Viewpoint | Those that sell well are fearless, while those that sell poorly go bankrupt and liquidate
2024-08-19
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The auto market is ever-changing. Top performers can maneuver easily between the market and end users, while more ordinary players can only become stepping stones for top performers on their way forward.
Zeekr 001 launched three generations in one year, triggering user rights protection
Event Overview: On August 13, Zeekr officially released and started nationwide delivery of the 2025 Zeekr 001 and 2025 Zeekr 007 new cars. So far, Zeekr 001 has launched a total of 3 models in less than a year, namely 2023 001, 2024 001 and 2025 001.
This move caused dissatisfaction among old car owners, because the 2024 model was only launched in February this year. Car owners then launched a collective rights protection.
June 7, 2024, Shanghai International Low-Carbon Smart Mobility Exhibition (GSA2024), the new Zeekr 001.
In this regard, Zeekr's solution is: all users who have placed orders for the 2024 Zeekr 001 and 007 series that have not yet been scheduled for production before 8 pm on August 13 can upgrade to the corresponding 2025 models, and the configuration selection and confirmation must be completed before 24:00 on August 16. Car owners who have already shipped and purchased the current car cannot enjoy the upgrade policy.
An Conghui, CEO of Zeekr Intelligent Technology, said: "We did not communicate in advance. In the future, Zeekr products will be released in advance. At present, the hardware has been iterated in place, and the focus will be on software iteration and upgrade in the long term."
Reviews: After reading a lot of media reports, the opinions on this matter are polarized. Those who support the car owners think that Zeekr has no bottom line for sales and launched immature products to grab the market and let consumers pay for them; those who support the manufacturers think that consumers are unreasonable and that technological progress will inevitably lead to faster product iterations. If you want to enjoy the latest technology, you must be aware of being a "leek".
This is all "diode thinking".
My view is that consumers holding banners and rushing to Zeekr headquarters to block the door should not be encouraged. Even though there are precedents of consumers using public opinion to force manufacturers to realize their demands, this should not be the primary and main way for consumers to protect their rights. In any case, we should believe in the fairness of the law.
Let's look at Zeekr. There is only one underlying logic for the frequent release of "new models", that is, they think that the current products have no advantages over their competitors. After comparing the 2023, 2024 and 2025 001 models, we found that the 2024 model has upgraded the 800V architecture, the motor and battery have been iterated, and the whole series is equipped with laser radar, and the price is greatly discounted, but it still chooses to use Israel's Mobileye intelligent driving, with a computing power of only 48TOPs, so it can only achieve high-speed NZP and non-city NZP (and the consumer feedback experience is also in the middle and lower reaches).
The 2025 001 model released on August 13th basically uses the mainstream dual OrinX chip for intelligent driving across the entire series, with a computing power of 508TOPs, keeping up with the level of Xiaomi SU7, and also supporting urban NZP.
Why did they release the 2025 001 and 007 at this time? Because both Zeekr and Geely are "displeased" with Xiaomi, which will be discussed later. In addition, the emergence of SU7 has seized a large market share. The latest data in July showed that the top pure electric sedan sales were SU7, reaching 13,120 units, while the 001 and 007 combined sold 12,833 units.
Why didn’t it work? One of the core reasons is that the 2024 Mobileye smart driving chip is too far behind the mainstream level, so it was replaced with the 2025 Orin X product to respond immediately.
Zeekr's updates are rapid, but if a consumer buys a 2023 WE four-wheel drive version in early 2024 and spends 300,000 yuan, he will get a dual-motor 400kW, an 86kWh battery with a CLTC of 546km, a 48 TOPs intelligent driving chip, but no lidar or city NZP.
You were a little sad when the 2024 model was released at the end of February 2024, because the 800V architecture was already available just one month later, but you still endured it. After all, the new model was expected in the new year.
But less than half a year later, on August 13, the 2025 model came, and you could buy the top configuration for 299,000 yuan: dual motors with 580kW power, 100kWh BRIC battery with CLTC range of 705km, dual OrinX intelligent driving with 508 TOPs, laser radar and city NZP, and standard dual-cavity air suspension.
Not only that, Zeekr officially gave a "sincere" consolation plan to old car owners: old car owners can get a 10,000 yuan coupon when buying new models. How can consumers not collapse at this time?
