At the beginning of the launch of the Jietu Shanhai L9, there were still many people who were optimistic, after all, it was a bit similar to the ideal L9, but it seemed that there were many places stronger than the ideal L9.
For example, if it's a seven-seater model and the Ideal L9 is a six-seater, it's not wrong to have one more seat. Its price starts at only 169,900, which is a lot cheaper than the ideal L9. It is a multi-gear plug-in hybrid structure, which is far superior to the range extender technology in the psychology of many "people who understand the car".
However, its sales were not satisfactory, except for the sales in January this year, which exceeded 1,000 units, the rest of the months sales basically hovered in the hundreds, in May, the car sold only 920 units, and in April only 502 units were sold. Many people can't figure out why such a cost-effective model is not popular?
The problem of Shanhai L9 must not be expensive, starting from 166,900, and now there are terminal discounts, the actual starting price is less than 160,000 yuan, and the starting price of the seven-seat version is only more than 160,000 yuan.
The biggest problem, I think, is the problem of the brand positioning of Jietu.
In recent years, the sales volume has grown significantly, from 40,000 units in 2018 to 310,000 units in 2023, and the company has completed a total of one million sales in 6 years.
And Shanhai L9 car, is currently one of the most high-end models under the Jietu brand, from low-end to high-end, itself is quite a difficult thing, in addition to positioning the off-road square box replacement, Shanhai T2, the main sales of the Jietu model, in fact, is still a cost-effective model of around 100,000 yuan. Shanhai T9 itself is not expensive, but in the Jietu brand, because of the brand positioning, its price is a bit expensive.
Of course, the Jietu brand is also trying its best to get rid of the label of cost performance on its own body, in the past two years, the main positioning of "travel +", but what is the difference between travel + and off-road, and urban SUV? If you are positioned off-road, even if it is a square box like Jietu Shanhai T2, there is no four-wheel drive. Only the high-end configuration of the Jet Traveler has four-wheel drive, and the Jet Trip Shanhai L9 does not have four-wheel drive. So, what is the difference between buying these models and buying Chery or Xingtu? In the end, it didn't fall to the level of price and cost performance?
In addition, Shanhai L9 itself, the product positioning is also a little blurred, this car is actually based on X90, it can be said to be a shell car, the wheelbase is the same, the length, width and height data are very close, but one is a fuel version, one is a plug-in hybrid version, if the Shanhai series is a new energy version of the X series, then why Shanhai L7, renamed back to X70? Named the X70 C-DM? To be honest, I didn't understand this wave of operations.
Finally, let's talk about the plug-in hybrid technology equipped with Jietu Shanhai, 1.5T engine, with 2-speed DHT, the thermal efficiency of the engine is as high as 44.5%, the CLTC pure electric range reaches 108km, and the maximum range under comprehensive working conditions reaches 1100Km. 100 kilometers of fuel consumption is only 5.3L, there is a surprise in terms of parameters, however, this plug-in hybrid system, does not use Chery's 3-speed DHT, but uses the Kuntai 2DHT hybrid special gearbox, and this model in the case of sales is very average, there are complaints that the gearbox can not be put on gear, which is somewhat worrying about the quality control of this plug-in hybrid.
As for the car owner's feedback, some engine fault lights, instrument lights, door unlocking and other problems, any model will have a certain probability of small faults, but it is not enough to explain anything.
When Shanhai L9 was first unveiled, it was called "ideal replacement" by many people, it is a seven-seat design, plug-in hybrid technology, but the price is much lower than the ideal, but from the current point of view, it does not have the strength of the ideal car, product positioning, brand positioning, quality control, Shanhai L9 wants to do the ideal replacement, it seems that there are many problems to solve.