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text丨zhijia.com lingjiang
editor: langlang mountain and mingzhi mountain

this is melynk & co z10a complaint heard at the end of the press conference.

i didn’t look back to see what “character” this big brother was, because this actually had a bit of “on-site consensus” meaning.

when lynk & co ceo lin jie announced that the official guide price of lynk & co z10 was rmb 202,800-299,800, the cheers from the audience were a little slow. only after the limited-time special price of rmb 196,800-288,800 was refreshed did the entire audience burst into polite applause again.

the day after the press conference, there was news that lynk & co officially reduced the price by more than 10,000 yuan, and it was accompanied by sales screenshots.

this immediately triggered a wave of questions about whether z10 wasxpeng g9discussion of the old road.

on september 7, chen xiaofei, deputy general manager of lynk & co., ltd., gave an official statement on weibo:

some users do not need the charging piles or solar films included in the benefits. lynk & co provides flexible options to cash in the pre-sale/listing physical benefits.

this statement explains that the previously leaked sales screenshots were not groundless. if the above-mentioned rights and interests are discounted, the sales price range will be 186,400-272,400 yuan. whether this is a disguised official price reduction is obviously a matter of opinion.

one number that needs to be noted is that 24 hours after the pre-sale of lynk & co z10 started, the official announced orders exceeded 10,000, but 24 hours after the price was announced, the official announced orders were 5,000.

obviously, many small order users have not converted into real orders, and posts about "lynk & co z10 cancellation" can also be seen on some social platforms.

lynk & co z10, is the tone getting higher?

as china's earliest automotive fashion brand, it obviously needs time to adapt to the close-combat pure electric market.

"there are only a few truly competitive pure electric c-class sedans, and we hope to be among the top three."

this is the prediction on z10's competitors and sales volume mentioned by deputy general manager chen xiaofei during a conversation with the media at the chengdu auto show.

whether intentionally or unintentionally, lynk & co z10 has entered an extremely competitive market. according to the sales data for july released by the china passenger car association (august data has not yet been released), lynk & co z10's competing models are all star models.

in this price range, the first, second, third and fourth pure electric car sales arexiaomi su7、tesla model 3、zeekr 001andbyd hanev, and the highly anticipatedzeekr007. also has mobile phone interconnection capabilitiessmarts7and its cousin jiyue 07, which also has a pre-sale price of 215,900 yuan.

among them, the jiyue 07 will be launched on september 10. more data has not yet been announced. we mainly compare its known intelligent driving and cockpit parts.

the following are the models and prices of the protagonist lynk & co z10:

the 400v, 71kwh, 602km, rear-wheel drive pro version is priced at rmb 186,400;

the 400v, 95kwh, 766km, rear-wheel drive max version is priced at rmb 206,400;

the 400v, 95kwh, 766km, rear-wheel drive intelligent driving max version is priced at 226,400 yuan;

the 800v, 95kwh, 806km, rear-wheel drive intelligent driving max version is priced at 233,400 yuan;

the 800v, 95kwh, 702km, four-wheel drive intelligent driving ultra version is priced at 272,400 yuan.

from the above table, we can see that if calculated based on the discounted limited-time selling price, lynk & co z10 has a certain price advantage over non-byd models, but if calculated based on the official guide price, it is basically the same price as the slightly smaller zeekr 007.

in terms of the cockpit, the z10 uses the lynk flyme auto system developed in cooperation with meizu. the official claims that the computing power of the amd v2000a cockpit chip used for the first time is 1.6 times that of the snapdragon 8295.

in addition, since lynk & co released customized mobile phones, ar glasses and e-sports cockpits at the same time as the launch of z10, its smart connected ecosystem is also more diverse.

in terms of intelligent driving, the z10 uses the solution provided by lotus. officials claim that it currently supports high-level intelligent driving on highways, and that urban high-level intelligent driving will be ota-ed within the year. in terms of time schedule, it lags behind xiaomi, zhijie, and jiyue, which claim to be available nationwide, as well as the 2025 byd han ev just released today (september 9). the speed is comparable to that of zeekr. geely's models are all making up for the shortcomings of high-level intelligent driving this year. overall, there is not much difference, but the time node is indeed delayed a bit. ‍‍‍

in terms of intelligent driving hardware, only three intelligent driving versions of z10 have an nvidia orin-x chip and lidar. this configuration is comparable to the 2025 han ev. the previously launched 2025 zeekr 001 (except the mobileye we model) and zeekr 007 are both equipped with lidar and dual orin-x chips as standard.

the first three configurations of z10 all use 200kw motors, and only the second-highest configuration is increased to 310kw, which is comparable to the single motors of the two zeekr models. this is also the part that is most complained about among many car enthusiasts, but fortunately, the total power of the dual motors of the four-wheel drive model reaches 510kw, ranking second in the table, thus regaining a little advantage.

in addition, in terms of battery capacity, high-voltage platform and cruising range, the two low-end models of lynk & co z10 are relatively disadvantaged in terms of data.

as for the reason, lin jie explained in an interview after the press conference: z10 was very restrained in the selection of three electrical appliances, taking into account maturity, safety and durability:

"the current 400v charging speed is 352 kilometers in 15 minutes, which is already very fast. there is a price difference between 400v and 800v, and there are very few 800v charging piles. we give users the choice of 400v in the hope that everyone can think rationally instead of blindly pursuing the best."

