Outing 100 Media Focuses on the Evolution of the Automobile Travel Industry Chain

Author: Zhou Pei

“We’re not leaders, we’re front runners. Cars are a marathon.”

Xingyue L, listed under the name “China Star”, was recently released with new Geely Auto Group CEO Gan Jiayue maintaining his usual caution.

However, Gan Jiayue’s prudence does not affect Geely’s “full force” configuration of Xingyue L. As a new flagship SUV born on the CMA architecture, Xingyue L matches the Galaxie OS system, HWA driving assistance system, and other intelligent technologies, while also supporting full-territory FOTA cloud upgrades…

With an intelligent approach, Geely’s goal is clear: to make a high-end fuel vehicle to try and seize the main SUV market currently dominated by joint venture brands such as Volkswagen’s Touareg and Honda’s CR-V. Like the Xingrui, which was also listed under the “China Star” brand and sold over ten thousand units per month, joining the mainstream joint venture sedan market.

“We also believe that the Star series is here to compete with joint venture brands,” said Lin Jie, senior vice president of Geely Auto Group.

The importance of Xingyue L is self-evident. So important in fact, that Geely Chairman Li Shufu, who has not appeared at a product launch conference in five years, unexpectedly showed up for the Xingyue L release conference and, with a 20-minute speech, defined Xingyue L’s positioning.

“Xingyue L has opened up a new road for upgrading traditional cars.”

So, will Xingyue L replicate the path of the Xingrui?

Gan Jiayue’s confidence comes from the fact that “Geely Technology 4.0 era has put a lot of effort into architecture and car making,” while Lin Jie’s confidence comes from the fact that “Xingyue L pre-sales orders broke ten thousand in 48 hours, with total orders nearly 30 thousand.”

It appears that Xingyue L has received market recognition for now.

However, caution is needed, as a car model so full of “high-end technology” can withstand the spotlight of such fierce competition and continue to bear the banner of “fighting for the value of Chinese cars.”

Another area where caution is needed is how to differentiate the “China Star” brand from the Lynk & Co brand, which are both high-end products of Geely.

“Xingyue L has to compete with joint ventures,” reads the headline.

There is no doubt that every second of the press conference and every word of the interview affirmed one thing: Xingyue L combines Geely’s best current technologies and is a leap forward in Geely’s brand and product values.When the Xingyue L and the high-end products, Xingyue S and Xingrui, both adopting the CMA architecture 4.0, formed the “Chinese Xing” lineup in a launch event, it was not surprising that Geely and the symbol of “China” were strongly associated, indicating that Geely is ready to take the lead in China’s automotive marathon.

As for what standards make China the global leader in the automotive industry, the launch of the Xingyue L has provided three answers.

Firstly, leading in the era of global architecture manufacturing. Under the Geely 4.0 CMA architecture era, Geely will ensure sustained technological leadership. Currently, there are over one million users of CMA architecture products, and by 2024, all Geely brand products will achieve architecture manufacturing.

Secondly, leading in the era of intelligent and new energy. Inheriting the new CMA intelligent, evolving electronic and electrical architecture, the Xingyue L is equipped with an all-domain FOTA capability, the first to launch engine power OTA, and has a 2.0T+7DCT powertrain. In terms of product strength, the Xingyue L has enough capital to compete with joint venture models.

Thirdly, leading in the era of global 5G intelligent travel. Currently, advanced 5G-AVP autonomous parking system, HWA high-speed driving assistance system, and Galaxy OS vehicle intelligent control center technologies have been applied in the Xingyue L. Chinese Xing has fully implemented FOTA for fuel vehicles.

The release of Chinese Xing marks a new advancement in Geely’s architecture manufacturing. Group after group of data tells the story of the necessity and urgency of Xingyue L carrying Geely’s intelligent transformation.

” We also hope to present the best things to users in the Xingyue L, and the idea is that simple,” said Lin Jie and Gan Jiaye in unison. Xingyue L has the determination and strength to break through. “As a leader, being ahead of others depends on having superior product technology.”

In the past, the Chinese automotive market has been defined by joint venture brands, including segmentation sizes and many standards. The release of the Chinese Xing series is a reflection of Geely’s leading thinking. As fellow industry insiders have said, the value of Xingyue L lies in the fact that Li Shufu is leading Geely automobiles to stand on the deck of Geely 4.0 and look out at the times.

“Our core goal is to compete with joint venture brands and increase the overall market share of Chinese brands,” said Lin Jie.

However, he also has a concern that “there will be certain challenges in delivery” due to the pace of marketing and supply availability of chips. The biggest problem in the supply chain is uncontrollability.Many customers hope to take their car from the 4S shop immediately, which is still challenging for the Star Yue L. Lin Jie repeatedly assured that as a first-tier supplier, the Star Yue L has guaranteed chip supply. The Star Yue L uses the car-grade Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. This is the first time that Geely Holding Group’s automotive brands and products have been equipped.

