by As the price was slapped on the big screen, the silence in the audience seemed to protest—”That’s it?”
“Are you disappointed when you see this price? Because it is the price of competitors of the same level of product.” Qiao Xinyu, executive deputy general manager of the Haval brand, said on stage.
When the price of 179,800 yuan, the top version of Haval’s latest plug-in hybrid series SUV Xiaolong MAX, appeared, people let out a sigh of relief, as if a talk show actor shook off the best burden of the night’s performance.
On May 15th, at the product launch conference of the new SUV series of Haval Motors Xiaolong series, the team played such a “returning carbine” for everyone. When plug-in hybrid models are gradually becoming an important force in the new energy track and the most convenient path for major car companies to turn around, how to make their products stand out from hundreds of competing products and leave a deep impression on users? Impressions become a huge challenge.
For this problem, the answer given by Haval Motors is “four-wheel drive” – at the price of two-wheel drive, in the new energy era, the “four-wheel drive” dream of Chinese people has always been realized.
Concept leads architecture evolution
“Hi4 technology comes from Mr. Wei (Wei Jianjun, the founder of Great Wall Motors), that is, how to use dual motors to achieve the effect of “four-wheel drive.” Chen Shujiang, deputy chief engineer of the hybrid system of Great Wall Motors, revealed at the technical communication meeting.
As a real “new force” in domestic car manufacturing, Wei Jianjun, the founder of Great Wall Motors, is well-known in the industry for his love and understanding of cars. Only such old-school Autobots will be obsessed with hard-core configurations such as off-road and “four-wheel drive”, and add them to the team.
Therefore, the new intelligent electric hybrid Hi4 was born, that is, Hybrid Intelligent 4WD, which literally translates as hybrid intelligent four-wheel drive.As early as a few months ago at the Baoding headquarters press conferenceGreat Wall announced this another new hybrid technology after the DHT hybrid.
Qiao Xinyu, executive deputy general manager of Haval brand, introduced the characteristics of Xiaolong MAX at the press conference｜Haval Motors
Unlike previous hybrid DHTs, Hi4 is known as a breakthrough in “concept-led architecture”. The 150KW main motor is placed on the rear axle, and the front axle is a combination of small motor + 1.5T/1.5L engine, connected by a 19 kWh power battery in the middle. Through the dual-motor, dual-axis series-parallel mode, coupled with the iTVC intelligent torque vector control system, Hi4 allows the vehicle to achieve the “four-wheel drive” effect of “rear drive with front drive”.
Although not in the true sense, the “mechanical four-wheel drive” of a traditional four-wheel drive dual motor,However, with the cooperation of new architecture + electromechanical coupling traditional system, Great Wall’s Hi4 can make plug-in hybrid vehicles with mainstream configurations perform better in starting, climbing, special road sections and turning。
Haval’s Xiaolong MAX, Great Wall’s first new car equipped with the Hi4 system, can accelerate to 100 kilometers within 7 seconds, and at the same time, the acceleration in the full speed range can be increased by up to 40%.
At the same time, thanks to the “four-wheel drive” capability of Hi4, it looks like the Xiaolong MAX, an urban SUV. On some non-paved and special road sections, it can even wrestle with some hard-core four-wheel drive vehicles of international brands. Under the appearance of Xiaolong MAX as a code farmer, it still hides the ability to get out of trouble off-road.
In addition, Hi4’s power combination of front and rear axles + dual motors + engine can realize 9 power modes in series and parallel. The driver does not need to bother to decide which mode to use. The Xiaolong MAX equipped with Hi4 allows you to seamlessly switch power output and torque distribution according to different working conditions without feeling. At the same time, because the three engines will try to maintain the best working range, which makes the fuel consumption of Hi4 vehicles lower.
Under such circumstances, Hi4 seems to have completed the impossible triangle of cost, power and efficiency.
The only problem may be how to impress consumers and let them accept the four-wheel drive function of “even if you don’t use it, you can’t live without it”.
Need a little “love at first sight”
“Because we use high-quality chips and accessories that are different from those of our competitors, our cost is relatively higher by 2,600 yuan.”
At the press conference on May 15, Qiao Xinyu put some cost pricing directly on the table. In a sense, this is not a gimmick, but one of Great Wall Motor’s “grievances”-the team is very particular about product details, but unfortunately these efforts cannot be intuitively seen by consumers.
Just like the price of Xiaolong MAX series models this time, the low-end four-wheel drive elite version is priced at 159,800 yuan, and the top-end version—the smart flagship version equipped with higher-end intelligent assisted driving—is only 20,000 yuan higher. .
The prices of Xiaolong MAX and Xiaolong are very “real”｜Haval Motors
Although during the Shanghai Auto Show,Qiao Xinyu once told Geek Park that Great Wall will never sell cars in a state of “losing money”, or at least not in the state of losing money in the entire supply chain. But based on the pricing of Xiaolong MAX’s new car, it can be seen that the Great Wall, which claims to not fight price wars, really wants to start a fight. Instead, it is more ruthless than ordinary opponents, and it doesn’t have much work, so it directly cuts the price to the lowest.
It can also be seen from the pricing that Haval and Great Wall have always been thinking about science and engineering. Whether it is an increase in the price of a bicycle or a reduction in cost, there must be a technical answer. Why Xiaolong MAX is worth buying, because of Hi4 technology-you definitely want a four-wheel drive, right? Now a hybrid car has four-wheel drive performance, but it has the fuel consumption and price of a two-wheel drive. So what are you waiting for?
This kind of straightforward thinking of science and technology men is very cute, but sometimes, or in fact, most of the time, when ordinary consumers buy a car, they don’t consider so many parameters, fuel consumption, four-wheel drive or two-wheel drive. The special color scheme and the cool effect of a headlight have planted grass in its psychology. When it comes to comparing parameters, it can only mean that this car is a spare tire.
In fact, compared with the previous Haval God car series models, Xiaolong MAX has actually been greatly improved in terms of appearance, interior, car-machine system and intelligence, and it is really showing new car friends. The merchants approached.
However, Xiaolong series models still lack a little reason to make people “love at first sight”. This may actually be a fatal injury to a very “inner show” car product.
