Static experience of Lantu Zhiyin: Targeting Model Y again, the large space is m

tech | 2024-04-02

After the end of July, Lan Tu's cumulative sales for this year reached 36,400 units, a year-on-year increase of 97%, but there is still a gap to reach the annual target of 100,000 units. Clearly, Lan Tu needs to make a breakthrough in its current product matrix, and only by adding new products can it achieve an increase in sales.

Now Lan Tu has launched a brand new all-electric SUV model, named "Zhiyin," which is benchmarked against the current sales champion of all-electric SUVs, the Tesla Model Y.

According to Lan Tu, the new SUV is named Zhiyin, which comes from the allusion "Encountering a kindred spirit amidst high mountains and flowing waters." Lan Tu wants to be a kindred spirit with its users, which is why it chose this entirely Chinese name. Moreover, the appearance of Lan Tu Zhiyin, like its name, has a very distinct "Chinese element," which also gives Lan Tu's entire design concept a new direction.

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Lan Tu Zhiyin has made significant progress in its youthful design. Compared to the overly formal design of the first three models, the new car can be said to be completely refreshed. Firstly, Lan Tu Zhiyin has eliminated a large amount of chrome design. Secondly, it has adopted a more electrified exterior design, which no longer looks like an old-fashioned fuel vehicle.In fact, this time, Lan Tu designed two sets of front fascias for Zhiyin, one is a relatively traditional closed front fascia, and the other is said to be a limited edition interstellar front fascia design, including a black concave trim panel, starry LED light group, circular LED daytime running lights, and so on.

However, what we photographed this time is the regular version of the front fascia design, which is mainly a full closed front fascia of the same color as the car body, with a relatively rounded hexagonal outline. This design mainly focuses on the Kunpeng spreading wings light group design, including a through-type daytime running light, and there is an additional set of diagonal stripe trims on top.

A rather peculiar point is that Lan Tu Zhiyin uses a split headlight design. Although the upper light group is not small in area, it does not put all the light group systems together. There is also a headlight group design in the traditional fog lamp area. Personally, I think this design will appear more complex, and the large bulb of the lower light group will not seem as advanced.

In fact, the design concept of this Lan Tu Zhiyin is called "Original Force Flight," which is the levitating flying device in science fiction movies. Therefore, Lan Tu Zhiyin has a lot of flying device concept design details, such as the front cabin cover with a hollow air intake design, known as the "flying device dual channel air intake" concept, which can guide the flow from the front trim panel, reduce wind resistance while increasing the stability of the car's travel. This design has appeared on the Polestar 3 before, but considering that Lan Tu Zhiyin will be launched in the domestic market soon, it is actually the first product to adopt such a design in the country.

The side of Lan Tu Zhiyin's car body has a muscular line, and the side skirt retains the Z-shaped design element of the chasing light through stamping. In addition, there is also a beautiful shoulder line design. There is also an interesting design that the D-pillar has a winglet design, which makes the whole car more dynamic. Coupled with similar treatment at the end of the front lip of the bumper, the side skirt also has it, as does the luggage rack, all of which come from the flying device concept, and also strengthen the integrity of the design concept of Lan Tu Zhiyin.The rear design features a sporty spoiler at the top, with a family-style arrow-feather贯穿式 taillights in the middle, but the lighting group is OLED, and it has been divided into 66 sections, so it can continuously display a dynamic light show in the display mode. Additionally, a diffuser-style design is incorporated at the bottom, which is quite ordinary in terms of shape, but of course, the decorative panel material is still very exquisite.

As the youngest model in the VOYAH lineup, the VOYAH Zhiyin is also a smaller-sized product. This vehicle is positioned as a pure electric mid-size SUV with dimensions of 4725, 1900, 1636/1653mm, and a wheelbase of 2900mm. These dimensions are actually very friendly to young consumers in first and second-tier cities, as mid to large-sized SUVs with dimensions of 532 are simply too massive to drive around. Moreover, this time it comes standard with 20-inch wheels, and the photographed vehicle features a low-drag design.

The interior design of the VOYAH Zhiyin still carries a strong Tesla Model Y design style, including a flat front IP console, the elimination of traditional instrument clusters, and a floating central control screen. However, VOYAH has made corresponding adjustments to the Zhiyin in response to consumer dissatisfaction with the Model Y—retaining a strip-shaped display screen to ensure that drivers can see basic information; it also incorporates a large-sized AR-HUD, which, like the Li series, can replace the traditional liquid crystal instrument.

VOYAH Zhiyin has made some minor innovations to the already ubiquitous central control floating screen, which has become the biggest highlight of the Zhiyin's interior. This time, VOYAH claims they are using an OLED sliding curved screen, which actually has three core selling points—

OLED screen material, curved screen, and sliding function.The advantages of OLED materials are self-evident, primarily offering higher contrast, more vibrant colors, and already quite high resolution. However, as many manufacturers are now using OLED screens, the mere distinction of screen material may not necessarily be a selling point.

