The cause of the incident was that on June 7, Baidu’s wholly-owned subsidiary Dazi County Bairuixiang Venture Capital Management Co., Ltd. invested and established Jidu Technology Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of 2 billion yuan. The legal representative is the CEO of Jidu Automobile. Xia Yiping’s business scope includes sales of new energy vehicles, new energy vehicle production and testing equipment, and so on.

But it is worth noting that the Jidu Technology Co., Ltd., which was solely funded by Baidu, is not the previously known Jidu Automobile.

As we all know, Baidu and Geely jointly established Jidu Automobile in March this year, with Baidu and Geely holding 55% and 45% of the shares respectively.

So why does Baidu set up Jidu Technology in addition to Jidu Auto, and does Geely know about this?

At present, Baidu has responded that Jidu is a technology-based automobile startup invested and established by Baidu and Geely. Based on the current business development needs of the company, the shareholders of both parties have jointly decided to register the company in Beijing, the company’s future shareholding structure and Operation and management methods will be further communicated to the outside world after specific information is available.

In short, the state of Baidu’s sole proprietorship is only temporary, and the company’s equity ratio and operating ownership will be further adjusted in the future.

But it is intriguing that Geely has not responded to this so far.

Because of this, many people in the industry have also speculated whether Baidu might leave Geely aside and build cars on its own.

However, from the perspective of Kung Fu Motors, it is unlikely that Baidu will build a vehicle solely at this time.

For Baidu, Geely chose Geely because Geely has strong core technology and advanced manufacturing capabilities, including industry-leading car-building architectures such as CMA and SEA Haohan.

In particular, the SEA Haohan architecture released in September last year is a pure electric original architecture with user travel experience as the core. It realizes the trinity of hardware layer, system layer, and ecological layer. It has the world’s largest bandwidth and is the world’s most efficient smart electric vehicle solution. The plan is to create a highly customized and evolving zero-boundary intelligent travel experience for users. Using Geely’s established platform architecture, design and R&D, supply chain and factories, Baidu only needs to develop and redefine software on a mature platform, and use user thinking and experience thinking to easily build a different smart car.

One is a leading domestic Internet company, and the other is the largest domestic brand auto manufacturer. The cooperation between Baidu and Geely can be described as a cross-regional strong alliance of leading forces in different fields. It is precisely based on this that Baidu has no need to jump out and do it alone.

In addition, Jidu Automobile CEO Xia Yiping also publicly disclosed the new progress of car manufacturing recently. He said that Jidu Automobile will unveil a concept production car at the 2022 Beijing Auto Show. The appearance and interior design of the vehicle have been basically determined, and it is initially expected to accept reservations next year. Therefore, this is definitely not the time to leave Geely flying solo.

Kung Fu Make a Case

To be sure, Baidu currently has no plans to build cars solo. Judging from this large amount of more than 2 billion, Baidu is determined to win the first model. This new model that combines the advantages of the current two major domestic giants is also worthy of our continued attention.

