Introduction
On December 15th, the newly founded NEV (New Energy Vehicle) company, NIUTRON or “自游家” in Chinese, founded by the former Huawei executive Li Yinan, unveiled its brand. Despite the newness of the brand, it has garnered significant attention for its founder’s impressive resume, which includes being a genius youth, Huawei executive, Baidu CTO, and founder of Niu Electric Motorbikes. Consequently, although the company has not released much information about its products, people are focusing more on Li’s background and the successful product, Niu Electric Motorbikes.
During the unveiling, Li did not reveal much about NIUTRON’s products, but we now know that their flagship product is the NIUTRON NV, a medium-to-large-size SUV, offered in both plug-in hybrid and pure electric form, produced on the Gemini platform. The NV will be produced in small quantities in March of next year, with pre-orders available in the first half of the year, and deliveries beginning in September.
How Strong is NIUTRON?
NIUTRON is quite conservative on its technical route, offering both plug-in hybrid and pure electric options to meet the needs of different customers to the greatest extent possible. However, plug-in hybrid incentives will expire soon, and it is unknown whether plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will continue to have other policy support in the future. If the green plates disappear, it raises significant questions about whether even a powerful car such as the Ideal ONE will continue to sell, let alone the less established NIUTRON brand. As for pure electric vehicles, other than knowing that the platform is called Gemini, less information is available about range, power specifications, and charging technology, all of which will be unveiled at next year’s Beijing Auto Show.
In terms of autonomous driving technology, Li Yinan has explicitly stated that NIUTRON’s first model would not use LiDAR.## What is the outlook for ZYJ NV?
The current standard for self-driving in China is LIDAR, and many new car models seek better situational awareness by using LIDAR. Therefore, it is a challenge for the ZYJ team to bring consumers a better driving assistance experience while addressing consumer doubts and maintaining the existing product configuration. However, considering the deep relationship between Li Yinan and Huawei, it is possible that ZYJ will seek cooperation with Huawei to introduce Huawei’s intelligent network system. However, ZYJ has many other options, such as introducing Apollo as a ready-made technological solution, given that Li Yinan was Baidu’s former CTO.
In terms of size, in ZYJ’s target market, not only the Ideal One but also the Voyah Free are competitors. Especially for the Ideal One, which has monthly sales of over ten thousand, it has become the main competitor of ZYJ NV, the first car model of ZYJ. In terms of technology, these three brands are also pursuing the route of both extended range and pure electric powertrains. For ZYJ, Ideal One is the first hurdle to overcome in order to gain a foothold in the segmented market. As for the Toyota Highlander and BYD Tang, which were previously caught on camera in the factory, they are also competitor models that ZYJ NV needs to pay particular attention to when designing and building.
Without more detailed parameters, we cannot compare ZYJ NV with other competitive models individually. But these popular models in the segmented market are difficult to shake. Li Yinan or the entire ZYJ team still needs more innovative breakthroughs in core technology to establish a foothold in this market. We can refer to the performance of Dongfeng Voyah Free, which only fluctuates in the scale of thousands, unlike Ideal One, which sells over ten thousand per month. Therefore, Li Yinan and his team must show the same level of determination as when they built Xiaoniu Electric Vehicle, seeking new breakthroughs in product experience to avoid becoming the next Voyah Free.Currently, Li Yinan’s financing amount has reached 500 million dollars, which is not enough for a brand new brand in any way. However, we see Li Yinan as a very pragmatic investor, who is pushing for mass production of car models as soon as possible, even if their performance is not the most advanced or their configuration is not the most perfect. With a concrete product and Li Yinan’s own reputation, he can continuously improve his product matrix and expand his scale through sustained financing, which will be Li Yinan’s next target.
However, the competition in the electric car market has become increasingly fierce, and many car companies and technology companies have already accumulated profound expertise in many core components. For Li Yinan and his team at ZIOME, it’s no secret that overtaking in the corner will be challenging. The Ideal ONE is a good example, but whether or not they can replicate the success of the Ideal ONE, currently remains unknown. In the author’s opinion, Li Yinan is taking a gamble to see if he can regain his reputation in the industry through this gamble.
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.