gazelle Avoidance,” “Intelligent Anti-Skid,” and “Lightning Switching,” which not only make up for the shortcomings of intelligentization but also further strengthen Xpeng’s image of technological leadership.The following two Guinness World Records – “Fastest Electric Car Drifting Speed of 207.996km/h” and “Fastest Electric Car Slalom Time of 49.05s” once again proved to the public the excellent handling and mechanical qualities of Xpeng.
This combination of punches, with a 300 million yuan investment, not only genuinely gives back to users but also serves as a sensational marketing strategy. It clears any doubts, makes up for any shortcomings, fulfills promises, reverses negative rumors, and once again spreads the core competitive advantages of their products.
With satisfied customers, positive public opinion, and surging orders, Xpeng’s product competitiveness has been further enhanced.
From now on, the title of “Hexagonal Warrior” and Xpeng 001 are “locked,” making it almost impossible to find any major shortcomings in Xpeng 001, whether it’s in terms of space, endurance, power, handling, or user service, even car entertainment and auxiliary driving.
This is because Xpeng 001 has the foundation of traditional car companies, solid basic qualities, top-notch production, materials, and luxuriousness, while also having new ideas and innovative ways of creating intelligent cars. Products like Xpeng 001 are rare in the market.
Xpeng 001’s strong product competitiveness has also been fully reflected in its sales.
After the Xpeng Day event, the order volume of Xpeng 001 returned to 10,000 vehicles the following month. As capacity gradually increases, the sales of Xpeng 001 are rapidly surging.
From the start of deliveries to the breaking of 10,000 orders: 110 days
From 10,000 to 20,000 orders: 107 days
From 20,000 to 30,000 orders: 64 days
From 30,000 to 40,000 orders: 45 days
From 40,000 to 50,000 orders: 31 days
In October, Xpeng 001’s monthly delivery volume broke 10,000 vehicles for the first time.
In November, Xpeng 001’s delivery volume further increased to 11,011 vehicles, a YoY growth rate of 447.3%, and a MoM growth rate of 8.8%. It has been the top-selling luxury EV with a China brand for four consecutive months whose average price is above 300,000 RMB.At the same time, the cumulative delivery volume of Zeekr 001 has exceeded 60,000 and the new car delivery cycle has been further reduced to 4-6 weeks, continuing to refresh the delivery speed record.
Zeekr’s delivery target for this year is 70,000 vehicles, and the annual delivery task has now been confirmed and locked early.
Despite being on the market for more than a year and a half and having undergone two price adjustments, the starting price of Zeekr 001 has now reached 2.99 million yuan. However, Zeekr 001’s product strength and sales are at the peak of new energy vehicles in the same price range.
Under such fierce market competition, with an average transaction price of 3.36 million yuan, this fully reflects the forward-looking planning and stable core competitiveness of Zeekr’s products.
A tower of nine stories begins with a heap of earth
From its high starting point at the time of its introduction, to the low point of its reputation crisis, to its high-profile turnaround against the wind, and ultimately its double harvest of reputation and sales, looking back at Zeekr 001’s growth process from a God’s eye view, it is not difficult to see that holding the Zeekr Evolution Day is the best thing that Zeekr has done in 2022.
This is the turning point in Zeekr 001’s destiny, and it is also an embodiment of Zeekr’s brand strategy acumen.
Of course, Zeekr 001’s current skyrocketing sales cannot be achieved by merely doing one thing right. The cornerstone of Zeekr’s success can be summarized in two words: “technological accumulation” and “user thinking”.
Geely’s profound technological accumulation ensures Zeekr 001’s product competitiveness, while user thinking ensures Zeekr’s correct direction in key decision-making.
“Great trees grow from small beginnings, a tower of nine stories begins with a heap of earth; a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
This quote comes from Laozi’s “Tao Te Ching,” describing the importance of accumulation for success. The same philosophy is reflected in Zeekr’s development process.Not just at the technical level, but also in the construction of a self-supporting system and user enterprise, Zeekr has demonstrated a down-to-earth attitude of not taking shortcuts and not speculating, gradually exploring and moving forward.
The speed may not be fast, but the steps are steady. What is promised will be done, and it is trustworthy.
And if there is anything that Zeekr needs to improve, the lesson from the Zeekr 001 crisis must be deeply reviewed.
As a new brand, “wanting both” is a mistake that is often made, and being a “Hexagonal Warrior” does not mean that all new features need to be piled up on the same product at the same time. When there are too many focal points, some obvious problems will be overlooked.
In addition, it takes time to explore how to proactively control user expectations based on product features to better meet user expectations.
Fortunately, Zeekr 001 has successfully passed the exploration process, and in Zeekr’s new luxury MPV model, the Zeekr 009, we have seen proactive decision-making and preparation to respond to challenges.
From the luxury hunting wear to the luxury MPV, Zeekr’s unconventional approach is always full of surprises, and we can also trust in the excellent product quality produced by Zeekr.
Today, Zeekr 001 has become the benchmark for 300,000-level pure electric vehicle models, and more and more new cars are benchmarking Zeekr 001 as a routine operation.
The electric MPV new species, Zeekr 009, is expected to open up a new situation for Zeekr, further improve the brand positioning, and together with the “Hexagonal Warrior” Zeekr 001, create a higher brand delivery record for Zeekr.
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.