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Original first release | Jinjiao Finance (ID: F-Jinjiao)

Author | Jiaoye

Huawei's third generation, the Enjoy S9, developed in cooperation with BAIC, was embroiled in controversy a week after its release.

The biggest controversy lies in order performance.According to official data, the number of pre-orders (non-refundable deposits) exceeded 2,400 within 24 hours of its launch, and exceeded 4,800 within 72 hours of its launch. Such data is enough to stand out in the "luxury pure electric" list, but compared with the fact that the pre-orders of the Wenjie M9 exceeded 10,000 on the day of its launch, it seems quite ordinary.

Even Yu Chengdong's congratulations seemed a little cold.Except for the data released by Hongmeng Zhixing on August 8, "24 hours after launch, the pre-order volume exceeded 2,500 units", Hongmeng Zhixing and Yu Chengdong's Weibo account have never followed up on the order data of Xiangjie S9. Yu Chengdong also only posted a WeChat Moments message that "72 hours after launch, the pre-order volume exceeded 4,800 units", and the wording used was no longer "far ahead", but the slightly ordinary "exceeded expectations".

Even more bleak is the stock price trend of BAIC. Since the launch of the Xiangjie S9 on August 6, the stock price of BAIC BluePark has fallen by nearly 16%, with the stock price hitting the daily limit on August 8, which was widely interpreted as the 48-hour trading data falling short of expectations.

In Huawei’s third era, its halo gradually faded.

Exceeded expectations but not surprising

According to the congratulations from Yu Chengdong's WeChat Moments, 4,800 units of Xiangjie S9 were ordered within 72 hours of its launch. This figure far exceeded the monthly sales of the A pure electric model, creating the best result for pure electric sedans in the same class.

What he said is true, but the problem is that at the launch of Xiangjie S9, the opponent that Yu Chengdong envisioned was not A's pure electric model.

“Our experience in every aspect exceeds the traditional luxury executive sedan benchmark – Maybach!”

To prove this point, Yu Chengdong gave an example from his own experience:

"I couldn't sleep in a Maybach driven by a driver before, but sleeping in the S9 is very enjoyable."

Even if we take a step back, Chengdong has also said that the positioning of the Xingjie S9 is comparable to the "78S": BMW 7 Series 750Li, Audi A8L and Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

They say "benchmarking against Maybach" and "compete with A" in terms of sales. Such a high-profile and low-profile approach is completely understandable in business wars. But to say that the low-profile approach refers to "A's pure electric model" is a bit unsportsmanlike.

It is generally believed in the industry thatThe strategy of Xiangjie S9 is to match Maybach in terms of space performance, and then use the price of a mid-size A car to attack the "56E" model in the A category. Therefore, its main sales competitor is the "56E" model. It would be a miracle if its sales could match the level of the "34C".

Taking June sales as an example, BMW 5 Series sold 8,436 units, Audi A6L sold 14,300 units, and Mercedes-Benz E-Class sold 15,200 units. Even if according to the data calculated by Sun Shaojun, the founder of Chefans, the cumulative number of orders for the Xiangjie has reached 7,500-8,500 units in the past week since its launch, it is hard to say that the Xiangjie S9 has surpassed the A.

As for the feelings of ordinary people, since the tone of Enjoy S9 is so high, it is inevitable to compare it with Huawei's most successful high-end model to date, M9, and the price of M9 is even higher.

The same big data shows that the sales of M9 exceeded 10,000 units 2 hours after its official launch, and reached 30,000 units within three weeks.

Obviously,The Enjoy S9 failed to replicate the miracle of the Enjoy M9.

But it is unfair to say that the performance of Enjoy S9 is mediocre. The cruel fact is thatIn the "luxury pure electric" market, there has not yet been a pure electric car that can stably sell more than 3,000 units per month, but the Xiangjie S9 has the hope of breaking this curse.

From this perspective, Yu Chengdong's congratulations are still too small. It is well known that A is not good at making pure electric models. The performance of Enjoy S9 exceeded expectations, which should be a breakthrough in the field of luxury pure electric vehicles.

Ask the world to sell better

In the field of luxury cars, whether it is a sedan, SUV or MPV, pure electricity is a curse.

The most typical failure is Ideal MEGA. Even the best-selling M9 has less than 10% of its pure electric vehicles. At least half of the success of Ideal L series can be attributed to the extended range.

It is not difficult to understand why luxury cars are difficult to fully electrify.Traditional luxury cars are large, and new energy luxury cars are even larger, which makes range anxiety more prominent. What's more, many luxury cars are often used in business scenarios, and the Enjoy S9 is the benchmark for executive sedans. Business models must be available on call and flexible, so they have a lower tolerance for range anxiety.

Therefore, no matter how the Xiangjie S9 boasts about its space, performance, configuration, etc., its most prominent shortcoming, pure electric power, is there, which is very glaring and greatly affects order conversion.

Let's talk about luxury. The "56E" in A has a market share of 50% in the luxury C-class sedan market. The only thing that has ever made A feel a sense of crisis is not any sedan, but the M9.

