On August 1, the first batch of Xpeng MONA M03 show cars arrived at stores in 100 cities across the country, officially opening store tasting, and this car will be officially launched in August.
MONA is a new series of Xiaopeng, and Xiaopeng's P series, G series and X series are parallel, but MONA's positioning will be lower, therefore, everyone is looking forward to how much the price of M03 will go, previously, He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, said that the price will be within 200,000. The author guesses that the price of M03 may be around 150,000, because Xiaopeng at this stage needs a high-volume model too much.
In terms of compact positioning, the MONA M03 is not difficult to remind people of the Xpeng P5 of the same door. In the past, He Xiaopeng had a lot of regrets about the research and development of P5. He once said that there were some changes in the back of the P5, and the core reason was that everyone had no money in 2019, so a "discounted" version of the P5 was made. "The appearance has not changed much, and many technologies have not been used, which should have been more capable and less costly. Actually, it shouldn't be discounted, and if it isn't, P5 is still very competitive. ”
After the experience of P5, Xiaopeng should say that it knows how to build a compact car.
First of all, compared to the shyness of P5 back then, this time MONA M03 must at least be developed at home. It is understood that the R&D cost of MONA M03 is nearly 4 billion yuan, with a cycle of 4 years.
As an A-class family car, MONA M03 is willing to give a higher-end configuration. For example, it is equipped with an electric liftback tailgate as standard, AGS fully integrated active air intake grille as standard, adding an active air intake grille can add an additional 16km of range, and the drag coefficient of MONA M03 is as low as Cd 0.194 - for this reason, Xpeng also deliberately did 10 times and accumulated 100+ hours of wind tunnel testing.
In terms of power, the Xpeng MONA M03 is equipped with a front-mounted single motor and is divided into two options, with a maximum power of 140kW and 160kW respectively, but the top speed is only 155km/h. The battery is equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery, and the cruising range is also available in two options: 515 km and 620 km. In the chassis part, Xpeng MONA M03 adopts front MacPherson + rear torsion beam non-independent suspension, which is the same as Xpeng P5.
The overall style of the interior is simple, the air outlet is a long one-piece shape, the central control is a large screen, and there is also an air conditioning outlet under the screen. Whether it is the front row or the back row,MONA M03It feels like there are not many places to play,The essence is concentrated on the central control screen,MONA M03The car machine configuration can be called luxurious,Snapdragon 8155 chip +16G running memory,With real-time rendering3D car machine animation and 3D navigation map。
The most striking feature of the MONA product line is its intelligent driving capabilities, which Xpeng regards as the top priority for the popularization of high-end intelligent driving. However, it can be seen from the appearance that the MONA M03 is not equipped with lidar. He Xiaopeng pointed out that MONA M03 will provide different intelligent driving solutions, but they will all be the best intelligent driving solutions in the same gear.
In the first half of this year, Xpeng delivered a total of 52,028 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 26%, and only completed 18.5% of the annual sales target (280,000 units).
MONA reflects He Xiaopeng's two important strategic adjustments: MONA M03 is not equipped with lidar, and the pure visual intelligent driving system may be equipped with it; Taking the initiative to separate from online car-hailing, He Xiaopeng made it clear that the MONA M03 will not launch a "taxi version" model.
In March this year, when MONA was first officially announced, He Xiaopeng repeatedly emphasized the advantages of the brand's "AI intelligent driving", integrating Xiaopeng's high-level intelligent driving and future unmanned driving, promoting "scientific and technological equality", becoming a "new species of subversive innovation", and committed to becoming a global popularizer of AI intelligent driving cars.
Focusing on the market below 200,000 yuan, this is the comfort zone of the two major brands of BYD and Aion. At present, there are more than 100,000 cars, and very few use intelligent driving as their selling point, and the intelligent label of Xpeng MONA is the most powerful bargaining chip in its hands. However, BYD has also begun to make efforts in intelligent driving, with its sales scale and supply chain capabilities, it is not difficult to do high-end intelligent driving to 200,000 yuan, or even 100,000 yuan level models, and it is difficult to say how long MONA's first-mover advantage in this regard can be maintained.
But in any case, Xiaopeng must have a volume model, with a scale, the cost will be reduced, the formation of profitability, and the realization of a virtuous circle. Without the "scale effect", it is difficult to form competitiveness. Therefore, He Xiaopeng hopes to achieve a balance between profits and intelligent driving ability in the 150,000-yuan market through the MONA brand.
Xu Fanghua, reporter of Southern Network and Guangdong Study