The sales performance of Geely Xingrui since its listing. After the success of Xingrui, Geely released a new SUV-Xingyue L non-stop. From the perspective of body structure, power configuration and model positioning, this is simply an SUV version of Xingrui. It seems that they want to make another subversion in the SUV field. In the car market, Chinese car companies have few successful cases of high-end breakthroughs. With leapfrog product strength, it is indeed feasible for Starray to achieve “dimensionality reduction strikes”. However, in the SUV field, many local models have been On the way of “leapfrogging”, the style of “B-class car size sells A-class car price” has become commonplace. In such a market environment, where is the breakthrough road for Xingyue L? 01, Bigger than BMW X3, claiming to be “compact”? As can be seen from the table below, the body size of Geely Xingyue L can be described as “exaggerated”. Its length and width have surpassed the BMW X3, and its 2845mm wheelbase has also surpassed the Highlander. Compared with the current mainstream compact SUV, the size advantage of Xingyue L is rolling. The body specifications of Xingyue L are enough to enter the category of medium-sized SUVs, but the official still defines it as a “compact SUV”. For what purpose? As a matter of fact, Geely has abandoned the industry-conventional method of determining the size based on the size of the car model, and has adopted a more rigorous and scientific division standard-the technical level of the vehicle is used to determine the car model level. The CMA “super matrix” architecture adopted by Xingyue L can theoretically cover the development of A0-class cars (small) to B-class cars (medium), but the one with the highest redundancy and the best possible use of its technical strength is A-class car (compact). Almost all models under the CMA architecture, including Geely Xingrui, Lynk&Co 03+, Volvo XC40, Polestar2, are positioned as compact cars without exception. Positioning Xingyue L as a compact SUV is a more pragmatic approach and a manifestation of technological confidence. Instead of realizing “leapfrogging” by enlarging the body size, it is better to refresh the technical ceiling in its subdivisions and become a unique technical benchmark. For consumers, it doesn’t really matter which class a car belongs to. What they care most about is whether they can buy a car with better design, better performance, and more reliable quality at the same price. Without the user’s approval, no matter how high the level is, it is futile. Polishing the product strength is the key to the breakthrough. 02. The bulls blown by the “new forces” are all realized on Xingyue L. “It looks like a Volvo!” A media teacher commented on the design of the new car at the launch of Xingyue L. I believe that he is not the only one who has similar ideas. In terms of body posture, Xingyue L does have a lot of Volvo XC series SUV shadows. Xingyue L is quite similar to Volvo’s SUV. The styling of a car is largely affected by the body structure, and the CMA structure has Volvo’s technical genes. Therefore, not only the Xingyue L, but also the previously launched Xingrui and Lynk & Co’s many models, more or more Few have the design pedigree of Volvo. But when you carefully observe the detailed craftsmanship of Xingyue L, you can see the unique mindset of the Geely design team. For example, the waterfall grille on the front face is Geely’s iconic design language. After many improvements, it can show a coordinated look and feel on different types of models. The headlights on both sides continue the Xingrui design method, and the shape is very matched with the outline of the whole vehicle. The internal light group adopts the upper and lower two-stage daytime running lights, and the lighting effect is highly recognizable. The design of the front face is based on stability. The side of the body does not use overly exaggerated lines, and the square and full shape is slightly conventional, but it is this low-key design that gives it the unique atmospheric look and feel of high-end models. With just the right chrome decoration, 20-inch super-large wheels, superb sheet metal workmanship, and coordinated body proportions, under the combination of these design elements, the style of Xingyue L is by no means a random one. Class cars are comparable. The body line is relatively mediocre, but its paint level, sheet metal workmanship, and assembly accuracy are all very good, and it is almost impossible to pick out a flaw. The exquisiteness presented by Xingyue L is far more attractive than its outline. Compared with the exterior design, the interior of Xingyue L is very high-profile. It uses an ultra-long IMAX screen (meter screen) that extends to the front of the co-driver, plus the LCD screen at the main driver’s position. The large screen is packed full, and the visual perception is very shocking. Xingyue L’s car system has not yet been open to experience, but Geely has officially announced some of the highlights of the technology configuration, such as the whole car’s global FOTA, ANC active noise reduction function, 10-speaker Bose audio, and V to Cloud (vehicle cloud), V A series of in-vehicle 5G application technologies including to Mobile real-time communication. The new car is also equipped with Geely’s 5G-AVP 1km unmanned parking technology, which can realize 1km unmanned managed parking, and can realize L4 autonomous driving in some scenarios and working conditions. Xingyue L’s unmanned parking system can realize 100% unmanned driving within a round-trip distance of 200 meters, avoiding obstacles, intelligently searching for parking spaces, autonomous parking in and out, and other powerful functions. Super-large screens, on-board 5G, unmanned parking, global OTA, and high-level autonomous driving are all technical concepts that the “new forces” in the past are proud of. Now they can all be implemented on Xingyue L. This shows that The so-called “intelligence” is not a “patent” of new energy vehicles, and pure fuel vehicles can also be perfectly realized. In terms of power system, Xingyue L is equipped with the Drive-E series 2.0T engine, which is the same as Xingrui, and is divided into high and low power versions according to different tuning methods. The low-power version (T4 EVO) has a maximum power of 160kW and a peak torque of 325Nm, which has completely surpassed Xingrui (all 140kW and 300Nm) in terms of data; the high-power version can even have a power output of 175kW and 350Nm, so The power level of the BMW X3 (xDrive 28i) is directly compared. Xingyue L’s high-end models are also equipped with BorgWarner’s sixth-generation electro-hydraulic four-wheel drive system. The optimal braking distance of 100-0km/h is 37.37 meters. Even if you drag a huge body, the sports performance will not be affected at all. , This shows the profound skill of the CMA framework. Regardless of low-power or high-power version, the performance parameters of Xingyue L are very good. 03. The key lies in the improvement of the brand and the improvement of technology According to the official plan, Xingyue L is positioned as the flagship model in the Geely SUV camp, targeting the most mainstream A-class joint venture SUV market. The price range is expected to be between 150,000 and 220,000, directly against CR-V and Tiguan L. , RAV-4 and other joint venture models. From the perspective of book product strength, Xingyue L wins joint venture products at the same price regardless of body size, power performance, technology configuration, and intelligence level, and has the strength foundation for “dimension reduction”. Moreover, SUV is Geely’s dominant area, it is not difficult to predict that Xingyue L will achieve a brighter market performance than Xingrui. Compared with increasing sales, Xingyue L’s more important task is to achieve a real upward brand. SUVs are the starting point for Chinese brands to go up. As early as four or five years ago, many local SUVs have tried to pierce the 200,000 yuan price ceiling through the “big and small” approach. A small part of them are indeed It has achieved certain market success, but failed to obtain corresponding achievements in terms of user recognition and product reputation. Adding space and configuration can indeed push up the price, but it is difficult to create a real high-end product. The higher the price, the higher people’s pursuit of technology, performance, and quality. This is the long-term gap between local SUVs and joint venture products. Distinctive technical advantages make Xingyue L unique among many newly launched local SUVs. Geely has been aware of this for a long time. Starting from the “3.0 era” products such as Borui and Boyue, they have begun to practice “internal strength”. In addition to optimizing the design and configuration level, they also focus on improving the performance and quality of the products. Today, Geely has entered the “4.0 era”, and the CMA architecture has become the technical core of a new generation of products. Taking Xingrui as an example, it not only continues the previous advantages in space and configuration, but also surpasses in terms of actual performance. A joint venture model at the same level has been achieved, achieving a technological breakthrough with a higher threshold. From 100,000, 150,000, and then to 200,000, Geely’s products can give a super high value far exceeding the actual price in every price range. The emergence of Xingyue L is another full release of Geely’s comprehensive strength after achieving the technical commanding heights. What we are looking forward to is not whether its sales can exceed which joint venture SUV, but whether under its leadership, the status and image of the Chinese brand in the minds of consumers can achieve a substantial leap. Text | Superman

