A popular Chinese media reported that they learned from one of the NIO Experience Store that NIO will be launching a sedan soon. The same will be named as NIO ET5. According to them, the new vehicle will be officially released during the NIO Day 2021, which would be held in early 2022. The new ET5 will be positioned below the NIO ET7. NIO used to conduct its NIO Day during the end of the year or early next year. The NIO ET7 was launched on the 2020 NIO Day, held on January 9, 2021, in Chengdu.
NIO ET7
The Chinese media also reported that the official at the store said that, the 2021 NIO Day will be officially held between December 1, 2021, and January 15, 2022. So, does the news from the experience store means that the NIO Day will be held at the beginning of 2022? Of course, yes, the most important content of NIO Day every year is the release of new cars. The NIO ET5 will be the highlight of 2021 NIO Day. Back in July 2021, NIO has confirmed that NIO Day 2021 will be held at Suzhou.
More about the NIO ET5!
The Chinese media said that the official whom they met hasn’t disclosed more information about the upcoming car. NIO has only one product in the sedan segment, which is the NIO ET7. The price of the same starts at 448,000 yuan and goes all the way to 526,000 million yuan. These prices are before subsidies and can be reduced if you plan to choose the rental battery pack option. And the same sedan is positioned as a medium-to-large car. The deliveries of the sedan will start from the first quarter of 2022. The brand confirmed it during an event where it released its revenue for the second quarter of 2021.
NIO ET7
The upcoming NIO ET5 will be positioned below the existing NIO ET7. It is expected to be a medium-sized sedan. That said, it will compete with sedans like Tesla Model 3 and Audi A4. The pricing of the vehicle may start from 300,000 Yuan. Of course, the advanced hardware and systems on the existing ET7 are also expected to retain in the upcoming model. Stay tuned with us for more updates regarding the product.
Back on March 30, Xiaomi made an official statement where it announced its intention to manufacture cars. Since then, Xiaomi has been making continuous efforts to build EVs. And today, i.e. on September 1, Xiaomi has announced that Xiaomi Automobile Co. Ltd. has been incorporated with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan. However, the interesting point is that Xiaomi founder Lei Jun will personally serve as the legal representative of the new Xiaomi Automobile company. The official announcement from the brand came through a Weibo post.
Further, judging from the current situation, it is still a mystery where the location of the manufacturing plant of Xiaomi’s car project will be. It is understood that Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai, Hefei, Xi’an and other places have already won for Xiaomi car-making projects. Since the official announcement of car manufacturing which came in March, Lei Jun has visited a number of automobile manufacturers. Apart from it, he also visited supply chain companies. And further personally announced the aspect of autonomous driving and made different job advertisements. But for now, the registration and establishment of Xiaomi Automobile is undoubtedly an essential milestone in Xiaomi’s car-making project.
Xiaomi automobile was established with a registered capital of 10 billion Yuan!
As said above, earlier today, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi Automobile Co., Ltd has officially completed the industrial and commercial registration with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan. The milestone for the brand is the legal representative of the company, which is handled by Lei Jun himself. Back on March 30, 2021, the Xiaomi Group made an announcement that the brand will make an initial investment of 10 billion yuan. They also added that the investment is expected to be 10 billion US dollars in the upcoming ten years. Further, Lei Jun, who is also the CEO of Xiaomi group, will concurrently serve as the CEO of the intelligent electric vehicle business too.
Further, it also means that once the initial investment amount is implemented, the Xiaomi car project is expected to accelerate at a higher rate. Ever since the announcement of Xiaomi to manufacture cars, Xiaomi has been regarded as a phenomenon-level company that boosts the confidence of industry, broadens development space, and will also accelerate the industry progress. In contrast, back on August 25, Xiaomi had called for a media conference, and the same was announced for presenting the second-quarter financial report of Xiaomi Group.
In that conference, the Xiaomi Group President Wang Xiang said that since his company is starting to build cars, he has deeply felt the car industry’s love for Xiaomi. He also added that the group had received more than 20,000 resumes. At present, since Xiaomi is entering the manufacturing of cars, the team have to carefully select it. Currently, the brand formed a team that consists of about 300 people.
