(Wen/Pan Yuchen, editor/Lou Bing) On July 6, Hengda Automobile’s first mass-produced model, Hengchi 5, which was mired in the whirlpool of public opinion and repeatedly bounced tickets, finally started pre-sale, and launched a model. After comprehensive subsidies, the pre-sale price is 179,000 yuan, which will be delivered in October this year.
Hengda President Liu Yongzhuo said at the press conference that the Hengchi 5 is "the best pure electric SUV in history within 300,000 yuan", and will achieve 10,000 deliveries by Quarter 1 next year.
The Hengchi 5 is positioned as a medium-sized SUV, with a body length, width and height of 4725/1925/1676mm and a wheelbase of 2780mm. The exterior design combines elements such as a suspended roof, a guide tail, and a hidden door handle to enhance the stylish and sporty feel of the vehicle.
Inside, the central control of Hengchi 5 is equipped with a wrapping 3D curved triple screen, composed of 10.25-inch instrument panel, 14.6-inch central control screen and 10.25-inch co-pilot screen, built-in Qualcomm 8155 chip, support mobile APP unlocking, facial recognition, 5G network, multi-application synchronization display, Baidu AI voice, gesture operation and other car-machine interaction functions.
The Hengchi 5 is equipped with five millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars, one monocular camera, and four surround-view cameras. It is claimed to be equipped with more than L2-level auxiliary driving, and integrates 19 auxiliary driving capabilities including full-speed adaptive cruise, automatic lane change, and automatic parking.
In terms of power, Hengchi 5 is built on a pure electric platform, using Bosch UMC three-in-one electric drive, with a maximum power of 150kW, a maximum torque of 345Nm, 0-100km/h acceleration of 7.8s. The chassis uses a suspension combination of front McPherson and rear multi-link, and the braking distance of 100-0km/h is 34.5m. Powered by Ningde Times CTP lithium iron phosphate battery, the rated power is 72.8kWh, and the CLTC cruising range reaches 602km.
In order to attract consumers to buy, Hengchi 5 also launched the first 10,000 car users to reduce 10,000 yuan, return and refund within 15 days of picking up the car, and buy back at a 40% discount for three years after picking up the car. It is worth mentioning that Evergrande Auto promises that the pre-sale deposit and final payment will be paid to a special account established by a notary office in Tianjin, in the name of ensuring the safety of consumer funds.
Hengda Motor said that it will use the direct sales and authorized sales agent model to set up Hengchi showrooms and agent stores in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin. This year, the number of stores will reach 200, and 313 after-sales services outlets will be deployed in 235 cities across the country. In terms of charging services, Hengchi APP is connected to 563 domestic charging service providers, covering more than 300 cities in 31 provinces.
For new car-making forces, boasting Haikou at the new car launch is a "basic operation". Compared with Li Xiang’s "best within 5 million yuan" and Yu Chengdong’s "beyond a million luxury cars", Liu Yongzhuo’s expression of "the best pure electric SUV within 300,000 yuan" is quite reserved.
Objectively speaking, the price of Hengchi 5 combined with its product power is quite reliable. The main competitors of Hengchi 5 are concentrated in the price range of 150,000-250,000 yuan, including Volkswagen ID4, GAC Aian V, Xiaopeng G3, Nezha U, Zero Run C11 and many other pure electric SUV models. In terms of configuration level and system parameters alone, Hengchi 5 does have a good price/performance ratio compared with competing products. In addition, a series of operations such as 10,000 yuan for the top 10,000 car users, refund within 15 days, 30% off repurchase in three years, and collection by the notary office are also extremely rare in the history of car sales.
It can be seen that in order to dispel consumers’ car purchase doubts, Hengda Automobile can be said to be heartbroken. But as Murphy’s Law indicates, the biggest test of Hengchi 5’s market prospects is not the product itself, but more from off-site factors.
From Xu Jiayin’s bold words "buy buy buy, big big, good", to Hengda’s release of 6 new cars in one breath, to the market value once exceeded 600 billion, and then to the outside world’s doubts about its PPT car manufacturing and pre-sale repeated delays, Hengda Automobile has gone through two and a half years so far.
With the overall explosion of Hengda Group, the credibility of this new cross-border car manufacturing force has actually dropped to freezing point. In May this year, there were even rumors that Hengda Automobile would delay sales indefinitely. Although Hengda has come forward to refute the rumor on the grounds of the epidemic, it is still difficult to dispel the public’s doubts.
Today’s Hengda car is like the child who kept shouting "wolf is coming". After all, in the heyday of Hengda Real Estate, its football, property insurance, grain and oil, ice spring and other side businesses, which one was not prosperous, and now which one is not a chicken feather? Compared with these, the auto industry is a bottomless pit that burns money. As an outsider, Hengda wants to achieve "the best within 300,000 yuan" in the short term, and the difficulty is comparable to the sky. Moreover, even if Hengchi 5 does sell well in the end, it is difficult to obtain enough bicycle profits based on its current pricing. This also means that it is difficult for Hengda to block the hole of real estate thunder by selling cars in the short term. After the announcement of the pre-sale of Hengchi 5, the market reaction was still rather lukewarm. If Hengda wants to truly turn around, the order performance before delivery will be crucial.
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