HuLaQuan: Pure Electric, Luxury MPV by JEA

Combining pure electric, luxury, and MPV, this combination has skyrocketed in popularity in the new energy market in just a few months, occupying the most fashionable headlines. JEA’s highly anticipated MPV debut, the HuLaQuan (号拉圈) 009, which has been frequently seen in spy photos, is finally on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s public display page these days. This also means that we will soon see the official launch and listing of the 009.

Unlike other brands, JEA did not release a pure electric SUV or sedan but a unique hunting vehicle, the 001, followed by a luxury MPV, the 009. In today’s highly competitive purely electric market, mainstream automotive forms, especially pure electric SUVs, are almost a guaranteed success. However, JEA, with its second vehicle, did not follow this trend, breaking the mold.

Neither the 001 nor the 009 were initially sold well in mainstream markets. The naming of “1” and “9” made people puzzled, as they are almost the two extremes of product line naming. After the 001 increased people’s impression of JEA’s performance, JEA did not follow up with a “mass-produced” vehicle, as everyone expected. Instead, it continued to develop in another aspect of automotive performance, the luxury level, with the HuLaQuan 009.

So why does JEA take such an unconventional approach?

009, a “Pulling Score Question”

Friends who have taken the high school or college entrance exams know that the first 70% of the exam is usually easy and includes many “free-score” questions. Most common candidates can theoretically handle these questions after careful preparation, and they are competing more to minimize errors and finish quickly. However, it is the last 30% or even the last 10%, which are the so-called “pulling score questions,” that can significantly differentiate test-takers’ abilities.

This pattern also applies to the automotive industry. In recent years, we have seen that once automobile brands hit a trend, such as SUVs or new energy vehicles, their sales volume is usually not too bad, even if their overall competitiveness is not that high. Even for those players with less favorable outcomes, their offerings can still support a brand for a period.

However, beyond these trends, the real champions are often determined by their performance in other areas. High-performance cars, sports cars, super-luxury vehicles, and tough off-road vehicles might not sell as well as mainstream sedans and SUVs. They are not profitable in isolation, but they shape how people perceive and understand a brand, ultimately contributing to successful brands in the long run.

Luxury MPV is currently one of the most eye-catching and sought-after niche markets.

In fact, the market space for MPVs is not large, with only a small fraction of the market share held by sedans and SUVs, let alone the luxury MPV niche market. It is not easy to build a high-end luxury MPV. The large space of MPVs is naturally disadvantageous for improving the body stiffness, which significantly affects NVH comfort, but luxury MPVs are faced with the most demanding customer group. The MPV body is often vastly different from sedans and SUVs, and conventional platformization cannot cover it, greatly increasing development difficulty and cost.

However, at the same time, the increasing attention and emphasis on luxury MPVs in the market make this niche vehicle type highly attractive to automakers. The legends of surcharges for certain Japanese MPVs objectively demonstrate the market’s real demand for luxury MPVs. Luxury MPVs are becoming a new representative form of the luxury car experience, and only those who can stand firm here have grasped the minds of top-level income consumers.

Difficulty and opportunity coexist, and not all manufacturers have the extra resources and courage to do this “difficult question”, especially those who just “start the exam” and rush to do the difficult question are even rarer. Zeekr only challenged the high-performance hunting car, which is considered to be high-difficulty, instead of slowly doing SUVs and sedans, and then picked the one of the “last big questions”, which is the luxury pure electric MPV, Zeekr 009.

There is naturally a reason behind this. Behind Zeekr is the support and assistance of SEA’s vast architecture. It is the existence of the vast platform that allows Zeekr to temporarily ignore the SUV gold mine and continue to invest in the high-difficulty, slow-return luxury MPV market after the hunting car market.

SEA’s vast architecture has a great “platform bandwidth”, covering most of the product lines from small cars to MPVs, which can provide support for large luxury MPVs like 009. As a pure electric architecture, SEA’s vast architecture is naturally suitable for pure electric MPVs. The chassis battery pack becomes a huge strengthening structure of the body, allowing MPVs to no longer worry about large spaces or high rigidity; the lack of internal combustion engines eliminates the need for exhaust systems, making the large space of MPVs more orderly and free.