Financial report of Xiaomi for Q2 of 2021!
At the same time, Xiaomi also released the Xiaomi Group’s financial report for the second quarter of 2021. It tells us that both the group’s revenue and net profit hit record data. That is, the Q2 revenue rose to 87.8 billion yuan which records a year-on-year increase of 64%. At the same time, the adjusted net profit stood at 6.3 billion yuan which also records a year-on-year increase of 87.4%. As said, both of them has once again broken a single-season record. To be more specific, the innovative phone business made a strong growth. Both the revenue and shipments in a single quarter created a record growth.
In the second quarter of 2021, the smartphone revenue reached 59.1 billion yuan, recording a year-on-year increase of 86.8%. The global smartphone shipments also reached at 52.9 million units which record a year-on-year increase of 86.8%. At the same, as per the data released by Canalys. The global market share of Xiaomi smartphones reached at 16.7% in the second quarter of 2021. Further, the brand also secured the second position in the world for the first time.
According to Lei Jun, currently, Xiaomi Group has more than 16,000 engineers. And as said, it will invest about 10 billion yuan in R&D in 2021. The brand has sufficient confidence in talent reserves and technology accumulation. Lei Jun also added that Xiaomi’s technological advantages in artificial intelligence. New materials and other fields will be strong support for the upcoming automotive business.
Xiaomi’s car team
Xiaomi isn’t entering the car business without preparations; They have made a lot of preparations to build cars.
In order to enter into the automotive field, Xiaomi has done a lot of hard work. According to Lei Jun, ever since the announcement of the car’s production, i.e. from the last five months to the company’s official registration, they have done a great work. That is, the team conducted a large number of user research and industry chain inspections. And it includes more than 2,000 surveys and interviews. They also visited and had in-depth communication with more than a dozen of industry peers and partners. At the same time, the product definition and team building of the automobile was also promoted in full swing.
In addition to the frequent visits to auto manufacturing companies and supply chain companies. The brand’s investment in the automotive field has also been in full swing without any delays. According to the statistics from Soochow Securities, the deployment of Xiaomi in the automotive field has been a success since 2014. The “Shunwei Capital” was established by Xiaomi Group. And its founder Lei Jun has carried out a large number of industrial investment layouts in the automotive field. It involves LIDAR, autonomous driving, three electric systems. It also extends to smart cockpit hardware, car networking and in other various other fields.
Back on August 25, Xiaomi announced that the company has agreed to acquire 125 million equity shares and 508.547 million preferred shares. These are sold by the sellers of equity shareholders and preferred shareholders of Shenzhen Motion Technology. It accounts for 71.16% and 28.84% of Deepmotion’s issued share capital. The total transaction volume is at USD 73.7 billion, which roughly converts to 500 million yuan. After the completion of the acquisition, Xiaomi will hold all shares in Shenzhen Dongli Technology. You can read more about the acquisition of Deepmotion by clicking here.
Xiaomi’s investment in Autonomous driving!
In other related news, Xiaomi’s self-driving research and development are also continuing to advance. Before this, Xiaomi has released multiple recruitment information rounds that cover everything, starting from car chassis, vehicle architecture to interiors and autonomous driving. Before this, Lei Jun also personally came forward to check and posted an autopilot recruitment advertisement on the microblogging platform Weibo.
It is worth mentioning that from the job advertisement which was posted by Lei Jun. That is, the autonomous driving department of Xiaomi Automotive directly skips the L2 and L3 levels of autonomous driving. They have self-developed the L4 level of autonomous driving.
Soochow Securities said that autonomous driving is the core capability of electric vehicles in the intelligent era. And it is also the field that has the highest barriers. The three autopilot companies in which Xiaomi has invested are Momenta, ZongMu Technology and Zhixingzhe. It will help Xiaomi to realize L1/L2 ADAS driving assistance functions and L3/L4 high-level autonomous driving functions. Further, the acquisition of DeepMotion will help Xiaomi to absorb the autonomous driving technology better.
Where will Xiaomi’s car manufacturing plant would finally land?
