In 2024, the knockout competition of new energy vehicles will intensify, and the war of car companies will further heat up. Since the beginning of this year, with the fire of Wenjie, the sale of Xiaomi cars, and the listing of ZEEKR in the United States, the pattern of the entire new energy market has changed again. The pattern of new forces represented by "Wei Xiaoli" has been broken.
As a new car-making force, in addition to the mini car T03, the C10, C11, C01 and the C16 launched on June 28 are all in the price band of 150,000 yuan, and this market is currently one of the most fierce price war in the new energy vehicle market segment.
Since the beginning of this year, Leapmotor's sales have always maintained the top three among the new car-making forces, and the industry-wide ranking is probably hovering between seventh and ninth. With the launch of the six-seater SUV Leapmotor C16, Leapmotor expects its sales ranking to move forward.
The price is 155,800-185,800
On the evening of June 28, Leapmotor's new model, Leapmotor C16, was officially launched, with a price range of 155,800-185,800. The new car is a new product of Leapmotor's LEAP 3.0 architecture, and it is also the first model equipped with 800V fast charging, equipped with a four-leaf clover central integrated electronic and electrical architecture, equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 cockpit, and equipped with LiDAR, with high-end assisted driving functions.
The Leapmotor C16 is positioned as a mid-size SUV, which is higher than the C10 on sale. A total of six new models will be launched, with prices ranging from CNY 155,800 to CNY 185,800. In terms of dimensions, the new car has a length, width and height of 4915/1905/1770mm and a wheelbase of 2825mm, positioning it as a six-seater mid-to-large SUV. For comparison, the C10 Leap has a length, width and height of 4739/1900/1680mm and a wheelbase of 2825mm, positioning it as a mid-size SUV.
In terms of appearance, the new car adopts a family-style design style similar to that of the Leapmotor C10. The front face adopts a closed grille design, and the light clusters on both sides widen the visual width of the front of the car. The front bumper is also very recognisable, with air vents on both sides and black trim to further enhance the sporty look.
In terms of interior, Leapmotor C16 continues to adopt a family-style layout design, with a T-shaped center console equipped with a 14.6-inch 2.5K floating central control screen and a 10.25-inch full LCD instrument cluster. The interior color scheme also continues to take the warm home route, the designer through the use of leather, soft plastic trim and other materials to bring a certain sense of luxury, the interior theme part, the new car includes malt rice, Cabernet orange and Xingyuan purple three styles.
In terms of power, the new car is available in a pure electric version and an extended range version, with the former electric motor with a maximum power of 215kW and a peak torque of 360 Nm · meters, equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery pack, CLTC working condition cruising range of 520 km; The latter is equipped with a 1.5-liter four-cylinder range extender with a maximum power of 70 kW, a motor with a maximum power of 170kW, and the official CLTC mode pure electric range is 200 km, a full fuel range of 1095 km, and the lowest state of charge in CLTC mode is 5.4 liters per 100 km.
After the launch of the Leapmotor C16, the pure electric version of the model will compete with the Xpeng G9, Zhiji LS6, AVATR 11 and other models. The extended-range model will compete with models such as the Li L6, Wenjie M7, and VOYAH FREE 318. At the same time, Xpeng Motors and NIO will respectively launch MONA series products with a price range of 150,000 yuan and a new brand Ledao near 200,000 yuan, and will also share the market with Leap.
Industry insiders said: "Compared with the C10, the wheelbase of the Leap C16 has not changed, and only the body has been lengthened. However, the 6-seater SUV we often see has a price range of more than 250,000 yuan, and this time the Leap C16 directly controls the price of the top configuration within 200,000 yuan, and the purpose of impacting the market with cost performance is very obvious. ”
The "UNIQLO" of the automotive industry
Founded in 2015, Leapmotor has been around for 9 years, and in September 2022, Leapmotor was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming another new car-making force that has landed on the Hong Kong stock market after "Wei Xiaoli".
According to the financial report data, the total revenue of Leapmotor in the first quarter of this year was 3.486 billion yuan, an increase of 141.7% compared with the same period last year, the gross profit margin was -1.4%, a year-on-year decrease of 6.4 percentage points, and the net loss was 1.013 billion yuan. In terms of sales, in the first quarter of this year, the cumulative sales of Leapmotor were 33,410 units, an increase of 217.9% year-on-year. 18,165 vehicles were delivered in May, which is about to break the 20,000 mark.
Although Leapmotor has still failed to achieve profitability, combined with sales volume and gross profit margin data, the situation of Leapmotor is improving. Zhu Jiangming said that this year's plan is to achieve a gross profit margin of 5%-10%. Although the products launched this year are very competitive, and the C16, which has a full allocation of no more than 200,000 yuan, has also shown good competitiveness, it is still difficult to achieve an annual gross profit margin of more than 5% by relying on these products alone.
It should be noted that there are voices in the industry that Leap C16 and C10 are the ideal L8 and L7 for replacement. From the product form, publicity and tone to product strategy, these two models are as close to the ideal L series as possible, and are also aimed at family users, but the price is half cheaper. Zhu Jiangming, founder and CEO of Leapmotor, said in an interview with the media that customers who are accustomed to buying Chanel occasionally use Uniqlo may buy Leapmotor C16 and eventually become loyal users of the brand.
Zhu Jiangming believes that Leapmotor is expected to achieve monthly sales of 30,000 units in the price range of 15 to 200,000 yuan. According to the plan, in 2025, Leapmotor will replicate the same strategy as the C series, launching three B series products in the price range of 10 to 150,000 yuan, and models above 200,000 yuan in 2026.
However, there are some pitfalls associated with this strategy. Senior analysts in the industry believe that "the launch of multiple products in the close price competition zone can easily cause competition between models. In addition, similar product launches rely on sales feedback from the first product. Once the first product is not launched, the same design elements cannot be reused in subsequent models developed in parallel. This leads directly to a chaotic product launch cadence and a surge in R&D adjustment costs. ”
However, Leapmotor is also actively expanding overseas markets to increase sales. On May 14, Leapmotor and Stellantis jointly established a subsidiary, Leapmotor International. Different from the asset-heavy overseas model of other car companies, Leapmotor mainly provides technology, and Stellantis is responsible for the production, sales and after-sales service of automobiles.
In terms of models, according to Zhu Jiangming, Leapmotor International will take the lead in launching two global models, T03 and C10 in the European market, of which C10 is a B-class model mainly positioned as a family car; The T03 is a competitive A00 class smart electric vehicle suitable for urban use. In addition, in the next three years, Leapmotor International will launch four more models one after another, and it is expected to launch Class C cars codenamed A12 and A03 in the first quarter of next year, and then continue to launch new models codenamed T05 and T11.