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21st Century Business Herald reporter Yi Silin reports

When you come to the streets of Hong Kong, in addition to the yellow double-decker buses and square red taxis, 21st Century Business Herald found that the MPV Alpha, which sells for over one million yuan in mainland China, appears here frequently.

Land is very expensive in Hong Kong, and the cost of maintaining a car is high. Parking fees are as high as 20 to 30 Hong Kong dollars per hour, so a family should try to keep only one car. In addition, most Hong Kong families travel together, so MPVs with large space and privacy are deeply loved by Hong Kong people.

Japanese car companies were the first to enter the Hong Kong MPV market. As early as 2002, when the first generation of Alphard was launched, Alphard was considered the best "nanny car". In 2010, the news that the celebrity Faye Wong bought Alphard swept the Internet. Alphard's popularity in Hong Kong was further expanded.

Through the promotion of TV dramas and celebrities, Alphard has become the sales leader of Hong Kong MPVs. By 2015, half of the top ten models in the sales list of Hong Kong were MPVs, among which Alphard's sales reached 2,031 units, ranking first in the luxury MPV list.

This situation changed in 2023.

Under the new energy wave, domestic pure electric MPVs have new opportunities, and more and more new faces are pouring into Hong Kong, such as SAIC Maxus MIFA 9, Volvo EM90, SAIC MG 9, etc.

The latest player is Zeekr. On July 19, the all-new Zeekr 009 was officially launched in Hong Kong, with both left-hand drive and right-hand drive versions released simultaneously.

Compared with the version released a year and a half ago, Zeekr has made many hardware upgrades to the new 009 - a new 7-seat version, upgraded 5C fast charging, and equipped with a laser radar, but the price is lower. The official starting price in mainland China is 439,000 yuan, which is at least 60,000 yuan cheaper than the version released two years ago.

For users in Hong Kong, China, the starting price after enjoying a one-for-one subsidy is HK$755,000, which is still cheaper than Alpha.

Influx into Hong Kong

Tesla was the first electric car brand to enter Hong Kong. In 2010, Tesla set up an office in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. A year later, Tesla built a service center of about 280 square meters.

BYD introduced the electric sedan e6 to Hong Kong for taxi services in 2013, but withdrew from Hong Kong in 2018 due to charging inconveniences. In 2022, BYD re-entered the market, selling Atto 3 (Yuan plus), Dolphin, Seal and e6.

After BYD, veteran car companies such as Great Wall, SAIC, and Geely have also entered the market in the past two years.

This year, more and more electric vehicles have flocked to Hong Kong.

In January, MG 9 was released in Hong Kong; in the same month, GAC Aion opened its first store in Hong Kong, claiming to achieve sales of 3,000 units in Hong Kong this year; in May, Xiaopeng G6 and X9 were unveiled and launched in Hong Kong; in June, BYD started selling M6 in Hong Kong, and Denza D9 was also launched simultaneously this month; in July, Zeekr officially announced its entry into Hong Kong.

Behind the influx of domestic independent brands into Hong Kong is policy support.

Starting in 2018, Hong Kong began to implement the "one-for-one" plan to encourage users to buy electric vehicles. Private car owners who register a new electric car for the first time to replace the original fuel car, electric car, or hybrid car can participate in the "first registration tax" exemption. (The first registration tax is similar to the purchase tax in China. It is a tax that Hong Kong users need to pay to the government after purchasing a new car.)

In addition to policies, Hong Kong is also a fertile ground for the development of electric vehicles.

Considering only the cost and convenience of travel, in Hong Kong, where the land area is less than 1,200 square kilometers, there will be no range anxiety when driving a pure electric vehicle.

Hong Kong is small and has congested traffic. Fuel vehicles consume a lot of energy in urban travel, and expensive oil prices will "force" consumers to choose electric vehicles. Hong Kong's oil prices are three times more expensive than those in the mainland. In July this year, it was about 13.167 yuan per liter, and the cost of filling up a 40-liter family car tank was 526.68 yuan.

As the earliest electric car brand, Tesla's initial sales strategy in Hong Kong focused on cost-effectiveness. Tesla's sales in China were very expensive at first, with the Model S costing as much as one million yuan, but when it was launched in Hong Kong, the entry-level Model S was priced at 579,000 Hong Kong dollars (equivalent to about 450,000 yuan).

According to data from the Hong Kong Electric Vehicle Statistics Website, from 2017 to 2023, Tesla's sales in Hong Kong were approximately 34,000 vehicles, accounting for 54.3% of the total market, which is more than BMW and Mercedes-Benz combined.

With the rise of domestic electric vehicles, more and more pure electric sedans and pure electric SUVs have come to Hong Kong, wanting to challenge Tesla's position, including BYD's Atto3, Great Wall Ora Good Cat, GAC Aion AION Y Plus (small electric), Xiaopeng G6, etc.

