Following the launch of NIO's second brand, Le Dao, Xiaopeng Motors, also a new force in the automotive industry, is intensifying preparations for its subsidiary brand MONA.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Xiaopeng Motors has turned its attention to the mature and more cost-effective domestic smart driving chips in its selection of smart driving chips. Among them, top domestic players Horizon and Black Sesame Intelligence are both under consideration.
"After delving into car manufacturing, we will find that there is huge market potential in the price range of 100000 to 150000 yuan. However, it is extremely difficult to truly create a good car in this range that is excellent in all aspects and equipped with our best intelligent driving ability, and also has appropriate profits. Today, we are finally ready." Xiaopeng Automobile Chairman He Xiaopeng once said that Xiaopeng Automobile is the first car company in China to bring advanced intelligent driving ability to the 100000 to 150000 yuan A-class car market.
To obtain "appropriate profits", local supply chains will be one of the important ways to control costs. In the field of intelligent cabin and driving, Black Sesame Intelligence launched the Wudang series C1200 family in April 2023, which is the first chip platform in the industry to integrate the four domains of cockpit, intelligent driving, body control, and gateway. Among them, the C1296 single chip focuses on achieving typical cabin and driving integration at low cost. In addition, on the eve of the Beijing Auto Show in April this year, Horizon released its new Journey 6 series products. Among them, the J6E and J6B products, which focus on cost-effectiveness, are the main forces for Horizon to explore the mid to low price segment of the market.
As of the time of publication, the two chip companies mentioned above have not responded to their participation in the Xiaopeng MONA project.
Not only does the intelligent driving cabin consider local supply chains, but it is reported that in order to achieve cost reduction goals, the battery suppliers for MONA's first product include BYD's more cost-effective lithium iron phosphate batteries. In addition, BYD may also become a battery supplier for NIO's second brand, Ledo.
It is particularly urgent for Xiaopeng Motors to launch a product that is quickly accepted by the market. From January to April this year, Xiaopeng Motors sold a total of 31214 vehicles, although it increased by 23% year-on-year, the average monthly sales were less than 8000 vehicles, and the overall situation is not optimistic. At the beginning of the year, Xiaopeng Motors set an annual sales target of 280000 vehicles, but now this target has only been achieved by 10%.
At this year's Beijing Auto Show, the MONA brand officially made its debut. Xiaopeng Motors stated that they will release more news about MONA in June. In order to promote MONA, He Xiaopeng also took advantage of Xiaomi's traffic at the Beijing Auto Show, emphasizing the innovation and competitiveness of the MONA brand. He Xiaopeng predicts that MONA will be more popular than Xiaomi SU7 in the second half of this year.
Regarding sales expectations, He Xiaopeng once expected MONA to sell 100000 vehicles annually during the Xiaopeng Automobile financial report conference call. It is worth mentioning that MONA, which originated from the Didi da Vinci project, will also be sold in both the C-end and B-end markets. In addition, Xiaopeng is more pragmatic in channel construction for MONA. "In the early stage, we will open 'in store stores' in Xiaopeng comprehensive stores with conditions, and then open separate stores for the MONA brand."
The emergence of Ledao and MONA actually signifies the "downward exploration" of NIO and Xiaopeng Motors. In the opinion of analysts, "NIO's decision to lower battery swapping to the 200000 yuan market and Xiaopeng's decision to lower intelligent driving to the 100000 yuan market are both aimed at achieving greater sales through this' dimensionality reduction strike '."