Under the general trend of new energy, we can see that many new forces have followed, and after the market baptism in recent years, many of the initial new power brands have disappeared, and the "really capable" will now introduce new products every year and iteratively upgrade their products. There seems to be one thing we can't understand, in the entire automotive field, the three giants of japan, Toyota, Honda, Nissan have not made any moves in new energy in recent years, are they really not in a hurry?
In fact, it is not the case, the trend of new energy and electrification throughout the world, the three major Japanese car companies have finally begun to move, for example, not long ago, we saw Toyota invest tens of billions, dozens of pure electric concept cars paved with the scene of the conference, must not let people sigh, on the capital is the traditional car companies that have been in the limelight.
As the saying goes, the ship is difficult to turn around, for many globalized traditional fuel vehicle companies, fuel vehicles in the global market is still a source of huge profits, behind the huge investment transformation, to consider the global market for fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles two-way output problem, and not like domestic car companies, mainly consider the local market situation is good, so this also affects the speed of transformation.
For the rapid development and huge supply and demand of the Chinese market, traditional car companies have seen the market share gradually divided in recent years, and they are naturally anxious. So in 2022, we can finally see the action of the three major Japanese brands in the Chinese market, and they are about to bring their blockbuster new energy vehicle products.
First of all, let's talk about Toyota, led by the three major Japanese brands, on December 14, 2021, toyota held a grand event in Tokyo's Odaiba MEGA WEB TOYOTA, 16 electric vehicles collectively unveiled, this event also marked Toyota's determination to face the electrification transformation. Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda said on the spot that by 2025, Toyota will launch 15 pure electric models, of which bZ4X pure electric vehicle will become Toyota's first product for the global market.
Toyota bZ4X
Features: Four-wheel drive system jointly developed with Subaru, with a comprehensive endurance of 500km
The Toyota bZ4X is based on the e-TNGA architecture and will go on sale worldwide in 2022, with official drawings for the North American and European versions being released. As an important global market for Toyota, we saw prototypes with domestic logos at the FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota booths at the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show, which means that Toyota's sister cars in the Chinese market in 2022 plan to promote electric vehicle products.
Toyota bZ4X design language does not look like the shadow of the current Toyota family, or it will represent the design direction of the future Toyota bZ series, the official design is called Hi-Tech and Emotion, the closed grille can identify its new energy characteristics at a glance, while the complex line design of the body also makes it highlight the more complex level of craftsmanship.
The new car adopts a more front-end design approach, with a closed mid-mesh with a very aggressive through-type C-type headlight group, and the overall shape is very highly technological. From the side, the lines of the new car are also very tough, and the lines of the two-color roof, the spoiler at the rear of the car, and the rear window and tailgate are very close to the RAV4 Rongfang.
The interior design is mainly simple style, the new LCD dashboard is far away from the steering wheel, and the new car will also provide steering system-by-wire in the future, and it is expected to use a special-shaped steering wheel. In addition, the independent central control screen of the center console is larger, but the new car still retains some physical buttons for easy operation. Thanks to the tolerability of the motor layout, the new car has reached the same wheelbase as the Highlander in the case of only 4690mm long, and the space performance of the ride is naturally needless to say.
The new car will feature the X-MODE function (the first time for the AWD car and Toyota) jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, and will be equipped with the newly developed "Grip-Control Intelligent Multi-Road Adaptation System", which will give full play to the characteristics of motor drive and meet the needs of daily life to light off-road use. The front-wheel-drive model has a range of nearly 500km under WLTC conditions, supports 150kW of power in DC fast charging mode, and can be fully charged to 80% in 30 minutes. It is understood that the bZ4X released in the Chinese market in the future is equipped with a battery pack jointly developed with CATL and produced in Toyota's exclusive production line.
Honda e:NP1/e:NS1
Features: An intelligent system built for China, with a maximum endurance of more than 500km
On October 13 this year, Honda China released an additional electrification strategy for the Chinese market - launching 10 pure electric models for the Chinese market within 5 years, and it is also the first of the three major Japanese car companies to bring a new round of local production of pure electric models, namely Dongfeng Honda e:NS1 and Guangqi Honda e:NP1, which will be the first Honda pure electric models to land in the Chinese market and officially launched in the spring of 2022.
At the Honda China Electric Vehicle Strategy Conference, three concept cars with different positioning and two mass-produced pure electric SUVs were unveiled, among which the Dongfeng Honda e:NS1 and Guangqi Honda e:NP1 came from the newly developed e:Architecture F platform (FWD front-drive platform) in the newly developed e:Architecture architecture, and in terms of styling design, there was the shadow of the overseas version of Tian's new Binzhi (VEZEL).
Under the action of the domestic "double book", Dongfeng Honda e:NS1 and Gagac Honda e:NP1 have a very similar design without accident, and even the difference in appearance is only the front and rear surrounds and wheels. The interior design of the two is also the same layout, the central 15.2-inch central control screen and 10.25-inch full LCD instrument is the biggest difference compared to the new generation of overseas Binzhi, more for Chinese consumers to consider the car machine system - full stack intelligent control ecosystem e: N OS embedded here, it integrates Honda SENSING 360 intelligent driving assistance system and Honda CONNECT intelligent guidance interconnection system.
From the previous information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, these two cars will have 182 horsepower (134kW) and 201 horsepower (150kW) two power to choose from, and equipped with ternary lithium batteries, the official said that its maximum cruising range will exceed 500km, but the current data is based on the best situation of endurance or comprehensive endurance, which is not known.
