Can't BAIC join hands with Magna and Huawei to make a high-end electric car?

Four years after the establishment of the project, ARCFOX Jihu, the high-end intelligent electric vehicle brand of BAIC Group, finally released its first model, ARCFOX Polar Fox α T.

On October 24th, ARCFOX polar fox held the launch conference of ARCFOX polar fox α T in Beijing Shougang Park. The new car has three endurance versions of 480/600/653km and five models, with a price of 24.19-319900 yuan. Consumers who buy cars this year will also have a low interest rate of 0% or a down payment of 15% for three years, and there will be a subsidy of 15000 yuan for replacement users.

ARCFOX finally handed over its first test paper and performed well on a number of hard indicators. But there are still many challenges. For example, many people still say that they have never heard of ARCFOX. How does BAIC deal with these challenges? How to build a high-end brand of smart electric?

Between the lines of the ARCFOX team's press conference, the first thing we heard was that they emphasized the concept of "moments" to build cars. The ARCFOX belongs to BAIC and Magna. They also don't mind Huawei saying that they built ARCFOX α T. In addition, they are also looking for new user services and ways to interact with each other.

Will this style of play work?

one

The hard index is not inferior to the standard luxury car.

For a new brand, if you want to compete with the traditional high-end brand, first of all, the hard index can not lose. It can be said that ARCFOX α T is not inferior in this respect.

For an electric car, range is the first indicator. There are three versions of the ARCFOX α T, which are 480km, 600km and 653km respectively. As far as 653km is concerned, it is already the highest battery life among the pure electric SUV listed in mass production.

In terms of size, as a member of the medium-sized SUV, the length of the ARCFOX α T is not outstanding, but the wheelbase reaches 2915mm, and the axle length ratio is second only to the GAC Aion LX. ARCFOX α T uses the standard architecture of IMC (IntelligentModule Criterion) smart modules developed by a new generation of forward development of the company. The chassis of pure electric models has outstanding advantages-long wheelbase, large battery capacity and large passenger space.

In addition, Yu Liguo, deputy general manager of BAIC New Energy and president of ARCFOX BU, also listed other hard core parameters of ARCFOX α T comparable to luxury brands.

Body strength:

ARCFOX α T adopts the "upper steel and lower aluminum" body structure, which successfully passed the C-NCAP five-star collision safety test, and the torsional strength of the whole vehicle reached 55000 Nm/ °, surpassing Rolls-Royce and many other luxury cars.

100 km acceleration:

The all-wheel drive performance version has an acceleration time of 4.6 seconds and has entered the 4-second club of luxury cars. And the braking distance of 100 kilometers per hour is only 36.23 meters.

Maneuverability:

It can pass the elk test at a speed of 77 kilometers per hour.

Winter electricity retention rate:

The energy retention rate of the power battery at minus 7 degrees is 92%. "there is one kind of electric car that can be called the northern electric car, and the other is called the southern electric car."

In addition, ARCFOX α T is not inferior to the luxury brand in terms of wind resistance coefficient, stillness, large screen in the car, seats and so on.

From the point of view of parameters, interior decoration and configuration, ARCFOX α T is really the high-end idea of traditional independent brand car enterprises, and it is still the thinking of standard, rather than designing a car more creatively according to users and needs, as Ullai and ideal do.

two

"moments" car-building method

At the listing event of ARCFOX α T, Liu Yu, general manager of BAIC New Energy, delivered a speech. This should be his first public appearance since taking office. He was also interviewed by the media before the event. Although he has only been in office for four months, he still speaks out the uniqueness of the ARCFOX brand.

Liu Yu has gray hair and is actually only 44 years old. He should also play mobile games and use a lot of game terms to interpret ARCFOX. For example, "We made up our mind four years ago to build a whole new brand." This road must be upgraded by fighting monsters, and we can't do it on our own. " Liu Yu said, "We need Lin Yueru, Zhao Linger and Anu (the three heroines of the game Chinese Paladin) on this road." We need to keep looking and looking for partners. "

During the group interview, Liu Yu specifically mentioned several important partners. Magna says he never makes cars, he only works in contract factories and parts. Today, ARCFOX and Magna make cars together and have the technology together. On the way to brand development, we also found SK, and Huawei, and we found a lot of partners. "

As for Huawei, he specifically mentioned, "around the 30th, Huawei will have some (autopilot) releases accordingly." A large number of autopilot systems and developments are what Huawei is doing with us. "

These partners will really give ARCFOX an outstanding level.

