Written by Lin Ziqi
Edited / Kilig
Design / Zoi.
New car "transfer student"
Every sudden appearance of a "transfer student" will cause some discussion. Some of the stronger ones will upset the original class balance, while some will calm down after the discussion.
Under the epidemic situation, the rules have changed, and the Chinese auto market, which also has dreams, has squeezed into the car market to pan for gold. Who will stand out in the future? Who will end up in the sand and the survival of the fittest?
Che Lizi's "New Car "Transfer Students" series of reports provides a pulse for those brand new models that are panning for gold in the Chinese auto market.
For this issue of car transfer students, we are focusing on the model of the Tank 500 - the second hardcore off-road SUV of the tank brand, once again embarking on the "civilian" route. First, let's look at the transfer student's resume.
Name: Tank 500
Ethnicity: Han Chinese
Listing time: March 18, 2022
Place of birth: China
Family origin: another attempt by the self-owned brand for hardcore off-road
Guardian: Liu Yanzhao
Motto: Hardcore off-road still has to look at me!
Tank, as one of the few "tough guy" brands among its own brands, leaves a deep impression of "iron man tenderness". When the brand was not yet operating independently and was still affiliated with WEY, the hot Tank 300 was launched, which quickly rebounded and revived the sales of the THEN sluggish WEY brand. Since the independent operation, the tank brand only has a tank 300 car, which is a bit "sad" for the tank to face so many competitors in the market.
In addition, although it is not strange for independent brands to enter the mark of 300,000 yuan, there are very few models that can blurt out, and the 300,000 yuan new energy vehicles led by ideal ONE can be talked about out of the circle, but the ideal car still has a net loss of 320 million yuan in 2021, and the income is not enough.
This month, the tank brand will soon launch its second model, the "Trendy Tough Guy SUV" Tank 500. Combining the current background elements of the tank itself and the influence of the market environment, can the arrival of the tank 500 make the brand go to a higher level under the foundation of the tank 300? Or can you only go to the destination of "obscuring everyone"?
From a car to a brand, the tank took 5 months
At the end of 2020, the tank 300 that appeared out of thin air refreshed consumers' cognition of off-road SUVs again and again: pre-sale 20 days, the order volume exceeded 10,000, listed for 3 months, so that WEY had to announce the suspension of orders, follow-up car pick-up generally waited until the last 3 months, listed for 5 months, the tank brand announced independent operation.
From product to marketing, from the model to the brand, the series of operations of the Tank 300 is like a stone thrown into the calm lake, with ripples and triggering a lot of discussion in the car circle. Even today, almost every hardcore SUV on the market likes to pull the tank 300 out as a gimmick, such as "competitors lock tank 300", "×× is coming, tank 300 panic? "Flat Tank 300" and so on, which shows the position of tank 300 in the hardcore off-road SUV circle.
So many people say that the tank 300 broke the definition of traditional off-road vehicles and created an "era of civilian off-roading", of course, the reason is certainly not only because of its starting price of less than 200,000 yuan.
With the help of the tank 300, the Great Wall quickly separated the tank brand. The white-hot competition in the SUV market forced car companies to open up new market channels to stabilize and expand market share, and the tank 300 inadvertently planted willows, and the phenomenon-level market effect is exactly what the Great Wall needs at the moment, so the tank brand came into being.
From the perspective of the market, "difficult" is the impression of hard-core off-road SUVs in the eyes of the general public, the reason is that "urban SUVs can't go out of the city, off-road SUVs can't enter the city", and what tank brands have to do is to seek a balance between the two to meet the off-road SUV in the city to cope with the immediate and can go out of the city to pursue the poetry in the heart.
For the Great Wall, the independence of the tank is a must, or not a tank, the Great Wall also needs other brands to achieve the strategic needs of "taking root in China and going global", and the opportunity of the tank 300 allows the Great Wall to see the hope after the independent operation of the tank brand: China takes root, overseas layout, and brand advancement.
So, after tank 300, tanks 500, 700, 800 can help the Great Wall realize this big and difficult dream?
Alone and defeated, the world of 500 tanks
Hardcore off-road SUVs are popular, but they can't stand the high threshold, and the high price makes many consumers prohibitive. The upcoming tank 500, pre-priced 33.50-39.50 million yuan, directly lowers the entry threshold of the hardcore off-road SUV to 330,000 yuan, and the pre-sale four-day order is as high as 26,095 singles!
It should be known that there are only a few options for medium and large off-road vehicles within 500,000, including joint ventures and imports, not to mention domestic vehicles. The emergence of tank 500 is probably like a thunder on the ground, there is a tank 300 "lesson from the past", know that it will not be "expensive", but did not expect such a conscience, this price so that consumers who can afford to play off-road have moved to "make a car to play" mind, by the order and forum topics to talk about it.
