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

Chapter 324 Find a truckload of bread-making men to mess with you
6 month 3 day.

After nearly three months of preparation, the new policy on subsidies for new energy vehicles, jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has officially been implemented.

Compared to the original industry expectation of a 30%-40% reduction in subsidies, the new policy's national subsidy reduction rate reaches a maximum of 60%.

The news sent shockwaves through the industry!
The cost pressure brought to enterprises by the reduction of subsidies is real and cannot be ignored by anyone. An invisible wave has spread to the national market.

The price reduction is so large that even the guaranteed minimum has been eliminated.

Some executives from companies that mainly produce products with short battery life were completely stunned when they saw the content!
Subsidies for vehicles with a range of less than 120km will be significantly reduced or even eliminated. National and provincial subsidies for new energy vehicles and hybrid vehicles with a range of mid-to-high range will also be sharply reduced as a result.

Adding these two together, the cost difference can easily amount to 10,000 to 20,000, and in some cases, 30,000 to 40,000.

This really hit a nerve with many car companies.

It's not just new energy vehicle companies; many traditional fuel vehicle giants are also facing significant cost challenges with their low-range new energy products designed to meet carbon credit requirements.

The consumer market was completely unaware of this.

Ordinary people don't keep an eye on policies all day long.

But as the storm swept through, some people soon felt the pain.

Xingchen Automotive: A shining example of Chinese-made products and a leading brand in new energy vehicles.

The company was the first to announce two facelifted models, and in response to national subsidies, it canceled charging bonuses and offered free charging pile installation and three years of free maintenance as end-user incentives.

The news sparked outrage!

Bold!

The Star Group has absolutely gotten too arrogant!!

How dare he!
At this critical juncture, isn't the main reason to buy a new energy vehicle to get the best value for money?
Ok……

Although these features have been removed, Starry Sky's vehicles still offer relatively high value for money compared to gasoline-powered cars.

It's wrong of you to raise prices in disguise!
Heartless!!
"The sales of Xingchen Group have been rising steadily, all thanks to the support of consumers and fans who trust the brand and spend real money. I never expected that with monthly sales of 50,000 to 60,000, they would still play the trick of raising prices in disguise. The new model only improves the configuration slightly but cuts off all the benefits. They have completely forgotten their original intention!"
Frankly, I was very disappointed with the announcement I saw today. The slogan of "making whatever the people need" seems to have been just empty words.

One blogger publicly commented on this.

Someone will join the tour group immediately.

"Yes, it was too sudden. The new model didn't offer any perks at all. It's not fair at all."

"I was already ready to place the order, but since you're doing this, Mr. Xu, I guess I'll have to put the money back in my pocket."

"I suggest that everyone refrain from placing orders for Xingchen Motors recently. Let Mr. Xu calm down and wait until the facelift model fails to sell. Then he will naturally release the purchase benefits."

……

Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Zhentao went to Xingchen Group to record an exclusive interview. Halfway through the interview, he cautiously raised the issues of the new model's adjusted purchase policy and the reduction in benefits.

"Mr. Xu, with the government subsidies being significantly reduced, all companies are facing very serious cost problems. Major manufacturers are taking various measures, but Xingchen Group seems to have a stronger voice among users. What are your thoughts on the recent feedback from the consumer market?"

In an interview, Xu Yi spoke candidly: "As a new energy vehicle company, we actively undertake and strive to create a positive cycle in the industry ecosystem. In the past, some new energy vehicle models were profitable because of strong government support, but we cannot take this extra assistance as the norm."

We highly respect the voice of the consumer market, and this decision was made after careful consideration. As a result, Xingchen Group has borne considerable cost pressure, and we believe many people will understand us.

Respect the voice of the market and crave understanding.

This is the attitude that Xingchen Group is conveying to the outside world.

The timing of the facelift of these two models coincided with the reduction of new energy vehicle subsidies, and the market reaction was stronger than he had expected, but it did not affect the continued progress of the facelift.

Offering car purchase incentives is a common tactic for expanding the market.

But it will eventually come to an end.

The cars have been sold for a year, how can we send them out every day? Even a landlord's family doesn't have enough left over!
That's good enough!

Even companies like Starry Sky, which have always had a good reputation among users, will experience brief complaints due to a break in employee benefits.

But in Xu Yi's opinion, Xingchen Group had already been generous enough.

After all, with such a large user base, even if the new energy vehicle subsidies are cancelled, Xingchen will still incur additional costs due to the reduction in new energy vehicle subsidies.

Now, only time will tell.

"Don't just focus on the reduced benefits. In my opinion, the new S7 and Star Mini are very generous. The car's infotainment system, chips, and even the seat and chassis configurations have been upgraded, but the price has not changed. This shows Star's sincerity."

