Car stuff (public account: chedongxi)
Author | Janson
Editor | Zhihao
Car East and West June 29 News, Yesterday Leapmotor released its first medium and large SUV - Leap C16 officially launched, as the ideal L8 "half-price replacement", Leap obviously has its own "careful thinking".
The new car is equipped with second-row independent seats, Snapdragon SA8295P chips, and the intelligent driving version is equipped with Orin-X chips and Hesai LiDAR to provide urban NOA functions.
As far as the ideal L8 is concerned, its configuration is more than "an order of magnitude" stronger than that of Leap C16, air suspension, front dual screens, dual Orin-X, larger vehicle size and wheelbase, are currently C16 insurmountable "gap".
However, in the 15-200,000 level market, Leap C16 is obviously not a direct "competition" of the ideal L8, but more of a "benchmarking" level.
In the 150,000-level market, Leap C16 is also facing direct competition from BYD Song plus and Tang. Looking up, Xiaopeng G6 has also dropped to less than 200,000 yuan, whether it is from brand value or intelligent driving performance, Xiaopeng is still better.
The price of each version of Leapmotor C16 and the listing privileges
In general, in the current market environment, the pricing of Leap C16 has basically locked the vast majority of configurations, and it is difficult to pull off obvious advantages in hardware configuration compared with each company vertically, and it is more of a process of comparing the soft power of the brand.
It can even be said that the brand's ability to tell a story is also a test of its ability to sell cars in this price range.
First, it is necessary to make an abacus of half-price ideal replacement for Leapmotor
As the first "big six-seater" SUV of Leap, the size of the new car is 4915/1905/1770mm, and the wheelbase is 2825mm, which is the same as the 5-seat version of Leap C10, as a large six-seater SUV, the wheelbase is the same as Leap C10, which is slightly embarrassing.
In terms of space, the size of the Leap C10 is 4850/1930/1680mm, and the overall size of the C16 is still larger than that of the C10. Although Leap said that the new car has increased the leg and foot room in three rows through the design of the motor body extending backwards, so that the riding space can be equivalent to the model with a wheelbase of 2950mm, but the performance in the data cannot be ignored.
As far as Leap is concerned, although it regards the new car as a replacement for the ideal L8, the product power of the two is indeed difficult to compete with the ideal L8.
Leap C16
In terms of powertrain, the Leapmotor C16 offers both extended range and pure electric dual power versions.
The pure electric version is equipped with a 67.7-degree battery pack as standard, with a CLTC comprehensive range of 520km, using an 800V silicon carbide platform, with a maximum charging power of 180kW, which can charge from 30% to 80% in 15 minutes.
The extended-range version is equipped with a 28.4 kWh battery pack, with a CLTC pure electric range of 200 km, a combined range of 1,095 km, and a CLTC fuel consumption of 5.4 liters.
Schematic diagram of the battery pack and chassis of the Leapmotor C16
Compared with the ideal L8 in the extended range version, compared with the 42.8 degree battery of the ideal L8, the battery capacity of the Leap C16 is only half of that of L8, whether it is from the cost or the audience, the two can be said to be completely different.
In terms of intelligent cockpit, Leapmotor C16 is equipped with NVIDIA Orin-X chip and Hesai AT128 lidar on the intelligent driving version, with a vehicle computing power of 250TOPS level, with 30 high-performance perception hardware including 8 million pixel high-definition cameras, etc., providing three-dimensional perception for the vehicle.
These ADAS configurations also enable the Leapmotor C16 Intelligent Driving Edition to achieve urban NOA, as well as the use of intelligent navigation NAP functions on highways and urban expressways, but it still needs to wait for the opening of the city. The ideal urban NOA has begun to be pushed, and the ideal MAX version is equipped with dual Orin-X, and the experience of doing intelligent driving is also earlier, and there must be a big gap in the specific experience.
In terms of cockpit, Leapmotor C16 uses Qualcomm Snapdragon SA8295P chip, its AI computing power reaches 30TOPS, supports four-tone wake-up dialogue, and passengers can control the car machine and seat through voice assistant.
Schematic diagram of the rear cockpit of the C16
In terms of smart cabin experience, the new car is equipped with a 15.6-inch high-definition rear ceiling screen, the front seats are equipped with memory and the main driver's welcome function as standard, the second-row independent seats have heating and ventilation functions, and there is also a small table behind the co-driver to improve ride comfort and convenience.
It can be said that the rear screen of the C16 is only 0.1 inches smaller than the ideal L8 rear screen of 15.7 inches, which may also be the biggest highlight of its half-price replacement.
Second, the sales volume is less than half of the ideal Zero Run Who is the real opponent?
Looking at the sales of new power brands in the past two months, Leapmotor is basically only half or even 1/3 of the ideal, that is to say, although Leapmotor aims at the ideal car, it cannot have an impact on the ideal car in terms of sales, and even the customer groups of the two sides are completely different.
In the past February, the sales volume of new power brands in the Chinese market was TOP10
Judging from the specific price range, the price of the 150,000 level of Leap C16 has directly entered BYD's comfort zone, and below 150,000 is facing the challenge of Song Plus, and more than 150,000 is also challenged by a three-row SUV like Tang.
In terms of pure electric models, Leap C16 faces many opponents, and Xpeng G6 has also dropped to less than 200,000 yuan, whether it is from brand value or intelligent driving performance, Xpeng is still better.
In general, in the current market environment, it is difficult for the price to support the continued competitiveness of a car, and from the product point of view, it is difficult for the hardware configuration of Leapmotor C16 to have obvious advantages with other models, and it is more about comparing the soft power of the brand.
As for whether the brand strength of Leapmotor can challenge BYD and other powerful players, consumers may also have their own judgments in their hearts.
Zhu Jiangming, chairman of Leapmotor, also talked about BYD in a previous interview, saying that his cost control is no worse than BYD, and Leapmotor "is not afraid of a price war!" If he dares to surrender, I will dare to follow! ”
However, judging from Leapmotor's 2023 financial report, Leapmotor's annual gross profit margin turned positive for the first time to 0.5%, while BYD's gross profit margin in 2023 is as high as 23%.
At present, the challenges of the new energy market are intensifying, and after the launch of the Leap C16, it will face BYD, a strong opponent, and the market performance of the new car still needs to let the market speak.
Conclusion: How to play the card of Leapmotor
As the third model of Leapmotor to be sold at the 150,000 level, the Leapmotor C16 brought this time is undoubtedly its new thinking in the market segment.
However, as a 5-seater SUV with the same wheelbase, the Leap C10, equipped with a rear entertainment screen, and the design of a single Orin-X with lidar, it is undoubtedly a trade-off in cost, price, and functionality, so as to maximize benefits.
Whether it is the ideal half-price replacement or the close hand-to-hand combat BYD, how to play the card of Leapmotor has become a new thinking for it, and as for its specific performance, it still depends on time to speak.