Edit | Yuer Lake
出品 | 潮起网「于见专栏」
As soon as 2024 arrives, the automotive industry is still opening with the word "volume", with an average of one new car released in two or three days, and the price range is from 100,000 to 1 million. According to media reports, in January alone, more than 10 new models were confirmed to be launched.
Among these models, Geely Galaxy's first pure electric model, the Galaxy E8, which has been warmed up in turns, is also one of the most concerned models. Since the car made its public debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show in mid-November, both officials and consumers have regarded the BYD Han EV as the biggest competitor of the Geely Galaxy E8, so there are many speculations in the industry about its market positioning, as well as the price and configuration at the time of the first sale.
And all this, after the Geely Galaxy E8 is officially launched on January 5, 2024, there is no suspense. According to media reports, when the car was launched, a total of five models were launched, with prices ranging from 175,800 to 228,800 yuan. According to reports, as the first pure electric product of the Geely Galaxy series, the Geely Galaxy E8 is based on SEA's global intelligent pure electric architecture, and is positioned as a medium and large pure electric coupe. The new car is equipped with a 45-inch 8K unbounded smart screen and a built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 flagship cockpit chip. In terms of power, the car is equipped with a high-performance SiC silicon carbide electric drive system, with a pure electric range of up to 665 kilometers. 75,800-228,800 yuan. According to reports, as the first pure electric product of the Geely Galaxy series, the Geely Galaxy E8 is based on SEA's global intelligent pure electric architecture, and is positioned as a medium and large pure electric coupe. The new car is equipped with a 45-inch 8K unbounded smart screen and a built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 flagship cockpit chip. In terms of power, the car is equipped with a high-performance SiC silicon carbide electric drive system, with an all-electric range of up to 665 kilometers.
However, the official propaganda of the high-flying and high-flying and the industry's interpretation of the various versions of the Geely Galaxy E8 seem to have also made Geely's new model full of slots, and even far ahead of the official shouting, in stark contrast. Some netizens questioned the Geely Galaxy E8, Geely is "tough" BYD through this car, or "thunder is loud and rain is small", I am afraid there is no chance of winning.
The pressure of Geely's car volume has given the Galaxy E8
As an old brand in the automotive industry, Geely's status in the rivers and lakes is self-evident. It's just that in 2022, this "big brother" will also usher in an eventful autumn, and in that year, Geely lost the throne of "the first brother in the sales of its own brand". In order not to put eggs in one basket, Geely also launched a sub-brand strategy early.
It has successively incubated Geometry, Zeekr, Ruilan, and Radar internally, and introduced many sub-brands such as smart, Polestar, and Lotus externally. It's just that the development of these sub-brands can be described as a few happy and a few worried. For example, as early as 2015, Geely proposed the "Blue Action" to move towards new energy vehicles.
However, after a closer look, the new energy vehicles it launched early are actually "oil-to-electricity" through models such as fuel vehicles Emgrand and so on, and these models are not beaten at all under the fierce competition of pure electric vehicle brands. The "Geometry Car" that was born since then has also embarked on the old road of "oil to electricity", for example, its Geometry A model is almost a pure electric copy of Emgrand GL. However, facts have proved that such an idea did not give it the lead in the layout of new energy vehicles. On the contrary, it let it get up early in the morning and catch up with a late set, wasting the best time to enter the new energy vehicle track.
Fortunately, Geely Automobile learned from the pain and soon found out where the problem was, so it also began to lay out sub-brands such as Zeekr and Galaxy, focusing on pure electric vehicles. The landmark event is that new energy vehicles have a general trend of replacing fuel vehicles under the promotion of national subsidy policies, etc., and on the other hand, in 0 years, Ji has finally released its own SEA pure electric vast architecture. ZEEKR is a new energy vehicle brand launched by Geely in this situation, and it can be regarded as a certain success in the market.
It's just that the Geely Galaxy brand BYD is probably not as lucky as Extreme Krypton when it was born. On the one hand, unlike Zeekr's main mid-to-high-end strategy, Geely Galaxy hopes to create a low-cost car for the mass market and "volume" sales.
It's just that this kind of positioning and BYD, which has always been known for its "cost performance", can be described as a chess opponent. With BYD's strength to now win the global new energy vehicle sales championship, Geely Galaxy's L7, E8 and other models may not be its "opponents".
The sub-brand strategy is not a panacea
In fact, before the Geely Galaxy E8 came out, the Galaxy L7 had already gone head-to-head with the BYD Song PLUS DM-i. However, compared with last year, the Song PLUS DM-i sold 388,000 units, which is the core base of BYD's overall sales of 1,863,500 units.
And the subsequent market results also proved that Geely wasted several years of time in the "oil to electricity" in vain. Such a strategy not only failed to help Geely establish a clear reputation for new energy, but caused consumers to gradually lose confidence in Geely New Energy because of its weak product strength.
However, compared with 2022, the Song PLUS DM-i sold 388,000 units (data source: National Automobile Dealers Association), which is the "mainstay" of BYD's overall sales of 1,863,500 units, and it is the annual sales champion of China's SUV market. According to the data recently released by Geely, Geely Galaxy has been on the market for 7 months, with a cumulative sales of 83,497 vehicles. Although this is not bad for a newly launched model, it is far from BYD's sales in 2022.