In fact, the most significant difference in the large screen of this Langtu Zhiyin model lies in its dual-curved screen, with a size of 15.05 inches, which is slightly larger than most screens. The additional 0.05 inches is essentially due to the curvature on the sides of the screen. The first advantage of a curved screen is that it can achieve a narrow bezel visual effect, and when combined with a dark UI interface, it almost achieves the visual effect of hiding the black edges. The second is that Langtu has designed two exclusive gesture functions for the curved positions, one for volume adjustment and the other for screen brightness control, effectively replacing two physical buttons.

Additionally, the central control screen has a "sliding" feature, allowing the screen to move from the center to the passenger seat. Although this feature is not an innovation of Langtu Zhiyin, the speed and noise of the entire screen movement are better than those of competitors.

Previously, many media and consumers believed that the sliding screen did not have much practical significance. Langtu has also made some innovations on the passenger side to address the issue of the sliding screen's usage rate. This solution is quite interesting, as it involves adding a hidden small table for the passenger.

This hidden table can be popped out by voice command or through a dropdown menu. Although the area is not large, the usage scenarios are more diverse. For example, when the screen moves to the passenger seat, the extended table can be used to place meals, allowing for lunch and a movie while in the passenger seat. It can also serve as a makeup area for female car owners, turning into a place to store cosmetics. Of course, Langtu has not explained how the entire design addresses the issue of driving safety.This time, to cater to the intelligent needs of young consumers, LanTu Zhiyin has upgraded its in-car system to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip, significantly enhancing its computing power. To this end, LanTu Zhiyin has specifically designed a new version of the system, with a user interface (UI) interaction that is closer to that of new forces, especially the systems like Huawei's HarmonyOS and Meizu's Flyme Auto. The refinement and smoothness of the entire interface are exceptionally well-executed. It can be said that LanTu, as an independent new energy vehicle company backed by a traditional state-owned enterprise, can also achieve a top-tier software experience, with no significant gap in the experience.

In terms of space, LanTu Zhiyin perfectly fits the needs of the young families it targets. In the front row, thanks to the flat front IP console design, even with a lower seating position, there is still a good field of vision. Based on my 174cm height for testing, there is still about one fist and four fingers of space after sitting upright, which is quite reasonable. A notable feature of the front row is that the height of the door armrest and the center armrest is consistent, which makes for a more comfortable driving position, without the left hand being higher.

With a wheelbase of 2900mm, LanTu Zhiyin offers a generous amount of legroom in the back seat, roughly two fists and four fingers, which is much more spacious than its competitor, the Tesla Model Y. Moreover, the headroom in the back seat is also more ample than in the front, reaching about two fists. This is because LanTu Zhiyin does not use a panoramic sunroof; the rear head area is still traditional metal, allowing for a concave design. Coupled with the lower H-point of the rear seats, the headroom in the back is actually more spacious than in the front.

It should be added that although the H-point of the rear seats in LanTu Zhiyin is lower, resulting in more thigh suspension, the front seats have been elevated, allowing rear passengers to stretch their feet under the front seats. Additionally, the rear seat cushions have been noticeably extended, providing better support.

Furthermore, there is a clear difference in the softness of the front and rear seats of LanTu Zhiyin. The front seats offer significantly better support than the rear seats, while the rear seats have a somewhat overly soft riding experience, to the point where sitting on the rear cushions feels like sinking in.Additionally, as an SUV product designed for young families of three, the LanTu Zhiyin places great emphasis on the creation of storage space—a standard trunk space of 527L, with an additional 72L of hidden space under the cover, and a cargo space that can reach 1328L when the second-row seats are folded down. In other words, the LanTu Zhiyin is fully capable of meeting the loading needs for a family trip, and it can also handle the occasional transportation of large items.

Furthermore, the second row of the LanTu Zhiyin also offers a wide range of angle adjustments. This feature not only allows for better adjustments in seating posture but also has the advantage of solving the placement of some large items by adjusting the seatback angle when placing items in the back, without having to fold down the second-row backrest.

In summary:

Regarding the "three electric" aspects, LanTu Zhiyin focuses on a "985" selling point, which stands for a 901km range, 800V, and 5C supercharging. This time, LanTu Zhiyin offers two battery options: the 79kWh version with a range of 650 kilometers and the 109kWh version with a range of 901 kilometers. It can fast charge 515 kilometers in 15 minutes, and the charging time from 20% to 80% is reduced to 10 minutes.

Overall, the product logic of LanTu Zhiyin is very clear, which is to benchmark against Tesla Model Y and create a pure electric SUV that better meets the needs of young Chinese family consumers, thus enhancing the spatial experience, supercharging, and so on. It is expected that the price of LanTu Zhiyin will start around 200,000 yuan, with the highest being around 250,000 yuan. However, there will not be a significant difference in configurations, focusing on having the same features across the entire series. Coupled with the absence of high-cost configurations such as lidar and urban NOA, the cost-performance ratio of LanTu Zhiyin can be improved.The following question is, as a pure electric SUV product, can LanTu Zhiyin achieve monthly sales of 5,000 to 8,000 units? This will be the key to whether the LanTu brand can continue to progress by 2025.