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Our reporter Yang Rangchen and Shi Yingjing reported from Shanghai

(Geely Galaxy E5 was recently launched. Photo by the interviewee)

"In the past few years, the company has been firmly implementing these two strategies to build the most comprehensive and leading electrification and intelligent system in the automotive industry." Recently, Gan Jiayue, CEO of Geely Auto Group, said at the Geely Galaxy E5 global launch conference that in 2021, Geely Holding released two Blue Geely Action Plans, which started Geely Holding's rapid transformation to new energy. In October of the same year, Geely Holding also released the "Smart Geely 2025" strategy. "These two strategic plans are to promote the company's rapid transformation to new energy."

A reporter from China Business News noticed that since the Geely Galaxy series was released in February 2023, its total sales have exceeded 180,000 units to date. "We will always adhere to the 'Galaxy Quality', that is, adhere to the reliability and safety of the product." Gan Jiayue further stated that the company must insist on "high quality and high price". High quality is the prerequisite, and at the same time, users must be given a better price.

According to the sales data released by Geely Holding, as of July this year, Geely Holding's total sales reached 245,800 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 10%. Among them, the sales of new energy vehicles reached 110,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 42%, and the new energy penetration rate reached 45%. At the same time, Geely Auto Group, a subsidiary of Geely Holding, sold 150,800 vehicles in July, a year-on-year increase of 13%.

Create a benchmark for the A-class mainstream pure electric SUV market

Currently, Geely Auto Group has used leading electrification and intelligent technologies to create a benchmark in the A-class mainstream pure electric SUV market segment.

Relevant information shows that Galaxy E5 is a high-quality "intelligent boutique car" created for global users by Geely Auto Group's coordinated global R&D capabilities, gathering the world's top designs, integrating global standards and global technologies. It not only enriches the product layout of Geely Galaxy series "electric hybrid + pure electric" and "sedan + SUV", and covers the mainstream new energy market, but also shows that Geely Galaxy series will continue to meet the beautiful travel needs of consumers with "high quality and low price" products. The simultaneous development of left and right steering wheels and global sales also demonstrates Geely Holding's strength and confidence in participating in global competition. It is equipped with many leading technologies, including GEA architecture, CTB battery body integration technology, G-TCS all-weather anti-skid system and Aegis Dagger battery.

"GEA architecture and CTB battery-body integration are well combined, maximizing the space utilization and 'room ratio' of Galaxy E5. Galaxy E5's room ratio reaches 67.2%, and its 'cabin room ratio' reaches 84.22%. It is truly 'A-class size, B-class space'." Gan Jiayue said that he asked the R&D team to persist in doing difficult but correct things and to solve user pain points.

In addition, the Geely Galaxy is equipped with the Aegis Dagger battery, which is short in length, has low internal resistance, generates less heat, and therefore has superior safety performance. "The thickness is only 18.2mm, which means that the Aegis Dagger battery is not easily deformed even when working for a long time. We have achieved an energy density of 192Wh/kg, which is a significant improvement over the same industry." Gan Jiayue further stated that the company has pushed the testing standards of the Aegis Dagger battery to the limit, and it has successfully passed the "8-needle same-puncture" test and 6 devil serial tests of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, and its performance is very reliable. "Only by achieving the ultimate in reliability and safety can we be responsible to our users."

Relevant data shows that it only takes 20 minutes to charge the Aegis Dagger battery from 30% to 80%, and it has a battery cell cycle life of 3,500 times, which is equivalent to a mileage of more than 1 million kilometers. "After 2,500 cycles, the battery capacity retention rate exceeds 87%, which is something that users can directly perceive, first the charging time, and second the service life." Gan Jiayue said.

Why did they choose the short-blade power battery route? Li Chuanhai, Vice President of Geely Auto Group and President of the Central Research Institute, gave the answer. "The company wants to take the most mainstream route, while users demand the most competitive value. The energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries is slightly lower than that of ternary lithium batteries, but the company has made up for the shortcomings of lithium iron phosphate batteries with years of technological accumulation and breakthroughs."

Li Chuanhai further stated that the energy density of the Shield Dagger battery is the highest among lithium iron phosphate batteries, and its safety is much better than that of ternary lithium batteries. "From a cost perspective, the company has accumulated many years of experience. Therefore, in the most mainstream A-class pure electric market, the Shield Dagger battery can not only provide users with very good products and experience performance, but also has a competitive cost. It is the right choice to choose this route. The long blade battery is not the optimal solution, the short blade battery is the optimal solution for the new generation of power batteries."

Geely Auto Group is "going all the way to innovation" with the most comprehensive and leading electrification and intelligent system, completing the basic investment period of new energy transformation and entering the "critical point" of explosion. "With the global launch of Galaxy E5, the company will lead China's new energy vehicles to compete positively with high-value, high-standard products and systems, and maintain its global leading edge," said Geely Auto Group.

Don’t engage in a simple “price war”

Relevant data show that in the first half of this year, Geely Holding achieved sales of 956,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 41%. On this basis, Geely Holding's annual sales target has been increased from 1.9 million vehicles to 2 million vehicles.

"This is based on the strong growth in the first half of the year and the launch of new products in the second half of the year." Gan Jiayue said that in the second half of this year, the company will launch several new cars to boost sales growth. "This year is a 'big year for products'. In addition to the Galaxy E5, the company's brand will also have a compact pure electric SUV in the future, and there may be a hybrid SUV on the market by the end of the year."

At the same time, Gan Jiayue also said that the company has always adhered to the principle of not simply fighting a price war, but a value war, a technology war, a service war, a quality war and a corporate ethics war. "But for the company, not simply fighting a price war does not mean that the product has no price advantage. The company's price advantage has always been reflected in the products, raw materials and even the most basic materials. From the R&D and design, it is necessary to achieve elements that can be traced back to the product."

"For the company, 'technological innovation' is always on the way." Gan Jiayue said that the company will definitely adhere to technological leadership, quality leadership, and cost leadership.

It is understood that Geely Auto Group currently has "one network and three systems", namely the intelligent energy system, intelligent architecture system and intelligent service system. Among them, in the intelligent energy system, the drag coefficient of the Galaxy E5 is only 0.269, the best in its class; the Galaxy 11-in-1 intelligent electric drive is the first in the industry to break through 90% IGBT efficiency, reaching 90.04%.

In terms of intelligent service system, Geely Auto Group has also established the Star Smart Computing Center. "It is to play a huge role in future intelligent services through the capabilities of AI big models. The company should put services in the forefront, solve product quality problems better and faster, and make product iteration faster. In the future, we will continue to improve the company's relevant technical paths." Gan Jiayue said.

"From the perspective of 'differentiation', when a company makes a product, it does not look at its competitors, but at the needs of users." In Gan Jiayue's view, only by solving users' pain points and increasing their satisfaction can a product become a real star. Because user needs are very diverse, the A-class SUV market has the greatest opportunities and challenges. Only by making this product well and giving it a good price-performance ratio in the A-class SUV market can it have a good market performance.

At the same time, Geely Auto has also relied on the most comprehensive and leading electrification and intelligent system to "go all the way to the new", completed the basic investment period of new energy transformation, and entered the "critical point" of explosion. With the global launch of Galaxy E5, Geely will lead China's new energy vehicles to compete positively with high-value, high-standard products and systems, and maintain its global leading edge.

(Editor: Shi Yingjing Reviewer: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Zhai Jun)