Author: Feng Jingang
Introduction: To work in new energy, we must learn to be friends with time, which is an unchanging truth.
On December 31, Luo Zhenyu’s 2022 New Year’s speech was held in Chengdu, and this year’s theme was “Friends with Time.” Interestingly, the sponsor has been replaced by the familiar Voyah Motors. So, “Friends with Time” can be seen as an implicit slogan of Voyah’s brand promotion.
For anyone in the new energy vehicle industry, the phrase “Friends with Time” should not be unfamiliar. New energy is a bumpy race track of the future, and when we encounter difficulties or frustrations, this phrase is often brought up inadvertently, inspiring us to continue “sneaking around.”
For me, the person who has talked to me the most about “Friends with Time” is William Li, the former PR director of NIO. At that time, NIO was still in the emergency room and was the biggest object of doubt in the industry. But I enjoyed chatting with William Li for hours on end, and when it came to inexplicable issues, he always liked to conclude with the phrase “be friends with time.”
Based on the frequent appearance of “Friends with Time,” looking at Voyah’s current brand slogan, it shows that Voyah is still not satisfied with the current situation. Although it delivered more than 3,000 new vehicles last month and the average transaction price was as high as RMB 338,000, it has emerged as a new leader in the new energy vehicle industry…One can only say that they are envisioning a better future.
So what is Voyah’s vision for the future?
I found some answers from the official promotional materials. Voyah said: “We will continuously provide unique electric products and services to users based on the strength of the national team and world-class supply chain partners, leading Chinese brands upwards.” Yes, Voyah’s statement is very conservative, leading Chinese brands upwards has always been the long-term vision of all Chinese brands.
Nevertheless, we can still see Voyah’s true intentions from its user profile-to become the “BBA” of the era of intelligent electric vehicles. Relevant data shows that 61% of Voyah FREE users are BBA drivers.
This result is not surprising because luxury new car manufacturers have always been trying to challenge BBA. From Tesla, to NIO, and now Voyah Motors, they have competed with BBA multiple times and shown their fangs.
Based on current performance, the future looks bright for new carmakers. Although these new carmakers cannot yet compete with BBA in terms of quantity, they have formed an overwhelming presence in the pure electric market, especially in the new energy market. This is enough to make everyone excited. The century-old automotive industry is experiencing its most intense turmoil and transformation.Can the Voyah make it to the top as one-third of the industry?
As of now, it seems far-fetched for the Voyah. In terms of overall capacity, the Voyah is still far behind the first-tier companies like Tesla, and there is a certain gap with the second-tier companies like NIO and Li Auto. Additionally, without building a complete electric ecosystem, Voyah can only strategically abandon the pure electric market and rely solely on range extenders to differentiate its products.
Of course, for the Voyah, which is only over a year old, we should not demand too much. Compared with the similarly-aged Tesla and NIO, the Voyah has much better relative performance. Furthermore, when it comes to new energy, we must learn to be friends with time, which is an unchanging truth.
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.