RADAR: A New Electric Vehicle Brand Launches in Chengdu

On June 17th, a new electric vehicle brand, RADAR, launched a brand experience and preheating event in Chengdu.

RADAR is an interesting brand for several reasons. Firstly, the brand, which is owned by Geely, registered the name only on April 20th this year, and already plans to launch vehicles in July. This indicates that the brand has been brewing for some time, and products have been planned for a long time.

Secondly, the RADAR brand aims to produce electric pickup trucks, which is a field that few people in China have entered at present.

Finally, on the day of the event, before the products were even revealed, RADAR partnered with the Chinese version of National Geographic to launch an activity called “Borrow Two Square Meters from Nature.” This scene-based marketing approach was used to promote the brand.

Now, the question facing RADAR is whether the electric pickup truck market is viable, and how to best take advantage of scene-based marketing.

What Is the Potential of Electric Pickup Trucks?

Exactly how large is the market for pickup trucks? To be honest, it doesn’t seem very large.

Last year, a total of 550,000 pickups were sold in the entire Chinese market, representing a fraction of the overall market of over 20 million vehicles. Despite various factors, there are no signs of a pickup truck market rebounding. In May of this year, national pickup sales totalled only 42,000 vehicles, down 8% year-on-year.

The reason may be the impact of the pandemic on the supply chain, or the continuous chip shortages (which is expected to be resolved by the second half of the year). For example, in the first half of last year, the US market saw a 14% year-on-year increase in pickup sales, but in the second half, with chip shortages, total sales for the year fell by 3.14%. This shows how much chip shortages have affected the birthplace of pickup culture in North America.

However, fundamentally, the reason may be that pickup trucks are classified more as tools in the Chinese market. Many cities have clear restrictions on pickup trucks, such as downtown areas being closed to them, the need to attach a fully enclosed cover on the cargo bed, and the need to paste ribbons with rated load characters on the vehicle, etc. In China’s automobile market without pickup truck culture, such limitations of practical attributes may be the core reason why more people don’t buy pickup trucks.

So, does this mean that the pickup truck track is really not of much value? The answer is likely no.

And these days, my WeChat Moments are flooded with advertisements of Ford F-150 Raptor. Although undoubtedly, once the Raptor enters China, no matter it’s the displacement, the price or its own vehicle category, it will be difficult to become a popular option for public car purchasing. However, at least around me, the attention to this car is indeed high. This seems to also express a “although cannot reach, still desire” mentality.

Therefore, when we expand our horizons, we may see different opportunities.

For example, Great Wall Motor, who has been insisting on making pickup trucks for many years, sold a total of 73,166 pickup truck models globally from January to May this year. Its “Great Wall Pao” has sold more than 300,000 units worldwide. In fact, when it comes to selling pickup trucks, the attention worldwide will always be on American vehicles. However, Great Wall’s continuous impact and attempts have also achieved certain results, which obviously proves that the pickup truck market for Chinese car companies still has opportunities. This is undoubtedly good news for new brands like RADAR.

But more importantly, RADAR has an advantage compared to Ford and Great Wall – electric vehicles. Speaking of this, I have to mention Rivian.

The IPO myth of Rivian last year is still fresh in the memory of many people. The American car company, which has been focusing on making electric pickup trucks and SUVs for more than ten years, successfully went public last year, surpassed Volkswagen and BYD, and rank its market value third in the world. Second only to Tesla, who is always in the limelight, and Toyota who is always leading the way. Although now, Rivian is facing the risk of investors selling stocks due to non-fulfillment of performance expectations, they still occupy the twentieth place in the ranking of global car companies’ market values.

In fact, this market sentiment shake is still related to their ten years of car-making progress. After all, without a complete system strength, the speed of research and development, polishing, and manufacturing cannot meet the demand of the market, even if the demand is hot. The chain reaction is that speed will eventually surpass it. The market cannot wait, and investors cannot wait either.Talking about this, the advantages of RADAR have emerged. It was registered in April, and was promoted and launched in June, with cars out in July. This shows that the product was actually completed silently earlier. Moreover, the possible chip shortage relief in the second half of the year, Geely’s mature and huge supply chain system, and the support of the million-level OEM’s car-making strength, will certainly not let the problems of Rivian happen to RADAR.

Therefore, when we look at the potential of pickup trucks and the possibility of electric pickup trucks again, I can only say that it is greater than we imagine. RADAR’s appearance can be seen as Geely finding a new track that it can quickly climb.

Why did Geely make pickup trucks?

As for why Geely made pickup trucks, part of the answer has already been given above. That is, because the pickup truck market is currently a foreseeable blue ocean market. However, the market alone is not the only reason for Geely to enter the market.

In fact, more than just Geely is optimistic about this market. In addition to companies like Great Wall that have always made commercial pickup trucks and have transformed into passenger-use pickup trucks earlier, there are also companies like Sany Heavy Industry and BYD that have plans to enter this market.

As for companies like BYD that have fully transformed into only making electric vehicles, they will inevitably compete with Geely in the pure electric domain, even in the sub-segment of pure electric pickup trucks in the future. Therefore, entering the market earlier, making a preemptive layout, and seizing user mindshare, is an urgent and necessary action that must be taken.

