It will take some time for Xiaomi's first product SU7 to announce its final price to the public, but the launch of the all-new Jike 001 has made it even more difficult to price it. When products in the same price range adopt a high cost performance strategy, potential customers who are still waiting are also picky about their tastes.
On February 27th, the Geely Krypton 001, which has been on sale for nearly 3 years, underwent a mid-term facelift, optimizing over 55% of the vehicle's assembly components. On the basis of a total cost increase of 50000 yuan, the overall selling price of the all-new Geely Krypton 001 has decreased instead of increasing. The starting price has decreased by 31000 yuan to 269000 yuan compared to the 2023 entry-level model, and the high-end version has decreased by nearly 60000 yuan to 329000 yuan.
During the entire press conference, comments related to Xiaomi Motors frequently appeared in the comment section of the official live broadcast room of Jike; At the press conference, there were also spectators shouting, "Let Lei Jun learn.". In the pure electric vehicle market priced above 200000 yuan, the Xiaomi SU7 will compete with the all-new Jike 001.
According to the published information, there is not much difference in battery capacity and power performance between the two products. However, the all-new Extreme Krypton 001 comes standard with an 800V high-voltage system, with a comprehensive output power of 580kW, slightly better than the Xiaomi SU7.
Lin Jinwen, Vice President of Jike Intelligent Technology, who is in charge of marketing services, directly responded to the competition with Xiaomi Motors in an interview with media such as Interface News. He believes that Xiaomi's joining will accelerate the industry elimination race and help companies such as Jike and Tesla "clean up the battlefield".
"We respect and respect competitors like Xiaomi, and we need to learn marketing, brand public relations, and other skills. However, our technical and product definition abilities are what it needs to learn." Lin Jinwen said, "The pure electric product launched by a company in the technology industry that is stronger than Xiaomi, we compete with it on the same stage. Market data has proven that Jike can compete with competitors, whether they come from the technology or automotive industry."
Lin Jinwen's implied "stronger enterprise" is Huawei. Due to collaboration and other issues, the first product, the Smart World S7, launched jointly with Chery, has not yet caused a splash in the market, with sales of only 604 units in January. Caixin reported that Zhijie is considering launching an extended range model and will relaunch the Zhijie S7 in the spring.
According to the internal plan of Jike, the stable monthly sales target for the all-new Jike 001 is over 10000. Intelligence may still be the key factor limiting its sales growth, which is also a more advantageous area for the Xiaomi SU7.
The all-new Geely Krypton 001 adopts the Mobileye intelligent driving solution from its shareholders, and this year will mainly focus on the promotion and coverage of high-end intelligent driving functions on highways. The urban advanced intelligent driving function is expected to start public testing in core cities nationwide from the second quarter. As of now, Huawei has launched advanced urban intelligent driving functions nationwide, and Xiaomi Motors has also proposed to launch advanced urban intelligent driving functions covering 100 cities by the end of this year.
Chen Qi, Vice President of Extreme Krypton Intelligent Technology, once told Interface News that one of the key reasons currently limiting the development progress of Extreme Krypton Intelligent Driving is the serious shortage of team personnel. This year, Extreme Krypton is expected to expand its recruitment to over 500 positions, and the number of intelligent driving teams will skyrocket from 800 to over 2000.
Since its release in April 2021, the Jike 001 has delivered over 160000 vehicles thanks to its unique hunting vehicle positioning and large space design that meets mainstream users. Tengshi N7 and NIO ET5T also followed suit, but neither of them shook the dominant position of Jike 001 in the segmented market.
The mission of the all-new Geely Krypton 001 is to maintain its leading momentum and catch up with Tesla, moving from a niche model to the mainstream market. But as the growth rate of the pure electric market slows down and competitors increase, the all-new Jike 001 needs to seize market share through a price for quantity exchange.
Lin Jinwen stated that the all-new Extreme Krypton 001 has almost no profit at the current selling price. "Since the beginning of this year, the overall market situation has not been friendly. We predict that the industry will be very competitive, with traditional large companies, new forces, and technology companies joining. Extreme Krypton needs to set prices from the beginning."
An Conghui, CEO of Jike Intelligent Technology, pointed out in an interview that competition this year will mainly rely on the existing market, and it is expected that the growth rate of the pure electric market will not exceed 20%. In his view, the knockout stage has already begun, and industry changes in 2024 may exceed expectations.
As the Spring Festival holiday has just ended, leading company BYD has once again launched a price war. The price of two entry-level new energy vehicle models has been reduced by about 20000 yuan compared to the old version. SAIC GM Wuling, Changan Qiyuan, Nezha Automobile, Geely Automobile and other automobile companies have followed up. The price war starting from 2023 will continue, and automotive companies will react more quickly, leading to more intense competition.
Several automotive industry analysts have pointed out to Interface News that this year, car manufacturers will face a life and death battle, and financial reserves and operational capabilities will become important factors determining the survival of enterprises.
Thanks to Geely Group's "light capital" model of manufacturing assets and diversified revenue structure, the gross profit margin of Geely's automobile sales in the third quarter reached around 18%. At present, Jike is still in a loss making state and further expansion of sales scale is needed to amortize costs.
Another hidden risk is that the price reduction of the all-new Geely Krypton 001 has to some extent harmed the mid size sedan Geely Krypton 007 released in January, which is currently in a phase of rising sales. The four-wheel drive intelligent driving version of Jike 007 has entered the price range of Jike 001, but it is equipped with Jike's self-developed intelligent driving solution based on NVIDIA Orin chips.
Lin Jinwen explained that the two models target different user groups and are more likely to complement each other in development. The goal of the Geely Krypton 007 is to exceed Tesla Model 3 monthly sales, in conjunction with achieving the Geely Krypton's annual sales target of 230000 vehicles this year.
Next, Jike will focus on establishing dealer cooperation network Jike Home, adding 102 new seats and focusing on automotive commercial districts and third - and fourth tier cities; The layout optimization of supermarkets in first and second tier cities will be carried out.