Compared with the popularity of electric sedans here, Hong Kong, as the birthplace of luxury MPVs, is short of pure electric MPVs. Until 2023, the only pure electric MPV on sale in Hong Kong is the SAIC Maxus MIFA9.

However, compared with pure electric sedans and pure electric SUVs, domestic automakers are accelerating the pace of deploying pure electric MPVs in Hong Kong. In the past two years (as of July 2024), eight pure electric MPVs have been launched in Hong Kong, namely SAIC Maxus MIFA 9, Volvo EM90, SAIC MG 9, SAIC Maxus MIFA 7, Xiaopeng X9, BYD M6, Denza D9, and Zeekr 009.

The latest entrant is Zeekr 009. In addition to the government's active promotion of electric vehicles, Zeekr has a clever idea to choose Hong Kong to launch the new Zeekr 009.

"We hope to increase the penetration rate of the right-hand drive market through the launch of the 009 model," said Chen Yu, vice president of Zeekr.

According to incomplete statistics, among the 195 countries recognized by the United Nations, 141 countries drive on the right (left-hand drive) and 54 countries drive on the left (right-hand drive). Although there are fewer countries with right-hand drive cars than left-hand drive cars, the new energy penetration rate in most right-hand drive markets is worse than that in left-hand drive markets, and Hong Kong is an example.

The penetration rate of electric vehicles in Hong Kong is twice that of the mainland. Taking July 2023 as an example, there were 2,412 newly registered electric vehicles in Hong Kong, with a penetration rate of 69.7%. In Hong Kong, about 7 out of every 10 newly registered private cars are electric vehicles.

In Hong Kong, most car companies choose to enter the market through dealers. They are familiar with the Hong Kong market, which allows car companies to open stores faster and is more conducive to selling cars.

In October 2023, Zeekr signed a cooperation agreement with automobile dealer Jinlong Group to enter the Hong Kong and Macau markets. SAIC Maxus also chose the dealer model, and its agent in Hong Kong is Inchcape Group.

With the support of dealers, Zeekr opened its first store in Hong Kong in May this year. It took Zeekr only 7 months from its official entry into Hong Kong to the opening of its first store.

Chen Yu revealed that the second store in Hong Kong will also be officially opened at the end of July this year, with an area of ​​nearly 1,000 square meters, similar to the "Zeekr Center" in mainland China. Zeekr will subsequently set up 7 stores in Hong Kong, of which 4 are sales stores and 3 are after-sales centers.

For comparison, BYD, which re-entered Hong Kong in the past two years, has a total of 9 sales outlets in Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin, Sai Kung, Tseung Kwan O, Yau Tong and other places.

"In the future, when developing Zeekr's main products, both left-hand and right-hand drive will be considered simultaneously. In the future, more Zeekr brand products will enter the Hong Kong and Macao markets." Chen Yu told 21st Century Business Herald.

Cheats for Hegemony

The first pure electric MPV in Hong Kong is MIFA 9, which SAIC Maxus introduced to Hong Kong in April last year. Three months after its launch, MIFA 9 sales exceeded 500 units.

SAIC Maxus was formerly known as LDV Group, which started out as a manufacturer of light trucks and pickup trucks. It was later acquired by SAIC in 2009 and mainly produces light wide-body commercial vehicles. In 2011, SAIC Maxus began to expand overseas, and as of 2023, it has achieved sales of 300,000 in 73 countries and regions around the world.

Starting out as a commercial vehicle manufacturer and with extensive overseas experience, SAIC Maxus priced the MIFA 9 in Hong Kong at nearly HK$200,000 cheaper than the Alphard.MIFA 9 strikes a perfect balance with the economy that Hong Kong people value.” SAIC Maxus General Manager Hua Jin told the media.

Faced with the strong position of Japanese MPVs and the MIFA 9 which took the lead, Zeekr 009 has also made sufficient preparations to enter Hong Kong.

The Toyota Alpha is a large seven-seater car. When it was launched in Hong Kong, Zeekr 009 also added a seven-seater version.

For MPVs, how to strike a balance between luxury and space is a tricky problem.For example, if a seven-seat MPV adds an aisle, the comfort of the second-row seats will be lost to a certain extent.

Xu Yun, vice president of Zeekr and manager of 009, said in an interview with 21st Century Business Herald and other media that in order to ensure the widest aisle, Zeekr made the outer armrests of the second row seats "a little shorter", while the inner armrests did not sacrifice length, "but the width became a little narrower."

In order to make the aisle as wide as possible without sacrificing the seat width and reducing the curved surface area for human contact comfort, Zeekr moved the position of the second row of seats "a little bit outward." "Compared with the 6-seater version, the 7-seater version has more issues to consider," said Xu Yun.

Finally, the 7-seat version of Zeekr 009 has a central channel that is 10mm wider than the Ideal MEGA, and also retains the same aviation seats as the 6-seat version. In this car, 009 began to penetrate into the home field in addition to the main mission (commercial). So far, the entire 009 series has formed a pattern of 4-seat version of the Brilliance focusing on top luxury, 6-seat version without aisle focusing on high-end business travel, and 7-seat version with aisle "suitable for business and home".