As we mentioned above, Xiaomi has finally registered and established its automobile company named Xiaomi Automobile. It will be where Xiaomi’s dream car manufacturing project will finally land. It was in March that Xiaomi announced its plan of entering into car manufacturing. Ever since then, the same was also the focal point of the industry.
Recently, it has been reported that the headquarters and first factory of Xiaomi Automobile are basically settled in Beijing. But they are judging from the recruitment information that was recently shared by Lei Jun. The employees of Xiaomi’s auto-driving department have been indifferent support offices located across multiple locations in the country.
In fact, ever since Xiaomi’s announcement of Xiaomi came that it will build a car, the location of its headquarters and factory has attracted much attention. For your information, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Hefei, Xi’an and a few other places are all competing for Xiaomi car projects. Earlier, Wuhan Economic Development Zone once stated that the Economic Development Zone has set up a particular work class for the first time and will actively and enthusiastically connect with Xiaomi.
They will also fully display the high-quality automobile ecosystem and ideal business environment in the zone. Further, they will also strive for the possibility of cooperation. It must be mentioned that, after 30 years of development, the Wuhan Economic Development Zone has made the automobile industry a pillar industry. And it is known as the “Valley of Vehicles in China”.
Xiaomi’s official response
As said, ever since then, the speculation about the “settling of Xiaomi” has not been interrupted. Beijing, Shanghai, Hefei, Xi’an and other cities have successively reported their “scandals” with Xiaomi cars. Back in April 2021, the Xi’an Investment Cooperation Bureau also stated in response to questions. They said they would continue to closely connect with the “Xiaomi Cars” project based on the current development of the new energy automobile industry in Xi’an.
Further, in response to the above news, Wang Hua, the general manager of Xiaomi’s public relations department, once issued a response to market news on the microblogging platform Weibo. He said that “All official disclosures shall prevail.” Wang Hua also added that the “Part of the information about our company’s car manufacturing has been spreading more and more outrageously in recent times.
Since then, he landed in Beijing and Shanghai and deliberately emphasized that Wuhan did not give a green signal. In addition to landing, regarding recruitment and salary, he said that the topic of options also made me jealous, independent options at every turn, and even rumours said that the total salary package was 20 million yuan. Apart from this, Wang Hua also stated that all the above are not facts, and all official disclosures shall prevail. Stay updated with us to know more about Xiaomi’s car manufacturing.
Back on September 1, 5 major Chinese EV manufacturers, including NIO, Lixiang, and Xpeng Motors, announced their new car delivery volumes for August 2021. The data reveals that the Lixiang with only one model has been ranked first in the delivery volume. This is the second month in a row that the brands top the EV manufacturers list. The brand has been relying on its single model, which is the Lixiang One. It made a delivery of 9433 vehicles. Lixiang became the only EV manufacture that delivered more than 8,000 vehicles in August. And also, it became the first EV manufacture to record sales of more than 9,000 vehicles per month.
Xpeng Motors secured the second position. They delivered a total of 7,214 vehicles in August 2021. The brand records a decrease in delivery compared to the previous month. Xpeng Motors said that the decline in deliveries was mainly because of the chip shortages. Further, the epidemics in some areas and Xpeng’s production line switch from G3 to G3i were also reasons for the decline. However, with all these issues, Xpeng P7 still was able to sell 6,165 vehicles.
Interestingly the Hozon Auto surpassed the NIO by delivering 6613 units. Further, they have successfully ranked among the top three new car manufacturers. This is for the second time the company has been entering the leading three manufactures in 2021.
In August, NIO’s delivery volume fell around 25% on a month-on-month record. NIO was able to sell only 5880 vehicles. NIO said that the decline in delivery was mainly due to the severe restrictions on the supply of individual parts. These were mainly due to the impact of the epidemic in Malaysia, Nanjing, and other places. According to the relevant person in charge of NIO motors, the effect on its delivery volume is about 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles.
The following is the delivery status of the significant new car manufacturers for August 2021
Lixiang Motors expects to sell 10,000 units in September 2021.
As said above, the data for August 2021 shows that Lixiang auto-delivered 9433 units of Lixiang One. The brand recorded a year-on-year increase of 248% and a month-on-month increase of 9.8%. Till today, the Lixiang One has delivered a total of 81,773 units. And in the first eight months of 2021, the total delivery volume of ideal cars reaches 48,200 units.
