There is still a week to go before the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show, and various automakers are eager to ignite the fierce competition in the auto market in the spring, either by making announcements in advance or avoiding the peak period of the Shanghai Auto Show to unveil their blockbuster products. However, the Chinese market is dominated by many automakers and brands, and even if they plan ahead, they cannot open up the time gap between them, and crowding is inevitable.
On the evening of April 15, five brands held press conferences to launch five new cars, including the luxury brand Volvo XC90, the new forces Zeekr 007GT and Xiaopeng X9, the mainstream joint venture Guangben P7, and the independent brand Jetour Shanhai L9. Although some are brand-new products and some are new models of the year, for each brand, these products are still relatively important and deserve certain examination by the market and the industry.
For example, can the Volvo XC90, which focuses on safety, reshape the influence of its flagship product in the new energy and new luxury markets such as Ideal L9 and Wenjie M9?
Although the Volvo XC90 has not hit the right rhythm and timing in terms of market popularity and meeting the needs of Chinese consumers, and is not accepted and recognized by everyone, the new XC90 attaches the most importance to safety and puts forward the concept that "safety is a belief."
It can be said that after the industry has been hotly discussing intelligent driving, battery and new energy safety since April, Volvo's talk about safety is timely. Even if the result is not what Volvo wants, at least in terms of the call for safety and the industry's adherence, the voice at the Volvo XC90 launch conference is a correction and a rectification of the chaos in the industry.
In particular, Yuan Xiaolin, CEO of Volvo Asia Pacific, opened fire on some of the chaos in the current automotive industry, criticizing the marketing-oriented safety, parameter-based breakthroughs, configuration-based hypermarkets, and wish-making pseudoscience that exist in the industry. He believes that safety has always been a systematic project, and the combination of hardware, software and data is only the foundation. It also requires strong engineering capabilities, long-term knowledge accumulation and prudent analysis and verification.
However, in terms of product, the new XC90 has not seen much change. It is equivalent to a mid-term facelift for this car after 10 years, with only partial upgrades to the front face and interior, which is not friendly to Chinese consumers who pursue novel experiences. Moreover, as an imported car, the XC90 only sells more than 10,000 units a year in China, which is difficult to form a decisive influence.
Fortunately, in terms of price, the XC90 is indeed more pragmatic than before. Compared with the suggested price of 638,900 yuan to 894,900 yuan, the maximum reduction is more than 200,000 yuan, reaching 479,000 yuan to 679,000 yuan. A PHEV version has also been launched, which basically fits the price range of Wenjie M9 and Ideal L9, allowing consumers to think and make choices in the comparison between technology and safety.
The question for 007GT is, as Zeekr once again enters the hunting jacket market, standing at the node of its fourth anniversary, can 007GT usher in a new milestone for Zeekr with more extreme products and prices?
Four years ago, Zeekr opened up the shooting brake coupe market segment with 001. In the past, one out of every 10 shooting brakes sold was a Zeekr. It took four years to open up a brand new segment, allowing the domestic new energy market to gradually give birth to shooting brake or station wagon segments and products such as NIO ET5 and Nezha S.
Today, four years later, Zeekr once again uses a high-tech shooting brake coupe to open the next four-year milestone. At this moment, Zeekr's understanding of the shooting brake coupe can be said to have once again deepened and sublimated, and it has made a better shooting brake product than four years ago.
First of all, the price of 007GT. The starting price after rights and interests is 199,900 yuan, and the top-end model is 230,000 yuan. This is the cheapest Zeekr model except Zeekr X. Moreover, the entire series is equipped with the vast intelligent driving system with laser radar, Qualcomm 8295 chips, and CCD magic carpet system as standard. Coupled with Zeekr's original design, quality, materials and safety, when it comes to the internal competition of electric vehicles, no one can surpass Zeekr.
Secondly, the 4th anniversary marked the beginning of Zeekr's steps towards the 2.0 era. Zeekr is no longer obsessed with pure electric vehicles, but is exploring more diversified new energy solutions in response to the brand's gradual upward demand, using a variety of power forms to meet more user needs. For example, the super electric hybrid system launched by 9X will become an important driving force for Zeekr's high-end development in the future.
There are some other changes in Zeekr in the 2.0 era. For example, in terms of communication with users, it is no longer the straight-forward and engineering-minded in the past. For example, in terms of products and technology, it must be user-demand-oriented and iterate in an orderly manner. The situation of sharpening three swords in a year will no longer occur. At the same time, it is necessary to face problems and users directly and establish a full life cycle user communication mechanism.
What is more worth mentioning is that as a new luxury brand that is about to enter the stage of accumulating 500,000 users, Zeekr will also build a luxury service system in the 2.0 era, including the industry's only "lifetime warranty on three-electric systems with unlimited mileage", "free high-speed rescue service", "free roadside assistance covering any road in the country within 4 years or 100,000 kilometers for new cars", etc., as well as "1-hour quick insurance, 24-hour quick spray", free car pick-up and delivery, free maintenance and pick-up and other service upgrades. In addition to product strength, strengthening the essential services for luxury is also a must for Zeekr on its way up.
The question for Xiaopeng is, after the increasingly downward product images of M03, P7+ and other products, can Xiaopeng X9 awaken its value in the luxury MPV market and put the brand on an upward path by gilding itself by entering the Hong Kong MPV market?
