"Young people today, their eyes have very high resolution."
“Young people can, should, and must drive the coolest and most fun cars right now.”
On April 12, at the iCAR2024 Brand Night, Dr. Su Jun, CEO of smartmi Technology and Chief Product Officer of the iCAR brand, reorganized the brand proposition of iCAR. When a table of cameras in his collection appeared on the big screen, this rather unique The "geek style" personal image interweaves with the brand core to create a resonance that merges into one.
At this brand night, iCAR clarified its brand positioning as a "car for young people" and its latest vision of "making excellent cars for young people with a young heart". The new product iCAR V23 was simultaneously unveiled to New designs, technologies and products announce brand upgrades. At the same time, the iCAR brand also previewed the X25, the first model of the X series, further demonstrating the brand's strategic plan for the future new energy era.
"Youth", as a core keyword, is the starting point of the iCAR brand's creativity, and it appeared repeatedly in just over two hours. In its brand line and product proposition, iCAR shows a new insight into young people.
01
New product matrix
The iCAR brand was born in April last year. It is CHERY's first new energy brand and the only one among the four major brands of CHERY, EXEED, JETOUR and iCAR that focuses on new energy.
In February this year, iCAR's first car, iCAR 03, was officially launched. The official guide price when it was launched was 109,800-169,800 yuan. The outstanding cost performance allowed this car to gain market recognition in a short period of time. Data shows that one month after its launch, iCAR 03 has received orders for more than 16,000 vehicles. Sales in March were 5,487 vehicles, and sales in the first ten days of April were 2,113, a month-on-month increase of 81%. With the establishment of the brand image, it is expected that by May this year, the monthly sales of iCAR 03 will exceed 10,000 units.
However, in the current fierce competition in the external market environment, iCAR is also facing the challenge of gaining a firm foothold and moving to the next level. At the iCAR2024 Brand Night, a total of 3 new products were announced, targeting the young market with "three arrows at once".
As the first product of the brand Shengwei, iCAR V23 is positioned as a "style off-road electric urban SUV". The exterior design is full of power and fashion. The off-road-style square box shape pays homage to the classics. The four-wheel and four-corner design, ultra-short front and rear overhangs and large wheelbase bring a strong visual impact; at the same time, it provides a sense of space inside the car. The ultra-large space, ultra-comfortable seats and "high-profile" vision multi-dimensionally upgrade the driving experience.
In terms of intelligence, V23 also performs well. Thanks to the L2+ level intelligent driving and the application of 8155 mainstream chip car computers, users can easily grasp the road conditions and enjoy the pleasure of "on the road".
iCAR hopes that V23 can accurately meet the core value needs of young users with its good looks, high taste, high quality, super practicality and reliability, and become the choice of "young people's first car". Su Jun promised at the press conference that iCAR, after the brand upgrade, will continue to make strides forward on the new energy track, and ultimately realize “allowing everyone to enjoy the pleasure of exquisite technology.”
In addition, iCAR also previewed the X25, the first model of the X series.
The X25, positioned as a medium-to-large off-road style MPV, is iCAR's innovation for the future new energy era. Its body design combines classic off-road elements with a single-car design, showing a sense of future science fiction. Relying on the technical advantages of the new energy platform, the X25 has better controllability and stability. The fully flat floor design allows for transparent interior space and flexible seat combinations to meet various travel needs.
In the future, the iCAR brand will take the explicit needs of users as the starting point and continue to amplify the core value of users, which is concretely reflected in the joint creation of a rich product matrix with its 0, V, and X series. Among them, the 0 series focuses on exquisite technology and pursues technological equality; the V series features off-road style, emphasizing differentiation, high appearance and ultra-practicability; and the X series is committed to becoming a "new species of single-box cars."
02
Dig deep into “young people” and create “new species”
Behind the eye-catching V23, a person who cannot be ignored is Su Jun, the founder and CEO of Zhimi. His new identity is the chief product planning officer of CHERY New Energy.
In the past, this Tsinghua Ph.D. and university professor with a background in industrial design resolutely decided to start a business overseas and established smartmiTechnology. After smartmiTechnology entered the leading camp of the smart home industry relying on its strong production capacity of hot-selling products and Xiaomi's ecological chain system, Su Jun unexpectedly joined the torrent of the automobile industry. Cooperate with CHERY, integrate into the CHERY iCAR brand, and start a new journey.