In addition to the price, what is the tank 500?
The first is the "hard" strength, the tank 500 is equipped with a new six-cylinder 3.0T gasoline engine, 3.0T + 9AT + 48V light hybrid powertrain, the maximum power of the engine reaches 354Ps, and the peak torque reaches 500N·m. Such data, to a large extent, in the small displacement dominated today, the emergence of tanks 500 large displacement can indeed be praised invaluable; to a small extent, independent brands can come up with such a line of six-cylinder machine data, there is currently no second tank outside.
In addition, the new car is close to the angle of 29.6 °, the departure angle is 24 °, the longitudinal passage angle is 22 °, the minimum ground clearance is 224 mm, the maximum wading depth is 800 mm, and the tank 500 also has a tank turn, a front and rear differential lock (front lock optional), a low-speed four-wheel drive and other off-road players' heartwarming configuration, off-road capabilities are completely worth looking forward to.
The competitive part, from the existing data, the configuration and performance level of the BAIC BJ80 are not enough to compete with the tank 500, while the Land Rover and JEEP Wrangler are imported cars, the price is high, twice or more than the tank 500, the audience of the two sides is different, and the market space has no possibility of conflicting with each other.
So from the perspective of the hardcore luxury off-road market, in the price range of 250,000-400,000, Tank 500 can be said to have no direct competitors at present, which is completely the world of Tank 500. I have to say that the tank 500 is indeed a strength, and it also has the foresight to lay out the blank market one step ahead of others. But can the Tank 500 sit back and relax?
Of course not.
Rest easy? That's a bad thing to say
When many consumers marveled at the iron man tenderness of the tank 500 and prepared to line up, the voices of "hardcover Haval H9" and "Shell H9" kept coming out, after all, the division was out of the same door, a suspension rumor was everywhere, a strong attack, and it was no wonder that there was such a voice.
Also from the Great Wall sub-brand, Haval H9 is also positioned as a high-end hardcore off-road SUV, before the establishment of the tank brand, the price of more than 200,000 yuan DE Haval H9 can also be called a phenomenon-level model. With the hot sale of the Tank 300, the market for the Haval H9 has been marginalized, and the record that was once in the high-end hardcore off-road has been broken, and the Haval H9 is in danger!
Compared with the tank 300, the Haval H9 is closer to the tank 500, so when the sales of the Haval H9 have declined one after another, and the tank has launched the tank 500, the relationship between the tank 500 and the Haval H9 has been talked about continuously. So, is the tank 500 "wronged"?
Yes, but not all, because the tank 500 can be called the "luxury high-end version" of the Haval H9, after all, the price is more than the Haval H9 so many W, if you do not raise the size, configuration, luxury, etc., how to make these W play a role? So the tank first needs to seriously consider how to make the tank 500 get rid of this label, some labels can be set up, and some labels can only be pure to make consumers frown.
And the current version of the Haval H9 was listed in September last year, but it was only to make some minor changes in appearance and configuration, haval H9 was abandoned almost can be said to be a nail in the coffin, and the tank brand, tank 500 is the Great Wall pushed up to fill the gap in the hardcore off-road sector.
Yes, it is push. Because from the appearance of the tank 500, the tank 500 is "very anxious". The appearance has nothing to do with the tank 300, but you can see the shadows of other people on the tank 500, such as the front grille and diamond-shaped headlights that are as similar as the Toyota Tundra by up to 80%, and the sides are almost exactly the same as the Toyota Prado.
Let's say, is there a possibility that the tank 500 is actually not hooked with the original in terms of styling design, the reason may be that the time is tight, after all, it has been more than a year since the tank 300 was listed at this time.
Toyota Tundra
Tank 500
Above the tank 500, below the Toyota Prado
In addition, the "tank phenomenon" of tank 300 still has residual charm, and whether tank 500 can be well grasped is crucial. The popularity of the Tank 300 is that it opens up the era of civilian off-road, and with the positioning of the Tank 500, this is obviously not a volume model, but more of a hardcore off-road audience that consolidates the tank brand. This also means that the tank 500 must be more prominent than the tank 300 in marketing, service, after-sales, etc., after all, the tank brand can not afford to fight a slightly difficult blow at this time, and if it is done well, it can also take this opportunity to raise the brand tone.
Write at the end
From the perspective of the market performance of the Tank 300 and the product strength of the Tank 500, the value of the tank brand to the Great Wall lies in grasping the niche and current blank space of the independent hardcore off-road SUV. From its own point of view, it will help the Great Wall 'rooted in China, going global" brand strategy a lot, from the market point of view, the attention to the new listing of the tank brand and the subsequent hot sales can drive domestic car companies to try the hardcore off-road vehicle market, breaking the monopoly of foreign car companies on hard-core off-road vehicles.
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