From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 234 Principles
Changan has long had experience in developing hybrid engines.

The company's current business is mainly based on gasoline vehicles, but it also has plans to expand into the new energy vehicle market. As a state-owned enterprise, responding to the national call is a statement, and the several pure electric vehicles launched by the company are proof of this.

However, market performance and sales were mediocre.

Only the Benben Mini-EV, riding the wave of the booming pure electric mini market this year, has managed to break into the 4,000-unit monthly sales mark through continuous upgrades and price reductions.

"Starcraft has made a good start. Mr. Li, you said you wanted to develop a six-seater extended-range SUV. You must have had this idea after seeing Starcraft's product launch, right?" Gong Kun pondered for a moment and then smiled.

Previously, everyone was in the exploratory stage regarding the manufacture of new energy vehicles.

Without a significant increase in market share, confidence is severely lacking.

The success of Xingchen Automotive's two pure electric vehicles has given other domestic brands a direction to focus on. Now, not only are there people making small cars in the lower-end mini market, but they also have plans to upgrade two pure electric sedans. This year, their procurement orders with CATL have increased significantly.

before this.

Chang'an never even considered extending the range of its vehicles.

They believe that range extenders have always been outdated and redundant, and that research on plug-in hybrids would not include research on range extenders.

But the emergence of Xingchen Motors shattered this expectation.

Despite facing skepticism from the industry and the market, they actually succeeded.

This is unbelievable.

This has also sparked new reflections within the industry.

After all, if it succeeds, it will prove that this path is viable.

Sales figures speak for themselves.

of course.

This success is only at the sales level. The initial performance of the Starry Night L7 is indeed impressive. Whether it can maintain this momentum and be fully accepted by the market remains to be seen.

Chang'an decided to wait and see for the time being.

If the Starry Sky L7 can truly set a new record, then they could also initiate a project to develop two range-extended vehicles.

This range-extending engine is a small experiment.

Gong Kun assumed Li Xiang shared the same thought as him, and the words had barely left his mouth when...

But then they saw Li Xiang's face, which had been perfectly normal just moments before, suddenly turn bright red, as if he were suffocating and turning a little purple.

When he heard what the person in charge at Chang'an was thinking, he almost vomited blood and nearly fainted: "President Gong, how... how can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air?!"

He gritted his teeth a little.

Looking up at the ceiling, two lines of tears almost streamed down my face!

Xingchen Motors... Xingchen Motors!
You've made me lose so completely again, without me even realizing it!

Damn! ! !
...

"Huh?" Gong Kun asked, puzzled.

I never expected the other person to suddenly become so agitated.

"I must state that our initial project was aimed at six-seater extended-range SUVs in the 300,000 RMB price range."

"What a coincidence?"

"What a coincidence!"

"Then you guys now..."

"The product definition of the Starry Sky L7 is too strong now. The other party has too much accumulation in pure electric technology. We have to settle for making an affordable extended-range SUV for the family market. However, we will not give up our goal of entering the high-end market."

Li Xiang's explanation only intensified his sense of humiliation.

too painful!

But nobody cared at all!

I'm determined to build a car that will revolutionize the mid-range market, and then return to the high-end market as a dominant force!

Li Xiang silently made a vow in his heart.

At that moment, he suddenly had a clear and strong sense of conviction!
"Mr. Li... cough, don't get agitated. How about we talk about the issue of cooperative supply?"

Gong Kun observed the changes in the other person's expression, which gave the impression that he was emotionally unstable.

hiss--

It is said that the founder of Autohome has a high school education and a very distinctive work style and personality. He always thought it was just a rumor. Could it be true?
"Okay," Li replied.

The two sides continued to exchange views on cooperation regarding range-extended engines.

……

After briefly discussing the product definition, Xu Yi also extended an invitation for a test drive at the track.

Compared to the overall technical level of the Xingchen L7, the development cycle for a cost-reduced, downgraded six-seater SUV can be significantly shortened.

The engine can be completely replaced by a 1.2T, and the chassis can be replaced with a MacPherson strut instead of a double wishbone suspension. Of course, at this price point, it's impossible to have air suspension.

The configuration of refrigerators, color TVs, and sofas makes it clear to ordinary consumers that the configuration can be fully equipped without incurring too high a cost.

The only issues that Xingchen needs to address are the supply of the three core electric components (battery, motor, and electronic control system) and the vehicle's infotainment system. In terms of intelligent driving, a downgraded version of L2 can be implemented based on the hardware capabilities, which can still maintain strong competitiveness.

Strictly speaking, it has also benefited the consumer market.

For a few hundred thousand yuan, you can get a refrigerator, a color TV, and a large sofa in your car, with a combined fuel consumption of less than six liters per 100 kilometers and the ability to run on pure electric power. This was unimaginable before.

An Jinhui had long admired the Xingchen L7 and had been wanting to get his hands on one ever since the launch event.

Unfortunately, I've already placed the order, and the waiting list is for pickup in thirty days.

When he actually saw the car and sat inside it, he understood why the car had such a high order conversion rate.

Great!

