Zunjie will launch six models next year. Jianghuai's major integration: "Everything is for Zunjie" | Exclusive from 36Kr
Zunjie, an ultra-luxury automobile brand resulting from the collaboration between Huawei and Jianghuai, achieved an initial victory in the luxury market this year with a luxury car priced at one million yuan. Next year, it will further penetrate the luxury car market with six models.
36 Kr learned from multiple industry insiders that next year, the Zunjie brand will launch SUV and MPV models, each of which will have two versions: standard-wheelbase and long-wheelbase. In addition, a high-end customized version of the Zunjie S800 will also be introduced.
That is to say, including the existing Zunjie S800, the Zunjie brand is expected to launch six models next year. Another insider told 36 Kr that the Zunjie SUV may make its debut next year.
Among them, the standard-wheelbase MPV of Zunjie is more family-oriented, while the long-wheelbase MPV is designed as a commercial flagship. In the preliminary plans of Huawei and Jianghuai, the market prices of these two versions of MPVs will be far higher than those of the current representative models in the family and commercial MPV markets.
Regarding the Zunjie SUV, relevant sources told 36 Kr that Huawei and Jianghuai's current preliminary plan is that these two SUVs will target the high-end market, but their positioning will be lower than that of the Zunjie S800. According to the tradition of the luxury car market, the long-wheelbase SUV will mainly be used to build the brand image, while the short-wheelbase SUV will be responsible for sales volume.
Zunjie is an ultra-luxury brand jointly created by Huawei and Jianghuai through the smart-selected car model. The smart-selected car model is also known as the Hongmeng Smart Mobility model. Under this cooperation model, Huawei is deeply involved in the product definition, marketing, and sales channels of the whole vehicle.
The Zunjie S800 is the first model of the Zunjie brand, positioned as an executive sedan. It is equipped with Huawei's self-developed Tuling Longxing platform and is priced between 708,000 yuan and 1,018,000 yuan. Deliveries officially began in August this year.
By the end of October this year, about 5,000 new Zunjie S800s had been delivered. In contrast, about 9,000 Maybach S-Class cars, which the Zunjie S800 competes with, were delivered in the first ten months of this year.
On November 20th at the Guangzhou Auto Show, Yu Chengdong, the Executive Chairman of Huawei, announced the order situation of the Zunjie S800, saying that more than 18,000 firm orders had been placed for the Zunjie S800 within more than 100 days after its launch.
In addition, 36 Kr also learned that to ensure the R & D and delivery of new Zunjie brand models, Jianghuai Automobile has integrated the R & D and marketing of heavy trucks into the light truck business. Moreover, Jianghuai Automobile has initiated a deep integration of the marketing sectors of passenger cars, new energy passenger cars, and pickups to jointly build the "Jianghuai Passenger Car" brand system.
Nowadays, there is a slogan circulating within Jianghuai - "Everything for Zunjie, for all of Zunjie." This is also the catchphrase of Xiang Xingchu, the current chairman of Jianghuai Automobile, to the internal staff.
36 Kr verified the above information with Jianghuai Automobile, but as of press time, no response was received. For a long time, most of Jianghuai Automobile's sales volume and profits have come from the commercial vehicle business. In the commercial vehicle segment, light trucks are an important pillar of Jianghuai's commercial vehicle performance. In contrast, Jianghuai's passenger car brand has been relatively quiet. Against this background, it is reasonable for Jianghuai Automobile to integrate its heavy and light truck businesses and concentrate resources on Zunjie.
Jianghuai Goes All Out for Zunjie
It is foreseeable that after the high-end customized version of the Zunjie S800 and the long and short-wheelbase SUVs and MPVs are launched, the product lineup of Zunjie will be more complete, and the Zunjie brand will capture more shares in the domestic luxury and high-end markets.
Judging from the market performance of the Zunjie S800, high-net-worth individuals highly recognize Huawei's technological empowerment. This gives Huawei and Jianghuai the confidence to launch the high-end customized version of the Zunjie S800 to further enhance the brand premium. A person close to the R & D of the Zunjie S800 told 36 Kr that the high-end customization project of the Zunjie S800 will offer limited customized versions to some users.
Huawei and Jianghuai are learning from the proven methodology of traditional luxury cars - using limited customized versions to enhance the social asset value of products. For example, Maybach, which the Zunjie S800 competes with, once created scarcity through a limited production strategy, resulting in a three-year value retention rate as high as 70%.
The launch of SUVs and MPVs with different wheelbases is an attempt by Huawei and Jianghuai to meet the different needs of high-net-worth users simultaneously.
