On the evening of November 15th, following the mid to large-sized sedan Haobo GT and the pure electric luxury supercar Haobo SSR, the first SUV model under the Haobo brand of GAC Aian, Haobo HT, was officially launched, with a total of six models priced between 213900 and 329900 yuan. From a price perspective, this mid to large SUV, which is benchmarking against the Tesla Model Y, will compete with the Zhiji LS6 and Xiaopeng G6.
It is reported that after the pre-sale of Haobo HT in October, the order volume exceeded 20000 vehicles in less than a month.
Haobo HT is built based on the pure electric exclusive platform AEP3.0 and the all-new Xingling electronic and electrical architecture. Some models are equipped with gull wing doors, with an opening height of 2.3m and a lateral opening space of 34cm. In terms of battery life, the new car has launched three versions: CLTC pure electric with a range of 600 kilometers, 670 kilometers, and 770 kilometers.
Haobo officially announced that Haobo HT has launched the industry-leading 800V ultra-high voltage 5C flash charging, which can replenish 450 kilometers in 10 minutes. It is worth noting that multiple car companies such as Xiaopeng Automobile, Avita, and Zhiji have been involved in the release of 800V high-voltage platform technology this year. Both Xiaopeng G6 and Zhiji LS6 are equipped with this platform. The former has a 10 minute charging range of 300 kilometers, while the latter claims a 10 minute charging range of 350 kilometers.
In terms of intelligent driving, the new car is equipped with 33 sensing hardware, including 3 second-generation intelligent zoom LiDARs, 6 millimeter wave radars, 12 long-distance ultrasonic radars, and 12 cameras, and is equipped with a "high-speed+city" NDA intelligent navigation assistance system.
According to Zhang Xiong, Deputy General Manager of GAC Aian, the Haobo brand will accelerate the development of intelligent driving capabilities and fully launch the urban NDA era in 2024. Specifically, in the first quarter of next year, the traffic capacity of urban conditions such as traffic light intersections, roundabouts, and urban main roads will gradually be opened up; In the third quarter of next year, a non high-precision map plan will be adopted, covering major cities across the country.
As an important feature of smart cars, intelligent driving is becoming another selling point in the competition for new cars. Since the beginning of this year, multiple car companies have launched an arms race on the city's NOA (Navigation on Autopilot), opening up a new battlefield for intelligent driving. By the end of this year, Xiaopeng Automobile will have achieved urban NGP function without maps in 50 cities, and by 2024, Xiaopeng XNGP function will cover major road networks in the country; Huawei is more aggressive, proposing that the advanced intelligent driving function, which does not rely on high-precision maps, will cover the entire country by the end of the year, far higher than the previously established 45 city plan; Li Xiang, Chairman of Ideal Automobile, stated at a recent financial report that the development of urban NOA on Ideal AD Max is progressing smoothly and plans to launch the official version of AD Max 3.0 software to users by the end of the year, providing full scenario NOA capabilities.
It is worth mentioning that for a mid to large SUV positioned as luxury, the pre-sale price starting from 213900 yuan is much lower than the industry average. For example, the starting price for the Wenjie New M7 is 249800 yuan, and the starting price for the Xiaopeng facelift G9 is 263900 yuan. But the pre-sale price of Haobo HT is close to the price of the recently launched Zhiji LS6, with a starting price of 229900 yuan.
However, facing the increasingly fierce competition in the new energy mid to high-end SUV market, it is not easy for Haobo HT to try to get a piece of the pie. Currently, the homogenization of brands and products in the new energy vehicle market is becoming increasingly severe. How to establish a clear brand image, improve brand awareness and gain popularity, and accelerate channel network layout are all issues that need to be solved.
In fact, since its release in September last year, the Haobo brand has carried the hope of brand improvement and boosting efficiency. Feng Xingya, General Manager of GAC Group, once stated at the shareholders' meeting that the best way to improve profits is not to increase product prices, but to create a brand premium.
At present, Haobo has a product lineup of "sedans, sports cars, and SUVs". The million dollar supercar Hyper SSR, which was launched and delivered in early October, also demonstrates the ambition of the Aian brand to accelerate its transformation to high-end.
The breakthrough of Haobo brand will also to some extent feed back GAC Aian. In October this year, GAC Aian sold 41500 units, a year-on-year increase of 38%; From January to October, the cumulative sales volume was 392000 units, an increase of 85% year-on-year, and 78.4% of the annual sales target (500000 units to 600000 units) has been achieved.
An insider from GAC Aian told 21st Century Economic Report that the production capacity and departure of GAC Aian have been adjusted for new models such as AION S MAX, AION Y Plus Chaoye Edition, and Haobo HT. In October, the number of departures was proactively adjusted. Faced with the year-end sales peak, the new model increment has been fully prepared, and the annual target of 500000 vehicles for GAC Aian has been basically locked.
According to the official disclosure of GAC Group, with the recent decline in lithium carbonate prices, Aian has achieved continuous profitability from June to September, and its gross profit margin has improved month by month. With the launch of high-end brands such as Haobo GT, SSR, HT, and other high-value models, the profitability of Aian in the fourth quarter will further expand.