Battery life is a key factor for users to consider when purchasing pure electric vehicles. The Zeekr 009 is equipped with a 108-degree Kirin battery as standard, with two battery life options of 702 and 740 km. A 140-degree battery with a battery life of 900 km is also available (worth 50,000 yuan).

Due to the large body and low rigidity, safety has become a "lifeline" that has been criticized for traditional MPVs. In addition to the original one-piece die-cast rear aluminum body, Zeekr also used high-strength steel with a maximum strength of 2000 MPa to create the first double A-pillar design in pure electric MPVs. "Geely has been working on accident data and collision safety for 30 years, and if you count the Volvo system, it has been working for 100 years," said An Conghui, CEO of Zeekr.

"We hope that 009 is not just a simple MPV, it should be comfortable to sit in and drive, and fun to drive." This is An Conghui's concept for developing MPVs. Zeekr's goal is "not hard on flat roads and not bumpy on hard roads", so Zeekr 009 uses double-cavity air springs, which can optimize roll control by 15%.

Making a flexible large vehicle is also seen by Xiaopeng as an opportunity to enter Hong Kong. In order to make the large vehicle easier to drive, the solution of Xiaopeng X9 is to add rear-wheel steering function. Generally, the front-to-back angle of rear-wheel steering does not exceed 5 degrees. Xiaopeng's chassis team set the rear-wheel steering angle to 5 degrees and adjusted the front-wheel steering angle to 41.5 degrees. The front and rear wheel steering angles are superimposed, and the turning radius of Xiaopeng X9 is 5.4 meters, which is equivalent to the 5.5 meters of the compact SUV model smart elf #1.

Pricing Tips

Under the fierce competition of domestic price war, the price of MPV has a tendency to go down. Compared with China, the market in Hong Kong is yet to be developed, and domestic MPV still enjoys pricing power.

At present, whether it is SAIC Maxus MIFA 9, MIFA 7 or Volvo EM90, the price in Hong Kong is higher than that in the mainland. For example, the starting price of MIFA 9 in the mainland is 279,900 yuan, but the starting price in Hong Kong has become 614,000 yuan, more than doubled.

In mainland China, the official flagship retail price of the entire 009 series is RMB 439,000, but for users in Hong Kong, the retail price starts at HKD 755,000 (approximately RMB 700,000) after enjoying a one-for-one subsidy.

Once the Hong Kong version of Zeekr 009 was released, the price caused heated discussions outside, because compared with the mainland version, the Hong Kong version is about 260,000 yuan more expensive.

Chen Yu told 21st Century Business Herald that mainland cars entering Hong Kong will have three prices - the price reported to the port, the official suggested retail price (MSRP) after passing customs, and the final listing price (after-tax selling price) that includes local Hong Kong taxes.

"The official guide price of 009 after customs clearance is 499,000 Hong Kong dollars (about 463,000 yuan)",Only slightly higher than the mainland version price,Chen Yu said, "HK$759,000 is the price after tax."

Zeekr said that the reason for this pricing is mainly due to local policy considerations in Hong Kong.

In 2018, Hong Kong began to implement the policy of first registration tax exemption. In March this year, the policy was extended for two years, but the exemption amount was reduced by 40% (from HK$287,500 to HK$172,500). At the same time, after the adjustment, electric vehicles with a price of more than HK$500,000 will no longer enjoy the "first registration tax" exemption subsidy.

Taking the new Zeekr 009 as an example, if it exceeds HK$500,000, its after-tax price in Hong Kong will exceed HK$950,000. Therefore, in order to meet the subsidy standard, the official retail price must be lower than HK$500,000.

"We will not let users pay an extra cost of nearly 190,000 Hong Kong dollars just because the price is over 500,000."Chen Yu said that the price of HK$755,000 also took into consideration comprehensive factors such as product cost and logistics.

An Conghui also revealed in the interview that after in-depth exchanges with local dealers in Hong Kong, he learned that the price of Alphard in Hong Kong is about HK$760,000, "so we think the price currently set by Zeekr is very reasonable and very competitive."

Even though it is priced at HK$755,000, the Hong Kong version of Zeekr 009 is quite competitive.

The Volvo EM90, which is of the same origin as the new Zeekr 009, has a battery pack with the same capacity and comparable battery life as the Zeekr 009. Although its price in Hong Kong has not been officially announced, according to the mainland's suggested price (818,000 yuan), its price is at least 200,000 Hong Kong dollars higher than the 009.

According to Zeekr officials, orders for the new 009 exceeded the transaction volume of the old model on the first day of its release within half an hour.

Alpha has dominated the Hong Kong MPV market for more than a decade. Today, Hong Kong's wealthy finally have a new choice.