Bitauto Original Chery has always been obsessed with building high-end car brands. From the early Riich and Weilin, to Qoros, and now the Xingtu brand, it can be said that Chery has been fighting and failing in the mid- to high-end market. , but also suffered repeated defeats. As Chery's new entry into the mid-to-high-end market, the Xingtu Yaoguang has been officially launched a few days ago. The new car has a total of 6 configurations, with a price range of 152,800 yuan to 202,800 yuan, which is 5,000 yuan lower than the previous pre-sale price. It can be regarded as a good show of sincerity. But whether Yaoguang can bring hope to Chery in the high-end car market as expected? Whether this model, which is said to be an all-round benchmark for the 400,000 joint venture luxury SUV, can allow consumers to truly see the "light", the answer remains to be considered.

Chery’s obsession with the high-end car market

Chery's high-end journey can be traced back to 2007, when Chery cooperated with an Israeli group to establish Chery Quantum Company to build a high-end brand, which later became Qoros. At the same time, Chery is also incubating its own high-end brands, namely Ruiqi and Weilin.

I remember this sentence in the official news in 2009: On March 19, Chery officially launched the high-end sedan brand "Riich" and the all-round commercial vehicle brand "Weilin", formally forming a new system of high-end brand matrix, and at the same time responsible for "Qilin" Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., which sells the above two mid-to-high-end brands, was also officially established. It can be seen that Chery has laid out its plans very early in its desire to build high-end cars.

As for high-end domestic cars that are rarer than Bentley and Rolls-Royce in China, Riich G6 must be one of them. The total sales volume from production to discontinuation is only more than a thousand units. Many people may have never heard of it. I was only lucky enough to see them when I worked at Chery. There were only two of them used as executive cars. The interiors were quite luxurious. The price at that time was about 200,000 yuan. Nowadays, they are still rare products in the second-hand car market. The selling point of the merchants is "Domestic Rolls-Royce".

At that time, Riich G6 focused on the concept of business luxury, and its competitors were targeted at mainstream mid-to-high-end cars such as Camry and LaCrosse. Quantum's first model, the Qoros 3, was launched in 2013, challenging the popular Volkswagen Sagitar; and Chery itself was still A leader in independent brands.

But now, whether it is Ruiqi, Weilin or Qoros, they have disappeared from our sight. If they were born too early and did not wait for the big jump in domestic consumption levels, then Xingtu was born at the right time. With Lynk & Co and WEY making prototypes in advance, as well as the rise of new car-making forces, they helped everyone complete the task of educating users. , creating a circle is a time-consuming and laborious step.

Yin Tongyue once called Xingtu the "Audi and Lexus" of Chery, but currently Xingtu has not achieved the desired results. It was not until 2022 that the brand's cumulative user base exceeded 100,000. It can be said that Chery’s journey from Ruiqi to Qoros to Xingtu is three battles.After three defeats, from Zhui Feng to Ling Yun to Lan Yue, Xingtu still suffered three defeats in three battles. Now all the pressure is on Yao Guang.

Xingtu Yaoguang’s products are indeed very powerful

Let’s look at Yaoguang. It is the first strategic model of the Xingtu brand in the 2.0 era and the first model of Chery Group’s “Yaoguang 2025 100 billion technology strategy”. It is worth mentioning that Yaoguang is the first product born out of the M3X Mars Architecture 2.0 and the first model put into production at the Qingdao Super Smart Factory. In short, Chery just wants to tell you that this car is very important! It represents the Chery Group's highest standard of three-good SUVs with "the best Chery system, better Xingtu brand, and better market segments".

From the appearance point of view, the new car basically continues the style of the previous concept car. With the "aesthetics of light" design language that is highly advanced, luxurious, and technologically aware, it won the 2022 American IDA International Design Gold Award and became a local brand in China. The first fuel-powered SUV model to win this award. In addition, it basically has all the popular design elements such as intelligent light language system, electric hidden door handles, through-type taillights, and four exhaust outlets on both sides, and the coupe-like body is very attractive to young people. Aesthetic point.

In terms of space, the length, width and height of the new car are 4781mm × 1920mm × 1675mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2815mm, which has also reached the mainstream size in the same class. There are only five seats in the car, ensuring a space experience for all passengers. At the same time, the seats in the car are made of NAPPA leather. The front seats integrate ventilation/heating, electric leg rests, headrest audio and other functions. The passenger position has additional electric footrests and 5 modes of back pneumatic massage. The seat back angle also supports 7° electric stepless adjustment, allowing every occupant to find the most comfortable position.

In terms of technology, the center console in the car uses a 24.6-inch integrated curved screen, combined with designs such as a D-shaped floating multi-function steering wheel, electronic handrails, and diamond-cut physical knobs, bringing a full sense of technology and fashion. The car adopts Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, which is basically the top hardware of current cars. With the Chery Lion Eco 5.0 system, it can achieve quick startup within 3 seconds, identity recognition in 2 seconds, and continuous processing of more than 20 instructions in 30 seconds. operate. In addition, the high-end AR-HUD system can provide 50-inch clear imaging at a viewing distance of 7.5 meters, enabling flexible navigation and powerful early warning, doubling the technology and practicality.

