On March 11th, the first pure electric MPV model from Ideal, MEGA, officially began delivery. On the same day, Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, also posted on his social media in response to MEGA's malicious smearing since its launch. This is the first time Li Xiang has spoken out after Ideal MEGA was maliciously blacklisted. Under this circle of friends, Xiaopeng Motors CEO He Xiaopeng and Huawei Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU Chairman Yu Chengdong respectively commented in support of Ideal.
The first wave of ideal counterattack
Faced with online controversy, Li Xiang expressed his views on his social circle today, nine days after "disappearing" on Weibo, stating that "everyone should be quite clear about what happened in the past ten days... Although I am in darkness, I still choose light. If I choose to compromise with darkness, or even join darkness, then I and the people around me will become the ones we dislike, and the society we live in will become increasingly dark." And it was pointed out that there were organized illegal and criminal activities in the "smear" incident, and the ideal side is already using legal means to handle it.
Regarding this, He Xiaopeng said, "Use light to fight back against darkness, support! Last year, we also experienced a huge lesson at the end of the year. For the first time, we understood what a business is like a battlefield, and for the first time, we understood the meaning of 'national defense capability'." Yu Chengdong said, "Always choose light, it is the correct value system! If a company's value system is damaged, it will not have a bright future!"! May we work together with the industry, take practical actions, always choose the light, and fight back against the darkness with the light! "
As a counterattack to the network P diagram, the official WeChat account of Ideal Automobile shared various body designs designed by fans for MEGA this afternoon and launched a MEGA drawing co creation activity. It is reported that most of these car body paintings are designed by children's imagination based on MEGA models.
Unsubscribing over 10000 yuan caused a sharp drop in stock price
As the first MPV and pure electric model under the brand, MEGA is highly expected. This model has only been launched for one model, priced at 559800 yuan. CEO Li Xiang stated that MEGA will be the next explosive product of Ideal Automobile and is confident in becoming the top seller in the market with a sales volume of over 500000 yuan, challenging the monthly sales of 8000 vehicles. There are rumors that within 72 hours of its launch on March 1st, the Ideal MEGA ordered approximately 3218 units, but the number of cancellations was 10297 units. The official sales figures for Ideal MEGA have not been announced.
In terms of word-of-mouth, its controversial "bullet head" design has fallen into a deeper whirlpool of public opinion, and there have even been pictures of MEGA's body with the words "Dien" and "New Energy Funeral Parlor" printed on it. On short video platforms, MEGA is often referred to as the "highway coffin", accompanied by eerie dubbing and music.
In response to this, Ideal Automobile issued a complaint letter, claiming that the malicious P image implies that the new product of Ideal Automobile is a funeral vehicle (funeral vehicle) loaded with the deceased, deliberately distorting the purpose of Ideal Automobile and seriously damaging its product image and brand reputation. The infringing image and its content have constituted insult and infringed upon the reputation rights of Ideal Automobile. Lawyers have pointed out that if there is evidence to prove serious consequences such as a decrease in MEGA sales due to P-figures or consumer termination of contracts, the relevant personnel may also violate the law.
Affected by relevant events, the stock price of Ideal Automobile plummeted by 10.71% on the first day after the new car was launched. As of today's closing, the cumulative decline of Ideal Automobile has reached 18.67%. In just a few days, the market value of Ideal Hong Kong stocks has fallen by nearly 70 billion yuan.
Is the poor sales really caused by the "P chart"?
In fact, even before MEGA's debut, some bloggers had exposed the Ideal MPV promotional video, with rendering images that were almost identical to the actual MEGA car designs released thereafter. When Li wanted to repost the Weibo post, his comment was, "If it really looks like this bird, I'll take out the design team and jump off the building myself." Faced with many netizens' ridicule and doubts, Ideal Official also played a joke and nicknamed it "Highway High Speed Rail", which to some extent resolved external doubts. Surprisingly, after the release of Ideal MEGA, its advanced exterior design once again sparked a public opinion storm.
Regarding the performance of the MEGA market, automotive blogger Sun Shaojun stated that in MEGA's intended customer base, business attributes account for a significant proportion, with 30-40% purchasing cars under the company's name. Some stores have reported business needs, and customers feel that they are not commercialized enough. Compared to appearance, the biggest factor affecting car purchasing decisions is still its excessively high pricing.
According to institutional analysis, the suboptimal order volume of Ideal MEGA is partly due to its high selling price, which exceeds 550000 yuan, making it a ceiling level presence among many domestic new force MPV models, but not as outstanding in terms of product strength; On the other hand, the relatively novel design of the new car has also led to a clear polarization in its reputation, and not everyone can accept this design language.