Nissan Ariya
Features: Pure electric coupe SUV, comprehensive endurance of more than 610km
As early as half a month before the Toyota electrification conference, Nissan also released its own 2030 vision, by 2030 Nissan will launch 23 electric models, including 15 pure electric models, Nissan and Infiniti brand electric drive models will account for more than 50%.
Although the time node of this plan is 5 years later than That of Toyota, and the number of pure electric vehicle products remains the same, the proportion of electric vehicle models (including e-POWER models) will reach 50%, of which Nissan Ariya will become the "vanguard" of this new energy war.
Based on Nissan's latest CMF-EV platform, Ariya is very similar to the concept model, and the design language of V-MOTION has been well electrified, and the new closed grille outlines the classic shape of the Nissan family, while matching the outstanding brand LOGO, which is full of futurism.
Nissan Ariya is positioned as a pure electric coupe SUV with a length, width and height of 4595×1850×1655mm, and a wheelbase of 2755mm. The suspended roof and roof line sliding down from the B-pillar combine to create a coupe SUV style, and the slender strips of through-the taillights highlight the sense of sophistication. The use of the "NISSAN" English logo at the rear replaces the traditional Nissan logo, and adds a new meaning to the new car.
The design of the new interior does not deliberately highlight the sense of the future, but it has the current simple home design atmosphere, which gives people an approachable feeling, and at the same time takes into account the user's appeal to the sense of technology in terms of function. For example, new cars do not have traditional control buttons, and the touch controls are hidden in the interior panel, and the position is presented by the light after powering on.
Nissan Ariaya is also equipped with a lot of "black technology", such as e-4ORCE dual-motor full-wheel control technology, which is also a technology developed based on Nissan's accumulation over the years. With dual motors managing power output and braking, the e-4ORCE dual motor all-wheel control technology improves smoothness and stability during driving, bringing a whole new experience to the driver and occupants.
In terms of power, the entry-level Nissan Ariya is equipped with a single motor, a front wheel design, a maximum power of 160kW or 178kW, and a peak torque of 300N·m. The high-end model adopts Nissan e-4ORCE dual-motor all-wheel control technology, with a maximum power of 250kW or 290kW, and 0-100km/h acceleration in only 5.1 seconds. In addition, the Ariya is equipped with a battery pack with a capacity of 87 kWh or 63 kWh, of which the longest model with a range of more than 610 km under WLTC conditions.
The birth of Ariya is a very important attempt by Nissan to break the inherent impression of users, positioning the "main battlefield" of future cars in electrification and intelligence, and is also a specific product performance of Nissan Automobile to open a new chapter of the brand.
Nissan Qashqai e-POWER
Features: The latest family design to solve the anxiety of battery life
In addition to pure electric models similar to Ariaya, in Nissan's Vision 2030, the official also emphasized the importance of the current e-POWER hybrid technology. Gasoline engine as a ranger, this technology will be quickly rolled out to Nissan's traditional fuel vehicle product line in a short period of time, according to Nissan's planning in China, by 2025 there will be 6-7 e-POWER models introduced, will be based on familiar products, including Qashqai e-POWER.
In February 2021, the third generation of Qashqai fuel version has been released overseas, and recently we have also seen the patent diagram of Qashqai e-POWER in China, the two have great similarities in the design, but in the details of Qashqai e-POWER has its own unique treatment.
Led by the Nissan Design Europe team in central London, england, the new Qashqai uses the latest V-Motion family language and uses a large number of polylines and angular designs, which is much better than the current model in terms of youthfulness. The new Qashqai has increased its wheelbase by 20mm and its body length by 35mm, still positioning itself as a compact SUV.
The interior also adopts a new design and layout, and the floating 9-inch screen is more layered and technological than the current screen embedded in the center console. In addition, from the material of the overall interior, a large number of leather wrapping and stitching are used on the center console, which is much more luxurious than the current Qashqai or even the natural sound. In addition, in terms of driving assistance, although the new car is not well positioned, it is still equipped with the Nissan ProPilot system.
The instrument panel is a 12.3-inch full LCD screen that can display navigation, entertainment, traffic or vehicle information, all of which can be controlled via a haptic dial switch on the steering wheel. In addition, the new Qashqai is equipped with a 10.8-inch HUD head-up display that projects navigation, driver assistance and road information onto the windshield in front of the driver. In terms of other configurations, the high-end model will also be equipped with App remote control, front seat heating seat massage, 10-speaker BOSE sound system, USB and Type-C interfaces, etc.
Qashqai e-POWER will most likely directly use the power system of Xuanyi e-POWER, which was just released in China not long ago, consisting of an engine, a generator and a drive motor. The engine is a 1.2-liter in-line three-cylinder naturally aspirated engine with a maximum power of 72 horsepower. The engine, as a range extender, is only used as a generator to generate electricity, and the electrical energy emitted will be stored in the battery according to the vehicle conditions, or directly as the energy input to drive the motor. As for the drive motor part, the maximum power of the motor is 136 hp, and the peak torque reaches 300 Nm.
Behind the new era of good electricity drive, range extender hybrid will become Nissan's key product in China for a period of time to come, but the ultimate goal is to complete the electrification transformation. It's just that the e-POWER powertrain is far less advanced than Toyota's HEV dual-engine strategy, and with the release of Nissan's 2030 strategy, we will see more electrified products.
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