Our charging stations are still included with the vehicle, but labor and installation fees are not included. Even with the discount, it's still significantly cheaper than buying and installing a charging station on the market.

Yu Nian mentioned this point when he held a user meeting in Shanghai, speaking to users in a very sincere tone.

The marketing department regularly communicates with users to gather feedback and holds various events.

In addition to increasing user cohesion, it also helps to continuously strengthen the brand image.

Xingchen Automotive has only been in the market for a few years, and it still needs to continuously promote itself to increase its brand awareness and brand integration.

can be seen.

Most car owners at the scene were quite understanding.

They all nodded in agreement.

I am still feeling emotional.

Yes, even the stars have it tough!
With so many brand-owned stores across the country, how many lunches must be delivered every day?

You're still cursing him?
How can you be so unreasonable? Are you naive and ignorant?
It's just free maintenance, how much does it cost?
It's just that the charging station doesn't include installation, but that's only a few dollars.

And those charging coupons—who can't afford to charge their phone these days?

A little more understanding.

Show more respect!
Only with more care can the entire new energy industry chain develop in an orderly manner!
what?
You ask me why I'm not in a hurry?
I've already bought the car and claimed all the first owner benefits, so of course I'm not in a hurry!

The car owners at the scene positioned themselves very neatly!
The large-scale user communication conference was filled with voices of support that were "righteous and outspoken"!
"support!"

"Mr. Yu is absolutely right, the upgraded features in the new model are the best benefit..."

...

The voices reached Yu Nian's ears, and he closed his eyes slightly, his eyes filled with support.

It's like hearing celestial music, instantly clearing your ears!
--Harmful.

He was initially a little nervous about holding this user communication conference.

They were afraid that the protests against abolishing welfare policies would be too loud.

This is, after all, a strategy that affects all purchasing channels, so the group's statement and stance are necessary.

But now—

There were no objections from the audience!

really.

Communication is useful; as long as you speak sincerely, users will understand.

……

The media relayed the original quote.

This caused an uproar among certain groups online.

"Sincerity my foot, Thunder!!"

"Why isn't there a single dissenting voice at the scene? Have they all been brainwashed by Xingchen? Or are they hired shills?" "Looking around, these are all long-time Xingchen car owners. They've already enjoyed all the preferential benefits, so of course they don't care about the reduction in subsidies now!"

"??? What about users who didn't buy a car?"

"If you buy a car without paying a deposit, you're not considered a customer. This is a Star Car Owners Communication Conference, so of course you can't get in."

"Holy crap, it even has a closed-loop logic!"

"President Yu, you've gone too far! Holding this self-deceiving conference, do you believe I'll send a truckload of people to deal with you?"

A group of netizens who initially intended to cause trouble started making their voices grow louder and louder!

……

NIO's headquarters.

As one of the few new energy brands in China, we have felt the impact of this subsidy reduction crisis deeply.

Upon receiving the message from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Li Bin immediately began to consider how to balance costs and selling prices.

The NIO ES8 is a battery-swapping model, and also a pure electric vehicle priced as high as 400,000 to 500,000 yuan.

In terms of cost alone, it's definitely the highest tier.

Now, just a few months after delivery, we have encountered unexpected environmental changes.

They also promised to include lifetime free battery swapping for the first user.

As the number of car owners accumulates, the costs in this area become extremely high.

NIO's original internal calculation method was to pre-calculate and add the battery swapping rights of each car owner to the car price based on eight years of cost, and then add national subsidies to balance costs and final selling price.

The group now has to make up for the shortfall in national subsidies, which will definitely lead to an imbalance in the long run.

Given his personality, he is highly likely to use investors' money to force the issue to continue.

But now he finds that he has grown a lot and learned a lot from Xingchen Company. Many of Xingchen's practices are worth considering, including its current actions of directly facing users.

then.

Li Bin also began to consider canceling user rights.

“Brother Bin, we’ve just delivered a batch of ES8s. If we cancel them now, it will cause a huge uproar and affect consumer confidence. They’ll think NIO is short of funds, and the situation will probably get even worse…”

Qin Lihong's expression tightened slightly upon hearing this.

"Of course, I'm not saying to cancel the benefits immediately. Canceling the benefits of Founder Edition owners at this stage would be harmful to us."

Li Bin was well aware of the implications of this situation.

Lifetime free battery swapping is now just a pipe dream; NIO's survival hinges on the next two years.

If it can't hold on any longer, then even the promise of free battery replacement in the next life is impossible to fulfill.

The number of car owners hasn't increased to that level yet.

NIO can still grit its teeth and bear the consequences until the accumulated maintenance costs explode.

"What I mean is that we can follow Xingchen's example, and users also have the right to know that there is a deadline for the cancellation of battery swap benefits. I think setting the final deadline in the middle of next year would be appropriate..."

