21st Century Business Herald reporter Yi Silin reports from Beijing
The "least boring" car under Jike has been launched.
Recently, the Jike MIX was launched. This car adopts a capsule shape, double doors, hidden B-pillar, and rotating seats. There is no locking structure between the front and rear double doors. In order to avoid being sucked open while driving at high speeds, engineers from Jike have designed three locks for the rear door and two locks for the front door.
This car only has two versions - the intelligent driving version and the long-range intelligent driving version.
Our business logic is that SKUs must be few enough and the version must be standard enough, so that users don't have to worry about buying low-end or high-end, "said Lin Jinwen, Vice President of Jike Intelligent Technology.
The official selling price ranges from 279900 yuan to 299900 yuan, slightly exceeding market expectations. An Conghui, CEO of Jike Intelligent Technology, explained that this car is the most challenging engineering research and development project for Geely in nearly 30 years of car manufacturing. The development resources invested in this model are 2.8 times that of a mid to large SUV.
From architecture to materials, the BOM cost of this car has already been included here, and it is difficult to give an extremely low starting price, "said Yang Dacheng, the product manager in charge of this car at Jike.
At present, Jike has three major product lines: the M product line focuses on innovative future travel products, the Z product line is positioned in the luxury car market, and the C product line focuses on the mainstream market with high volume.
The M product line focuses on innovation, but does not have to shoulder the "sales KPI", which is related to the establishment of Jike MIX. The Jike MIX project was initiated in 2021, stemming from a previous collaboration between Geely and autonomous driving company Waymo on the Robotaxi project. Waymo was looking for partners worldwide to produce customized vehicles for the Robotaxi scene, and Geely won the bid.
Geely has invested 7 billion yuan in the development of the Haohan-M architecture, which is used for customized cars by Jike and Waymo, based on the Haohan-M architecture. While developing Robotaxi for Waymo, Jike has also planned a Jike MIX for the home market on the same platform.
At the time of cooperation, Waymo only made two requirements for the product: first, it should have a large space. Secondly, passengers carrying a pile of shopping bags should be able to walk on board.
To carry a shopping bag onto the car, two conditions must be met - the ground clearance of the car must be low enough and the door must be large enough.
The door width of a regular MPV is about 760mm, and passengers can only get on the car first and then put down their shopping bags. To 'get on the car', unless it is made into a double door and the B-pillar is' removed '. Yang Dacheng ultimately chose this plan.
To make the door large enough, Jike MIX also removed the B-pillar. At the same time, the front and rear doors on the passenger side were transformed into outward swing doors that open in a manner similar to a bus, hence the nickname "Baby Bus" for MIX.
The opening width of the ordinary MPV sliding door is about 760mm, while the opening width of the Jike MIX's double door is 1480mm. Yang Dacheng said that only this plan can meet the requirement of "carrying a shopping bag and getting on the car".
As for innovative designs such as hidden B-pillars and rotating seats, how to persuade users to accept them, "Lin Jinwen said," This car doesn't need persuasion, just let users get into the car
After the press conference, 21st Century Business Herald had an exchange with executives such as An Conghui, CEO of Jike Intelligent Technology, Lin Jinwen, Vice President of Jike Intelligent Technology, and Yang Dacheng, Vice President of Jike Intelligent Technology. The following content has been excerpted:
Q: What was the original intention of Jike to create a "unconventional" car like MIX? What are the future plans for the collaboration between Jike and Waymo in autonomous driving?
An Conghui: After releasing the Haohan Architecture, we started developing the Haohan-M Architecture 5 years ago. Four years ago, we established a partnership with Waymo with the goal of creating "cars of the future". The development investment of Jike MIX is 2.8 times that of a mid to large SUV.
The delivery of MIX as scheduled is the most challenging engineering research and development project for Geely in nearly 30 years of car manufacturing. For us, it is an exploration and practice of future travel. For example, the previous intelligent cockpit focused on human-computer interaction, while MIX pays more attention to the interaction between people and vehicles during the driving process.
Q: The Jike MIX looks very unique, such as the seats and doors. Is it difficult to develop in terms of engineering?
Yang Dacheng: Regarding the difficulty of seat engineering, many people are actually curious about seats and car doors. Let me take seats as an example first. We were able to play with such a complex layout of seats in the car, solving three problems: spatial interference, safety, and control of software and hardware integration.
Take safety as an example. Currently, most car seats are installed on the body crossbeam, with seat belts placed on the B-pillar, while the seat belts of the Jike MIX are placed on top of the seats. The strength of the seat belt placed on the seat will be at least twice that of traditional seats. When the long slide rail is added, the strength will increase by two times. When the turntable is added to the seat, the strength will increase by nearly two times. When added together, the strength of the Extreme Krypton MIX seat is about four times that of traditional seats.
The seat of Jike MIX was designed as a hardware concept platform from the beginning, and after completing all aspects such as safety and durability, it went through a five wheel platform. Therefore, the cost of developing this seat is more than three times that of conventional seats.
Q: Why is this car using EX MacPherson suspension instead of considering using air suspension or four-wheel drive?
Yang Dacheng: The front EX MacPherson+rear multi link architecture, inclined firewall, and shock absorption avoidance design we use are all aimed at obtaining larger interior space.
Technically speaking, the existing chassis architecture of the Jike MIX reduces the lateral space occupied by the front suspension by 15.8% compared to the double wishbone and 4.8% compared to the traditional MacPherson suspension; The rear suspension compound space is arranged in an overlapping manner, and the shock absorbers and springs are separated to reduce the encroachment of the rear trunk wheel package. In addition, the minimum turning radius of the Extreme Krypton MIX is 4.95 meters. Based on considerations of flexibility and comfort, we have chosen the EX MacPherson suspension instead of air suspension or four-wheel drive.
