Abstract: In the business world, Gaohe still has to answer the question of how to survive and how to make consumers willingly pay for it
Text | Guo Yu
Editor 丨 Zhao Cheng
Founded for more than 4 years, Gaohe Auto sold hiPhi X to 800,000 yuan, and this time, Gaohe said that the newly unveiled HiPhi Z GT will be priced at millions.
On March 31, Gaohe's spring conference opened. In the nearly half-hour online video, Gaohe unveiled a new car, a new car engine system and new development tools, and of course, a new brand concept of "like to create".
In the past March, Gaohe's first flagship car, HiPhi X, has ushered in several good news. First, it delivered more than 5,000 vehicles in 10 months, updating the delivery speed of China's luxury pure electric brand of more than 500,000 yuan; and then won the first place in the history of CCRT (China Automobile Consumer Research and Evaluation Regulations) intelligent electric vehicle evaluation, and won the 2022 German Red Dot Award - Product Design Award.
Along with honor is questioning. "The car machine system still needs to be strengthened, and sometimes the speech recognition ability is still a little worse." "As a car, the core driving assistance is not satisfactory." What puzzled the reporter of Caijingqiche (ID: caijingqiche) was that Gaohe, which adhered to the concept of "user co-creation", closed the comment area throughout the online conference.
There's something new at the launch
The new HiPhi Z GT unveiled by Gaohe at the press conference is based on the second flagship car, HiPhi Z, which was unveiled last November. However, at present, it has not revealed too much information, and only a shape of "holding the pipa is half covered". Bilateral independent wind fixing wings are the most prominent feature.
▲ HiPhi Z GT
In some basic configurations, some reference information can be obtained from the previously released mass production model Car HiPhi Z.
The most conspicuous appearance of the HiPhi Z is the electromagnetic NT double door, the breathing scale armor intake grille, and the air suspension tail. It is worth mentioning the lighting design on the HiPhi Z model, which has a circle of light strips around the body and a door panel atmosphere light in the car, which will adjust the color and beat frequency according to different scenes. In addition, the on-board display can be flexibly adjusted in orientation.
In terms of software and hardware, HiPhi Z is equipped with Gaohe's self-developed HiPhi Pilot intelligent driver assistance system. The HiPhi Z is equipped with a total of 7 cameras (2 fronts, 1 rear, 4 sides), 5 millimeter wave radars, 1 lidar and 31 driver assistance sensors, and is equipped with NVIDIA's Drive Orin-X new generation chip on the driving area AI computing platform. In addition, HiPhi Z inherits the same dual-redundant system as HiPhi X (redundant means backup, designed to add an extra layer of insurance). The on-board digital robot HiPhi Bot is also a highlight.
The new car-powered system is HiPhi OS 2.0. According to Gaohe Automobile, HiPhi X has 9 listings, has experienced 4 OTAs, and has cumulatively updated 491 function points. On the eve of the first anniversary of the launch of HiPhi X, Gaohe HiPhi OS will also usher in its fifth OTA. The new HiPhi OS 2.0 adds or optimizes 325 function points.
The new development tool, the full name is HiPhi Play, a graphical development tool for vehicle intelligent applications. This is based on user co-creation. Gaohe previously had a scene co-creation platform "Geek World", where users can customize their own scene cards according to different use scenarios, customize functions such as mood lights, seats, and interior temperature. HiPhi Play is an upgraded version of the co-creation platform, in addition to adjusting more functions, it also adds scene sharing functions, multi-scene card combination functions, and so on.
The new brand concept is "like to create Live to Create", coupled with Gaohe's previous "Want to go higher Aim High", Gaohe's brand concept has been perfected. As the Interpretation implied by the Gaohe logo, horizontally, from the East and the West represent space; vertically, from the present to the future represents time, but also a fusion of pragmatism and innovation, science and art.
Tech luxury? Love to create? What is the positioning of Gaohe
On December 12, 2017, Huaren Express was officially established and put into operation. On March 2, 2018, Huaren Express set up the Shanghai Operation Center, and the Gaohe HiPhi X project was officially launched; on July 31, 2019, Huaren Express released the luxury intelligent pure electric brand Gaohe HiPhi; on May 8, 2021, Gaohe HiPhi X was officially delivered.
The price of Gaohe automobile is not cheap, and the HiPhi X in the range of 570,000-800,000 yuan is often described by the media as the "price ceiling" of domestic cars. But Ding Lei, the founder and chairman of Huaren Express Gaohe Automobile, chose this price range and has his own set of logic. In Ding Lei's view, the new car and the new world should be a complete layout. Xiaopeng, Ideal and WEIlai occupy the price range of 150,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, while Gaohe's entry into the high-end market from 600,000 yuan to 800,000 yuan can allow Chinese brands to cover from the high-end to the entry end. "Of course, cutting in first doesn't mean the final success, but let's put this piece together first." Ding Lei added that Gaohe Automobile will also put products in other market segments of the mid-to-high-end market in the future.
Judging from the delivery data, as of March 2022, the Gaohe HiPhi X, which has been delivered for 10 months, has delivered more than 5,000 vehicles, refreshing the delivery speed of Chinese luxury pure electric brands of more than 500,000 yuan.
This achievement is inseparable from the positioning of Gaohe's "science and technology luxury". For example, double redundant automatic assisted driving. At present, the only cars on the market with six double redundancies of perception, computing, communication, braking, steering and power supply are The only high-hed automobiles of Huaren Express. This also makes the hiPhi X significantly more cost-effective than its competitors.
To be able to find the positioning of "technology luxury", it is inseparable from the gene of Gaohe "like to create".
"Scene definition design, software-defined car, co-creation and definition value", these 18 words of product development ideas, which Are often hung on Ding Lei's lips, have also been disassembled into specific scenes. Because from the future, the priority of Gaohe Is not what kind of car can be made by existing technology, but what kind of car I want. Before "thinking" is "able", to realize the passage between the two, it depends on creation. In a high-hood car, you can program the headlights, project the text and pictures you want on the wall or on the ground, and use the light group to compare the surrounding cars. Not only the car itself, Ding Lei also extended the "three wisdom strategy" (smart car, smart transportation, smart city), Gaohe also created a "smart, digital, interconnected, environmentally friendly" urban boutique factory and so on.
The idea is good, but in the business world, Gaohe still has to answer the question of how to survive and how to make consumers willing to pay for it. High-end pure electric vehicles are a very limited market segment, Andy's competitors are few: BBA, Hongqi and Porsche, although Gaohe's HiPhi X has won the championship in several monthly sales lists, but it should also be understood that this is the only mass production model of Gaohe, and the BBA has both electric vehicles and fuel vehicles, and the price range is more.
"Every seemingly ordinary life is likely to go to greatness" "Ordinary people can also do great things" If Ding Lei's remarks at the press conference represent the concept of Gaohe Automobile, then I hope that the next time I conduct online live broadcast activities, I can open the comment area to let ordinary people speak. Otherwise, it is easy to think that Gaohe's definition of ordinary people is too high, after all, the vast majority of ordinary people are still price-sensitive people.