According to screenshots of the WeChat group of car owners circulating on the Internet, some users discussed in May this year that they heard that the 001 equipped with a new intelligent driving solution would be launched around August this year. At that time, Zeekr’s explanation to users was "As the person in charge of the model, I don’t even know about it. Who helped me develop it?" It even asked the user who announced the news to issue a public apology letter on the grounds of spreading rumors about Zeekr.
Later, on July 12, Zeekr CMO Guan Haitao also commented on Weibo: Fortunately, this is a misunderstanding. The user clearly had good intentions and cared about Zeekr, but was taken advantage of by someone with ulterior motives. Then he changed the subject and said that for reporting the rumor-mongering and defamation of Zeekr, he would reward a Zeekr 7X as a reward.
But the 2025 001 model really came on August 13. Who is spreading rumors and who is lying?
Is this the end of the story? Not yet.
At the 2024 CES, Zeekr said that in 2025, there will be models equipped with NVIDIA's DRIVE Thor centralized vehicle computing platform, which will enable a qualitative leap in the capabilities of the intelligent driving system. As for which Zeekr car will be the first to be equipped with it, it is likely to be the main high-end model 001.
Now, some users have started to "spread rumors" online, saying: "My friend at Geely said that the 2025 mid-term facelift of 001 will be released at the end of this year. It will adopt the vast 3.0 architecture and have a major change in the rear. Those who buy the 2025 model are still 'leeks'."
Given that An Conghui has already set a flag, saying that future new products will be announced in advance, will Zeekr respond to this wave of "rumors" about the 2025 mid-term facelift?
Skywell Auto files for bankruptcy liquidation
Event Overview: The National Enterprise Bankruptcy and Reorganization Case Information Network shows that Skywell Auto (Changsha) Group Co., Ltd. has been applied for bankruptcy liquidation. The applicant is Shen Yuqing and the court of jurisdiction is the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha.
On April 2, 2023, in Hangzhou, Skywell Auto’s downtown store has been closed for several days.
Reviews: Founded in June 2015, Skywell Auto is one of the first emerging forces, one month earlier than Ideal Auto and less than a year later than NIO and Xpeng Auto.
In its early years, Tianji was called Diancha, which mainly produced micro electric vehicles. Its main investor was Jia Yueting of LeTV. Later, Jia Yueting fled to the United States and cleared out his shares in Diancha after LeTV failed in making cars. Zhang Hailiang, CEO of LeTV Auto, took over Diancha with his team.
Zhang Hailiang was once the vice president of SAIC Group. He recruited a group of talents from SAIC and also recruited teams from Chery and other companies to form a luxurious lineup. However, the facts show that talents from traditional car companies seem to be not very good at making cars on their own.
It seems that experience alone does not mean you can make better cars. From today's perspective, Skywell has been involved in every type of hit car, but each time it was born at the wrong time and stepped on the wrong rhythm.
In the early days, Tianji launched a mini electric car, the EV10, which had a range of 300 kilometers and a price of only about 60,000 yuan after subsidies. However, this mini electric car did not seem to be favored in an era when everyone was shouting about brand upgrading. But the Wuling Mini EV was successful later, and the EV10 could only be said to be too advanced.
In 2019, Skywell found that the sales of medium and large SUVs from new forces, such as ES8, were very good, so it transformed into a luxury large SUV and launched Skywell ME5, priced at 210,000-290,000 yuan. However, a few months after its launch, Tesla's Shanghai factory went into production. With the same price, overwhelming product strength and popularity, Skywell ME5 was not only crushed by ES8, but also rubbed by Tesla.
When they were at their wit's end, Wuling Hongguang mini EV sold like hot cakes, so Skyworth returned to making micro electric vehicles. However, the financial capacity could no longer support the development of a new car, so they launched the ME7, which is a size smaller than the ME5. The most important thing is that it has an extended-range powertrain. If it were put in today's market, it would most likely be a big hit. But at that time, extended-range powertrain was still a controversial technology.
After several twists and turns, Skywell no longer has any more chips on the table. In 2021 and 2022, Skywell Auto achieved sales of 1,778 and 5,321 vehicles respectively. Since then, "rumors" such as suspension of work and production, wage arrears, and court freezing of funds have been reported one after another.
In fact, although bankruptcy and liquidation only happened recently, Skywell Auto has been out of the spotlight for quite a long time. For the market, it has long been a victim of the great waves.
The Paper reporter Zhou Chunlin
(This article is from The Paper. For more original information, please download the "The Paper" APP)
