Whether everyone is willing to admit it or not, in terms of practical actions alone, luxury brands have absolute market dominance in the field of fuel. Take the same budget of more than 300,000 yuan, although this price is enough to buy medium and large cars such as Volkswagen Hui Ang, but in terms of sales, the luxury medium-sized cars represented by the BMW 3 Series are obviously more favored. The "brand premium" ability is invisible and intangible, but it can always make consumers willingly pay.
However, in the field of new energy, this understanding has a certain discrepancy. In the 300,000-level high-end SUV market, the ideal ONE already has the strength to compete with BMW X3, Audi Q5 and other models, and even if the NIO ES6 only sells thousands of units per month, it is enough to leave the BMW iX3 and other luxury medium-sized pure electric SUVs far behind. Now, with the deepening of traditional luxury brands in the new energy market, BMW i3 was also officially listed at the end of last month, with an official guidance price of 349,900 yuan, which obviously targeted competitors at the same listed WEILAI ET5 with an official guidance price of 328,000-386,000 yuan.
On the one hand is a long-established German luxury brand, on the other hand is a new force of car manufacturing, BMW i3 to face the Weilai ET5, what are the chances of winning? If you have a car purchase budget of more than 300,000 to buy pure electric vehicles, how should consumers choose? After the following comparison, the strength gap between the two is clear at a glance.
First of all, at the design level, the appearance of bmw i3 still retains the family style, the classic "double kidney" grille, the iconic "L-shaped" taillights, far from the BMW brand family genes can be seen; however, the whole car in the details of the use of differentiated design, such as closed grille, blue trim decoration, and 3 series has a certain distinction. As for the interior of the car, the new car adopts a new interior layout, 12.3-inch full LCD instrument + 14.9-inch central control screen brings the visual impact of "double screen", but it is still difficult to get rid of the shadow of "fuel vehicle".
In contrast, WEILAI ET5 is completely the product of the "new energy era". The new car adopts a family-style design style, with a simple front face, a slipback shape, a penetrating taillight, and a variety of body colors including "Cloud First Yellow" and "Aerospace Blue", which can arouse the interest of young people. In addition, the vehicle interior also adopts an elegant and generous design, and the size of the 10.2-inch bezel-less dashboard and the 12.8-inch floating central control screen is slightly smaller than that of the BMW i3, but it is also enough for daily use.
Of course, aesthetics vary from person to person, and there is no fixed standard, but in the process of using a car on a schedule, the size performance will undoubtedly greatly determine the comfort performance. At the data level, the BMW i3 has a length, width and height of 4872/1846/1481 (mm) and a wheelbase of 2966mm, while the LENGTH, width and height of the NIO ET5 are 4790/1960/1499 (mm) and a wheelbase of 2888mm. It can be seen that the former has superior length and wheelbase, theoretically having longer legroom and stronger ability, while the latter has superior body width and height, and will not appear too crowded when riding with multiple occupants.
In addition, at the configuration level, the BMW i3 series only provides one model, while the three models of WEILAI ET5 are exactly the same in addition to the battery type and battery energy. In addition to functions such as active braking/active safety system, remote control key, main co-pilot electric seat, rear exhaust air outlet, etc., bmw i3 unique air suspension, CarPlay/CarLife, while WEILAI ET5 unique 360-degree panoramic image, automatic parking, electric trunk box front seat heating and other functions, the same configuration on the BMW i3 are optional. In summary, the BMW i3 pays more attention to driving comfort, while the Weilai T5 has more advantages in the intelligent configuration level.
Since it is a pure electric vehicle model, power and performance are naturally the focus of attention. Take the BMW i3 and WEILAI ET5 entry-level version comparison, BMW i3 uses a single motor rear drive, zero hundred acceleration time of 6.2 seconds, battery capacity of 70kWh, pure electric mileage of 526km; while ET5 entry-level version of the two-motor four-wheel drive, zero hundred acceleration time of 4.3 seconds, battery capacity of 75kWh, pure electric mileage of 550km. In addition, THE NIO ET5 also has two other versions with battery capacities of 100 kWh and 150 kWh, and pure electric mileage of 700 km and 1000 km respectively.
Obviously, in terms of dynamic real strength, the BMW i3 based on "oil to electricity" is obviously slightly inferior, whether it is from the power performance, or the endurance level, Weilai ET5 has a unique advantage. In addition, WEILAI ET5 also has a "battery rental plan", which can further reduce the threshold of "car purchase (excluding batteries)", with a relatively wide layout of power stations, it can be seen that luxury cars want to grab the "rice bowl" of new forces, and it is not so easy.
Conclusion: Of course, bmw i3 is not without the possibility of winning, after all, whether it is from the styling design, or luxury configuration, or brand image level, BMW i3 has more or less irreplaceable advantages of new forces, if the price can be discounted in the later stage, it is not without chances.
On the other hand, the arrival of new forces has significantly increased consumers' expectations for "luxury pure electric vehicles", and if luxury brands, including BMW, cannot come up with sincere works for a long time, the high-end market in the new energy era may really "change the sky".