Magna built his own car for the first time. As an expert in the contract manufacturing of luxury cars, he also gambled on his reputation. The production quality of ARCFOX α T should not be bad. Moreover, Magna's role is not pure production, it is also involved in research and development.

Korea Power Battery SKI, is also a world-renowned power battery company and a supplier to many first-class car companies. The maximum range of the ARCFOX α T is 653km. SKI's power battery plays an important role. The 811 battery equipped with ARCFOX α T by SKI has an energy density of 269 whip kg and a system energy density of 194.12 Whhand kg, which is currently the highest energy density in the world in our field of vision.

As for the addition of Huawei, ARCFOX α T has made some progress in vehicle power supply, electric drive system, intelligent cockpit with 5G technology interconnection as the core, and α-Pilot smart driving jointly developed. Huawei is gearing up to demonstrate the capabilities of a top supplier in smart electric vehicles. Participating in ARCFOX is also a prestigious struggle for Huawei.

three

Change the way users serve and interact with each other

Liu Yu has been in office for four months, and Wang Qiufeng, vice president of the Arcfox business department, is a "newcomer". He has been in office for only 5 days on the day of the press conference.

Wang Qiufeng is a well-known auto media person who came from the post of general manager of Tencent Automotive Division. The signal is that ARCFOX wants to change the way traditional cars interact with users.

The new way is mainly with the help of the thinking of Internet products.

Liu Yu said, "what is the difference between traditional manufacturing and Internet enterprises?" Traditional users regard the user as a target, and I can hit it with an arrow. And the Internet industry, the emerging industry is a symbiotic ecology, just like throwing a pebble in the pond, causing ripples, which have an impact on you as well as on consumers, so this is a process of iteration. "

Specifically, "now many car companies, including international enterprises, are after SOP (mass production), marking the success of the R & D team." The software car didn't really start until after SOP. The launch of Internet APP (post-iterative update mode) is a major subversion of the traditional manufacturing industry, and we need to learn more. "

The iterative update of the product requires a quick grasp and feedback of the needs of users. This work is mainly undertaken by Wang Qiufeng. She is in charge of marketing and communication of the brand and reports directly to Yu Liguo, president of Arcfox BU.

Wang Qiufeng stressed that the Arcfox α T is the highest quality new energy vehicle she has ever seen, which so far represents the level of car-building by the national team. When the new energy vehicle market is developing well, everyone should do it, especially when the national team wants to sell, Arcfox α T will rise with the help of a lot of cooperation, so that it has the premise to become a popular car.

In response to the question about what changes will be made to the enterprise, she replied, "We really regard users as friends, and we are enterprises that really respect and listen to the voices of users." In fact, in the automobile industry, state-owned enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises and private enterprises (user interaction) are not good enough. This is the point that we want to change fundamentally. "

At the press conference, Wang Qiufeng defined Arcfoxer, the target user of Arcfox α T, as young people who have mastered more knowledge and love a high quality of life, who dare to challenge, refresh themselves, explore new knowledge and change their lives.

She did not elaborate on Arcfox's service model. But she mentioned that it would create an all-digital operating platform and digital process monitoring to make user services more efficient and data-driven.

Arcfox has made at least two major changes in user operations. First, before the launch, the car has conducted many rounds of test driving experience for many potential customers and collected a lot of feedback. Second, on the day of listing, Arcfox held the "No limit Exploration Day" in Shougang Park, and more than 5000 people participated in the event to learn more about Arcfox α T. Wang Qiufeng said that since the pre-sale of the Arcfox α T Beijing auto show, there have been 20, 000 orders.

"ARCFOX positioning is high-end, is to go to the high-end. I think the high-end thing is the result, and we haven't done it yet. " In response to a question from the Electric vehicle Observer, Liu Yu said that ARCFOX intends to achieve this result through three brand operating plans: high quality, good user experience, and rapid, massive and even cost-free investment and application in the research and development of new technologies for travel solutions.

Judging from the product power shown by Arcfox α T at present, it seems that it is a car with no deficiency, and the effect of "regardless of cost" can be seen. What makes me think a little bit is, does the market need a perfect car? Both the Lai and the ideal products can be said to be flawed cars, but they do not prevent them from selling about 3000 units a month. If you can reach this sales volume, I believe that Arcfox α T will also make the enterprise very satisfied.