Xpeng MONA M03 debut, what did He Xiaopeng say?

tech | 2024-06-14

Under the pressure of sales, new forces in the car manufacturing industry are exploring the market by "practicing with smaller accounts." Just one and a half months after the launch of NIO's Ledao, Xiaopeng also introduced MONA.

However, MONA has been downgraded from an independent brand to a product series, seemingly losing some momentum to Ledao before even making an appearance. But face is the least valuable thing for Xiaopeng at the moment—survival is the key. In reality, as a brand with a scale of less than 200,000 units, it is difficult for Xiaopeng to support a dual-brand strategy, and the risks would be quite high. Rebuilding sales channels and so on would be costly, time-consuming, and labor-intensive, and brand balance would also be an issue.

On the contrary, adding an entry-level product series may be a more reasonable decision for Xiaopeng at present. Xiaopeng previously had products like the G3 and P5, which were priced under 200,000 yuan, but their performance was not ideal. Moreover, to some extent, they lowered Xiaopeng's brand image in the eyes of consumers, which is not conducive to brand advancement.

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Now, the new product series focuses on the price segment below 200,000 yuan, allowing Xiaopeng's original X, P, and G series to concentrate on the 200,000 to 400,000 yuan price segment, creating a product differentiation. At the same time, everyone can share the same sales outlets and after-sales service, without Xiaopeng having to make too many additional investments. This way, after the scale of MONA increases, it can effectively and rapidly lift Xiaopeng's gross margin.From this adjustment action, it can be seen that Xiaopeng has already figured out the mission of MONA, and naturally, there is no need to consider too much superficial effort. Therefore, when some people complain that the online launch event for Xiaopeng MONA M03 is "too shabby," in fact, Jia Shi School believes that:

Xiaopeng's move this time is already in the "stratosphere."

Moreover, "stinginess" is a more mature manifestation of a new car-making force. Li Xiang has always had the label of "stinginess," but it is this very trait that has allowed its sales and management expense ratio to remain at a relatively low level compared to its peers.

For Xiaopeng, MONA can be said to be a key battle that determines whether it can survive or not.

Although the launch event is simple, Xiaopeng MONA M03 is not simple. Xiaopeng Motors Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng has high hopes for this car, "I believe that Xiaopeng MONA M03 is the first intelligent pure electric hatchback in China."He Xiaopeng believes that the biggest problem in the automotive industry is that many people are only in it for the money, with very few genuinely working on technology. For instance, the first car he ever rode in as a child was a Bluebird, and when he entered the automotive industry in 2014, he found that the car had hardly changed at all, essentially making money without much effort for so many years. In response to this phenomenon, He Xiaopeng thinks that many people do not prioritize technological innovation but instead focus on products and marketing, quickly integrating technology because it is an easier path to success.

"But to be honest, there's no joy in that."

Therefore, after founding XPeng Motors, he placed innovation at the forefront. Innovation is the DNA of this company. At the press conference, He Xiaopeng reviewed the ten-year history of innovation at XPeng.In it, the Xiaopeng G3 was the first to combine visual parking and visual fusion, and now all cars take pride in standardizing full-scene intelligent parking; the Xiaopeng P7 achieved high-speed NGP, and it was a year later that the automotive industry began to contemplate what high-speed autonomous driving and urban autonomous driving are; the Xiaopeng P5 was the first product to bring LiDAR to China and urban NGP; the Xiaopeng G9 was the first to introduce 800V high-voltage silicon carbide to mass production; the Xiaopeng G6 was the first to implement the world's largest integrated die-casting; the Xiaopeng X9 pioneered the magic transformation, achieving automatic transformation between 7-seater and 4-seater configurations, as well as standardizing rear-wheel steering.

It can be said that over the past years, each Xiaopeng product has led the way in consumer experience innovation, and now it's time for the Xiaopeng MONA M03. "I believe the all-new Xiaopeng MONA M03 will guide a new wave of innovative transformation in the A-class pure electric sector," said He Xiaopeng.

In his view, the vast majority of A-class sedans on the market today are initially converted from fuel to electric to save costs, and many also consider being used as taxis or ride-hailing vehicles, so few people think about creating a completely different A-class sedan under 200,000 yuan. However, the world is undergoing tremendous changes today, with post-90s and post-00s generations entering society, necessitating a unique sports coupe for them and the upcoming post-10s generation.

Therefore, based on the consideration of what kind of car young people need, the Xiaopeng MONA M03 has achieved three points—Aesthetically pleasing, fun, and affordable.

 

To achieve this, Xiaopeng has spent nearly 4 years and invested nearly 4 billion in research and development.

 

As previously analyzed, Xiaopeng's attitude towards MONA is "save whenever possible," so why did they still invest so much in the development of the Xiaopeng MONA M03?

 

Because for Xiaopeng, it is worth paying any amount for innovation.

 

Moreover, in the past, it was not difficult to meet a single product point, such as being aesthetically pleasing, fun, affordable, and of high quality, but it is challenging to incorporate all these elements into a Class A vehicle.He Xiaopeng gave an example, the Xiaopeng MONA M03 comes standard with an electric tailgate, which was something no one had done before in Class A cars. This was mainly not due to technology, but cost, as the material cost of the electric tailgate would increase the entire body-in-white cost by 20%. Moreover, although the electric tailgate has the advantages of reducing the overall vehicle drag and improving space utilization, there are many engineering issues to consider behind it, such as NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness), rigidity, cost, aesthetics, etc., and many companies are unwilling to undertake such tasks.

However, Xiaopeng is willing to, "We are willing to spend billions or even more to initialize and bring everyone a different kind of car," He Xiaopeng explained his original intention for doing this, and he believes that the key for Chinese cars to go global in the future lies in creating more original content.

The Xiaopeng MONA M03 is Xiaopeng's first Class A sedan, carrying high expectations—not just in terms of sales, but also in Xiaopeng's ambition to reach young people and even the global market, which also determines whether Xiaopeng can become a truly mainstream car manufacturer.

In addition, He Xiaopeng also revealed some information about this car: the price is below 200,000 yuan, it is expected to be launched in August, and reservations have already started; in terms of configuration, it offers five body colors, will come standard with a supercar-style full-integrated active grille, and has the strongest autonomous driving capabilities in its class, with the wake-up phrase still being "Hello, Xiao P".And, it will not push the taxi version.

Conclusion by Jia Shi:

Xiaopeng MONA M03 made a "low-key" debut, launching a high-profile "declaration of war" on the most mainstream and fiercely competitive A-class family car market. So, can it succeed?

From the current market perspective, the models that rank at the top of the sales list in the A-class family car category are mostly those with high cost-performance ratios and stable reputations, such as the Qin PLUS at 79,800 yuan and the Destroyer 05, or joint venture A-class cars like the Sylphy and Lavida. The Xiaopeng MONA M03 is priced below 200,000 yuan, which, although a more entry-level price compared to its other products, does not have a price advantage when compared with the market.However, Xiaopeng still has great courage and confidence, as this market has indeed been lacking exciting innovations for a long time. Do we not need something new? Not necessarily, it's just that people didn't have more choices before, and now Xiaopeng offers a new option.

It is too early to judge the market potential of Xiaopeng MONA M03, after all, the final price has not yet been released, and it may still surprise everyone when it is officially launched, just like Xiaomi SU7. But we can still applaud Xiaopeng's courage and spirit of innovation, because only as more and more enterprises are willing to innovate, can the Chinese automotive industry truly become "both large and strong".