Author | Davidley

Photography | Daville

Edit | Ma Liang

Cars have many attributes, whether it is luxury, performance, comfort or space. In big cities, people often pay for the added value that can please them, but for users in the sinking market, these added values ​​are not important. The transportation attribute is the only king way. Add some on the basis of transportation. The comfort or entertainment function of icing on the cake can’t be better. Our protagonist Emgrand S was born for this kind of demand. 100,000 yuan is the car purchase budget of many families in three or four cities. The competition for independent brands in this range is particularly fierce. The Emgrand series, which has been cultivated for many years, has been steadily establishing its own reputation. Can this new compact SUV Emgrand S Is it as good as its predecessors for the role of a scooter? In the ancient city of Dali, where the road conditions were not good, this brand new Emgrand S ushered in a test.

One question: Does the appearance conform to the trend of youth? The elements that are popular in recent years are used, and after fusion, they are considered to be relatively high-valued at the same price.

As a model that focuses on technology and fashion, Emgrand S is not ostentatious in appearance design. The front face has very obvious family characteristics. If you are familiar with Emgrand series before, it can bring you in appearance. There are not many surprises, so I picked out a few points worthy of attention to talk to you.

The headlights of Emgrand S use LED light source, which is integrated with several broken lines on the front of the car in shape, and the overall feeling is very strong. In addition, the red trim on the side of the headlights is very obvious in the daytime, and the red calipers at the wheel hub create a certain sporty atmosphere.

The shape of the side is relatively ordinary, and the suspension model and the chrome strips on the window and door sides enhance the texture of the whole car. The downward curvature of the model starting from the B-pillar also makes Emgrand S look like a crossover in visual effects.

At the rear of the car, although the through-type taillights are not used, a black trim strip connects the left and right taillights, which still adds a lot of visual effect. Looking closer, the vertical arrangement of the lights inside the taillights also gives the design sense of the tail. Further improve.