Very comfortable!
It's almost imperceptible when you drive it...

The chassis isolates nearly 95% of minor road vibrations.

He couldn't even hear the engine!

"Mr. Xu... has the engine really started?!"

An Jinhui asked in surprise, looking closely at the indicators on the dashboard that indicated the range extender mode was activated and the engine was engaged.

I've checked repeatedly, and it is indeed open.

But he couldn't hear the engine noise at all, and he could barely feel the vibration of the steering wheel.

An Jinhui had driven several hybrid vehicles before, but none of them had ever been this smooth and quiet.

"Yes, it's open now," Xu Yi replied, glancing at the vehicle's status as well.

Because the engineering vehicle only had 20% battery remaining, the engine was started to generate electricity as soon as the driver got on.

"In addition to refining the thermal efficiency, we have also put a lot of effort into NVH. For a long time, Chen Zhou led the team to optimize the high and low frequencies under different operating conditions. In terms of quietness alone, I feel that it is close to the feeling of the Mercedes-Benz GLS."

Xu Yi explained.

He actually believes that NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness) is often more important than engine thermal efficiency, but it is often not easily reflected in marketing.

The engine's extreme thermal efficiency brings impressive specifications on paper, while NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) provides an exceptional sensory experience.

The Starry Night L7 has excellent NVH performance, which includes not only the isolation of engine vibration and noise, but also the overall noise control of the vehicle.

With the addition of double-glazed windows, it's incredibly quiet.

This has resulted in the current driving experience.

It was very quiet and peaceful.

Anyone with even a little knowledge of cars knows that because of its naturally larger surface area exposed to wind, the wind resistance is higher than that of a sedan. Therefore, it is extremely valuable for a large SUV to achieve excellent sound insulation.

Traditional factories like JAC also have internal engineering teams that control NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness), so they understand it, but they don't know that much about it.

Because JAC lacks experience in manufacturing high-end luxury cars.

High-end luxury cars often prioritize refinement of details over cost-effectiveness.

To achieve very low noise levels in NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness) engineering, not only must the vehicle body strength meet standards, but at least 80 kilograms of sound insulation materials must be used throughout the vehicle, including double-layer sound insulation cotton and sound insulation felt covering the doors, 5mm thick butyl rubber sound insulation felt on the floor, and high-density sound-absorbing cotton in the roof...

They all have to be made of environmentally friendly materials and have flame-retardant properties, which are relatively expensive.

However, family cars costing around 100,000 to 200,000 yuan are lacking in this regard, and their materials may not be environmentally friendly.

Xingchen Motors didn't have any experience in this area before, but they had dismantled a lot of luxury cars.

Moreover, there was a suspicion that the initial materials were over-engineered, resulting in some exceeding the NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness) standards.

It's not as simple as skipping one level in the traditional sense; it's at least two or three levels higher.

An Jinhui listened attentively, feeling both surprised and like he was on a pilgrimage.

This is real, firsthand experience.

No wonder he felt a sense of "floating" as soon as he sat in the car.

On the one hand, it's due to the quality of the chassis, and on the other hand, it's because the Starry Sky L7 isolates noise in all aspects, even effectively controlling tire noise in the low-speed range, which naturally brings a sense of luxury.

After driving around a few times.

An Jinhui grew increasingly fond of the car, realizing Xingchen's true expertise in car manufacturing.

If Jianghuai can use this as a template to learn the essence of the art.

Let alone preserving 60-70% of its essence, even if only 30% of the whole thing is preserved, he feels there is great potential.

"Mr. Xu, I also placed an order, but your production cycle is too long, which means I don't have a car to drive yet..." An Jinhui said half-jokingly.

"It seems that President An is interested in our car, but we don't have the production capacity for new cars right now." Xu Yi found it a bit funny, not expecting that JAC had also placed an order.

As far as he knew, Mr. Wang from BYD ordered several units, and Li Bin and He Xiaopeng also ordered one each to show their support. In addition, Mr. Lei and some supply chain partners were also present.

In other words, at least a few dozen units of Xingchen Auto's debut sales were driven by industry insiders. As for whether it was as exaggerated as hundreds of units, that remains to be seen.

"I'll have someone bring the car keys over later, Mr. An, you can drive it back."

Xu Yi's magnanimous remark made the eyes of the Jianghuai team members light up.

But then, in stark contrast, another sentence was heard:
"I'll return it to you after you pick up the car, Mr. An."

Xu Yi said it quite naturally.

An Jinhui almost fainted. He thought Xu Yi was going to give him one, and he was even planning to return the favor by giving him two original light trucks.

“President Xu, you…” An Jinhui hesitated, his expression showing great distress.

Xu Yi understood his meaning and laughed: "President An, please don't misunderstand. What I mean is that if you are interested, you can take this unit back for research first, and then we can have a more in-depth discussion about this matter later."

"Once production capacity is available, I'll personally deliver one to you. This one is, after all, an engineering prototype; it's run tens of thousands of kilometers of testing, and it's quite rough inside and out. How can I give it away as a new car?"

Regarding principles...
……

(End of this chapter)