As of August 31, Lixiango Auto has 114 retail centers across the country. The brand covers 69 cities and has 194 after-sales maintenance centers. Further, it also has several authorized spray paint centers which cover 143 cities.
According to an insider of Lixiang Auto, the company previously promised to deliver more than 10,000 vehicles. By September 2021, the brand will surely achieve this target. The delivery volume in August did not reach the goal of 10,000 cars. The reason for the non-achievement was mainly due to an insufficient supply of parts.
Xpeng Motors said that it would compete in the market once the P5 goes on sale!
In August 2021, Xpeng Motors delivered a total number of 7,214 vehicles. The brand has been exceeding the 7,000 marks for the second consecutive month. Among them, the Xpeng P7 delivered 6,165 units alone in the month of August. With this, the P7 set a record high for the fourth consecutive month. In the first eight months of 2021, Xpeng Motors delivered a total of 46,000 vehicles. The brand recorded a year-on-year increase of 334%. Earlier, Xpeng Motors Chairman and CEO set a significant target in the performance meeting of Xpeng 2021’s second quarter. He said that the company’s delivery volume in the fourth quarter of 2021 would exceed a monthly peak of 15,000 vehicles.
At the end of June 2021, Xpeng Motors currently has more than 200 sales stores, and 231 branded overcharging stations. Xpeng Automobile predicts that by the end of 2021, the company will have more than 350 sales stores and 500 branded overcharge stations.
Xpeng G3i
Xpeng Motors said that in August 2021, the company had completed the production switch from G3 to G3i. Starting from September, the revised model G3i is all set to enter the stage of mass delivery. Xpeng P5 will be officially listed on September 15. And the announcement of the pricing and the delivery will be starting from October 2021.
With the completion of G3i’s capacity to ramp up the production. And with the starting of the delivery of Xpeng P5, Xpeng Motors is still expected to challenge the Lixiang car’s delivery champion status in the future. Let’s wait and see for more changes.
Hozon Auto ranks among the top three for the second time!
It is worth noting that in August 2021, the Hozon Auto has surpassed NIO Motors by delivering 6613 units. The brand has successfully entered the first echelon of the new car-making brands.
In addition to this, Hozon Auto has recorded a year-on-year growth rate of 449% in 2021 in terms of delivery. The brand has exceeded the growth rate of Lixiang Auto and Xpeng Motors in the first echelon. Till now, Hozon Auto has delivered more than 60,000 vehicles. In the first eight months of 2021, Hozon Auto delivered 33,700 cars. It records a year-on-year increase of 367%.
As said above, this is the second month that Hozon Auto has become the top three new car manufacturing forces. In May 2021, due to the decline in sales, which was primarily due to the switchover of the latest and old models of Lixiang Auto. The Hozon Auto achieved a slight advantage to enter the top three new car manufacturers for the first time in 2021.
Back in December 2019, Hozo Auto’s 10,000th production car rolled off from the assembly line. And the time which was required from 0 to reach 10,000 was a little above than a year. Starting from 2020 to May 2021, the output of Hozo Auto crossed the 40,000-unit mark. As of August 21, 2021, is just three months later; the Hozon Auto will start rolling out its 60,000th production car from the assembly line. Back in April 2021, Hozon has consistently ranked among the top four new car manufacturers. That is, they have secured the position in sales for the fifth consecutive month.
In the case of NIO, the suppliers have influenced the delivery of more than 2,000 vehicles!
At the same time, the August 2021 delivery report of NIO Motor is not so ideal. In August 2021, they (NIO Motors) delivered a total number of 5880 vehicles. The band records a year-on-year increase of 48.3% for the month of August. And as of August 31, 2021, the cumulative delivery volume of NIO’s ES8, ES6, and EC6 reached the mark of 131,400.
NIO Motors said that the COVID-19 pandemic in some regions of China and Malaysia had caused them to restrict the supply chain. It has mainly affected the company’s automobile production. To be more specific, the output of ES6 and EC6 was substantially disrupted. Because of the continued uncertainty and volatility of semiconductor supply, NIO has adjusted its vehicle production. And is expected to deliver approximately 22,500 to 23,500 vehicles in the third quarter of 2021. It is less when compared to the previous number of 23,000 to 25,000.
