Article by Sun Mingzhi

Edited by Wu Xianzhi

The Ora brand, a subsidiary of Great Wall Motors, was established on August 20, 2018. At that time, Ora focused on the market for small cars priced under 100,000 yuan, which was essentially a brand targeting elderly drivers.

Initially, Ora’s performance did not meet market expectations, with its early products IQ and R1 selling moderately. From late 2019 to early 2020, Ora’s monthly sales did not exceed 3,000 vehicles.

In July 2020, after discovering that its R1 model was popular among female users, Ora renamed its second model, R2, as White Cat, and also renamed the updated R1 as Black Cat.

With the adjustment of the two products’ positioning, Ora finally found its target audience. A year later, Ora firmly attached the female label to its brand and even claimed to be “the brand that women love the most globally.” As a result, the company’s product sales gradually increased. In 2021, Ora’s annual sales exceeded 130,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 140%.

However, a supply chain crisis soon made Ora’s situation difficult again.

In February of this year, due to the rising cost of superior power batteries, Ora was forced to suspend production of its popular Black Cat and White Cat models. At that time, the only model available for sale was the lower-priced Good Cat. Five months later, Ora launched the Ballet Cat, which has a range of 500 km, priced between 193,000 and 223,000 yuan, but lost the “cost-effectiveness” advantage of models like the Black Cat and White Cat.

Within the price range of around 200,000 yuan, consumers can buy models such as the BYD Han EV, the Seal, the Deep Blue, and the Aion S, which have longer range, more spacious interiors, and higher cost-effectiveness than the Ballet Cat. It should be pointed out that for Ora’s success in 2021, the company does not seem to realize the reasons for its success, in addition to targeting a specific audience, another reason was its cost-effectiveness advantage. However, with the suspension of the Black Cat and White Cat, and the subsequent rushing to raise the prices of its products, Ora’s position has greatly declined.

Sales may reflect Ora’s current dilemma. Its September sales were 7,605 vehicles, which was nearly 40% less than the same period last year when it sold 12,770 vehicles. The Good Cat accounted for 82.89% of Ora’s September sales with 6,303 vehicles sold, while the Ballet Cat has only been selling around 1,000 vehicles per month since its launch.

The Ballet Cat did not bring Ora good sales, and even sold worse than the previous Good Cat. This reflects Ora’s narrow understanding of the female market. Ora is blindly raising product prices based on what is visible to users. At the same time, Ora is overconfident in the Ballet Cat, disregarding the fact that its strength is weaker than other brand competitors within the same price range.

The New Mainstream: Lightning Cat

Ora is fully aware that selling cars in the female market is not easy, so it has decided to adjust its brand positioning again.In September 2022, Tan Jian, the CTO of ora, announced in a media communication meeting that ora would shift its brand positioning from the female market to the mainstream market through the Lightning Cat, and its customer base would be both men and women. This means that ora has to start from scratch, and previous efforts have been in vain. A brand that has repeatedly changed its direction has made its positioning ambiguous once again.

As the first car model launched by ora after the repositioning, the Lightning Cat, like Tesla, NIO, and Leap Motor’s first car models, is a sports car, but with a different emphasis. The first car models of Tesla and NIO are merely “show-offs” and tools for increasing brand awareness; the Leap S01 was a reputation-making car with the “exchange price for quantity” model; while ora sees the Lightning Cat as a ticket to the mainstream market.

The official positioning of the Lightning Cat is “super-streamlined pure electric sedan”, which is quite different from the previous product positioning. Its purpose is to cover up the feminine characteristics of the brand and attract male users’ attention.

The Lightning Cat’s length, width, and height are 4871mm, 1862mm, and 1500mm, respectively, with a wheelbase of 2870mm. It is a typical B-class medium-sized sports car with an expected price of around 200,000 yuan. From the positioning, size, and price of the Lightning Cat, this new car will compete with mainstream medium-sized electric sedans in the market such as BYD Han EV, Sea Lion, Deep Blue SL03, and Leap C01.

However, the market for new energy vehicles priced at around 200,000 yuan is fiercely competitive and overcrowded, with many strong competitors. To stand out, the Lightning Cat needs to highlight its own characteristics.

The Lightning Cat made its debut at the 2021 Shanghai auto show, with smooth body lines and an exterior design that was influenced by Porsche’s design philosophy. Some people even call it a “small Panamera”. Based on the Lightning Cat’s eye-catching appearance, the car is also available in body colors targeted at male and female consumers.

In terms of the interior, the Lightning Cat’s interior is overall similar to that of McLaren, with a three-barrel instrument panel and a not very large screen for the car machine. The T-shaped center console retains some frequently used physical buttons. At the same time, the car continues to use ora’s tradition of using leather wrapping in large areas in the car, apparently to increase the sense of touch and luxury.

Moreover, to highlight the sports characteristics of the product, the Lightning Cat also comes with simulated sound wave function, frameless doors, multi-functional electrically adjustable seats, and induction electric tailgate. The Lightning Cat has most of the configurations of mainstream new energy vehicles on the market.

ora’s Confusion# Ora’s Lightning Cat and Its Positioning

Ora’s Lightning Cat is catching up with the mainstream market in terms of size, appearance, interior, configuration and competing with brands of mainstream models, all of which are aimed at transforming Ora’s brand positioning.

It is worth mentioning that Ora has three brand images after only four years since its establishment.

Ora’s positioning has changed from the initial focus on the low-end new energy vehicle market, then to female users, and now to the mainstream market. Its brand positioning is as changeable as a cat’s mood.

This also reflects that Ora did not have a clear idea of ​​what kind of car brand it wanted to be at the beginning of its establishment. In the confusion, it could only “trial and error” in positioning again and again.

So far, it seems difficult for Ora to rely on the Lightning Cat model alone to achieve a brand positioning transition.

The Lightning Cat’s original positioning as a sedan was to attract male users’ attention. However, compared to mainstream sedan models on the market, its appearance is too round and does not quite fit male users’ aesthetics.

Moreover, male consumers pay more attention to the car’s performance and driving control when purchasing vehicles. However, Ora’s promotion of Lightning Cat mainly focuses on intelligent configuration and styling, and these aspects seem to have limited appeal to male users. In addition, female users appear in almost every promotional picture of the Lightning Cat interface on the Ora official website, which is easy to give consumers the impression that this car is mainly for female drivers.

For domestic consumers, there is already a certain fixed cognition of Ora’s brand, considering it an automotive brand aimed at female users.

However, for female consumers, the Lightning Cat, with an expected selling price of around 200,000 yuan, is almost in the same price range as the Volkswagen Beetle and MINI COOPER, which have already been tested by the market and have undergone multiple changes and generations. They have become extremely mature products and have gained the favor of many female users.

However, the Beetle has been discontinued since 2019, and the company plans to reintroduce it as a pure electric car in the future. The latest MINI COOPER model is still powered by fuel, but the company has announced that an electric car will be launched soon. This casting a shadow over Lightning Cat’s performance in the female market.

It is worth mentioning that when Ora released the Lightning Cat, it had not changed its brand positioning. That is to say, the Lightning Cat was originally designed for female users, but now it is being used as the “pioneer” of the brand to enter the mainstream market. This indicates that the Lightning Cat only appears to be mainstream, but in fact, it still has not shed its feminine characteristics.

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.