Caught in the "Disguised Price Cut" Storm, Deepal Struggles to Conceal Sales Anxiety
On September 8th, Shenlan Auto launched three new models at an autumn new product launch event. Among them, the Shenlan S09, which was just released in May, was updated to a version with ultra - long range and ultra - fast charging, with the same price as the regular version.
Within just four months, the range of a model has been upgraded from "medium" to "extra - large", and the price remains the same. This should have been a plus for Shenlan, but the old owners who have already purchased the Shenlan S09 are not happy.
Many Shenlan S09 owners took delivery of their new cars just two months ago. The devaluation of their new cars so soon after purchase is unacceptable to many owners.
More importantly, in May this year, Deng Chenghao, the chairman of Shenlan Auto, promised "one - year price protection" to the owners when the S09 was launched. This has become one of the main reasons why many owners finally decided to choose the Shenlan S09 among many models priced over 200,000 yuan.
The price protection policy announced by Shenlan Auto at the press conference. Image source: Shenlan Auto's official Weibo
However, now, Shenlan has added more features to the new S09 without increasing the price, which is equivalent to a disguised price cut for the original S09. Since the price remains the same, the "one - year price protection" has become an empty promise.
The old Shenlan S09 owners, who find it difficult to defend their rights, have gathered on social platforms to complain. Shenlan, which had the opportunity to boost sales with the new model, is now caught in the accusation of "backstabbing old owners".
In fact, both the previously promised "one - year price protection" and the hasty launch of the ultra - long range and ultra - fast charging version are due to Shenlan's anxiety about sales.
As a brand with a pricing always in the 100,000 - yuan price range, Shenlan's sales have not been very high. Car companies following a similar route can often rank high on the sales list with a cost - effective strategy, but Shenlan has difficulty making it into the top five in sales.
Shenlan's anxiety is obvious. In addition to rapidly iterating products in the short term and introducing a price protection policy, Shenlan has also "leaned on" Huawei in intelligent driving, becoming a non - HarmonyOS brand with a high "Huawei content".
However, in the new energy vehicle industry, user experience is extremely important. Previously, Shenlan forced promotional advertisements to play when the car's infotainment system was turned on, which made old owners post complaints on the Internet.
This "price protection controversy" has occurred with Shenlan's most crucial high - end model. If Shenlan Auto really wants to improve its brand power and sales, it still has a lot to learn.
The disguised price cut causes a "price protection" controversy, and Shenlan faces sales pressure
This price protection controversy of Shenlan dates back to May this year.
At that time, the Shenlan S09 was officially launched as the flagship model of the brand. This model, positioned as a large six - seat smart SUV for families, has a starting guide price of 239,900 yuan and is one of Shenlan's important models for entering the high - end market.
Almost every car company has its own comfort zone. According to the information on Dongchedi, Shenlan's comfort zone is in the price range of 100,000 - 200,000 yuan. Except for the Shenlan S09, only the maximum price of the Shenlan G318 exceeds 200,000 yuan.
Therefore, when Shenlan launched a model with a starting price over 200,000 yuan, there were many skeptical voices in the market. Many consumers were worried that this product launched against the price war would see a price cut soon after its launch.
Deng Chenghao, the then CEO of Shenlan Auto, mentioned such market voices at the press conference. Subsequently, he introduced a price protection policy. Specifically, for users who placed orders before June 30th (inclusive) this year, and before June 30th (inclusive), 2025, the price will be protected until June 30th, 2026, limited to the reduction of the market guide price of the same model or cash promotions.
The Shenlan S09 with one - year price protection stands out in the highly competitive 200,000 - yuan price segment. From the feedback of many Shenlan S09 owners on social platforms, one - year price protection is one of the reasons they chose the Shenlan S09.
Li Hua, an owner of the Shenlan S09, told Lianxian Chuxing that she didn't believe in Shenlan at first. She and her husband first learned about Shenlan from a video clip of the Shenlan S09's press conference.