Lixiang Auto surpassed NIO!
Earlier, among the new manufacturers of domestically produced cars, NIO Motors has always been the “big brother” among them. But starting from July 2021, Lixiang Auto started to catch up with the brand. The relevant data shows that alone in July 2021, the Lixiang delivered 8,589 units of Lixiang ONE. It recorded a year-on-year increase of 251.3% and an increase of 11.4% on a month-on-month basis. In the first seven months of 2021, the total delivery volume of Lixiang Auto reached 38,700 marks. As said above, from the delivery data of Lixiang Auto in August 2021, we can understand that the delivery of Lixiang Automobile has reached 9,433. And the same is not so far from the monthly delivery volume to exceed the 10,000 unit mark.
LeapMotor sets a new record by selling 7607 units in August 2021!
While the total number of orders for the LeapMotor in August reached the 7,607-unit mark. The brand records a 16% increase when compared to the previous month. That is, in the first eight months of 2021, the brand sold 35,662 units. They have delivered a total of 4,488 cars in August, recording a year-on-year increase of 720%. And the cumulative number of new cars deliveries reached the 30,636-unit mark. Among them, the number of orders for the LeapMotor T03 reached 7,228 units alone in August. When compared to the previous month, it records an increase of 18%. And in August 2021, the number of new vehicles delivered by the Leap Motor of the T03 reached the 4,409-unit mark.
LeapMotor T03
At present, the LeapMotor T03 product is available in five different models. These are the light version, the comfort version, the luxury version, the micro sugar version, and the luxury Pro version. The price range of the vehicle starts from 59,800 yuan, and all the way goes to 77,800 yuan. The Leap Motor T03 has been achieving a daily order of more than 200 vehicles within the past 11 days. And the brand has been conducting continuous growth in the total number of orders from the past six consecutive months.
Back in August 2021, LeapMotor completed a new round of financing. The brand has been financed with an amount of 4.5 billion yuan. And the same was funded by CICC Capital along with Hangzhou State-owned Blockbuster Investment, CITIC Construction Investment, and CITIC Dicastal joining hands to buy shares. Further, LeapMotor CEO also said that the funds raised would be used to accelerate product development, channel layout, and brand promotion. Also, it is worth noting that this round of financing and the B round of funding of which was completed in the last January of 2021. And the 2021 financing of Leap Motor has exceeded a total of 8.8 billion yuan. Stay tuned with us for more updates regarding these.
In March 2021, Xiaomi officially announced its plan production of cars in the Chinese auto industry. Followed by the announcement, Xiaomi had been making multiple agreements in the patents and investment section. A few days ago, we had reported the news where Xiaomi officially announced the acquisition of Deepmotion, an autonomous driving technology company. They acquired it for USD 77.37 million, and you can read more about the investment of Xiaomi by clicking here. Now, reports are suggesting that Xiaomi has invested in Motorcomm, a microelectronic brand.
More about the investment!
According to the Qicha App, Xiaomi has invested in the auto-related industry once again. The Suzhou Yutai Microelectronics Co., Ltd has undergone a significant change in both the industrial and commercial sectors. Further, it also gets a new shareholder named Hubei Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership). This is none other than the smartphone giant Xiaomi. At the same time, the company’s registered capital saw an increase of 341,100 Yuan. That is, the brand’s capital increased from 7,781,300 Yuan to 8,122,400 Yuan.
According to the information available on the website of Motorcomm, it is a research and development company that manufactures the core communication chips for vehicles. The brand company was established back in 2017. And currently, the legal representative of Motorcomm is Ouyang Yufei. The business scope of the brand includes technology development in the fields of electronics, automobiles, industrial automation, and computers. Further, the brand has also expanded to consulting, technical services, technology transfer, etc.
Recently, Xiaomi President Wang Xiang made a statement in an interview with the media. He said that his team had begun in-depth research and research and development of the most critical core technology of smart electric vehicles. He also added that he hopes that through the acquisition of Shendong Technology, Xiaomi’s self-driving cars can be produced earlier. That is, his team can reduce the time needed for the development of self-driving vehicles. With this, they can compete significant players in the EV segment like Tesla. Stay tuned with us for updates regarding Xiaomi’s investment in the EV sector.
