The controversy one month ago has not dissipated, and Zhiji L6 is officially listed.
On the evening of May 13, after several times of warm-up, the configuration parameters of Zhiji L6 Extreme Stacking were already clear. After the technical details were introduced, the co CEO Liu Tao revealed the final answer. The price of the entry model L6 was only 199900 yuan, 30000 yuan lower than the pre-sale price, and an additional 25000 yuan of preferential rights and interests were added.
Although there was no mention of Xiaomi SU7 at the scene, Zhiji came up with the price that Lei Jun was unwilling to give. However, behind the heroic, in fact, is full of the urgency of wisdom. This high-end brand, which SAIC places high hopes on, is also involved in the price range below 200000 yuan.
As SAIC's "No. 1 project", it has grasped the resources and technology of SAIC Group, Zhangjiang High tech and Alibaba's tripartite shareholders since the launch of the brand, aiming at BBA to replace it. Liu Tao, who is a chassis engineer, gambled with the driving control label at the very beginning and ventured into the market of 30000 yuan or 400000 yuan.
However, after struggling for more than two years, Zhiji still failed to surpass the scale. Until the third model LS6 came into the market at the end of last year, and the price dropped to over 200000, Zhiji finally achieved a monthly sales of over 10000 yuan. However, this year, under the impact of frequent competitive products and price war, the sales volume of LS6 retreated again, and the overall brand rebounded from the peak of 10000 units last December to the current level of 2000 to 3000 units.
Chen Wei, director of Zhiji Product Strategy Center, said frankly that Zhiji has a strong product power, but it is not included in the top 3 "choice list" of brands that consumers like, and the marginal effect of cognition is diminishing especially severely.
Liu Tao did not shy away from the weakness of brand popularity. He said that in the environment of industry frenzy and rapid product iteration, technological progress is faster than consumers' cognitive updating speed, and "it is easy to transmit the burst technology even without refrigerators, color TVs and color matching".
It seems that Zhiji is trapped in the dilemma of not paying enough attention, but in the opinion of industry insiders, the essence of the problem lies in the differentiation of brand and driving control, which is difficult to sustain a higher premium for the time being.
Now, under the frenzy of the industry, the price system of the car market has undergone tremendous changes, and the price of traditional fuel B-class cars has fallen to within 200000 yuan; BMW 3-Series, Audi A4L, Mercedes Benz C-Class and other high-end models that originally cost more than 300000 yuan have become the main mid range vehicles of 200000 to 300000 yuan after price reduction.
The competitiveness of mid price pure electric vehicles is threatened, and the sales decline is inevitable. According to the data of the China Automobile Association, in the first quarter of this year, the range of 200000 yuan to 250000 yuan fell by 4.9%, and the former star model Model3 was not spared. In April, the sales volume was only 5000, losing the glory of sales in the past 30000 months.
Within the market range of 200000 to 300000 yuan entered by Zhiji L6 this time, Xiaopeng P7, Jikrypton 007, Geely Galaxy E8, Zhijie S7, Star Epoch ES, BYD Han EV and other brands have gathered together, and the homogenization competition has become increasingly obvious. As a last resort, Zhiji has begun to use extreme price trials and marketing methods to try to seize the minds of consumers.
Fortunately, after the two sets of cards were thrown out, Zhiji seemed to get the market's heat feedback as expected. Before listing, it had obtained an order for 29000 units in one step, and after 48 hours of official listing, it broke (lock order) 6000 units in large quantity.
However, this achievement is still difficult to reassure the market. Some insiders believe that the L6 from 199900 yuan is a gamble for the company and SAIC Group, that is, the "alternative" of Zhiji and Feifan brands in disguise.
From "breaking three" to "breaking two", Zhiji has broken the "hidden rules" within the group twice and cut into the price belt of Feifan Automobile. A person close to Feifan told Wall Street that the pricing of L6 embarrassed Feifan.
The price of Zhiji has been further lowered, which makes the living conditions of Feifan, who is frequently rumored about layoffs and mergers, more complicated and confusing. At the same time, it means that Zhiji is constantly compromising on the market and pushing itself into a more competitive sinking market.
However, Liu Tao confidently said, "When we integrate the capabilities of software, smart driving, smart cabin and digital chassis, it is difficult to compare this explosive power with that of its competitors in the short term".
For the lack of brand power, Liu Tao reflected on finding his own way, "simply blogging some traffic is neither Zhiji's feature nor Zhiji's specialty. Zhiji should take technical strengths and user scenarios as the real focus of future marketing".
As for the problem of short sales cycle of LS6, Liu Tao learned from 3C electronic products and put forward the strategy of accelerating the promotion and replacement, forming 3-4 waves of product attacks every year. This year, there are two other models besides the L6.
It seems that Zhiji, who has been gambled by the group, still has the resources and confidence to make a single bet. At the beginning of March this year, Wisdom has obtained a round B financing of 8 billion yuan to accumulate food for technological development; In the face of temporary losses, Liu Tao said SAIC's strong supply chain system can also share some pressure.
However, even with the golden spoon, it remains to be seen whether Zhiji can solve the core positioning problem in the future, which will also affect the realization of SAIC Group's dream of soaring.