Q: How about the safety and durability of Jike MIX?
Lin Jinwen: Safety, there are two core points that I believe will make everyone feel at ease.
Firstly, the Jike MIX is a vehicle model that has been truly built in China using three different regional safety standards: American standards, European standards, and Chinese standards. The Jike MIX is a car model built according to the strictest safety standards in the world.
Secondly, regarding durability, as various types of tests need to be conducted thousands and countless times, the sliding strength of the Jike MIX seat has increased by 70% compared to normal seats. The interior of the Jike MIX comes in two colors, but we mainly use light colors for external communication. But if you go to offline stores, you will find that our gray interior is very high-end, so durability and dirt resistance are not too big issues.
Q: Many netizens think that the design of Jike MIX is very advanced, especially the hidden B-pillar and rotating seats. How can we persuade users to accept such advanced products?
Lin Jinwen: Persuading users is a very interesting phenomenon, and it is not difficult for this car to find a specific user group because many users in various fields will be interested in this car. This car doesn't need persuasion, just let the user get into the car. I believe the ladies can find the experience they want from it, and the children can find the experience they want from the car. Men who enjoy playing with cars can also find the experience they want on this car. Let them know that this is a good car, an interesting and fun car.
Q: What kind of car would you rather define the Jike MIX as internally?
Lin Jinwen: Although the Jike MIX has almost all the core features of an SUV, including space, visibility, and so on. But this car is not built for any specific category, it's difficult to define. But it is an innovative car. It is difficult to accurately grasp the pulse when doing innovative things.
Q: Regarding pricing and configuration, why not offer some versions with lower configurations and more attractive prices?
Lin Jinwen: In terms of configuration and price, there are not many different versions of Jike MIX. Previous products such as 001 and 7X only differ in battery and electric drive, while other configurations have always been fully loaded to make user selection easier. Our business logic is that SKUs must be few enough and the version must be standard enough, so that users do not have to worry about buying low-end or high-end products.
Q: In the era of intelligent electric vehicles, the so-called integrated development of software and hardware generally refers to technologies such as chips, and there is little talk about the hardware competitiveness of space. Is there a hardware barrier for Jike MIX?
An Conghui: The hardware of the entire physical space of the Jike MIX is very difficult to innovate and iterate. This is thanks to Geely's 30-year experience in platform architecture.
Jike MIX is a new species, and there are indeed no competitors on the market. Someone just asked why we can't offer high and low configurations and reduce some configurations, because we just want to provide users with the ultimate travel experience and don't want to leave any regrets for them.
Q: What is the component reuse rate of Haohan-M architecture and Haohanarchitecture? Will the future Extreme Krypton MIX have some updated features, such as a projection screen or a foldable and extendable steering wheel?
An Conghui: The foldable square tray has been developed, but there are now various regulatory issues. The Haohan-M architecture also belongs to the Haohan-M architecture, with a generalization rate of about 40% -50%. A universal architecture not only considers the universality rate of components, but also manufacturing and production processes. Architecture is not only about modular, universal, and standardized components to achieve scale, but also an important manufacturing part that cannot be separated. The manufacturing process system is universal, and it can be understood that the Haohan-M architecture is an extension of the Haohan-M architecture, with a high degree of universality and high consistency in production and manufacturing.
Q: Will the next generation of Jike MIX hardware easily emerge?
An Conghui: Some information has not been fully presented to everyone due to compliance and intellectual property considerations. But I can clearly tell you that the Jike MIX hardware is already very advanced, and there are currently no plans for hardware iteration.
Q: What role does Jike MIX play in the overall corporate strategy?
An Conghui: For the entire Geely, the brand Jike should be more forward-looking and need to think about the future, especially what future cars will look like. This is a strategic thinking, not a short-term action. We need to consider how to gain product competitiveness and higher market share in existing segmented markets, while actively exploring and laying out for the future.
So, Jike MIX is a product developed from a strategic perspective, and I am very proud of it because Jike is at the forefront of exploring and practicing the most for future travel.
Q: How does Jike think about the price range of 200000 to 300000 yuan for several cars, including 001, 007, 7X, MIX, and X? How to break through the 300000 yuan threshold in the future?
An Conghui: In fact, the price of 009 has already exceeded 300000 yuan, becoming the best-selling pure electric MPV segment or luxury MPV segment with a price of over 400000 yuan.
Lin Jinwen: Jike has 4 cars, and the price range is indeed between 200000 and 300000 yuan, but the target audience is completely different and can be stacked to a certain extent. This is actually the biggest advantage of our product. The monthly sales of Jike have increased from a few thousand units to over 10000 units, and then to over 20000 units, and there will definitely be sustained growth thereafter.
Q: Based on the current sales situation of Extreme Krypton, we need to reach nearly 30000 units per month in the next few months to achieve our annual target. Do you have confidence in this?
Lin Jinwen: Although we still need to achieve a monthly sales volume of 29000 by the end of the year, which is indeed a challenge and not an easy task, we are still confident in completing it. Because the new product 7X is climbing production, MIX has just been launched. Especially at the end of the year, based on past experience, the fourth quarter usually accounts for over 30% of the annual sales. With the launch of new products and an increase in channels, we have started delivering right-hand drive vehicles overseas. We started small batch deliveries last month and are gradually making efforts from now on.