On August 27, at the 10th anniversary of the Haval brand, the event was held at Chengdu Open Air Music Park, China. On the auspicious occasion, the brand unveiled its new coupe SUV model named Haval H6S. It is the first coupe SUV which is built under the Great Wall Motor Lemon Motor Platform. The vehicle looks stylish and is a new attempt to capture the coupe segment by Haval. Pre-sale price of 138,900 yuan to 164900yuan (~US$21,460 – US$25,477).
Features of the new Haval H6S!
The Haval H6S comes in a bold appearance design and avant-garde style. In terms of design, as the first coupe SUV model built on the Lemon platform, the new design brings a strong sense of freshness. Even though the all-new Haval H6S was adapted from the naming pattern of the H6 series, the designs of both models are entirely different. And both of these models don’t share any similarities in structure.
Haval H6S has a fresh front face style design which reduces the size of the front grille, and the front face strengthens the LOGO of the model and makes it more eye-catching. It is worth mentioning that the words of an official who revealed that the inspiration of the new design was from “shark” design, making the styling more aggressive now.
The positioning of the new car can be clearly seen through the outline of the sides of the H6S. The addition of blackened wheels helps the Haval H6S to look sporty now. Further, the front and rear of the coupe SUV echo its wild nature. Apart from it, the same also highlights the temperament of the cross-border wind. The rear part of the H6S also comes with a new design and has a new rear spoiler which looks very exciting. Finally, the bilateral exhaust also seems very powerful.
Further, the interior of the Haval H6S continues the design concept of Haval H6. But it will bring different visual experiences by bringing differences in color matching and detail decoration. The interior of the new coupe SUV will be primarily in black color. It will also come with sports seats that use the Alcantara material. Further, it will also get bright yellow decorative lines which brings a sporty atmosphere.
It will come with two engine options!
The new car will come with two different engine options. One is the traditional gasoline version, and the other is a hybrid version. Interestingly, both have different exterior designs. The gasoline version comes with a 2.0-liter engine with a maximum out of 218 HP (160kW) and a peak torque of 340 Nm. At the same time, the hybrid version will equip a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine which pairs with an electric dual-motor to make it a hybrid engine. It has a combined maximum power output of 245 HP (180kW) and a peak torque of 540 Nm. The vehicle will use the BorgWarner Haldex four-wheel-drive system, which will have six different driving modes. These six modes are standard, sports, economy, snow, mud, and sand. The car uses Great Wall’s second-generation 7-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) in the transmission system.
More information about the background of the new car!
The new Haval H6S comes with the advantages of the new lemon platform of GWM. The new platform can produce SUVs, cars, and other models. Another significant advantage of the same is that it can be adapted to different fuels and a variety of hybrid powertrains. Therefore, it is natural not to develop a coupe SUV based on a mature platform. It will be too strenuous for the platform to do that. A few months back, the Great Wall also unveiled a coupe SUV named F7x, and the same received a lot of market attention once it went on the market.
However, during that time, the Great Wall’s strategy of the platform wasn’t exerted clearly. Because of this, the F7x appeared to be a little alone after the listing. But this time, the GWM brand Haval is prepared for the launch of Haval H6S. And we can expect the brand to launch a variety of models, including traditional gasolines and hybrid vehicles. It will no longer fight alone like its previous models.
Let us talk about the rivals of the new Haval H6S.
Lynk & Co 05
Talking about the rivals, the new coupe from Haval has mainly two opponents in the Chinese market: the Lynk & Co 05 and Changan CS85, respectively.
Changan CS85
The number of Coupe SUVs of Chinese brands is not too few in the market today. Apart from the coupe SUV models which we had mentioned above, i.e., the Lynk & Co 05 and Changan CS85. The Geely Xingyue is also a significant rival for the new Haval coupe. The coupe from Haval, the H6S, will compete directly with these models once the same goes public. It is worth mentioning that the Lynk & Co 05 will also be officially unveiled today. From the time of the launch of these two cars, you can already feel an atmosphere of competition in the segment.