In addition, the chic small rear wing above the rear of the car is also the finishing touch to enhance the sporty atmosphere. The exhaust port below is undoubtedly just a decoration, the real exhaust is hidden under the enclosure.

Second question: What is the texture of the interior? The performance is excellent in the same level, and the main and co-drivers have heated the seats.

The main tone of the Emgrand S interior is black and red. At first glance, there is still a visual impact. It can be seen that Emgrand S is also trying to create a sense of movement in the interior.

The steering wheel is also designed in two colors of black and red, the leather is delicate and supports four-way adjustment, and it feels good. The instrument panel and the central control screen do not have many commendable points. The only interesting thing is that when the Emgrand S switches the driving mode, not only the theme of the interface will change, but there will also be a sound effect, giving people a kind of armor warrior transformation. feel.

The Emgrand S seat also uses a black and red stitching design, and there is a WAVE note embroidery on the front and rear headrests. Although most people don’t know what it means, the visual effect is still good. The front seats are relatively solidly filled, and the only drawback may be that they are generally supportive; the rear seats are relatively stiff, but the legroom performance is good, and the experience is not bad, which will be mentioned later.

On the top and bottom of the instrument panel, Emgrand S is wrapped with soft materials, the material feels relatively solid, and the assembly tolerance is very small, which is a relatively excellent level in the same level.

Below the central control screen, Emgrand S retains a part of the air-conditioning physical buttons, which are very friendly for blind operation during driving, but whether it is this row of buttons or the parking button below, the feel is normal.

Emgrand S is equipped with a panoramic sunroof that cannot be opened, and ventilation is definitely impossible, but the view after opening is still very good. However, the sunshade of this sunroof does not have a physical opening button, and it must be operated from the central control screen, which is a bit cumbersome.

There are several things worth knowing about the configuration. One is that the Emgrand S main and co-drivers are equipped with seat heating, which is a very sincere configuration for this level; the other is a 540˚ transparent chassis called the Eye of God by Geely In fact, it is a panoramic image. Overall, the display effect is good. The only regret is that you gave me all the panoramic images, and the automatic parking is also good.

Three questions: How intelligent is the vehicle and is the vehicle-machine system easy to use? L2 level driving assistance, there is everything, and the overall car-machine system is very smooth.

Technology is one of the main buying points of Emgrand S, and Geely naturally hopes to give more. Emgrand S is equipped with a series of driving assistance functions such as L2 level intelligent driving assistance system, full-speed ACC adaptive cruise, ELK lane keeping assist system, etc. It is said that the current mainstream driving assistance functions are available, but most of them are not used daily. The last few times.

We experienced the adaptive cruise and lane keeping functions on the road section in Dali. It may be due to the fact that most of the road sections in Dali are paved with cement, and the ground marking is very unclear. The performance of this Emgrand S on the Dali section is compared. Struggling, the recognition rate is relatively low, and there should be better performance on roads with good road conditions.

There is one point that I don’t like very much about the display of the instrument panel. The Emgrand S only displays a rough data whether it is a speedometer or a tachometer. The speedometer will have a detailed speed in the middle, but the tachometer does not. When you want to see the speed, you have to stare at it for a while, which is not very convenient.

In terms of car and machine system, the overall experience of Emgrand S’s central control screen is very good. Although there is no tactile feedback, it is better than the smooth system. The realization of various operations will not cause too obvious lag, and it is extremely large. Some useful functions are integrated in the drop-down menu, and the ease of use is very high. In addition, the voice assistant of this car is also highly intelligent. It can be awakened by “Hello Geely”. Many relatively complex commands such as closing the sunroof and sunshade can be realized by this voice assistant.

Four questions: How does the space perform? The headroom in the back row is not good, and everything else is pretty good.

In terms of body size, the Emgrand S has a length, width and height of 4430/1833/1573mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 2700mm. Except that the length is 10mm shorter than the Emgrand GS, the rest are exactly the same, which is quite satisfactory.

In terms of riding experience, passengers with a height of 175cm adjust the front seats to a comfortable position with a punch and four fingers on the head. The space experience is great.

The front row stays still, and when you come to the back row, the leg room is still very abundant. The legroom with more than two punches can prevent the rear passengers from curling up, but because the roof adopts a certain degree of slippery back in the rear part Design, so the head space is indeed a bit stretched, only three fingers space is left. If you are taller than 180cm, then this back row may really be a height measurer.