"We saw at the Shenlan S09 press conference that the speaker said passionately, 'We should cherish the S09 as we cherish our brand', 'This is a brand battle to regain credibility', 'We promise one - year price protection and will never backstab'. These words left a deep impression on us."
Another owner, Wang Sen, also mentioned the reasons for choosing the S09. In addition to the car's large six - seat extended - range feature, he most valued Shenlan's title of "new central enterprise" and believed in the promise of price protection until June 30th, 2026.
"This is clearly written in the car purchase agreement," Wang Sen said.
Image provided by the interviewee
When it comes to the configuration of Shenlan Auto, the Shenlan S09's HarmonyOS intelligent driving, large space, six - seat layout, convertible camping bed, refrigerator, color TV, and large sofa all precisely meet Li Hua's needs. She is particularly concerned about the battery parameters.
"Actually, most of the 9 - series cars on the market at that time were equipped with 53 - degree batteries, but the Shenlan S09 only had a 40 - degree battery, a difference of 13 degrees. But the salesperson explained that 'after all, there is a price difference of tens of thousands of yuan'," Li Hua told Lianxian Insight.
She also asked if there would be a version with a larger battery in the future, but the reply was "even if there is, it will be next year, and it definitely won't be this price. Now charging is also convenient."
On social platforms, there are many Shenlan S09 owners who were told by salespeople that the version with a larger battery would definitely be more expensive and would not be launched soon. Many owners took delivery of their cars between June and July, but on September 8th, when the version with a larger battery of the Shenlan S09 was launched, old owners immediately felt "backstabbed".
Wang Sen said, "The battery capacity is a key technical parameter for new energy vehicles and the first factor that car buyers consider. With a long - range battery at the same price, obviously no one would choose the short - range one, which actually results in a disguised price cut."
What Wang Sen described has already happened at Shenlan dealerships. Li Hua learned from a Shenlan dealership that currently, the old - version S09 is being sold at a discounted price.
In addition to the devaluation of the newly purchased car, what makes the owners even more angry is the feeling of being deceived. In the owners' minds, it couldn't have been a short - term task to launch the ultra - long range and ultra - fast charging version. Shenlan may have known internally that the new version would be launched soon. So they probably hid the news from consumers and rushed to "harvest a wave of customers".
Li Hua and Wang Sen have tried almost every way. Especially Li Hua, who sent two long texts to Shenlan's official Douyin and Xiaohongshu accounts but received no response. She also tried to post relevant rights - protection content on social platforms and @ Shenlan, but still got no response. Instead, she received a notice that her video had been reported and taken down. She also wrote a rights - protection letter to relevant departments but has not received a reply yet.
Wang Sen received a reply from Shenlan that seemed like a word game. "Shenlan's official reply said that the long - range version is not the same model as the original one, so the price protection is not triggered," Wang Sen said.
Shenlan divides the S09 into multiple versions. Image provided by the interviewee
Most owners' demand is for Shenlan to install the current large - capacity battery in their cars. However, since the battery is a core component, replacing it may involve major adjustments to the overall structure of the car, so it is difficult for Shenlan to directly agree to this demand.
Regarding the compensation plan that Shenlan will provide, Li Hua started with "I've heard that". She said that she heard that the manufacturer will allow old owners to pay an additional 10,000 yuan to upgrade to a large - capacity battery by the end of the year.
But Li Hua no longer believes this so - called rumor. "With the manufacturer's current indifferent attitude, how can old owners be willing to pay this money and be deceived again?"
So far, we haven't found an official response from Shenlan Auto regarding this incident. According to a report by Sina Technology, a Shenlan Auto customer service representative said, "Currently, we haven't received relevant notifications. Many customers have suggested increasing the battery capacity, and we have actively listened to their voices. However, replacing the battery actually involves many components of the whole vehicle and also involves relevant national departments, so it is actually a big challenge for us."
If Shenlan doesn't come up with a reasonable solution and ignores the demands of old owners, the sales of the new S09, which could have boosted sales, may also be affected.