"the reason for choosing lithium iron phosphate batteries is that they have lower battery costs and are safer than ternary lithium batteries. however, lithium iron phosphate also has its disadvantages, such as slow charging speed, energy output power problems, and battery efficiency problems during cold weather. however, in recent years, lithium iron phosphate has also developed the fastest, and our charging speed is not much different from ternary lithium batteries."

from the perspective of cost-effectiveness, lin jie's explanation is reasonable, and the current technical performance of lithium iron phosphate batteries is actually a more reasonable choice.

in terms of driving control, the top-end version of lynk & co z10 is equipped with an intelligent dual-chamber air suspension and cdc continuously variable damping electronically controlled shock absorption system, as well as continental four-piston fixed calipers and brembo high-carbon brake discs, which retain the consistent driving control advantages of lynk & co models. as the only car company in china with a professional racing track, lynk & co z10 has undergone more than 800 hours of track tuning and polished the sport+ mode, achieving: "no need to raise your head when starting, no nodding when braking, and no leaving the ground when flying on a slope."

however, like xiaomi, the z10 only offers air suspension in the top-end version.

in addition to the above-mentioned data comparison, design has been the focus that lynk & co z10 has always emphasized from its debut to its launch. lin jie said that the design cost of each lynk & co car is in the unit of "billions".

lynk & co z10 is designed based on the concept car "the next day" and inspired by "sunrise". the front face, shape, and colors inside and outside the car are all built in accordance with this inspiration.

although "good looks" is a very subjective criterion, it is undeniable that based on the original concept car from three years ago, the z10 is indeed unique and timeless.

at the press conference, lin jie also raised a "soul-searching question":

“if there were no porsche or tesla, what would chinese electric cars look like today?”

everyone knows who he is talking about. as of now, lynk & co has basically dissed the two companies in the table by real name.

to sum up, lynk & co’s first pure electric sedan focuses on “personality” and its overall performance is no lower than its peers, but it is mainly aimed at young users who emphasize sports and pursue fashion.

before the official announcement of the discount, lynk & co executives had described the pricing as "full of sincerity" and said they would not consider the profitability of the z10 for the time being:

"as for profitability, i want to make it clear that lynk & co will not do business at a loss because it is unsustainable. but from an industry perspective, there is no profit without scale, so let's not consider the profit contribution of this car in the short term."

however, the lynk & co team obviously underestimated the cruelty of the pure electric market, claiming that not making money is the norm in this market. xiaomi's lei jun and hongmeng zhixing's yu chengdong both claimed that they would lose 30,000 or 40,000 yuan by selling a car. whether or not they make a profit is not important to consumers. the key is whether they can make them think that they must have this car.

“does the world still need lynk & co’s pure electric vehicles?”

this is a question that lynk & co has been asking itself and answering since the debut of z10.

after the z10 was unveiled, lynk & co sales general manager lin jie also said many times:

"our research found that among lynk & co's existing 1 million users, 60% of them are looking forward to lynk & co's pure electric products, and 40% of them will consider buying a pure electric car as their next car."

the newly launched z10 still needs time to confirm this demand, but another question can quickly give the answer:

does lynk & co still need lynk & co pure electric?

of course.

on march 31, 2021, while disclosing its 2020 financial report, geely auto suddenly announced to the market the establishment of zeekr. the original lynk & co zero was officially renamed zeekr zeekr 001 and was officially unveiled at the zeekr factory in hangzhou bay on april 15.

the sudden emergence of zeekr has become the fastest automobile company to go public, and behind this is the rapidly rising new energy automobile industry in china.

take byd as an example. in 2021, byd released the dm-i hybrid platform and sold 730,000 vehicles throughout the year, just touching the edge of profitability. in the past august, byd passenger cars alone sold more than 370,000 new vehicles, with operating income of 301.127 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 15.76%; net profit of 13.631 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.44%

in the past three years, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in my country has increased from 13.4%, which just broke through double digits, to 53.9% in august this year. according to the latest data from the china passenger car association, the domestic retail sales of new energy vehicles in august was 1.027 million.

