Text | Dong Wuying
Recently, the new model of the Beiqi Jihu brand, the Jihu Alpha S5, was officially launched, with an official guide price of 176,800 yuan, which is "the only 800V pure electric car within 200,000 yuan", which has attracted wide attention in the market.
At the time of listing, JiHu Motors announced that from now until July 31, 2024, JiHu Alpha S5 will be ordered, and users can also enjoy 25,000 yuan in cash preferential rights, that is, the price of the whole series starts at 151,800 yuan for a limited time.
This is not the first time that Jihu Motors has cut prices significantly. In March this year, Jihu announced a price reduction of 25,000 yuan for all Alpha T5 models. Affected by the price reduction, the sales of the ARCFOX Alpha T5 model increased significantly from March to May this year.
So, can the Alpha S5 model, which is a big discount when it is launched, further drive the growth of Jihu sales?
JiHu began to embrace cost performance
At present, the ARCFOX Alpha S5 on the market this time is relatively cost-effective.
Before the launch of the ARCFOX Alpha S5, there were 5 models on sale under the ARCFOX brand, namely the Alpha S Advance Edition, the Alpha S Forest Edition, the Alpha T Forest Edition, the Alpha T5 and the ARCFOX Koala in cooperation with Huawei. Among them, the S series is a pure electric sedan, the T series is a pure electric SUV model, and the Extreme Fox Koala is a pure electric MPV model launched for the maternal and infant scene.
Among these models, the Alpha S Advance Edition, which is in cooperation with Huawei, is the highest, with the guide prices of the two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive versions being 256,800 yuan and 326,800 yuan, respectively. The model uses the HarmonyOS intelligent operating system and Huawei's intelligent driving high-performance computing platform to support high-end intelligent driving functions.
The Alpha T Forest Edition and Alpha S Forest Edition are an attempt to lower the price of the ARCFOX brand, with starting prices of 185,800 yuan and 189,800 yuan respectively, both equipped with the BAIC Forest cockpit. However, the low-profile version of the two models only has two auxiliary functions of reversing image and remote driving, and the sub-low-profile version has the current mainstream assisted driving function, but the guide price also exceeds 200,000 yuan.
The Alpha T5 and the Alpha S5 released this time are more cost-effective models launched by the ARCFOX brand after the Forest Edition. Both models use BAIC's self-developed Jihu Lingzhi OS, equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 automotive-grade cockpit chip, and the cockpit system has been upgraded compared with the previous forest version.
Alpha T5 was officially launched at the end of last year, and the guide prices of its low-configuration and sub-low-configuration 520AIR and 520PRO versions are 155,800 yuan and 163,800 yuan respectively, and these two models also do not have mainstream assisted driving functions. The Alpha T5 520MAX version has a guide price of 175,800 yuan and has mainstream assisted driving functions, while the top-of-the-line version of the T5 660MAX is equipped with a 2.6C super-rechargeable battery pack and an 800V silicon carbide supercharging platform, with a guide price of 199,800 yuan.
The Alpha S5 on the market starts from a higher start, and the guide price of the low-profile version of the 560MAX is 176,800 yuan, which is basically the same as the configuration of the Alpha T5 520MAX version. The mid-configuration version of the Alpha S5 708MAX version is equipped with a 2.6C super-rechargeable battery pack and an 800V silicon carbide supercharging platform, with a guide price of 196,800 yuan. The top-of-the-line version of the 650 ULTRA is a four-wheel drive version, with a guide price of 216,800 yuan.
What's more, the two new models of Alpha T5 and S5 currently have a relatively large price discount.
Since March this year, the price of Alpha T5 has been reduced by 25,000 yuan, and the terminal retail price has started at 130,800 yuan. The newly launched Alpha S5 has also launched a limited-time discount of 25,000 yuan, and the terminal retail price has dropped to 151,800 yuan.
This also means that BAIC Jihu, which has always adhered to high-end positioning, has also begun to embrace cost performance in order to increase sales.
A new energy leader with a long way to go
For BAIC, the ARCFOX brand bears the heavy responsibility of the transformation of the new energy business.
BAIC Group is a pioneer in the promotion of new energy vehicles in China, and as early as 2009, BAIC New Energy Company was established, which is also the first new energy vehicle joint-stock company in China. Later, with the advancement of the new energy subsidy policy and the rapid development of the B-end market such as taxis and online car-hailing, BAIC became a leading enterprise in new energy vehicles.
According to the data, from 2013 to 2019, BAIC BJEV has maintained the first place in the sales volume of pure electric vehicles for 7 consecutive years. In 2018, sales peaked at 158,000 units. In 2019, BAIC New Energy's electric vehicle sales fell slightly to 150,600 units.