On the evening of April 15, Xiaopeng launched the 2025 X9 at its Global Brand Night in Hong Kong. The price remains the same as before, ranging from 359,800 to 419,800 yuan. Hong Kong and MPVs are naturally directly related. In this market full of luxury MPVs, which has defined the value and influence of MPVs, Hong Kong is the frontier of MPVs and represents the vane of MPVs. The introduction of X9 to the Hong Kong market is enough to show how high Xiaopeng's status and expectations are for the X9 MPV.
As Xiaopeng's flagship, the X9 actually has advantages in product strength and price. However, under the competition from Zeekr 009 and a number of extended-range large SUVs, the Xiaopeng X9 lacks upward momentum.
However, for Xiaopeng, the biggest problem is not the poor sales of X9, but the cheaper M03, which has become the pillar of the brand, has gradually lowered Xiaopeng's brand image and average selling price by two levels. In addition, the prices of P7 series and G series products have been dropping step by step in the fierce market competition, which is not friendly to brand building and persistence.
Therefore, the problem that He Xiaopeng needs to solve is how to keep Xiaopeng on the upward path so that the brand will not lose too much value compared with Weilai and Ideal. X9 has become the only breakthrough. Of course, in addition to products, technology is also an important starting point. The Kunpeng super electric hybrid system with a pure electric range of 430 kilometers breaks the limitations of pure electric in the high-end luxury market, and the idea is exactly the same as Zeekr. At the same time, technologies such as L3 autonomous driving and Turing chips have also had clear timetables, becoming a technical magic weapon to support Xiaopeng's brand influence.
The question for Honda P7 is that after experiencing the lesson of Dongfeng Honda S7's "offline" pricing, GAC Honda has called out a price of 199,900 yuan for the P7. Can this seemingly persuasive price restore the outside world's stereotype of Honda and joint venture electrification?
In fact, the Guangben P7 is priced at 259,900 yuan compared to the S7 launched by Dongfeng Honda 40 days ago. The price of the same Honda medium-sized pure electric vehicle has dropped by 60,000 yuan. It can be seen that Honda, a mainstream joint venture brand, has tried to understand the pricing system and style of the Chinese market. After the P7 was launched, Dongfeng Honda S7 also lowered its sales price and rights, and extended this preferential price guarantee to existing car owners, which is enough to show Honda's desire for change. Honda can sometimes be very harsh on itself.
In fact, as a mature joint venture car company, Honda dared to set the price of 260,000 yuan before, which means that its products are worthy of that price. This is a kind of product confidence. For example, it invests costs in areas that are difficult for users to perceive but are crucial in long-term use. It spends a four-year R&D cycle to polish the control details and maintains a paranoid adherence to supply chain, durability testing, collision safety and other aspects.
But the market, feedback and user voices are more important. The two Hondas lowered their prices under cost pressure, which is the most direct manifestation of "listening to advice". This does require a certain amount of courage, showing Honda's perseverance and persistence in the battle of new energy. At least from the perspective of cost, the price below 200,000 yuan may not be able to hold the cost.
On the other hand, Honda hopes to expand its user base by lowering the threshold for car purchases, focusing on the service value of the entire life cycle, and better use large-scale market feedback to feed back technology iteration. This long-term development approach also represents Honda using its own way to sound the new clarion call for the counterattack of joint venture electric vehicles.
Finally, it is a question for the Jetour Shanhai series. Shanhai L9 carries the heavy responsibility of moving Jetour's family travel series upward. This time, Shanhai L9 is re-listed with a lower price. Can it change the fact that L9 has been at the bottom of the brand in the past six months?
First of all, judging from the name, the new Shanhai L9 sounds like the same level as Ideal L9. In terms of front face design, 6-seat layout, zero-gravity seats, etc., it is close to the Ideal brand and is also a new energy product, but in fact, the size positioning is close to Ideal L6, and the price is even cheaper by tens of thousands, which accurately grasps the psychology of consumers. Moreover, the price of 146,900 yuan to 165,900 yuan is almost 20,000 yuan lower than the guide price, and the cost-effective route is well implemented. In addition, it is backed by Chery Group and the rapidly growing Jetour Automobile, which seems to have great prospects.
However, looking at the sales over the past year or so, Shanhai L9's performance has been lukewarm, and in the past six months, it has basically been the second-to-last model in terms of sales of Jetour. This replacement and price reduction is very necessary, and Jetour's goal is to change its downward trend since last year.
Secondly, the Shanhai L series is positioned as a hybrid vehicle for family travel. In fact, its sales performance has always been lower than that of its boxy cars. This is not only related to the difficulty of competition, but also to Jetour's need to break through the high-end of the brand. As an extension of the brand to family travel, it faces many competitors and great pressure to rise. It is not easy to further upgrade the brand.
In the involutionary market, every brand has to respond to the market and industry questions with the most practical products, and the answers will be verified by the market and consumers after the new products are launched. But in fact, the more cruel fact is that before this wave of products can express themselves well, the next round of new products will follow one after another in a "daily update" manner, constantly covering up yesterday's voice.
Following the 15th, 5 products will be launched on the market on the 16th, including the Wenjie M8, Xiangjie S9 extended range, Fangcheng Baotai 3, Haval Xiaolong MAX, Trumpchi Xiangwang M8, etc. More and more heavyweight products will continue to be launched into the market. In just 24 hours, 10 heavyweight products will be launched into the market.
In the words of netizens, there are too many products and consumers are not enough. Day after day, year after year, new cars are launched. There are products that are sought after and trigger industry crazes, and there will be players who are unknown and unable to recover after being launched. In the Chinese auto market where more players gather, the bustling scene is accompanied by suffocating internal competition. Who can survive smoothly?
(The original title is "10 new cars sold in 24 hours, who can survive the "suffocating internal circulation"? ")