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

Chapter 49: The Evil Sticky Corn Enhanced Edition! (This chapter includes images)

"Mr. Xu, where did you get this design inspiration? The renderings of the actual car look quite unique..."

The new car project has been approved.

The entire company team immediately sprang into action and began operating efficiently.

The colleagues in charge of the overall vehicle exterior design quickly improved it based on Xu Yi's draft drawings and some explanations on the exterior dimensions.

After internal confirmation and several revisions.

The final rendering of the entire vehicle was then presented to the public.

The car has a streamlined body and an overall style that is rounded and exquisite. It is 3710mm long, 1531mm high, and 1701mm wide.

Because it's a four-door car, the rear design follows the streamlined downwards, making it more full, while the front is quite impressive.

The front design, which was already very prominent in the original sketch, is now presented in the rendering with a sense of imminent emergence. It is rounded yet sharp, and the upper third of the headlight cover has an extra layer of obstruction, like a pair of half-open eyelids. The internal LED light group acts as the pupil, and the calm and disdainful aura, along with a sense of half-deadness, is even more prominent!
Well...

This car has a very memorable first impression.

Moreover, although the body is rounded, it has some of the elegance of a sports car line, and also has a touch of cute contrast!

Wang Jingming and several of his colleagues from the R&D department were stunned.

Totally unexpected.

The final result looks this good.

To be honest, after Xu Yi released the design sketches, some people suggested that they should make a high-quality replica of the car.

That's how people are; once they've succeeded before, they want to apply their existing experience.

However, Xu Yi unilaterally rejected this proposal.

The explosive popularity of high-quality replica cars is indeed very eye-catching and captivating.

But generally speaking, it's not a good thing for companies that want to grow big.

Even the later wildly popular Xiaomi SU7, and other similar models from domestic manufacturers, while looking quite similar at first glance, still incorporated many of their own design elements, including the interior and overall design style, and the "tone" of the whole vehicle...

It's not something you can achieve by simply stripping away someone's exterior.

While the exterior design can be copied, the gloss of the paint, the smoothness and beauty of the car's lines, the layout and comfort of the interior space, and even something as small as the curvature of a wheel arch—these all require professionals to handle.

Simply put, you can learn a lot from other people's work, but when it comes to demonstrating real design skills, you'd better actually have that level of expertise!
This initial design was actually a fusion of Xu Yi's concept car based on the Volkswagen Beetle from 24, and the front face of the Changan Glutinous Corn.

He believes both cars are successful in terms of design.

After combining the two, the overall body proportions are more similar to the Beetle, and it is larger than the original Beetle. It also features the Beetle's most recognizable front headlight design, and the optimized curves make it look more upscale than the original Beetle.

Conceptually, it is absolutely original.

After all, the glutinous corn car was only released 21 years later. At that point, let alone design, it hadn't even been started. Currently, Changan's entry-level car is still the Benben type, which is ugly enough to sit at the same table as other old men in terms of appearance... It's so ugly it's disgusting!
Of course, he wasn't that skilled, and his line drawings weren't very accurate.

However, with the R&D and design departments involved, he no longer needs to worry about how to refine the car body's curves, unify the overall style, or ensure the details are handled properly.

Xu Yi smiled and said:

"Urban users have higher requirements for appearance, so we need to put more effort into the design and details. In addition, it is time to truly test our R&D capabilities."

"Now we need to develop our own truly independent electric drive system, from the high-voltage battery pack to the chassis architecture, and the self-developed motor..." said someone nearby.

Sun Pengfei, the director of the three electrical systems, nodded and then said:
"The progress of our self-developed motor is very fast. We have named the permanent magnet synchronous motor for the new car project V2. It has a power of 40kW and a peak torque of 130N·m. The internal design has been finalized."

Because their new car is actually a microcar, with a top speed of only 120km/h, the development difficulty is not high.

Moreover, as a former project engineer at Huichuan Technology, Sun Pengfei had readily available solutions to use. In addition, he also recruited many colleagues from his former company team. Rather than self-developed solutions, it was more accurate to say that he improved and adapted existing ones.

Of course, Xu Yi had exceptionally high requirements for the three-electric system this time, demanding that the vehicle's energy consumption reach a stringent level, and that its speed efficiency, torque precision control, and dynamic response all surpass the level of its competitors.

It is foreseeable that a lot of effort will be required for later optimization and R&D tuning.

"The most difficult part was the battery pack. We contacted several companies that could manufacture and supply lithium iron phosphate battery packs. We also conducted on-site inspections of the sample quality of each cell and the energy density of the batteries. Considering the distance, quality, and cost, we found a cell and battery pack manufacturing company called 'Shandong Weineng Environmental Protection' in the province."

This company has the necessary lithium-ion power battery and BMS system technology. Originally, they produced batteries for electric vehicles, electric buses, and mining lamps, making them the best option to meet our supply needs.

Sun Pengfei continued.

Lithium iron phosphate battery packs are the most critical component of new energy vehicles.

Xu Yi's requirement was to find a supplier within the province that met the standards.

First, it is necessary to save unnecessary costs in all aspects. Local suppliers can save a lot of transportation and communication costs, and when necessary, they can also get involved in the supply chain for joint development. This is the mainstream practice for new energy vehicle companies many years later.

"Okay, let's contact this company first. I'll personally discuss the specific supply details tomorrow." Xu Yi is particularly concerned about the development of the new car. Not only is his internal team extremely busy, but he also seems to be developing a nuclear-powered donkey.

Compared to developing a simple elderly care vehicle, the workload of developing an A00-class microcar that is qualified in all aspects and even needs to be excellent from the start is on a completely different level.

If you want to maximize efficiency and speed, you have no choice but to open a book!

For the huge blue ocean market of registered microcars, the faster you capture the market, the greater your future returns will be—tenfold or even a hundredfold.

……

It is no coincidence.

At the same time, in Liuzhou, Guangxi, someone else suddenly had the same idea.

Wuling Motors headquarters.

Marketing Director Jiang Ze leaned back in his soft executive chair, staring at the information on his phone, his eyebrows slightly raised.

"Tsk——"

"A newly established company specializing in recreational vehicles for the elderly actually managed to defeat Porsche in a lawsuit and then turned around and dragged down its competitors... Amazing!"

"The key is that these second-rate electric bikes seem to have monthly sales exceeding 30,000. If this trend continues, wouldn't they be selling 300,000 units a year, with a gross profit margin that's not low at all..."

Wow, is the consumption potential in the new energy vehicle market in lower-tier cities really that big?

……

　Here's a concept image of the new car for your reference.

　　You could think of it as a combination of a corn cob and a miniature Beetle. Of course, the actual car's curves aren't that extreme, and it won't have the curved glass and glass roof shown in the pictures, because curved glass is very expensive to make. The rearview mirrors and wheels are the same as those on a regular car, but the design is a bit better than the mainstream, and it's quite distinctive.

　　When the company reaches a later stage of development, we can consider building this mini concept car.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)