Li Bin said carefully, "At the same time, the price of the ES8 will increase. The reduction of national subsidies has added 20,000 to 30,000 yuan to our costs. To maintain market share, we can only guarantee the purchase price, but we can't not raise prices at all. The company needs more cash flow to balance R&D and website construction expenses."

A high-level meeting at NIO lasted for more than an hour before a final solution was finally agreed upon.

The news was released to the public at the same time.

The lifetime battery swapping rights for NIO's first car owners are also coming to an end, and will be given to car buyers before June next year. In addition, the final price will be increased by 5000 yuan!

……

With NIO's announcement, the group that was still clamoring against Starship suddenly froze.

On the same day and the following day, all the companies finally couldn't hold back any longer and released announcements to the public.

Several companies, including BAIC New Energy and GAC Aion, have announced price increases of 8,000 or 10,000 yuan for their models and the cancellation of the right to use the charging piles that come with the vehicles.

They really couldn't hold it in any longer.

Since the pressure from the reduction of national subsidies has reached the point where even Xingchen has to "withstand the pressure," many car companies struggling on the cost line can simply surrender.

Among them, high-health-bar vehicles like the Starry Sky are subject to a price guarantee mechanism from BYD, Geely, NIO, and XPeng, which aims to keep the price unchanged while reducing benefits. Other companies do not have the right to call for such a guarantee mechanism.

Both market sales volume and costs do not allow for this, making it an unfeasible option.

Those netizens who were still shouting about finding a truckload of bread people were now dumbfounded!
A wave of companies adjusting their equity pricing is sweeping across the market.

After comparing various options, Xingchen turned out to be the most cost-effective one again.

Mr. Xu was not lying.

Amidst the turbulent market, Xingchen's sincerity remains evident.

……

Thus, a comical scene unfolded in the market: before the complaints had completely subsided, consumers, after much deliberation, went ahead and placed orders, resulting in a surge in new orders.

After the monthly summary meeting, Xingchen Group also summarized the latest progress on the implementation of the Brilliant Series pure electric sports car project.

Sun Pengfei, the person in charge of the three-electric technology, has been busy with the improvement and upgrading of the entire power system recently.

The Brilliant U9, equipped with four motors, has undergone long-term internal research and development, resulting in the development of a unique vector control system. This system also significantly enhances the high-rate discharge capability of the battery pack, reconstructs the entire oil cooling system, and optimizes the battery management algorithm, allowing the battery to maintain peak discharge performance even when the battery temperature is between 60-70℃ in track mode.

This is especially important for a sports car.

In particular, the Brilliant U9 is a new energy vehicle equipped with 4 motors, and its peak power can easily exceed 500KW. If the heat dissipation cannot keep up, the peak output will not be maintained for long before it overheats and slows down, or even explodes if you look at it for too long!
“Brother Sun, our latest eight-way valve cooling system can already withstand over 500kW of peak output for 30 minutes. After running, the actual power drop-off is less than 15%. Is it still necessary to continue optimizing it? I think there shouldn’t be any domestic tracks that require higher output.”

Chen Xuancheng was a core member of the research and development team for this heat dissipation system, and he also raised his own questions during the process.

Compared to eye-catching features like "U-turn on the spot" and "vehicle summoning," the quality and performance of a vehicle under extreme conditions are internal strengths, but are extremely difficult for non-professional consumers to perceive.

The R&D team racked their brains and poured their hearts and souls into perfecting this ultimate heat dissipation system.

With the system's limits, it should be more than capable of setting a new lap time at the Shanghai International Circuit or the Zhejiang Circuit. Any further improvements would obviously result in performance overflow.

Sun Pengfei looked down at the latest speed measurement data.

The U9 can reach a top speed of 280km/h. After 10 laps of full-throttle testing, the temperature of core components such as the motor, battery, and inverter did not exceed 120℃, which is very close to the requirements of the whole vehicle's "ultimate track performance".

"Who said this cooling system was only designed for domestic tracks? Mr. Xu's point is that if we're going to spend money to improve lap times, we have to make a big splash. The domestic tracks don't yet have the publicity effect we need..."

Sun Pengfei chuckled, then shook his head.

High-end products always need to prove why they are born to be high-end.

For sports cars, breaking lap records is a timeless and versatile activity that has remained popular for over a century.

A mass-produced car, as long as it wins the championship on a famous racetrack and breaks the record, will receive applause regardless of nationality or brand!

Ultimately, we achieved a promotional effect where 1+1 is greater than 2, and gained sufficient benefits and respect from it!
"You're not going to play in China? Then could it be..." Chen Xuancheng paused slightly.

"Charge to the Nürburgring!!"

Sun Pengfei simply uttered three words, but if these were to leak out, the shock they would cause would definitely propel Xingchen to the top of the trending searches again in a short period of time!

……

(End of this chapter)