In terms of performance, Chery, known as the "man in science and engineering", is most indispensable in technology. Chery's engines and gearboxes have always had a good reputation among car owners, so there is no need to worry about stability. This time Yaoguang is equipped with a 2.0T Kunpeng high-power engine code-named SQRF4J20C. It has been awarded the title of "China Heart" Top Ten Engines. It can explode with a maximum power of 192kW and a maximum torque of 400N·m. Its parameters are ahead of many 2.0T engines on the market. High power engine.

Although the 8AT gearbox is absent, the matching Getrag seven-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox technology is also very mature and stable, and the most important thing is high efficiency. The new car's WLTC fuel consumption is only 7.5L/100km, even lower Regarding the fuel consumption level of Tiguan L 2.0T. In addition, according to official plans, Xingtu Yaoguang will also launch PHEV plug-in hybrid models in the future.

The most noteworthy thing is in terms of chassis configuration. The Feiyu super-sensing chassis equipped by Yaoguang has CDC electromagnetic suspension system, Soft Stop system, chassis hydraulic vibration isolation system, all-terrain technology system, and all-scenario intelligent control. The core advanced functions such as four-wheel drive system and intelligent brake-by-wire system are rare among models of the same level, and will help improve the comfort, control and safety performance of the vehicle in all scenarios.

Chery has given this car the positioning of "400,000-class smart luxury flagship SUV", and at the same time continues to maintain the same affordable price as before. It stands to reason that if you can buy a 400,000-class experience for 200,000 yuan, it will definitely be the best choice for consumers. ray of hope.

But the market competition is still fierce

First of all, the price range of Yaoguang covers the price range of 150,000-200,000 yuan, which is also the hinterland of many joint venture models, such as the low-end Tiguan L or the top-end Qashqai. Self-owned brand cars want to enter the field of fuel vehicles. Competing with joint venture brands at the same price level inherently lacks confidence, and can only achieve dimensionality reduction through configuration or size, in order to gain equal opportunities in the minds of consumers. So you can see that Yaoguang does have advantages in terms of cost performance, but if the consumers they are facing do not care about the configuration, design, and space, but still value the traditional three major items and brand effect, then Yaoguang will not have this advantage. .

Secondly, when faced with self-owned brand models at the same price range, Yaoguang not only has to face competitors such as Changan UNI-K, but also competition from smaller competitors such as Lynk & Co 01 and WEY Mocha. Lishang Yaoguang is indeed not afraid of them, but in terms of brand power, the stardom is still a little bit behind. It is actually easy to judge who young people should give priority to.

In fact, in terms of its own products, Yaoguang also faces competition from the "back wave" Chery Tiggo 9. Chery's product strategy has been criticized. In the past, Tiggo 7 and Arrizo 7 were both good models, but they He was beaten to death by his own prostitutes. If Yaoguang wants to support its own premium capability, how it differentiates itself from Tiggo 9 will also affect its future sales performance.

So although Yaoguang has gathered Chery's highest technical strength, it is not easy to "hit the ground running" in the same level market.

Where is Chery’s outlet for mid- to high-end products?

In my impression, Chery has operated no less than ten brands, including but not limited to Chery, Karry, Kaiyi, Riich, Weilin, Qoros, Xingtu, Jietu andChery Jaguar Land Rover and other brands. Those early brands have basically disappeared in various forms. Judging from the current sales performance, the only one that can stand out is Chery. And even the unintentional Jietu brand seems to be more famous than Xingtu.

Chery has technology and good products, but it really doesn’t understand how to operate it, how to create brand packaging, and how to create cultural circles. Just like the stubborn straight man who has been in the old habit for decades, he will just pick a fresh rose and give it to you on Valentine's Day, without packaging, without words, and without any romantic sentiment.

This kind of personality is suitable for living an honest life, and taking the high-end route is definitely not suitable. Today's high-end fuel vehicle market has long been solidified, and circles have been formed. It will be difficult for latecomers to join it, unless they can find a unique entry point and create their own circle of car owners. In the final analysis, it is packaging. The new car-making forces are the best at this. Weilai and Ideal are all started in this way. New fuel brands are also doing well. For example, Lynk & Co is a young and trendy car brand, and Changan UNI/Auchan series are all good-looking. , WEY also focuses on light luxury urban trends, which are part of the brand's premium capabilities.

Only Chery, the urban literary and artistic youth character created by Qoros in the early days was almost successful, but now it is a little less starry. The car owner only knows that he has bought a car, but the car owner level represented by this car, It doesn’t have labels or tonality. Is it really impossible to find so many unique labels?

Editor's summary: It is undeniable that Yaoguang itself is a good car. It has a very balanced appearance, configuration, space and performance. If you like it, you can buy it with confidence. However, Yaoguang alone cannot dominate Chery's high-end trend. The best era of the fuel-powered high-end car market in the past two years has passed. The main high-end battlefield has gradually shifted to new energy sources. Geely Krypton, Changan Avita, SAIC Zhiji and Dongfeng Lantu are the general directions. Chery's mid-to-high-end new energy brand has always been half-hidden by Pipa. It is said to be called "Ruiteng"? It was nothing more than getting up early again and catching up with the late market.

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Note: Some pictures in the article are from the Internet