When he appeared in front of everyone again, the academic research spirit still left clear traces on Su Jun. Many global hot-selling products such as air purifiers and smart toilet seats from smartmiTechnology have helped him accumulate valuable ability to define hot products.
From a dismantling point of view, Su Jun’s hot selling methodology is first of all to deeply understand and accurately grasp the core needs of users to ensure that the product can directly solve the most pressing user problems of users.
Secondly, avoid excessive pursuit of complicated functions, because this will not only distract the focus of the product, interfere with consumer choice, but also increase costs, thereby affecting the market competitiveness of the product.
Finally, make full use of the resource advantages of Xiaomi's ecological chain, focus on creating "super single products", win the market through continuous hot products, and in the process continue to consolidate connections with users and enhance brand influence.
In the automotive industry, this methodology still has strong reference significance.
Many car companies want to expand into the "young people" market, but in the end they often fail to make money by betting on the "middle-aged" market. In the past, some products that were claimed to be "young people's first car" were essentially downsized and reduced versions of popular products that have been proven to be popular in the "middle-aged market".
Su Jun has a keen insight that pursuing beautiful things and being moved by details is a very important trait for young people. In other words, even if you have a limited budget, you will still pay for beautiful things.
Regarding this car, Su Jun once introduced:
"First of all, the category should focus on cars with good space, and directly cut off the irrelevant sedans, sports cars and other items in the product line. The product direction should be cool, fun and practical cars, with the attitude of 'making friends' , using explosive methods to build cars for young people.”
"Secondly, from the appearance point of view, iCAR V23, as a pure electric SUV focusing on off-road style, has a new design language that combines retro feelings with a sense of future technology."
“In addition, from the perspective of details, such as the rear space and man-machine space, we try to enlarge the interior space of the car as much as possible, so that the A-class car can reach the space of B-class or C-class, and the entire sitting posture and control have a sense of pride and personality. "
To a certain extent, iCAR’s design philosophy is a combination of “addition” and “subtraction”. Cut off unimportant functions and control costs. Make additions to key factors and achieve the ultimate goal.
03
"Big CHERY" joins hands with CATL to achieve "acceleration"
The style of this press conference is completely different from the style shown by CHERY in previous press conferences. Dr. Su Jun, CEO of smartmiTechnology and chief product officer of iCAR brand, and Zhang Hongyu, deputy general manager of CHERY Automobile Co., Ltd. and general manager of iCAR brand division, join hands to form the "strongest CP". One is calm and the other is passionate, bringing ice and The collision of fire and frequent jokes caused the audience to scream in surprise.
Even Yin Tongyue, Party Secretary and Chairman of CHERY Holding Group, said bluntly that such a press conference had never been held before. iCAR has become a testing ground for trying and exploring new routes. Yin Tongyue even said: "iCAR is a 'new special zone' created by CHERY Group. The group will spare no effort to support the development of iCAR. There is no upper limit on investment to help iCAR enter the first camp of new energy."
In order to achieve this goal, CHERY is accelerating technology research and development, making up for its shortcomings and developing its strong points. Relying on the "Yaoguang 2025" technology system, CHERY will invest no less than 100 billion yuan in the next five years to build 300+ Yaoguang laboratories. Various new technologies are continuously developed in the core technical fields. Zhang Hongyu, deputy general manager of CHERY Automobile Co., Ltd. and general manager of the iCAR brand, said that CHERY’s strong technical reserves are like a treasure chest with everything you need.
At present, iCAR 03 has completed its first OTA upgrade. High-speed NOA, cross-level memory parking and other functions are now fully "available". It adopts a purely visual route, has leading technology and is affordable, making it the first choice in this price range. In addition, iCAR can also continuously iteratively upgrade electric four-wheel drive through technical means such as software upgrades and front and rear axle decoupling, making driving more flexible and interesting.
At the press conference, CHERY also announced a strategic cooperation with CATL, a global leader in new energy batteries. The two parties will further strengthen cooperation in technology and capital to jointly promote the growth of the iCAR brand. Zeng Yuqun, Chairman and General Manager of CATL, said that CATL will provide powerful innovative energy guarantees and the most advanced innovative energy solutions for the iCAR brand.
As a leader in the power battery industry, CATL has advanced battery technology and production capabilities. From a technical perspective, the cooperation between the two parties will help CHERY accelerate the upgrading and replacement of key technology areas and enhance the market competitiveness of its products. From the perspective of the industrial chain, cooperation with CATL will also help CHERY stabilize its supply chain, reduce procurement costs, and improve production efficiency.
Post time: Apr-26-2024