But it is worth mentioning that the central platform in the rear row is relatively flat, and the passengers in the middle will have a relatively good experience in the leg space.

In terms of storage space, the Emgrand S performed fairly well. Many storage details such as the hollowing out under the gear lever area and the mobile phone slot on the left side of the steering wheel, the Emgrand S did not. But the basic armrest box, glove box, trunk, Emgrand S are all normal performance.

Oh, by the way, under the central control, this small platform that looks like a wireless charging pad is actually a small tablet, so it’s no problem to put a mobile phone. Charge? Sorry sir, please plug in the wires.

Five questions: How do you feel about driving? It’s comfortable to travel daily, but want to drive a car? I advise you not to think too much.

Power performance is not the main selling point of this Emgrand S. We have seen this 1.4T engine many times on Emgrand series, with a maximum power of 141 horsepower and a peak torque of 235 Nm. In terms of transmission, it is matched with a simulated 8-speed CVT gearbox.

Emgrand S offers three driving modes, economy, sport and comfort. We start from the economy mode. The lazy engine performance is very consistent with its 1.4T segment and the settings of a family car, which is also the most suitable driving mode for this car in my opinion. Slightly step on the accelerator, and with a short lag, the power begins to release linearly, and you can drive the car leisurely to buy food. This kind of power output is the most suitable.

However, the only drawback is that this engine does not seem to have a peak torque of 235 N·m. During the speed increase or overtaking process, even if it comes to the official calibrated 1600-4000rpm maximum torque speed range, this car will still give You have a feeling of insufficient torque.

What about after the sport mode is turned on? The setting of Emgrand S in the sport mode is to increase the speed so that the engine always maintains above 2000rpm to achieve the goal of faster power response. However, when driving in a city, this kind of adjustment will be more frivolous, not suitable for driving with cars on congested roads, and the problem of torque still exists.

As for the comfort mode, the feeling of driving is infinitely close to the economic mode. Since the economic mode is more fuel-efficient, why use comfort?

The Emgrand S analog 8-speed CVT gearbox, except for the obvious frustration when the first gear is up to the second gear, your perception of the gearbox is not obvious at other times, and the smooth tone runs through and is very domestic.

In terms of steering feel, my impression of Geely has always been that it feels very light. Even the Lynk & Co 03 I feel a little light, but this Emgrand S is different from most Geely models. The relatively heavy feel will make You have the illusion that you are driving a sports car, but a certain empty position of the steering wheel will pull you out of this feeling. Of course, you have to ask me whether I like it or not. I still like the heavier steering wheel feel, but for ordinary users, the lighter feel will undoubtedly reduce the driving difficulty to a certain extent.

In terms of chassis, the front and rear torsion beams of McPherson are a regular configuration at this price, but Boyue has used multiple links, and Emgrand should also consider it. For small vibrations, such as pavement stones and small ground joints, the Emgrand S filter is not bad, but you should not ask too much for the torsion beam. Large potholes should be bumpy, but it is more than enough to cope with urban roads. In addition, the home-use chassis adjustment also made the Emgrand S’s lateral support performance average, and the degree of roll is relatively large when large or high-speed steering is required.

In other parts, the brake pedal braking force release is linear, and the NVH performance is in line with the mainstream level. Although I have said so much nitpickingly, if you want to say whether the Emgrand S is a family car or not, I can tell you very responsibly, no.

Say at the end:

After experiencing this Emgrand S, the biggest feeling is that there is no feeling, which is exactly what many ordinary users need most. I bought this car for transportation. I don’t need to make a lot of sacrifices in other areas for a certain main selling point. If you want to buy a mobility SUV with a certain price/performance ratio, the Emgrand S with a pre-sale price of 86,700 yuan must be a good choice.

Throughout the years of the Emgrand series, cost performance has always been its main series to maintain sales. The threshold of experience for 100,000-yuan models has been lowered to 80,000 or even 70,000. Coupled with Geely’s brand identity and quality control, it has achieved success. The splendor of the Emgrand. However, in the past two years, under the background of independent brands such as Chang’an and Great Wall, this cost-effective advantage no longer exists. If it continues to maintain its sales myth in the new era, the Emgrand series may need to find some new highlights.