The pains of the traditional automobile industry are still in progress. Geely, which used to be the boss of Chinese independent brands, does not seem to have made much waves in new energy vehicles. Its pure electric vehicle brands are still in a tepid state. Behind the scenery of “Brother Yi”, there are also difficulties in my heart. 1 Strong as auspicious, can’t bring geometry Geometry came vigorously. April 2019, Singapore. Geely Group will hold the launch conference of Geometry A, the first model of the new new energy brand Geometry. This press conference made it clear that Geometry brand officially stepped onto the new energy stage. As the first product of Geely New Energy after its independence, Geometry A has brought great expectations to the industry with its shining debut in the Lion City. At the press conference, Geely Automobile Group President and CEO An Conghui said that Geometry’s mission is to completely define the evolution direction of new energy vehicles. He said, “In this new energy storm, the Geometry brand will become its eye-catcher!” Looking at it now, the “Wind Eye” is gradually closing its eyes, and the two products under the Geometry brand, Geometry A and Geometry C, are getting worse and worse. According to statistics from the Passenger Association, in 2019, the annual sales volume of Geometry brand was only 12,000, which is less than 1% of Geely Automobile’s annual sales; the total sales volume of Geometry A in 2020 was only 5051, a year-on-year decrease of 44.6%. New products Geometry C sold only 5277 units, and the total sales volume of the entire Geometry brand was over 10,000 units. The Tesla Model 3 sold 137,459 vehicles. Geely’s strength is of course unquestionable. From 2017 to 2019, it has been firmly in the top position of Chinese brand passenger car sales for three consecutive years. But even relying on the strong endorsement of the domestic sales of independent brands, it did not open up the market for its Geometry. Is Geometry cars too young? Or is the competition in the new energy market too cruel? 2 Geometry of “criticism” The biggest criticism in the market is that Geometry A has no innovations, but an upgrade of Emgrand EV. When consumers buy pure electric vehicles, in addition to low-end urban scooters, consumers want to buy those with a sense of technology and advanced technology. The “pure electricity” platform is a representative of advanced technology. Because of the development concept of fuel vehicles and pure electric vehicles, the body structure is different. Compared with traditional oil-to-electricity, pure electric platforms tend to have more advantages, because the performance will be better in terms of performance improvement, space experience, and driving quality. On the other hand, “oil-to-electricity” can effectively save costs and seize the market, but it cannot fully utilize the advantages that the electrified system should have. Although Geometry Auto is a new sub-brand of Geely, it does not use Geely’s new platform. Geometry A comes from the Geely GE platform, Emgrand EV also comes from this platform, Geometry A is improved and optimized from Emgrand EV, not a new platform that we usually understand from the redevelopment. Therefore, it is not difficult to find that even the new model Geometry A launched by a brand new brand can more or less find the shadow of Emgrand GL in appearance. Geometry C is like a sister to Emgrand GSe. In addition, due to the fuel platform and reserved enough loading space for large-capacity batteries, Geometry C, even as a later-marketed model, has a maximum range of only 550 kilometers, and the maximum range of Geometry APro, which was officially launched on April 12, is only 600Km. In today’s competitive environment where new cars are generally 600km+, and even 1000km+ battery life is planned to be achieved within one or two years, it is really not good-and the battery is installed under the chassis, and the probability of accidents caused by bumps is also high. At the strategic level, Geely’s determination and resources invested in the Geometry brand are not enough to support its ambitions. Smart electric vehicles are very expensive. So far, NIO has raised a total of 9.6 billion U.S. dollars, and Xiaopeng has also reached 7.7 billion U.S. dollars. The specific financial support for Geometry brand is unknown, but according to the financial report, Geely’s full-year net profit in 2020 is 5.57 billion yuan. Geometry, as a sub-brand of Geely, cannot raise funds independently, and obviously cannot get huge capital injections from new forces such as Weilai. At the tactical level, the style of play is still traditional. For example, in terms of sales, the direct sales model is already standard for new forces, and the geometry is still a traditional dealer. In terms of products, the interior and exterior design does not get rid of the traces of fuel vehicles, which is quite satisfactory. Insufficient technology configuration, the price is also positioned in the red sea of independent electric vehicles, the brand image of Geometry car and other low-end independent brands, entangled together. As early as 2015, Geely released its new energy vehicle development strategy-“Blue Geely Action”, and the pace of electrification transformation is the fastest among a group of independent brands. At that time, Geely claimed that by 2020, the sales of new energy vehicles will reach more than 90%, of which the sales of plug-in hybrids will account for 65%, and the sales of pure electric vehicles will account for 35%. However, Geely’s new energy products sold 68,142 vehicles last year, which was less than 5% of the total sales of 1.32 million vehicles, which is far from the previous target. The “Blue Geely Action” is the most unreliable strategic target in the automotive industry so far. It’s not too much. Zheng Zhuang, who was responsible for Geely’s new energy sales for two years, was replaced at the beginning of May last year, and Liu Zhifeng became the general manager of the new energy vehicle brand Geometry Sales Company. This also shows to a certain extent that Geely executives are dissatisfied with new energy sales. However, in the nearly one year since Liu Zhifeng took office, Geometry has not stopped sinking. Although Geometry C, which has a good product, is helping out, the market is still indifferent. So, are Zheng Zhuang and Liu Zhifeng unable to support geometry, or geometry has no meaning at all? 3 Departure from “Ultra Krypton” Comparing with Great Wall Motor’s Euler, BYD, etc., which are in full swing, coupled with the steadily advancing of new car-making forces, it is difficult for Geely not to worry about electrification. Geely has also formed an alliance for this, and has reached cooperation with Baidu, Tencent, Foxconn, and FF this year. Judging from Geely’s actions, the burden of catching up seems to fall on the brand-new Jikrypton brand. Geely officially announced that Ultra Krypton’s first model based on SEA’s vast intelligent evolutionary experience architecture will start bookings at the Shanghai Auto Show, and deliveries will begin in the fourth quarter. The market has never doubted Geely’s ability to build a good car. In the field of electric vehicles, it needs to be like the name of the new brand “Krypton”. Geely has sowed the seeds of hope in the electric vehicle market, but it needs to be nurtured, and what should be discarded must also be discarded. Take and write | Tian Tian edit | Jing Yuanzhi
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