“Because the Star Yue L uses the CMA architecture, it is more intelligent and uses more chips. There are certainly constraints, but we have made predictions.” The chip shortage has not affected Geely’s expectations for the Star Yue L.

“The product must be built according to the popular model requirements. As long as the chip production capacity is resolved, the quantity can be increased.”

“Understanding Geely is Great”

As for what kind of model can join the “China Star” camp?

“‘China Star’ is a product line that creates a popular high-end brand and popular high-end products.” Gan Jiaye is clear about this issue. The strategic significance of “China Star”: breaking the “monopoly” of joint venture brands in the high-end market, providing high-value products.

From the Emperor to the current Star Yue L five years ago, Geely Automobile has always adjusted its organization according to changes in the market to respond to the market competition environment and changes. This time, the core of the adjustment is to build the new forces. Originally, the Xing Rui and the Star Yue belonged to different networks. Now, the three models are combined to comprise the China Star series.

Moreover, Geely has given sales expectations. Data shows that in the first half of the year, CMA high-end models sold 157,448 units, accounting for 25% of Geely’s total sales in the first half of the year. For the Star series, Geely hopes to grow strong step by step, at least occupying 30% of the market share.

“China Star is not separated from the Geely brand, it is just a longer product system.” Lin Jie revealed that this year is a big year for the Geely brand’s products. After the release of the Star Yue L, the fourth generation of Emperors, and a new car with a new styling, will be launched one after another.

In September, Geely will also launch the power brand. The GHS2.0 intelligent hybrid system achieves the highest global thermal efficiency of 43.32%, a fuel saving rate of more than 40%, and full power domain OTA, and will be successively equipped in more than 10 Geely models within 3 years.

Obviously, after the Star Yue L, Geely has prepared for a “longer” product system. However, from the difficult journey of Geely’s 1.5 million vehicle system, this “longer” road still has a long way to go.

When searching for Geely’s ups and downs, we will find that the huge product matrix and strong product power support Geely’s position as the leader in Chinese independent brand sales. However, the dense models are causing the boundaries of each brand to become increasingly blurred during the step-by-step growth process.This time, the StarRise L represents Geely’s upward move towards the high-end market, differentiating itself from Lynk & Co and gaining much attention.

During an interview, Geely presented a set of data about Lynk & Co. After 5 years, the Lynk & Co brand has released 5 models, with sales exceeding 500,000 units and an average selling price of 156,000 yuan per vehicle. “Lynk & Co is a high-end brand, and high-end means building a car.”

Similarly, the “China Star” from the CMA platform architecture, the StarRise L, is priced at 137,200-185,200 yuan, with the main selling models concentrated around 150-160,000 yuan. “The StarRise L is very similar to the Volvo XC60. I’m willing to pay 150,000 yuan for a XC60-like model.”

“After the price of the StarRise L was announced, netizens commented, ‘It looks like a shadow of Volvo’. ‘Should I buy a Lynk & Co 01 or a StarRise L?’ This became a choice for consumers.”

2021 is the “Year of the 2.0T Engine” for Chinese brands, with three domestic flagship 2.0T models, the WEY Mocha, the StarRise L, and the Changan UNI-K. How to choose among them is a big question, and this also means that the StarRise L is not the only choice.

“Among the 30,000 orders, 25% of them are from Geely’s old customers, and there are also many Borui customers, so we can see that customers are strongly attached to their own products.” Behind this strong brand loyalty, there is a further consolidation of the foundation of traditional cars, which also reveals a sense of crisis.

Geely believes that at present, the China Star represents the highest level of Chinese car brands and will launch a challenge to the high-end market.

However, the rapid arrival of new products directly affects the rhythm and allocation of marketing efforts. Overly complicated product lines and prices that are too close can easily restrain each other in the sales process and are not conducive to creating hit products.

“Geely’s hit products are becoming few and far between.” This is a reality.

Even powerful automakers like Volkswagen and General Motors cannot solve this problem. Overlapping price ranges test the stability of Geely’s pricing system. The conversion of sales brought by the listing cycle and order thickness is also enough to make Ganjia Yue and Lin Jie cautious.

Will the StarRise L live up to Geely’s expectations and achieve a “leading position”?

“The next marketing efforts will be fully integrated among the market side, marketing side, users, and channels, and cannot be done independently.” Lin Jie has already figured out how to promote the China Star brand.”This period of time, if you can thoroughly understand Chinese Xing, it would be incredible.” Ganjiayue remains cautious.

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.