From 1 to 9, waiting for changes in the world.”先难后易” is a long-term strategy, as opposed to the more common “先易后难”. To implement a long-term strategy, one needs the capital and courage to do so, as well as the vision and mindset that is not swayed by immediate benefits. Although Zeekr is a new brand, it has a strong foundation and an impressive architecture that gives its car models a higher starting point for development. At the same time, the decision-makers at Zeekr have a longer-term perspective and can recognize the value of doing what is difficult but correct in the future development.

Therefore, Zeekr is not just concerned with pursuing short-term gains, nor does it want to consume itself and others chasing after the mainstream market. Instead, it wants to “first establish the brand,” and prove itself in more difficult situations. While other brands are busy competing over the first 70% of the low-hanging fruit, Zeekr is focused on tackling the last few difficult questions. When others are exhausted from competing in the mainstream market, Zeekr has already gained the highest scores by tackling the most challenging problems with ease, and is ready to reap the easier rewards.

If one has even a little understanding of the automobile market, one would be surprised at how the first two Zeekr models are named: the first car is called 001, and the second car is called 009. Generally, numbers represent either positioning or release order, but neither applies to Zeekr. The price range is also unlikely to represent the upper or lower limits of Zeekr’s future product lines.

However, if we look at it from a new perspective, we can see that 001 represents Zeekr’s performance extreme, while 009 represents Zeekr’s luxury extreme. This naming system and product line planning opens up a broader perspective. Between 001 and 009 lies an endless array of “mainstream” car models, creating ample space for Zeekr to enter the mainstream car market and win over customers.

The planning of Zeekr’s first two models is akin to the “Crossing Yique in Longzhong Plain” in ancient China. When 001 and 009 respectively establish themselves as the “performance” and “luxury” extremes, Zeekr will have earned market recognition at both ends, and any direction between 1 and 9 is within reach. Regardless of whether it is oriented towards performance, luxury, or both, Zeekr only needs to wait for the world to change and then make a move in the right direction.

If we divide 1 to 9 into extreme performance to extreme luxury, the fuzzy area in the middle, between 4 and 6, is likely the mainstream market, which is both the simplest and the hardest. The market for such car models may have a low threshold, and any car model that is not extreme can be considered from outstanding to mediocre. However, to make them truly exceptional is also the most difficult, to balance every aspect of a car without any extreme features, requires deep expertise to make it appear effortless.So, instead of starting with the easy part and later tackling the difficult, Zeekr is starting with the most difficult by occupying both ends of performance and luxury, and then swallowing up the mainstream market in between. When the “001” sets the performance benchmark for the Zeekr brand, and the “009” endows Zeekr with the ultimate charm of luxury, the freedom to showcase Zeekr’s strengths between 1 and 9 will be exercised.

Of course, Zeekr can also pursue mainstream vehicle models like other brands and make a lot of money in the short term, but the company doesn’t want to be trapped in it and suffer the consequences. In addition, making money quickly is not Zeekr’s pursuit, but rather sticking to the difficult and right things, which will lead to valuable and unexpected long-term returns.

Conclusion

Like people, the name of a car can also reflect many things. Zeekr uses “00X” as the model naming method, which not only marks the brand’s start from scratch, eliminating all burdens and opening a new chapter, but also implies that Zeekr is going to be the restarter, resetting the market and industry, and not attaching to anything in the past, with the end in mind as the beginning.

Since Zeekr is a purely electric brand, the firm’s resolute position as an electric vehicle sector pioneer is the reason and fundamental mission for its birth. For MPV, electric vehicles are an opportunity, and Zeekr’s vast architecture makes this opportunity a reality. If pure electric is the best solution for MPV, then Zeekr should be the leader in this segment.

From 001 to 009, there is endless possibility in between, leaving Zeekr the space to exercise its imagination.

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.