however, during these three years of blood and honey, lynk & co’s pure electric vehicles failed to catch up.

another coincidence is that at the xiaomi press conference on march 30, 2021, lei jun officially announced that he would undertake the last major entrepreneurial project in his life, that is, to enter the smart electric vehicle business and start building cars.

xiaomi auto was launched just one day earlier than zeekr, but now it has reached the top of the sales volume of c-class electric vehicles with its only model, su7.

the cost of being late is a bit high, and we can’t miss it now.

in rural northeast china, there is a saying called "throw a broom to occupy the millstone", which literally means putting your own broom on the millstone for grinding rice in advance to prevent it from being occupied by others. to describe it in today's internet jargon, it probably means "grabbing a certain track first."

with the z10, lynk & co became the only brand of geely, besides volvo, that covers fuel, hybrid and pure electric power modes. it is also the one with the most complete power modes among its many "sons". even though zeekr claimed to launch a super electric hybrid model, it was still a step late.

z10 is the broom thrown out by lynk & co., and its goal is to plant the flag and occupy the position. therefore, in lynk & co’s view, the image is the key point that the brand’s first pure electric model must maintain.

in addition, although the z10 is lynk & co’s first c-class sedan, it is not lynk & co’s first sedan, lin jie said:

"we have the 03 a-class fuel-powered car, the 07 em-p b-class hybrid car, and the c-class pure electric car. in this way, lynk & co has a layout of products in three levels, a, b, c, and three energy structure methods."

neat and tidy.

on the same day of the lynk & co z10 launch, two other videos were constantly forwarded in the automotive industry:

one is that the xpeng mona m03, which was launched on the market only a week ago, has received over 60,000 orders. ceo he xiaopeng went to the headquarters to thank the team and revealed that there will be new cars in the next five quarters. the other is that at the celebration banquet of xpeng motors, wang fengying drank the first glass of wine in her life.

these two videos actually talk about the same thing: the xiaopeng mona m03, which is priced at 119,800-155,800 yuan, is now available.

low price and high quality are still the only way to create a hit car model.

mona was originally considered to be the second brand that xiaopeng wanted to build. although it eventually existed in a system similar to the "dynasty ocean", its significance to xiaopeng motors is almost like dividing a generation.

why lynk & co z10, which has similar product significance, failed to follow the same cost-effective route? in addition to the "figure of the first pure electric vehicle" analyzed above, it should also be related to the overall strategic arrangement of geely group.

lin jie said in a previous media interview that high-end plug-in hybrid products are lynk & co's main market, which is based on the overall strategic arrangement of geely group, including:

"plug-in hybrids will account for more than 60% of lynk & co's sales, and the rest will account for 40%."

"others" obviously refers to the fuel system that lynk & co is still insisting on and the pure electric models that have just been released.

it should be noted that in the past august, the proportion of plug-in hybrid models in lynk & co's new car sales was more than 60%.

according to official data, in august 2024, the lynk & co brand sold 22,528 units, a year-on-year increase of more than 20%. among them, the sales of new energy vehicles were 16,767 units, accounting for more than 74%, and the main selling model was the lynk & co 08 em-p.

this achievement is consistent with what lin jie said, "focusing on the high-end plug-in hybrid market."

with its big brother with remarkable achievements paving the way, the z10, the first pure electric vehicle, will only have to strive for a sales share of 30%-40% even if it is highly anticipated.

in addition, during the conversation, lin jie also revealed another part of the "geely group's overall strategic arrangement":

"why do we specifically recommend 400v? in addition to its economy, we believe it is also to form brand differentiation synergy with zeekr and expand the pure electric market."

zhijia.com added that the "620km 800v four-wheel drive longteng version" newly released by geely galaxy e8 in april this year also supports the 800v high-voltage platform and is priced at 215,800 yuan, while the "665km rear-wheel drive starship intelligent driving version" released in january is also equipped with laser radar and is priced at 218,800 yuan.

in conclusion:

in fact, when lynk & co announced that it would launch pure electric models again, there were many discussions in the outside world about the serious internal competition within geely and the grabbing of resources.

after the z10 model configuration was released, there were speculations including "making way for zeekr" and "avoiding grabbing galaxy e8 users". no one was willing to guess the reason under the pressure of the ministry of legal affairs.

according to lynk & co's product plan, it will also launch its first compact pure electric suv this year. lin jie revealed in a media interview that this new car will debut in europe next month and will be launched in china first. according to the release order, it will be named z20 in china.

the galaxy e5, which is in the same class, sold 12,230 units in august, the first full month on the market.

as the automobile group with the most brands in china, balancing the target customers of internal brands should be the top priority for the group.

don’t let lynk & co’s pure electric vehicles always punch inward. it’s time to sell the second model in terms of sales.