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

Chapter 262 I'm not your sub-brand anymore?!
December flew by at a breakneck pace.

Xingchen Automotive has also announced new developments.

Two brand new paint colors have been added!

Previously, the Starry Sky L7 only had four paint colors: Pearl White, Midnight Black, Dawn Gold, and Starlight Gray.

They are all high-end and aesthetically pleasing, but the selection is limited.

This time, the Starry Night L7 introduces two new color options: "Phantom Purple" and "Shadow Green".

The purple is a low-saturation dark purple, while the green leans towards agate green. With meticulous color matching, polishing, and craftsmanship, the texture of the car paint is naturally superb.

However, the focus of the comments section was not on the car paint.

"Geneva, delivery of the vehicle!!"

"I placed my order just two days ago, why does it show an eight-week delivery time? What's going on? Was it supposed to be four weeks before? Is Xingchen Motors having production difficulties?"

"Me too. I saw the new color scheme announced and contacted the salesperson to change the configuration, but they said I have to put myself in the queue again to change the configuration. I'm really conflicted now."

"Is this a deliberate attempt to create artificial scarcity? Did they really deliver 7,000 cars last month?"

"Could it be a problem with production capacity?"

……

Xingchen Automotive has gained tremendous attention in the market.

This is due to its own strong capabilities and the "assistance" from its peers. However, the increasingly longer delivery dates displayed on the app are inevitably confusing car owners who place orders later.

What started as a one-month deadline has now become an estimated two-month wait for delivery.

What's the situation?
The topic of Xingchen Motors' production capacity issues has also been hotly debated.

Yu Nian then posted a Weibo post to explain: "Dear car owners, Xingchen F1 factory is operating at full capacity. In terms of production capacity, it has already exceeded expectations according to this year's plan... As for the issue of longer delivery dates, it is due to the large number of new orders recently. Please understand. Xingchen Auto will issue points to every car owner who is waiting as compensation."

then.

The current order status of the Starry Night L7 was also made public.

This is after the car has been delivered for more than a month.

StarCraft still has 30,000 orders in hand!

This data addresses the concerns of car owners.

This also silenced any talk of a production capacity collapse.

Xingchen really didn't slack off at all.

The original plan was to have a monthly production capacity of 5,000 units, but now it has been increased to more than 7,000 units, and we are even aiming for a delivery volume of 8,000 units. We also have to strictly control the quality. It can be said that we have made great efforts.

In this case, the delivery date is further delayed.

The market enthusiasm is simply too high, and the order growth rate is too fast.

Many of Xingchen Auto's competitors were stunned!
While I was slightly shocked by this data, I also felt a bit complicated.

……

Half a month later.

Dongfeng Motor Group quickly established a deep cooperative relationship with Xingchen Motors.

In addition to purchasing a complete set of domestically produced air suspension solutions, we also packaged a solution of Xingchen SiC+IGBT power hybrid modules, which we plan to use in the overall configuration of our sub-brand Voyah's SUVs and MPVs.

After reviewing Xingchen Auto's recent sales performance, Zhu Yanfeng felt a growing sense of anticipation and excitement.

The more successful Xingchen became, the more confident they became. The development potential of the new energy market was being explored, which was an unprecedented opportunity for independent brands...

He was considering accelerating the development cycle of the two cars when his secretary transferred him to a call from Wibac, a company based in Shanghai.

Zhang Jian is the Vice President of Weibac China Region. This time, he came to further confirm Dongfeng Group's cooperation intention for the air suspension business. They had already talked about it two months ago, but Dongfeng had not yet made a decision due to the R&D cycle.

Zhang Jian wasn't too worried about this. Even if Dongfeng approached Continental or ZF, the offer they received wouldn't be lower than their asking price.

As an import supplier, they have recently noticed a trend of further expansion in the air suspension market. New energy vehicles are a completely new market, and they are preparing to loosen their profit margins and increase their scale of expansion.

Zhu Yanfeng listened silently, paused for a second, and then replied into the phone, "That's right, we've already finalized the air suspension supplier for our next two new models. We've also seen the samples and the testing process, and we're quite satisfied with them."

Zhang Jian was taken aback: "President Zhu, you've moved way too fast. Didn't you say you needed to consider things for a while..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yanfeng laughed.

There are only a handful of suppliers of air suspension systems.

The reason we need to consider this is because the prices you imported air suspensions are too high!
It's one thing if the price is too high.

Arrogant attitude and a lack of transparency regarding hardware and software are major problems.