From Geely’s own perspective, the strategic layout of multiple brands and multiple vehicle models has actually started several years ago. Whether it’s the youth-oriented Lynk & Co, the high-end and intelligent Geometry, or Polestar that continues to explore in the fields of handling and brand luxury attributes, or even the continuous promotion of brands such as Geometry and Voyah, they all indicate that the diversification of Geely’s products and brands is the direction they want to take.

So, from what angle, expanding the width of the product line and further enriching the thickness of the brand camp, RADAR may be a useful attempt.The idea here is why RADAR chose to go electric for its pickup trucks. With current technology, manufacturing electric pickup trucks is no longer a problem. Imagine if they had chosen to go the traditional route with internal combustion engines, they would have to develop larger engines (at least 3.0L) and a suitable chassis structure for pickups. Looking at it from the perspective of timeliness and economy, it seems like a business with high investment but small return. Furthermore, from a macro perspective of era development, it is not appropriate.

Therefore, using their own new energy technology is clearly more efficient. From the earliest days of branding and IPOs, RADAR had already set a clear path for all-electric vehicles. This was perhaps due to the fact that in earlier times, whether it was Tesla’s Cybertruck leading the way with its “strange” product, or Rivian being favored by various capital sources, the pure electric pickup truck market was poised to be the next big thing.

For companies that want to build cars and make a name for themselves in the capital market, this is a window of opportunity that cannot be missed. This is also why, in addition to Geely, many other companies want to get a piece of the action in this market.

Of course, from Geely’s own technological perspective, they have invested resources in various energy forms such as hybrid, pure electric, battery swapping, and methanol in recent years, and have achieved good technological results and commercial applications. These technologies and supporting facilities will provide solid support for RADAR’s future products.

With good pure electric technology reserves, successful brand building experiences, and even matching battery swapping resource support, Geely has no reason not to open up a brand new sub-market. RADAR is born out of a combination of these conditions.

However, there is still a realistic problem – how will Chinese consumers accept such a niche product as the pickup truck?

The key to success is to tailor the product to specific scenarios. Regardless of the level of demand in the global market or the investment needs of the investment circle, as a Chinese brand, the first step is to step out in China. Whether this step can be successful and bring good market feedback is the first challenge RADAR faces. After all, nobody can just walk out of newbie village and challenge the final boss. After all, North America is not the territory of Chinese car companies.It is obvious that making Chinese consumers truly choose pure electric pickups is still a matter that needs to be planned. This is not only because pickups are still a vehicle category that can only travel in a limited area, but more importantly, the lack of pickup culture cannot arouse the desire of more people to buy. In short, many people cannot think of what else pickups can be used for besides loading cargo.

Therefore, it is a good idea to use scenario-based narrative to help spread the message.

By choosing National Geographic and launching the “Borrowing 2 Square Meters from Nature” theme event, what RADAR wants to break away from is the stereotype that pickups are only tools for making a living hidden deep in the hearts of ordinary consumers.

Through naked-eye 3D playback of four-season rotation stereo images, through the alternation of natural landscapes such as glaciers, canyons, oceans, and auroras; and through the deep participation of Naturehike, a top domestic outdoor equipment brand and partner, RADAR wants to evoke the desire of every person to explore the world. For most people who yearn for freedom, once this desire is aroused, the image of pickups taking everyone to explore the world is established.

In fact, this is not a new scenario-based narrative approach. In the past, almost all SUV models with stronger off-road properties have used such scenarios to establish a deeper connection with consumers. But the key point is that just because SUVs can use such scenarios does not mean that pickups cannot.

Because in North America, the multifunctional attributes of pickups have long been integrated into every corner of people’s daily use of vehicles. Powerful pickups can of course carry cargo, but they can also take on the task of family shopping once a week, and they can also be modified into roof tents to explore the unknown world.

It has all the rich functions and strong power that SUVs have, and its stronger and more flexible loading capacity is also available. More importantly, it can also flexibly combine with outdoor equipment, camping modifications and all other elements. And in the past era of internal combustion engines, the inherent impression of pickup models with high power, high consumption, high emissions, and high pollution has retained its advantages and removed its disadvantages with pure electric power.

This is also the reason why RADAR confidently cooperates with National Geographic, which has always been looking for and displaying the world’s most original and authentic natural aspects; and it is also the most important information that needs to be conveyed in RADAR’s scenario-based narration and needs to be recognized by everyone in the next stage.

For a new brand like RADAR that aims to make electric pickup trucks, there are few competitors in the market, great potential for growth, and investors who should be interested in them. These opportunities are obvious. However, what is even more important is finding channels that can truly awaken people’s desire to buy, allow more people to truly understand what a pickup truck can do, whether it is worth buying, and make effective communication.

Of course, if the policy of limiting vehicles in certain areas can tilt toward pickup trucks one day, it will be even better. After all, with pure electric power and zero pollution, pickup trucks are really suitable for more people to own one.

And my curiosity now stems from what kind of products will be produced by RADAR, a Chinese electric pickup truck brand.

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.