Generally, short-wheelbase models offer more flexible handling, while long-wheelbase models have better space performance and are often priced higher than short-wheelbase models.
Therefore, Huawei plans to meet the needs of users who value handling and prefer family-oriented vehicles through the standard-wheelbase models, and satisfy business-oriented users who value space, luxurious appearance, and are willing to pay a premium with the long-wheelbase models.
Zunjie's product lineup is being improved. Moreover, judging from the past sales volumes of the Zunjie and Wenjie brands, the high-end and luxury markets are areas where Huawei is relatively strong. Its technological strength can easily support the brand premium. Therefore, there is reason to believe that Zunjie's sales volume will increase significantly next year, which will in turn drive up the overall sales volume of Hongmeng Smart Mobility.
This year, Hongmeng Smart Mobility launched new models such as the Wenjie M8 and the Zunjie S800, which have played a certain role in boosting the delivery volume of Hongmeng Smart Mobility. Last year, about 440,000 vehicles of Hongmeng Smart Mobility were delivered in total. From January to October this year, the delivery volume of Hongmeng Smart Mobility exceeded 410,000 vehicles, and in October, Hongmeng Smart Mobility set a monthly delivery record of 68,000 vehicles.
The Ultra-Luxury Car Market Is Bound to Be Turbulent
However, it is worth noting that the competition among Hongmeng Smart Mobility products will inevitably become more intense next year.
If the final market positioning of the Zunjie SUV is lower than that of the Zunjie S800, the two Zunjie SUVs are likely to attract some of the target users of the Wenjie M9.
Wenjie M9
36 Kr also learned that next year, the Xiangjie brand will also launch an SUV targeting the high-end market, which may lead to competition among the SUVs of the Wenjie, Zunjie, and Xiangjie brands.
The Zunjie MPV may also compete with the MPV of the Zhijie brand next year.
On November 20th this year, Yu Chengdong officially announced at the Guangzhou Auto Show that the first flagship MPV of the 9-series of Hongmeng Smart Mobility will debut next year. This vehicle will be equipped with Huawei's latest cutting-edge technology, and he said that "this MPV will surpass all MPVs on the market after its launch." After that, the Zhijie brand reposted relevant information about this MPV, which has sparked speculation that the first MPV of Hongmeng Smart Mobility belongs to the Zhijie brand.
Judging from Yu Chengdong's description, the pricing of the first MPV of Hongmeng Smart Mobility seems not to be low. Therefore, how to avoid the competition between the Zhijie MPV and the Zunjie MPV will test the product planning ability of Hongmeng Smart Mobility.
The launch of new Zunjie models will also impact the existing high-end models of other brands.
For example, in the market targeted by the Zunjie MPV, there are existing competitors such as the Li Auto MEGA, the Geely Zeekr 009, and the Toyota Alphard.
The MEGA is the first pure-electric model of the Li Auto brand, which was launched in March last year with a high price of 550,000 yuan. From January to October this year, about 15,000 MEGAs were delivered.
Li Auto MEGA
The Geely Zeekr 009 is the second mass-produced model of the Geely Zeekr brand, which was launched in 2022 and priced between 439,000 yuan and 469,000 yuan. The price of its Glory Edition starts at 899,000 yuan. In the first ten months of this year, about 20,000 Geely Zeekr 009s were sold.
The Toyota Alphard is an imported MPV under Toyota, with an official guide price of about 900,000 yuan. With the rise of domestic new energy vehicles, its sales volume has shrunk from a peak of over 20,000 units per year to 11,000 units from January to October this year.
After the launch of the Zunjie MPV, these models may all face varying degrees of market share diversion. And Jianghuai, which has jointly created Zunjie with Huawei, will undoubtedly have its fate rewritten by Zunjie.
According to Jianghuai's recently released third-quarter financial report, in the first three quarters of this year, Jianghuai achieved a revenue of 30.873 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.14%. The net profit attributable to the parent company was -1.434 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 329.43%. Jianghuai has not yet enjoyed the dividends brought by the hot sales of Zunjie in the high-end market.
However, without considering order cancellations, the 18,000 firm orders for the Zunjie S800 can at least bring Jianghuai over 12 billion yuan in vehicle sales revenue. When the other five new Zunjie models are launched next year, Jianghuai's financial report is likely to improve significantly. This makes it easy to understand Jianghuai's slogan - "Everything for Zunjie, for all of Zunjie."
Cover Image Source | IC photo
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