*This article is reproduced from the official account of autocarweekly.
Author: Zi Li from Tiexi district
Yesterday, the mid-term facelift of the Volvo XC60 was launched, with the price:
Compared with the old model, the entire price system has increased by several thousand yuan or a little over ten thousand yuan, which can be considered a relatively reasonable increase. It is still relatively cheap compared to the upgraded configuration and has not reached the level of triggering protests from old car owners. (New car makers, learn something)
Considering that it is only a mid-term facelift, the specifications of this press conference are really beyond my expectations. It is so high that it has leveraged – it is not an exaggeration to say “crashed” – the popularity of the European Cup. Volvo is the title sponsor of the event live streaming. In addition, for this press conference, Huang Jianxiang, Fan Zhiyi, and Yang Chen, three top Chinese soccer players were invited together. If this were held in Sweden, I am afraid that even Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson could attend.
Because it was held during the European Cup, the entire press conference followed the rule of keeping everything related to football, and then talk about cars. For example, at the beginning of the event, Huang Jianxiang first quoted the record of XC60 in the European market to impress the crowd:
Maybe because the sales of Volvo and XC60 have been increasing in China recently, Volvo and XC60 did not behave as low-key as usual in this press conference. Not only did they go more aggressively, they also had a kind of “it’s normal to be powerful” confidence. Here are some quotes extracted from the conference:
At the beginning of the press conference, a video of seven XC60 stacked together was played, and Huang Jianxiang imitated his commentary during the 2006 World Cup match between Italy and Australia, saying: “It is not just one car in battle, it is also carrying six other cars. It single-handedly takes on all the tasks, it is tenacious, it does not deform, it remains motionless.”
In the seventh of these cars sat Yuan Xiaolin, Senior Vice President of the Volvo Group and CEO of Volvo Cars Asia-Pacific. Huang Jianxiang asked him how it felt to be in that car, and he replied, “It’s like a football team having both Messi and C Ronaldo. The strongest players are already in the field, what is there to panic about?”At the end of the press conference, Qin Peiji, President of Volvo Car Sales in Greater China, had a discussion with Huang Jianxiang, Fan Zhiyi, and Yang Chen. Qin Peiji said he “watched Fan Zhiyi play football and grow up”, and Yang Chen agreed saying he “also grew up watching Fan Zhiyi play”. Fan Zhiyi politely said he “grew up listening to Huang Jianxiang’s commentary”, and Huang Jianxiang then said he “grew up buckling the seatbelt of a Volvo”. Fan Zhiyi summed up by saying, “Who didn’t grow up buckling the seatbelt of a Volvo?”, and concluded with “If you want to buy the right car, choose Volvo”.
Qin Peiji praised Fan Zhiyi for his knowledge of cars, and Fan Zhiyi responded with, “Let me tell you, I only study good cars”.
Huang Jianxiang said, “Volvo is the epitome of safety”.
Okay, so these old men have some witty remarks. Fortunately, they are still reasonable, and even though there is some packaging, it is not to the extent of being illegal. What kind of sales figures can make Volvo so excited that it outshines the coldness of Nordic brands and becomes a bit complacent?
In terms of brand, Volvo has achieved double-digit growth in the Chinese market for 14 consecutive months, which means that since the pandemic stabilized last year, they have been growing in the Chinese market and maintaining at least 10%. Well, that’s quite convincing.
The main force here, of course, is the XC60. According to official data, the total sales of XC60 in May this year were 6224 units, basically ranking fourth in the luxury mid-size SUV market after BBA, and occasionally surpassing some joint venture and domestic brands, breaking into the top 10 of all mid-size SUVs. This is indeed a noteworthy achievement. According to Sohu’s production and sales data, the XC60 has been getting closer to monthly sales of over 10,000 units for two months now. (Sohu’s production and sales figures may differ slightly, but they can be used as a reference.)
The upgrade content of the mid-term facelift is not really extensive, but the sincerity is sufficient. First of all, the entire powertrain has been equipped with a 48V mild hybrid system, according to the official data, the zero to one hundred kilometers per hour acceleration has been improved by 0.3 to 0.5 seconds, and the fuel consumption can be reduced by 0.5L per hundred kilometers. The biggest change is the upgrade of the infotainment system. The new system is a native Android OS developed jointly by Google and Volvo, which claims to have better stability and fluency, and better open compatibility. The new car has also added voice interaction functions developed by iFlytek and Tmall Genie. During the joint talk show between Fan Zhiyi and Qin Pei, they demonstrated the voice interaction function multiple times.
In addition to these major changes, the new car’s LCD instrument panel has been upgraded to a unified 12.3 inches across the range, and the body length has increased by 20 mm.
Considering that the XC60 has always been equipped with a 2.0T engine, and L2 level autonomous driving function is already standard across the entire range. The foundation is already quite solid, so it’s difficult for the mid-term facelift to have dazzling breakthroughs. Therefore, the existing upgrades can be considered as a great effort to improve practicality.
Lastly, it’s worth mentioning the press conference. From a realistic perspective, the automotive industry is still primarily aimed at the male market. But let’s be honest, the male hormones at this press conference were a bit excessive.
The two executives from Volvo were typical professional men, very confident and emotionally intelligent. Fan Zhiyi and Huang Jianxiang are typical sportsmen, with Fan Zhiyi being the leader type when playing football, and he continues to display a sense of brotherhood in his live streaming and show host roles after retiring. As for Huang Jianxiang, the title of his autobiography is “Fighting Like a Man”. Of the five people who appeared on stage during the press conference, only Yang Chen seemed like a non-threatening and non-oppressive male figure.
It was a press conference full of male hormones, and everyone cooperated seamlessly in focusing on “safety” regarding Volvo. From rigidity and load-bearing, to seatbelts, then to active safety and L2 level autonomous driving, and even to next year’s autonomous driving mass production cars, emphasizing that safety is a prerequisite for autonomous driving, etc.
As expected, men are the most insecure creatures in this world.
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.