"Yes, we considered it carefully and finally approached Kong Hui..." Zhu Yanfeng said calmly.

"Mr. Zhu, our air suspension is used in BBA and other high-end international brands. Domestic air suspension may not have the same guarantee, and consumers will feel that it is not luxurious enough. Moreover, the durability of air suspension cannot be verified overnight. You need to consider this aspect more carefully."

Zhang Jian attempted to persuade them. The sudden emergence of domestically produced air suspension and the announcement by several domestic manufacturers that they would start developing air suspension systems made them, who were used to making easy money in this field, finally sense a different kind of opportunity.

He became more proactive.

"If you feel the price is not right, we can discuss it further."

Zhu Yanfeng's tone was indifferent: "The domestically produced air suspension can be guaranteed for six years or 80,000 kilometers, which is longer than the three years for imported air suspension, so you don't need to worry about this."

From a cost perspective, no matter how much discounts Weibak offers, it still can't compete with domestic brands.

Besides, he had already personally inspected the performance and quality of the domestically produced air suspension, so there was nothing to hesitate about. It was really not worth paying so much just for the reputation of having the same air suspension as a luxury brand like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi.

After hanging up the phone.

Not a moment.

Lu Fang came to the office: "President Zhu, we have internally decided on the names. The internal code name for the first five-seater pure electric SUV is 'Voyah Free'. As for the name of the other MPV, we have tentatively decided on 'Dream Home'. It is family-oriented and easy to pronounce. What do you think?"

The Voyah brand adopts a spacious and grand style, and the two models it has developed internally also reflect this.

“Dreamer, that’s a nice name…” Zhu Yanfeng thought to himself.

The group's senior executives are mostly middle-aged and older, and the two cars they make are aimed at middle-aged families, so he thinks the name is very suitable.

"We still need to learn more from Xingchen in terms of manufacturing new energy vehicles. It's not just about the configuration; I think their in-car system is also quite impressive. There's a reason why they have such a large screen: it has many functions, is convenient and easy to use, and caters to the current consumer group that likes to try new things."

Zhu Yanfeng was not a big fan of large screens. As a traditional car company, Dongfeng was not good at developing in-vehicle systems; it just needed to have simple and usable functions.

If you're driving, why do you need such a big screen?!
But after experiencing it firsthand, I have to admit I really admire him.

The infotainment system on the Starry Sky is even more beautiful and smoother than a mobile phone system!

He has decided!

Voyah's new cars should also follow this trend.

In short, they all succeeded!

Just copy it!
Lu Fang was the first to feel a bit of a headache. "President Zhu, their system is based on Linux and developed from the ground up. They even collaborated with mobile phone manufacturers and iterated over time... If we want to catch up, the number of people in our software and vehicle infotainment department will probably have to be expanded tenfold, and it will take at least one to two years to develop."

Voyah intends to develop smart car systems and is currently recruiting talent from various sources to build a team, including some internet professionals and software engineers from mobile phone manufacturers.

But once you actually start doing it, you realize how difficult it is; it's a huge project.

It's not guaranteed that we can achieve the same level of success as Star Auto.

Intelligent vehicle systems and intelligent cockpits are also new concepts, and everyone is figuring things out as they go. Now, Xingchen in China has become the leader in this field.

hiss.

Zhu Yanfeng took a breath. "That's quite complicated."

Lu's mind raced, and he replied, "Didn't President Xu discuss the issue of licensing and opening up the in-vehicle infotainment system last time? Do you think it's a reliable approach?"

Zhu Yanfeng was startled.

"That won't do! How can that be?!" He immediately rejected the idea.

Xu Yi's idea is to consider opening up the Starry Sky system to the outside world in the future. Starry Sky will provide adaptation solutions to other car companies and connect to the Starry Sky ecosystem, so that car companies that are not good at developing software systems can use a smoother car system.

Let's work together to make progress and create a better future for the industry.

This matter seemed very strange to Zhu Yanfeng!

OK OK.

If we purchase the air suspension from Xingchen, and the power semiconductor solution from Xingchen as well... then in the future, we'll license a vehicle infotainment system, purchase a battery, and buy another intelligent driving solution.

Then I'll become your sub-brand?!
This is outrageous... this is utterly outrageous!

...

"We have to try developing it ourselves."

Zhu Yanfeng said firmly: "There is no reason why Xingchen Motors is doing well, but we can't. They just took the lead a step earlier. In terms of financing and R&D capabilities, we are not inferior."

In short.

The advantage is mine! !
　Two more chapters will be released later.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)