At that time, BAIC New Energy operated the "BEIJING" brand, and its sales depended on the B-end market. By 2020, new energy subsidies will decline sharply, and the B-end market will be cold. BAIC New Energy's sales in 2020 will only be 25,900 units, a year-on-year plunge of 82.79%.
In order to change this situation, BAIC began to promote the ARCFOX brand. In 2019, BAIC BJEV established the ARCFOX (ARCFOX) Division, positioning high-end manufacturing, high-end products and high-end brands, and chose Magna, a "luxury car foundry", to produce ARCFOX models.
In 2020 and 2021, ARCFOX launched the Alpha T and Alpha S models respectively, with starting prices of more than 240,000 yuan. In May 2022, the new HI version of ARCFOX Alpha S was launched, with a starting price of 397,900 yuan.
With such a price, Jihu's models have not made a breakthrough in sales. In 2022, the annual sales volume of ARCFOX will just exceed 10,000, and the monthly sales of new car-making forces in the same period have exceeded the threshold of 10,000 units.
Huawei's Yu Chengdong once bluntly said during the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum in April 2023: "There is only Changan AVATR left in the HI mode, and GAC will not do it, and there are problems with the product definition and competitiveness of BAIC (ARCFOX)." ”
The sluggish sales of new energy vehicles and the large investment in R&D have led to huge losses in BAIC Blue Valley, a listed company in BAIC's new energy business. From 2020 to 2023, BAIC Blue Valley's net profit attributable to the parent company will be -6.482 billion yuan, -5.244 billion yuan, -5.465 billion yuan and -5.399 billion yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of 22.5 billion yuan in four years.
In 2023, BAIC ARCFOX will actively adjust and launch a lower-priced forest version of the model, with annual sales of 30,016 units, a year-on-year increase of 138%, but the average monthly sales volume is still only more than 2,500 units, which is a significant gap with the head new energy enterprises. In 2023, the net profit of BAIC Blue Valley Extreme Fox Automotive Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of BAIC Blue Valley, will be -3.347 billion yuan.
In the case of long-term sluggish sales, BAIC POLAR FOX has launched lower-priced Alpha T5 and S5 models, can these two models help BAIC Blue Valley successfully transform?
Opportunities and challenges for the Alpha S5
For JiHu, price reduction is indeed an effective means to boost sales.
According to the wholesale sales data of the Passenger Association, from January to February this year, the total sales volume of ARCFOX Alpha T5 in two months was less than 1,000 units. After the price cut of 25,000 yuan, in March and April, the sales of ARCFOX Alpha T5 were 1,765 and 1,892 respectively. By May of this year, with the increase in deliveries, the monthly sales of the owner's home display had reached 3,731 units.
The ARCFOX Alpha S5 launched this time may continue this path and further drive sales growth.
According to the official guide price, the competitors of the ARCFOX Alpha S5 are mainly star models such as BYD Han Glory Edition, BYD Seal Glory Edition and Geely Galaxy E8. In front of these opponents, it is debatable how competitive the ARCFOX Alpha S5 is.
However, after placing a discount of 25,000 yuan, the main competitors of ARCFOX Alpha S5 have become Dongfeng Yipai eπ07, dark blue SL03, Leap C01 and other models, and the competitiveness of ARCFOX Alpha S5 has been further highlighted.
However, how much ARCFOX Alpha S5 will drive sales still needs to be verified by the market. On the one hand, the sedan market is smaller than the SUV market, and the sales of models are also lower. For example, Dongfeng Yipai eπ007, with sales of only 3,016 units in April; The dark blue SL03 extended range and pure electric models sold a total of less than 4,000 units in April.
On the other hand, the sales growth of the ARCFOX Alpha T5 is mainly driven by the low-spec model, with a starting price of 130,000 yuan. However, the starting price of the ARCFOX Alpha S5 is more than 150,000 yuan, which is more than 20,000 yuan higher than the former, which may affect more price-sensitive consumers to a certain extent.
In addition, the pressure on the service system brought about by the growth of sales is also a huge test for the current BAIC POLAR Fox.
According to the 2023 annual report, by the end of 2023, the JiHu brand had only 244 stores in operation, and 71 charging stations had been built and operated. A small number of stores often dissuades a large number of test drive customers and potential customers, and a small number of self-operated charging stations will affect the experience of using the 800V charging system, which is one of the main selling points of the ARCFOX Alpha S5 in this marketing.
On the whole, the launch of the more cost-effective Alpha T5 and S5 has brought a certain positive effect on the increase in sales, and also shows the positive actions of the JiHu brand in the face of market changes. However, whether the sales increase of BAIC Jihu can continue and make further breakthroughs, and whether BAIC Blue Valley can smoothly transform, still needs to be verified by the market.