How late is Xingtu Xingyue’s listing, how far is it from success？

In 2023, when the new energy war is crucial, Chery, one of its own brands BIG4, has obviously fallen behind. Judging from the statistics of the Association, Chery Automobile has been left behind by Great Wall, Geely and Changan in both retail and wholesale sales, not to mention BYD, which is riding the mixed wind to the cloud. In addition, there are many independent new forces that started from new energy sources. In the era of new energy wars, Chery is under great pressure. At present, a considerable part of the heavy responsibility of Chery’s turnaround falls on its high-end brand Xingtu Xingyuan, but from the latest product planning route, Xingyuan is also slightly disappointing.

Since the exposure of the medium-sized and large-sized car in Xingyu era, it has attracted widespread attention in the market. From the design idea, this car is indeed a good new choice, but it came a little late, which may be the key factor restricting Chery’s success.

▲ New energy passenger car wholesale volume sales ranking in May 2023 (Source: Association)

Star Road Star Era recently released a roadmap for product planning. At first glance, the vehicle planning was quite exciting. The six-seat SUV, hunting SUV, MPV and four-door coupe were all arranged, and the models covered A/B/C levels, and they were all pure electric/extended-range dual-power. I thought Chery finally got the hang of it this time, so it should be no big problem to catch up with traditional brands. Then take a closer look at the listing date in the top column-oh, 2025-2026, white excitement.

▲ Star Road Star Era Product Planning

It seems that Xingyuan still can’t get rid of the problem that Chery brand has been widely criticized for a long time-new cars are always slow to go on the market. Maybe it’s not appropriate for the era of the stars to be slow and half-beat. This is no longer a problem of slow and half-beat, and it’s all about to start.

Star Era brand’s first pure electric SUV, Star Era ET, and the first pure electric car, ES, are scheduled to be released this year. Although they entered the market late, there is no cake residue left after listing. The extended-range versions of Star Era ET and ES and the pure electric/extended-range dual-power six-seat SUV will be released next year, because the corresponding market segments are not yet saturated. With the product strength of Star Era, if the price is reasonable after listing, it will certainly gain a certain market share.

▲ Star Era ET (left) and Star Era ES

However, the planned B-class pure electric/extended range hunting SUV and 2-door 4-seat sedan will be released in 2025, which is really fatal.

Star Road actually thinks very clearly, and it is also clearly written in the product planning roadmap that the two-door coupe and hunting SUV are to enhance brand tonality. This kind of planning has no problem at all. The brand is not high-end, nor is it what friends do to flaunt high-end models, but to gradually form their own brand temperament through products with characteristics.

Take Star Age for example, since the slogan of "new automobile era" has been shouted out, our eyes can’t be confined to the level that the public just needs, and we have to come up with some niche gadgets, such as hunting cars and coupes. These models are destined to be niche, and car companies can’t expect to become sales leaders through these models, but the existence of these models will invisibly enhance the brand tonality of car companies, which will eventually feed back the overall sales of brands. From this point of view, we are very pleased to see that in the era of new energy wars, there can still be a brand with some car ideals like Xingyuan.

▲ Star Era ET pure electric version

However, the problem is that the market will not give any brand a chance to grow slowly, and consumers don’t have time to wait. Even the public are anxious to put down their bodies and inject capital into Tucki. Car companies like Chery, who are used to publishing their shares one step ahead and ten steps behind, are very disadvantaged in this era. Unfortunately, after entering the new energy era, Star Road Star Era may not be able to get rid of this "fatal rhythm".

Take the hunting SUV and coupe in Star Age planning as examples. These two categories of vehicles are still new at present. It can be thought that the models on sale are Krypton 001 and Nezha GT, both of which are pure electric vehicles, which are still not very friendly to users with endurance anxiety. However, the hunting SUV and coupe in Star Age planning are pure electric/extended range dual power. Considering the appearance design, platform performance, brand tonality and It is conceivable that if the two planned models of Xingyuan can be listed in the first half of 2024, they will have a full chance to become the leaders in their respective market segments. Once this golden window is missed, it will really be gone.

▲ Star-to-Moon Extended Range Power Edition

At present, the coupe has not seen the clear plans of other brands except Nezha GT, but the hunting SUV has already been made by manufacturers. BYD Song L, which locates the B-class pure electric hunting SUV, will be released soon and will be listed this year. Earlier, in the product planning roadmap of Deep Blue Automobile, there were also suspected hunting cars, in addition to the pure electric hunting coupe pole Krypton 001 on sale. What is clear is that the category of new energy hunting will be greatly enriched next year. According to the product planning roadmap of Xingyuan, Xingyuan’s hunting SUV will not be released until 2025, and if it follows Chery’s consistent listing rhythm, Xingyuan hunting SUV may not be officially released until the second half of 2025 or even 2026. At that time, there will be many choices for hunting vehicles. What will Xingyuan, who came from behind, plan to fight with friends? Extended range power or standard air suspension?

A similar situation may happen to the coupe. The sales of Nezha GT are not bad. It can be seen that the coupe, which is not practical, also has a big market in China. Other friends should follow suit soon after market research, but I believe that no manufacturer dares to enter the market until 2025. Once Tesla, BYD, GAC Ai ‘an, Tucki and even Weilai finish the layout first, there may really be no Star Age. After all, the influence of the brand Xingtu Xingyu Era at this stage is still relatively limited. If the market popularity and brand influence cannot be rapidly improved through explosive models, the subsequent product layout will be very difficult, which will affect product development and even brand announcement.

▲ BYD Song L Hunting SUV

To put it bluntly, if Xingtu Xingyuan doesn’t adjust the pace of product release in the future, the market will give a very realistic and cruel answer, and Xingyuan may even repeat the same mistakes, which will eventually lead to the collapse of Xingyuan in the new energy war. Unfortunately, it falls on the eve of the opening of a new era of Xingtu brand imagination.

The good news is that it is not the end of July, and there are still plenty of days left for Xingyuan this year. It is the right way to promote the listing of Xingyuan ES and ET as soon as possible, and strive to launch the extended version of Xingyuan ES and ET in the first quarter of 2024, and launch the hunting SUV and coupe in the second and third quarters of 2024. If it is delayed, it will really be gone.