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Buick Velite 6 Extended Range Version Goes On Sale with a NEDC Range of 410 km
On October 12, SAIC-GM-Buick announced the launch of the Velite 6 extended range version, which has a NEDC range of 410 km. Meanwhile, the official Chinese name of the VELITE 6 series, “Weilan”, was also announced.
Compared with the old model’s range of 301 km, the new model’s range has been greatly improved by 109 km, and the battery capacity has also been increased from the original 35 kWh to 52.5 kWh. The motor has been upgraded from the original 85 kW permanent magnet synchronous motor to a 110 kW permanent magnet synchronous motor with a maximum torque of 350 N·m.
With the upgrade of the battery and motor, the post-subsidy price of the new model has also increased slightly from the original RMB 165,800-185,800 to RMB 177,800-199,800. It is worth mentioning that the launch of the extended range version is only 6 months after the standard range version was launched.
Quick Comment: Since its launch, Velite 6 has been struggling with low sales due to the mismatch between its range and price, and even achieved zero sales in August this year. The launch of the extended range version seems to make up for the previous shortcomings of this car. In comparison, the old model is more like a rushed semi-finished product of Buick.
However, now, with an additional cost of only RMB 12,000, you can get an additional range of 109 km. With an entry-level price of RMB 177,800 and a range of 410 km, the Velite 6 has become a real competitor to other domestic new energy vehicles.
Byton Raises $100 Million in Funding
According to “IPO Early Know”, Byton recently raised a new round of funding of nearly $100 million from Itochu Corp. After the completion of the new round of funding, Itochu’s shareholding ratio will be around 7%, making it the second largest shareholder after Byton’s founder and CEO, Carsten Breitfeld. According to Reuters, the two sides agreed that Itochu Corp. will be able to further increase its stake under certain specific conditions.
Many readers may already be unfamiliar with the name of the NIO car; indeed, in 2019, which was dubbed the “capital winter,” NIO car did not make substantial progress on the road to car manufacturing. As one of the first new car-making enterprises in China, in April 2017, NIO car released a preview version of its first mid-to-large SUV model, iS6. At that time, the statement was that iS6 would be produced in small quantities by the end of 2017 and launched in 2018.
However, NIO not only failed to successfully produce the car in 2018, but now, in 2019, with less than three months left, the production time of this model has still not been confirmed. On the other hand, since its release in April 2017, the ES8 from Wei Lai, which is a new force in the automobile industry, has been delivered for more than a year.
Quick comment: according to the previous reports, the total amount of NIO’s financing has exceeded RMB 17 billion, and among the investors are well-known investors such as Lenovo Group, Qihoo 360, Tongling Municipal Government, and government investment funds. After this financing of nearly US$100 million, NIO’s official website and Weibo did not make any announcements about the financing.
While starting later than NIO, and with a total financing amount of only RMB11 billion, Ideal Auto has already confirmed that it will start mass production and delivery next month. Therefore, the ability to finance is one thing, and the ability of companies to make use of funds is another.
NIO’s Q3 sales exceeded expectations, delivering 4,799 vehicles
Recently, NIO released its sales data for Q3 2019. A total of 4,799 vehicles were delivered in Q3, including 4,196 ES6 and 603 ES8, with a quarter-on-quarter growth of 47% and a monthly growth of 35%, exceeding the prediction of 4,200-4,400 deliveries in Q3 in its Q2 financial report. In September, a total of 2,019 vehicles were delivered, including 1,726 ES6 and 293 ES8.
Just four days after the release of Q3 sales, according to an internal letter that was exposed, a large number of NIO executives were promoted. This is the first large-scale personnel promotion by NIO after a series of recent layoff measures.# Note:
In the E news two weeks ago, I predicted that NIO should ‘suppress’ Q3 financial report. Judging by the recently released sales data, NIO did just that. The ES6 has entered the top ten of high-end SUV sales for two consecutive months, and the sales of ES8 have also rebounded. By promoting capable executives, the company has further stimulated the team’s blood-making ability, and allowed some old employees to retire honorably, continuing to save labor costs.
XPeng P7 achieves ultra-low drag coefficient for domestic cars: 0.236 Cd
On October 10th, according to the official Weibo news of XPeng Motors, the new car P7 of XPeng achieved a drag coefficient of 0.236 Cd. Compared with the initial design plan, the optimized Cd is 0.048, which can increase the cruising range by 40 km. In order to achieve this excellent result, XPeng P7 has undergone more than 20 wind resistance simulation analysis optimizations and four wind tunnel tests, implementing more than 30 optimization plans.
Below are the wind resistance coefficients of several common models on the market, for reference only:
- Model 3: 0.23 Cd
- Geometry A: 0.237 Cd
- Model S: 0.24 Cd
- Aion S: 0.245 Cd
State Administration for Market Regulation: Basic information of accidents involving new energy vehicles must be reported within 12 hours
On October 9th, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a “Supplementary Notice on Regulating the Accident Report of New Energy Vehicles” to regulate the system of new energy vehicle accident reports, and to supplement several recall regulations. Among them, one point is particularly noteworthy: “If smoky, fiery accidents occur in the Chinese market, the producer shall report the basic information of the accident within 12 hours. In cases of injury, the report shall be made within 6 hours.”Here is the English Markdown text with HTML tags preserved:
This is another requirement from the State Administration for Market Regulation, for new-energy vehicle companies to report accidents such as traffic collisions and fires again, after analyzing the results of the requirement issued on March 18. The full announcement can be seen in the image below:
Quick comment: This year, a series of new energy vehicle fires have caused widespread concern. We have seen many professional and detailed requirements from the sample reporting form. It is foreseeable that as the new energy vehicle industry develops further, relevant monitoring and regulation specifically for new energy vehicles will become more perfect. The safety of consumers’ lives and property is paramount. Thumbs up to the department responsible for formulating relevant policies!
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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.