Even though there are many coupe SUV models among Chinese brands, these still have room for development. After all, the market competition between classic cars and SUVs is really aggressive. However, the consumer’s attention to coupe SUV models is not as close as that of the traditional SUV models. Because of this reason, there are not many competitors for coupe models in the market right now. The brands need to create a world that will open up new growth for the coupe SUV market. That’s it, and it is time to develop different models which most consumers prefer.
At 2021 Shanghai Auto Show, a model named “Lufang”(KLUGER) with the Crown Badge appeared on the FAW-Toyota’s booth. Previously, the Toyota Crown was introduced to the Chinese mainland market by Toyota as a luxury car model. Today, the Crown landed in China as independent new brand.
Tonight, Crown KLUGER will be officially listed soon. Prior to this, the pre-sale price of the new car has been announced. There are 6 models in total, and the pre-sale price ranges from RMB 280,000-370,000. Previously, it was officially announced that “Crown” has officially become Toyota’s high-end flagship brand, Crown KLUGER is the first model in the Chinese market with Crown badge.
At the Chicago Auto Show a year and a half ago, the Highlander XSE made its grand debut. At that time, it did not change to the Crown logo, nor did it receive a special name from CROWN KLUGER, but only appeared as a sports version of the Highlander.
Now it has transformed into the Crown KLUGER, which continues the appearance debuted at the Chicago Auto Show for the first time. The front face features two design styles at the same time. One is the traditional polygonal air intake grille with a built-in black honeycomb grille. The second is the banner center grid, which blends with the lower grille of the bumper, it is consistent with the new style and style that we have seen on cars such as Toyota Avalon.
In mainland China, HIGHLANDER and Crown KLUGER are produced by Toyota’s two joint ventures in China, GAC-Toyota and FAW-Toyota. The Crown KLUGER, as the sister car of the Highlander on the TNGA-K platform, is not wrong to say that it is a facelift, which can be judged by the size of the new car.
Crown Lufang is positioned as a medium-sized SUV, with a length, width and height of 5015mm/1930mm/1750mm and a wheelbase of 2850mm. Compared with the Highlander, the length and height are 65mm and 20mm longer. And this is actually brought about by the spoiler panels in the front and rear bumpers. The remaining width, height, wheelbase, etc., are the same, and the space performance is the same.
Crown KLUGER is positioned as a midsized SUV, with a length, width and height of 5015mm/1930mm/1750mm and a wheelbase of 2850mm. Compared with the Highlander, the length and height are 65mm and 20mm longer. And this is actually brought about by the spoiler panels in the front and rear bumpers. The remaining width, height, wheelbase, etc., are the same, and the space performance is the same.
Crown KLUGER features a floating central control shape, while retaining some commonly used function keys, everything is familiar. In terms of configuration, the HUD display, 12.3-inch central control screen, electric tailgate, reversing radar, brake assist, blind spot monitoring, panoramic sunroof, seat heating, privacy glass, etc. will be equipped on different model versions.
The Crown KLUGER will be powered a hybrid system (2.5HEV) based on a 2.5L four-cylinder engine. The 2.5L engine can generate a maximum power of 192 horsepower (141kW) and a peak torque of 238 N·m. The transmission system is matched with E- CVT gearbox. In terms of motors, the two-wheel drive version is equipped with a 134kW motor, while the four-wheel drive version adds a 40kW rear motor. Overall, the combined output power of this HEV power system is 249 horsepower (183kW).
Back in July 2021, there were rumours regarding Xiaomi acquiring some startup companies. Finally, Xiaomi has announced that it will acquire the self-driving technology startup Deepmotion for USD 77.37 million. A statement released by Xiaomi mentions that they have entered into a share purchase agreement with Deepmotion Tech Limited (an autonomous driving technology company, from now on referred to as Deepmotion Technology) and related parties. As per the agreement, Xiaomi conditionally agreed to purchase, and the equity shareholders and preference shareholders conditionally approved to sell 125 million equity shares and 508.547 million preferred shares.
