In the minds of the public, MPVs have always occupied the minds of Chinese consumers with the image of "high-end, high-quality, and comfortable", especially in the minds of the elite - a luxurious, even extravagant MPV represents their identity.
It is conceivable that, unlike the sedan and SUV markets, the MPV market has an inverted pyramid structure, with mid-to-high-end brands occupying the lion's share. 45.5% of users believe that MPVs are high-end, much higher than the 33% of sedans; 46.1% of users think that MPVs are of high quality.
In the context of the "involution" of China's automobile market, the mid-to-high-end MPV market, which has been sitting on the cold bench for a long time, has suddenly become everyone's sweet and sweet spot since last year, and has become the key to turning the tide of the war and improving the brand of independent brands.
In fact, from 2022 onwards, major brands will launch mid-to-high-end MPV models, such as Denza D9, Trumpchi M8, ZEEKR 009, and VOYAH Dreamer. From the end of 2023 to the beginning of 2024, a series of MPV models such as Wei brand Gaoshan DHT-PHEV, Xpeng X9, and Ideal MEGA have also swiped a wave of presence.
That's right, everyone is counting on anchoring their brands in a higher ecological niche through the explosion of the MPV market, and then taking advantage of the momentum to gain a firm foothold in the market.
In such a market environment, creating a high-end new energy MPV not only increases its brand value, but also earns a good reputation.
On June 25, 2024, the "space king" of LEVC Yizhen Automobile - L380 was officially launched, with a total of 4 models: 100-degree 6-seat Air version, 116-degree 6-seat Pro version, 140-degree 8-seat four-wheel drive Max version and 140-degree 6-seat four-wheel drive Ultra version, with an official guide price of 379,900 yuan to 479,900 yuan.
In the author's opinion, the product strategy of this MPV is very inspiring, and its product design ideas will bring strong reference significance to the MPV market and even the entire automobile market.
Large space: the biggest highlight of the L380
At the press conference, LEVC CEO Nan Shengliang said that at present, the absolute number of large families with many children in China will increase year-on-year, which will also promote the growth of high-end MPVs.
That's right, the product positioning of the L380 is very clear - it is a family MPV.
The author believes that most people see the "home" positioning, must have been aesthetic fatigue, regardless of the ideal car popular in the automobile market of the popular medium and large SUV product lineage, just in the niche MPV market, ideal MEGA, Xiaopeng X9 This product has been aimed at multi-child large family users.
Why did the L380 win?
In the author's opinion, the product design of L380 is by no means to follow the trend, and the difference between it and similar competitors is that they see a trend in the new energy vehicle industry - a revolution in body design.
We all know that the main direction of the new energy vehicle revolution is power form and intelligence, but now, more and more people realize that this revolution also has a direction is the revolution in body design.
This trend has been evident in recent years, and the most typical example is the encroachment of SUVs into the sedan market. Looking back at the last wave of SUV rise, many car buyers think that SUVs are too poor in handling, not as good as off-road vehicles in muddy ground, inflated prices, poor trunk sound insulation, etc., and even throw out remarks that SUVs are inferior to station wagons and hatchbacks.
But today, the motor solves the problem of the engine and gearbox occupying the front cabin space, the battery placed on the chassis solves the problem of headroom, and the acceleration of the three-electric system does not have to worry about additional worries. As a result, SUVs have become a category favored by consumers with high prices and volumes, while sedans have barely maintained their share, but their profit margins have been continuously depressed.
Specific to the MPV category, it is important to know that due to the large volume of the engine and gearbox of the traditional fuel MPV, a large space needs to be reserved for the two when arranged. The drive motor of an electric vehicle is smaller than the engine, which leaves enough room for innovation in product design.
So where is the breakthrough point for L380 selection?
The answer is dead space.
As a family MPV, L380 product design idea is to fully tap the limit of "room yield", in the author's opinion, once the owner enters this MPV, he can't even feel that this is a car, yes, this is the highest state of "large space".
First of all, the space is so large that "you don't have to worry about who sits in the third row".
In many MPVs, the third row has always been a very awkward existence, and most people are reluctant to grieve themselves due to the small space. However, L380 does not have this problem, the effective length of L380 is 3974mm, and the warehouse rate of the whole vehicle has reached 75%. The same body of more than 5 meters, L380 releases nearly half a meter of space in the car, so that the third row legroom of L380 is better than the second-row space of Mercedes-Benz S-class executive flagship sedans, and the overall third-row space has reached 940mm, and the owner no longer has to worry about who wants to sit in the third row.
Secondly, the space is so large that "when I get on and off the car, I don't even realize that this is a car".
It is inconvenient to get on and off the car, and it is also a pain point, no matter how the marketing slogan of the car company boasts of "large space", once you feel very crowded when you get on and off the car, you will also feel that the car company is "bragging".
The L380 solves this pain point, it can be said that it has achieved the "freedom of getting on and off the car", the opening width of the side sliding door of L380 has reached the largest in the same class890mm, the side channel after the second row of seats has been moved forward has reached 481mm, and the width of the central channel of the second row is 200mm, no matter what body can easily enter and exit, and even can enter and exit from the baggage compartment to the crew compartment.
At the press conference, the official told us that the chief product engineer of LEVCL380, Dapeng, is 1.96 meters tall. The three-row design of the L380 car is based on the experience of the chief engineer. That's right, the Roc approaching 2 meters has achieved freedom of entry and exit, so what else do you have to worry about?