Unlike the Geely Galaxy L7, which is a plug-in hybrid SUV, the Geely Galaxy E8 is a pure electric vehicle, so it is also regarded by the industry as its pioneering work in the field of new energy vehicles. However, can Geely Galaxy steal BYD's "limelight" through this new car? Most people in the industry believe that this is a tough battle for Geely.
Moreover, due to different positioning, the success achieved in the sub-brand Zeekr may not be replicated in the Galaxy series products such as L7 and E8. After all, it turns out that Geely's sub-brand development strategy, with its successes and failures, is not a panacea.
Galaxy E8, which has a mixed reputation, may not become a "responsible" for sales
Geely began to warm up and promote the Galaxy E8 early, apparently with high hopes for its sales. However, since the body pictures of Geely Galaxy E8 were exposed, the voices of netizens have been mixed, and even the evaluation of this car is still a matter of opinion.
For example, at the previous 2023 Chengdu Auto Show, although car lovers did not see the Geely Galaxy E8 in their hearts, they saw a variety of models that are very similar to the Galaxy E8 in terms of exterior design, such as Changan Qiyuan A07, Deep Blue SL03 and Leap C01.
Prior to this, according to relevant information, Geely Galaxy E8 According to relevant information, Geely Galaxy E8 will be released in the fourth quarter of 2023 and deliveries will start within the year. Although the actual release time was a few days late, netizens' sense of expectation before the release was obviously not as good as before. At that time, some netizens even said that they wanted to pour a scoop of cold water on Geely Galaxy, bluntly saying that if the design of Geely Galaxy E8 is not officially finalized, change it as soon as possible, otherwise I am afraid that it will be lost in the homogenization of the "vast sea of cars".
In addition, some industry insiders believe that Geely's previous entry into the new energy vehicle industry through "oil to electricity" was a mistake in strategic determination, and even made Geely miss the cognitive war in the hybrid market. In fact, Li Shufu had previously used a handwritten 10,000-character internal letter to admit the failure of the Blue Operation. It's just that Li Shufu attributed the reason for the strategic mistake to the fact that the time was not ripe. However, after the release of the Geely Galaxy series of cars, Geely's time is ripe for the layout of new energy vehicles, but I am afraid that the best time has been missed.
On the one hand, Geely's previous oil-to-electricity products have exposed the shortcomings of its product strength, and even made consumers lose confidence in Geely's new energy vehicles. Although ZEEKR has redeemed this brand impression to a certain extent. But in addition, whether it is a hybrid system or a single product, Geely is not shocked, which is enough to prove that Geely can not "buy people's hearts" by changing the "vest". Moreover, the new energy vehicle market at this time is no longer the world when Geely proposed the "Blue Action".
On the other hand, the "wide" characteristics of the Geely Galaxy E8 model are becoming the "standard" of many companies, and even the seemingly distinctive features such as the rounded closed front face, sharp headlights, and smooth body lines have long been the same. Under such a design concept, some of its unique "selling points" also seem to be a bit of a drawback.
For example, the interior design of Geely Galaxy E8 is claimed to be the first global ultra-wide 45-inch 8K unbounded smart screen, which is provided by BOE and is the first to be installed in the interior of Geely Galaxy E8. With Geely's marketing skills, this screen that runs through the two cars in the car will unlock a new imagination of intelligent pure electric vehicles for users as "China's flagship in the pure electric era".
However, after this smart screen carved the impression label of "wide" and "domineering" to people, it was also complained about because it is easy to affect the driver's vision when driving at night, and because the screen is too large and occupies the original physical button space, affecting the operation of the driver who is Xi to blind operation, etc.
It is worth mentioning that the three-electric quality and intelligent quality of SEA's vast architecture have been recognized by the industry. However, under the high-quality platform, Geely Galaxy's product power still gives people a sense of "scratching the itch in the boots", and when its appearance has not passed the "homogenization" level, it is found that the performance advantages, safety advantages and intelligent advantages behind it are probably still needed Geely Automobile's irons.
For owners who choose Geely Galaxy E8, it is more like eating crabs, and the best result is as the official said, good quality and low price. At worst, I'm afraid these owners will become the "test subjects" of Geely's first pure electric car.
epilogue
Geely's confidence in the Galaxy E8 is as unwavering in its sub-brand strategy. It's just that, relatively speaking, in the inaccessible high-end market, Geely can get a piece of the pie through several classic products of Zeekr, or it is a fluke. In the relatively crowded low-end pure electric vehicle market, Geely Galaxy E8's competitors are not only BYD Han EV?
From this point of view, the high-profile departure of Geely Galaxy E8 may not be as the outside world says, it is a "one-brother battle" with BYD Han EV, but shoulders the mission of Geely Galaxy's "volume", and even competes with car companies in the entire new energy vehicle market.
In any case, I hope that after the launch of the new Galaxy E8, it will be as amazing as Geely's official publicity, and at the same time, it will satisfy consumers and even surprise them, and at the same time, it will also make Geely Galaxy get their wish.