As Li Hua said, "Now, I think my former trust is just a joke. The negative reviews from old Shenlan owners that I saw online when looking at cars are now hitting me like bullets in my mind."
Can Huawei help Shenlan "take off"?
Actually, the reason why Shenlan rushed to launch a new model with "more features but the same price" is mainly that the Shenlan S09 failed to become a hit.
According to the data on Dongchedi, the retail sales of the Shenlan S09 were 1,630 units in May, 3,250 units in June, 2,186 units in July, and 2,467 units in August.
In an era when there are many models with a monthly delivery volume exceeding 10,000 units in the first month of launch, the sales performance of the Shenlan S09 is not good.
If a product fails to detonate the market when it is first launched and its subsequent sales show a downward trend, it is enough for the car company to conclude that the high - end strategy has failed. Moreover, Shenlan is now facing a decline in the popularity of its new cars, and it is more likely that its sales will continue to drop.
Therefore, Shenlan is eager to offer more incentives to attract more customers, even ignoring the feelings of old owners.
To break through, Shenlan has also closely tied up with Huawei.
In February this year, Shenlan Auto officially signed a comprehensive in - depth cooperation agreement with Huawei. On February 9th, Shenlan Auto launched a campaign to popularize intelligent driving. Three of its on - sale models, the Shenlan S07, Shenlan L07, and Shenlan S05, were all upgraded with high - level intelligent driving systems.
Image source: Shenlan Auto's official website
The three models are all equipped with two systems: Shenlan's intelligent driving AD PRO and Huawei's Qiankun intelligent driving ADS SE. Both systems support the high - speed navigation on - autopilot (NOA) intelligent driving function and the high - level intelligent parking function.
The Shenlan S09 is also equipped with Huawei's Qiankun intelligent driving ADS 3.0 and a customized HarmonyOS cockpit. This is also one of the main reasons why many owners chose to buy the Shenlan S09.
Judging from Shenlan's recent developments, it is highly likely to continue to be deeply bound to HarmonyOS in terms of technology.
For example, on September 19th, Shenlan launched a new Shenlan S07, which also comes standard with Huawei's Qiankun intelligent driving ADS SE, supporting high - speed navigation assisted driving and high - level parking assistance capabilities.
An even more obvious sign is at the organizational level. Previously, Shenlan Auto recruited Jiang Hairong, an executive from the Huawei camp, to serve as the company's president.
This executive, who was formerly the CMO of Honor in China, joined Huawei in 2005. He started as a R & D engineer and later switched to the marketing field.
After Honor became independent, Jiang Hairong was in charge of the comprehensive brand renewal of Honor's Chinese market, proposed a marketing strategy driven by "technology + emotion", and even dropped 10 new Honor X50 phones at the launch event to prove the "toughness" of the Honor X50.
During Jiang Hairong's tenure, Honor once ranked first in the Chinese smartphone market. Information also shows that he promoted Honor's global market layout and successfully expanded it to 74 overseas markets.
Before Jiang Hairong joined Shenlan, Shenlan Auto was always questioned by the outside world for not understanding market communication and really needed an executive who could communicate with the outside world.
For example, in May this year, it was reported that Shenlan Auto had placed advertisements on the car's infotainment system screen without the owners' consent. The advertisement read, "Thank 480,000 Shenlan owners for their trust. Now, we are offering a 10,000 - yuan exclusive purchase coupon for the S09 to the first - generation owners." This caused dissatisfaction among many old owners.
Previously, Deng Chenghao also caused controversy with his remarks about "employees can leave the company for two months to 'have some fun' and then be recalled if they buy a car".
When Jiang Hairong joined, Deng Chenghao also said externally that Jiang Hairong complements him in four aspects: first, in terms of thinking about the automotive industry and the ICT (information and communication technology) industry; second, Jiang Hairong has a deep understanding of intelligent connected products; third, one is good at product and technology, and the other is good at market and marketing; fourth, Jiang Hairong has overseas marketing experience, and Shenlan is accelerating its globalization.