These makeup to 71.16% and 28.84% of Deepmotion’s issued share capital, respectively. However, Xiaomi will pay approximately USD 77.37 million for the overall acquisition. Previous reports suggest that DeepMotion may integrate a team of more than 20 people into Xiaomi. It would help Xiaomi initially to increase its technological accumulation in the field of autonomous driving. And also complement the leaders in various fields and lay the foundation for Xiaomi’s car manufacturing. Reports suggest that the acquisition is part of Xiaomi’s plan of investing USD 10 billion in the EV segment. Xiaomi had made an electric scooter named Ninebot C30.
Recently, Xiaomi became the world’s second-largest smartphone maker by sales by overtaking top-tier brands like Samsung, Apple, and other players. Further, Xiaomi today also announced its financial report for the second quarter of 2021, ending on June 30, 2021. The financial report shows Xiaomi’s total revenue in the Q2 of 2021 was 87.79 billion yuan, while they expected it to be only 84.089 billion yuan. There is an increase of 64% in revenue compared with the revenue of the same period last year, which was at 53.538 billion yuan. The net profit is 8.27 billion yuan, while the market estimate was just 5.99 billion yuan. And the adjusted net profit was 6.32 billion yuan and the net profit for the first half of the year stood at 16.06 billion yuan. Xiaomi Group’s both total revenue and adjusted net profit hit a record high in this single quarter.
After many rumours and leaks, Huawei, CATL and Changan Automobile have announced their cooperation to build an new EV brand. The three giants will launch a new EV under the newly created brand Avatar – its predecessor was Changan – NIO New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. These brands have announced their first model, which will be named Avatar E11. The fans and consumers of these brands were waiting for the announcement. At today’s press conference, Changan Automobile Chairman Zhu Huarong, Huawei Executive Director, Smart Car Solutions BU CEO Yu Chengdong, and CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun formally launched the new energy brand aKa EV brand Avatar.
As said, their first model Avatar E11 will equip with the hardware supplied by the world’s leading intelligent electric networked vehicle architecture (platform) named CHN. The C stands for Changan, H for Huawei and N for CATL. The Changan brand will mainly dominate the new Avatar . That said, Changan will manufacture it. While the CATL will provide the battery solutions and Huawei to provide software and hardware capabilities. The Avatar E11 will also equip with features like driverless and HarmonyOS for the car. We also expect the new EV to come with more features.
Avatar E11
Further, it also equips with CATL battery technology and supports Huawei’s HI smart car solution. The E11 will be positioned as a pure electric medium-sized SUV. There were reports that the vehicle will have a length of 4.8 meters, and it can be regarded as a pure electric version of Changan UNI-K. During today’s press conference, they only unveiled a short part of the new EV. That is, they only unveiled the silhouette of the car. The actual appearance of the upcoming EV remains mysterious. However, from its profile, we can see the angle and powerful, streamlined arc and the sculptural top profile.
Further, there is no information available about the pricing of the car. The reason for this is that neither there are no official announcements nor any leaks. We will have to wait for few more days to know about the pricing. It is worth mentioning that the current prototype design of Avatar E11 has already completed the prototype model development phase. And the vehicle is currently undergoing an on-ground inspection. Further, there are reports that we can expect the vehicle to be officially launched by the end of the year and the sales to start from next year.
Future plan of Avatar and Changan Motors
Earlier, Changan Automobile had made a post on a social media platform informing few things. One of those was Avatar would launch new five models in the upcoming five years. These would be manufactured on the new CHN architecture. Changan also estimates that the brand will sell 3 million vehicles by 2025. And account for 35% of sales in the EV industry. Further, the brand also expects that the Changan brand will sell 4.5 million vehicles by 2030. And also, to account for 60% of sales in the EV industry. Changan Automobile also expects that the entire industry chain will invest 150 billion yuan to build software and intelligent capabilities in the next five years.
In other news, Changan Automobile also unveils its first strategic model C385 during the “2021 Changan Auto Tech Ecosystem Summit” event. It is a new dedicated electric vehicle platform that integrates the brands years of car-making experience and technology precipitation. They also said they would launch a new EV car project codenamed E0, using its users and partners. That is a new model of co-creation. Stay tuned with us for more news like these.
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