In the end, there is so much space that "the family can lie flat in the car while putting down nine suitcases".
Many MPVs boast a lot of space, but after putting the luggage, there is not much space left. But for L380, after the third row of people, L380 can also have a 1100-liter luggage compartment, easily fit nine 24-inch suitcases, and thanks to the design team's full use of space, they carefully designed the "tail sunken floor", the fourth row can be hidden under the luggage compartment floor, can also be turned forward to sit people, can also be turned back to watch the sea with the family.
It is no exaggeration to say that the L380's space performance is better than the two-row, five-seater, spacious and comfortable Rolls-Royce and Cullinan. In the official words: "The row is super cool, the super three magic four space layout makes the third row ride experience the first in the industry, the magic fourth row is the only in the industry, and even the L380 is greater than 1.13 square meters of per capita cockpit area, surpassing the per capita cockpit area of the world's largest passenger aircraft Airbus A380." ”
After the analysis just now, we can confidently say that this is definitely not bragging.
The SOA architecture gives L380 the confidence to innovate
Why is the L380 so good in space? In addition to the ingenuity of the design team, what is more important is the blessing of technology.
That's right, behind LEVC is China's own brand - Geely Automobile.
In 2006, Geely Group acquired a 20% stake in LEVC, and in 2013, it completed a wholly-owned acquisition, and in the 18 years since it was acquired by Geely, LEVC has leveraged Geely's strong global technology system to quickly leapfrog from 0 to 1 development.
You know, in the past five years, Geely's total investment in research and development has totaled 25.6 billion yuan, and in the past ten years, Geely's cumulative research and development expenditure has exceeded 100 billion yuan.
With the support of Geely's technology system, LEVC has developed the world's first space-oriented pure electric architecture "SOA". So, what exactly does the "SOA" architecture give to L380? So that the design team's design ideas can be implemented so perfectly?
First of all, it is a powerful intelligent chassis.
The front suspension of the cyber chassis of L380 adopts the original patented technology of virtual kingpin MacPherson front air spring structure, which significantly improves the comfort and handling stability of the vehicle; The rear suspension adopts multi-link independent suspension, well-designed leverage ratio, and space arrangement make the rear suspension meet the design requirements of L380 flat floor, while the bearing capacity is increased by 30% compared with its peers.
You must know that in addition to the advantage of large space, MPVs are endowed with diversified scene needs for daily commuting and holiday travel. Therefore, the L380 is equipped with industry-leading cyber chassis technology, integrating digitalization, intelligence and excellent mechanical performance, and through multi-domain coordinated control, the big car can drive a small car feeling, without fear of mountain road turns, high-speed galloping and other road conditions.
You must know that the cyber chassis is matched with a forward-looking binocular camera, and the visual coordinates are constructed with a digital algorithm, with a recognition distance of 40 meters and a height measurement error of less than 5mm at 10m. Based on the identified road surface information and vehicle status data, the L380 intelligent perception system can adjust the damping characteristics of the CDC and air suspension in advance to achieve better suspension decision control. In other words, any road can be driven.
The Cyber chassis is equipped with Bosch IPB 1.1 ONE BOX intelligent brake-by-wire system and CST comfortable braking, with a braking distance of only 35.98m from 100 to 0km/h, and sufficient braking power to provide a strong guarantee for safe braking.
These powerful configurations are the basis for the design team to perfectly implement their ideas.
Secondly, it is the intelligence of the whole vehicle.
L380 has a large space, and the premise of sitting comfortably is that the vehicle is intelligent, that is, the owner can issue instructions through the intelligent cockpit to meet his own needs.
L380 has created 6 kinds of cockpit layout "one-key switching", and the owner can realize any command through the one-button operation of the car machine.
With the support of SOA architecture, L380 uses 1 5G Ethernet, 2 Longying No. 1 chips, 3 wireless transmissions, 6 sound zones and 9 screens to build a comprehensive and leading intelligent hardware base.
Its cockpit system adopts Flyme Auto For LEVC OS, with precise voice control, simple and silky operation, BEV mode of the whole cabin seat and "butler mode" of one-key car control, which realizes the comprehensive translation of the operation habits from the mobile phone to the car machine, bringing more wonderful enjoyment of the space on wheels.
It is worth mentioning that L380 also introduced the SenseTime SenseNova 5.0 model for the first time, introducing AI technology into the in-vehicle field and realizing the leapfrog progress of the vehicle-machine ecology. The above-mentioned AI model can be transformed into a health steward, which can help users accurately monitor multiple health indicators such as occupant heartbeat, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen concentration, and can also be transformed into an all-round encyclopedia to assist users in handling business matters, chatting and singing with children, making every trip full of fun.
That's right, as Nan Shengliang, the global CEO of LEVC, said: "Relying on Geely's global technology system, LEVC has created a new blue ocean in the space category, and as a Mercedes-Benz car of life, the L380, the king of space, has set sail around the world." ”
In summary, L380 can give all peers a sample with excellent product definition, although the pure electric market is very volatile today, if you want to break the game, the design team can no longer focus on stacking materials, let alone on marketing words, but to focus on the dimension of body design, and make bold innovations.
Therefore, the author believes that based on the empowerment of Geely's global strategic system, the Yizhen L380 has opened up a new category of space innovation, and brought an unprecedented high-end travel experience to Chinese consumers with an intelligent and diversified space system, and the L380 will surely explode the MPV market.