In fact, the counterattack of Wenjie M9 still has an element of trickery. Chinese people have a natural preference for SUVs, and the extended range does not require worries about battery life, which has become an important basis for its victory. As for the intelligence that occupies the minds of users, it is actually the experience after purchase.

The Xiangjie S9 is a sedan against a sedan. It has lost the bonus of "SUV + extended range" and is in urgent need of further proving itself at the "luxury" level.

Not long ago, Weilai President Qin Lihong said: To make high-end fuel car users switch to Weilai, at least they should feel that there is no consumption downgrade on the spiritual level. This also applies to the Xiangjie S9.

When you drive an Enjoy S9 back home, it does not have the "oppressive feeling" that an SUV naturally brings, and when you need to explain and demonstrate its intelligence to others, the owner of car A next to you may have already laughed out loud.

Similar situations have already occurred in car stores. According to statistics from car fans, when offline customers are choosing between Wenjie M9 and Xiangjie S9, salesmen will actively recommend buying M9, because the explanation cost is low, the model has greater influence, and it is easier to close a deal.

This is very embarrassing. Everyone is cooperating with Huawei, so why am I just a foil?

The survey conducted by Wilson also came to the same conclusion. Judging from the order status, the M9 is currently more popular among consumers.

What is even more surprising is the user profile. The age of buyers is concentrated in the range of 30-50 years old, and most of them are men. The proportion of replacement purchases is relatively high, accounting for 65%.The models before the trade-in were mainly German and Japanese B-class cars in the 200,000-level, such as Camry, Accord, Magotan, etc.

Either wait for the extended-range model or push for intelligence. In short, the Xiangjie S9 still has a long way to go to become a benchmark for luxury pure electric vehicles.

Huawei's halo fades

To be frank, this is not Huawei’s first failure in the pure electric track.

Before the Enjoy S9, Huawei and Chery jointly developed the Zhijie S7, which was also a pure electric sedan priced in the 200,000-300,000 yuan range, and its sales volume was hard to describe.

In the short term after its launch, due to factors such as factories and chips, the average monthly insurance volume of Zhijie S7 in the first three months of this year was less than 1,000 vehicles.

Subsequently, the Zhijie S7 was re-launched in April with updated configuration. This move briefly stimulated the sales of the model, which once reached more than 4,000 units per month.

But soon, the sales of Zhijie S7 returned to a low point. According to the data from Dongchedi, the monthly sales of Zhijie S7 had dropped to 1,541 units in July.

That is to say, since its re-release in April, the total sales of Zhijie S7 in four months is 13,880 units, which is equivalent to the sales of Xiaomi SU7 in June.

Even Richard Yu admitted that the Zhijie S7 did not sell well., he said that this car is the best car for young people, but Huawei’s marketing ability still has a very large gap and the brand has not been established.

In the price range of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, the most successful pure electric cars are Tesla Model 3 and Xiaomi SU7. In sharp contrast, among pure electric cars priced above 200,000 yuan in July,Xiaomi SU7 surpassed Tesla Model 3 with 13,120 units sold, becoming the champion of this market segment, while Zhijie S7 ranked fifteenth.

If the Xiangjie S9 cannot gain a foothold in the luxury pure electric field, it will mean thatIn the pure electric mid-to-high-end and high-end tracks, Huawei's smart car selection model has completely failed, which will inevitably cause concerns among other car companies cooperating with Huawei.

Huawei's smart car selection model has a total of "four realms": Seres Wenjie, Chery Zhijie, BAIC Xiangjie, and JAC Zunjie. Currently, only JAC Zunjie has not been released. According to Yu Chengdong's previous statement, "the benchmark far exceeds the level of Maybach and Rolls-Royce Phantom, and is more luxurious, more high-end, and more comfortable than them. It is positioned as ultra-high-end." According to JAC's relevant report, the "Maicha and Rolls-Royce" model cooperated with Huawei is an MPV.

So, whether this Zunjie will follow the old path of Ideal MEGA and continue to impact the luxury pure electric market, or return to the embrace of extended-range, it may also depend on how far the Xiangjie S9 can go on the road of luxury pure electric.

Huawei itself is also actively hiding itself.It is reported that Huawei is building independent Hongmeng Smart Travel stores. It is expected that by 2024, the number of Huawei's new Hongmeng Smart Travel stores will reach about 800, and by 2025, it will reach 1,000.

In other words, Xiangjie cannot enjoy the same treatment as Wenjie before, and the cars can be sold in Huawei stores, but they can be sold in Hongmeng Zhixing stores. Even in Huawei's existing stores, the Hongmeng Zhixing logo is being strengthened, but the models on display are still mainly Wenjie. It can only be said that Wenjie is lucky and has reaped the benefits of Huawei's blessing from the beginning to the end.

One imaginable future scenario is that Hongmeng Intelligent Driving stores will be full of "four circles", and sales will depend on each company's ability. This is undoubtedly sending a clear signal to the cooperating car companies: not every car can become "far ahead" with Huawei's blessing.