On the eve of the launch of Leapmotor C01, Leapmotor held a symposium to explain the positioning and product features of the new product. And this brand is also laying out its product line in an orderly manner. The brand's first real sedan is about to be launched on the market. Leapao C01 is positioned as a multi-scenario smart luxury electric car, and the brand has its own interpretation of luxury electric cars.
First of all, when faced with the selling points of new cars, Zhu Jiangming, the founder, chairman and CEO of Leapmotor, gave his opinion: Because the market competition is indeed fierce now, after we compare, the Leapmo C01 should be in the price range of 200,000. It's hard to find a product from a competitor.
There are two main advantages: First, the entire smart cockpit system of Leopou C01 is very unique. We are also the first in its class to carry an Android virtual machine. Most Android applications on the market can be used in Installation and use on our car machines, including some very practical ones, such as some takeaway apps, can all be used on our car machines. At the same time, it can fully ensure the safety of our entire car, because it is an Android virtual machine, the most open car system, expanding the application ecosystem, not occupying additional car memory, and not affecting safety. In fact, what you see from the car is a virtual machine application, so it is safe.
At the same time, we have also integrated OPPO Watch Smart Connect and Apple Watch Smart Connect. You can directly use the watch to open the door, use the watch to turn on the air conditioner in advance, and check the status of all cars, etc., which adds a lot of convenience to users. These are all innovative features of Leapbo.
Of course, Leapao has always used face recognition as an adaptive configuration function, and has gone even further. Leapao C01 has achieved 25 adaptive functions. It can automatically adapt to your seats and air conditioners. , music, etc., there are 25 functions that are suitable for personal preferences. In this aspect, the zero-running cockpit function is also the most advanced in the industry.
Another feature of C01 is that we have made luxury configurations standard. We have always said that even if it is an entry-level car, the standard configuration of C01 can be compared with luxury cars worth more than 400,000 yuan, such as BBA's fuel-powered sedans and To be comparable to electric cars worth over RMB 300,000 to 400,000, starting from the chassis, including the double wishbone five-link, plus our interior, everything like the suede roof is standard, it can be said to be RMB 300,000 or even RMB 400,000. The only one. Our seats can be ventilated, heated, and have massage functions. The boss's seat in the rear can also adjust the sitting posture, angle, etc. with one click.
These are an important reflection of the advantages of our C01. It has a very differentiated competitive advantage compared to our competing products, and at the same time it is more luxurious and high-end.
Media: What is the product positioning of C01? What is the target group? Who do you think is your biggest competitor? Zhu Jiangming: Our car is mainly targeted at people between 25 and 25 years old.The 40-year-old group, in fact, the 30 to 40-year-old group accounts for a very large proportion. Basically, they are a group of people who have a relatively stable life and work, and also have a sense of technology and innovation, as well as the pursuit of product quality. This is our main target customer group.
Another question you mentioned is that our opponents, I think, are mainly our domestic car companies. At present, because the entire new energy market is mainly made up of some domestic brands, there are also new forces, and there are also traditional car companies. We It's hard to define. From the current perspective, competing models of Leapmoon C01, such as Xpeng P7, BYD's Han EV, and Seal, should have a certain market overlap with ours.
Just now we looked at two aspects, one is in terms of intelligence, whether it is hardware configuration, such as the car machine, we use Qualcomm 8155P for the car machine chip, and the application of many functions of our car machine is also deeper and more thorough. Some. Including smart driving, we have 28 sensors as standard, which can achieve L2+ smart driving level. All cars are equipped as standard. Overall, in terms of intelligence, it is better than the models you just mentioned.
Media: Regarding intelligent driving, the intelligent hardware of this car is relatively strong. I wonder what functions the intelligent assisted driving will include when delivered? Are there other application scenarios included, and what are the key directions of OTA for this car in the future?
Zhu Jiangming: Our C01 will have all the functions of L2+ when it is delivered. The whole series comes standard with 23 smart driving functions. In addition to the pilot assist function, we will open other functions simultaneously when it is delivered. Moreover, we also added the ALC function.
For the Leapmoon C01 product, we can summarize its characteristics in one sentence. Our configuration and our level of luxury. These two aspects, including the level of intelligence, have reached the level of the original fuel vehicle. The configurations of BBA models priced above 400,000 are even higher. At the same time, our prices are within the traditional B-class car segment. Camry and Toyota Accord are models in this price range. I would like to sum it up in one sentence: Leapmo C01 is the ceiling of 200,000 cars. Thanks.
Media: I would like to ask Leapmotor, which has always adhered to the all-area self-research route, what is the current progress, and in which areas has it achieved better results than competing products?
Zhu Jiangming: First of all, global self-research is not just about software applications. All core components are developed and manufactured by ourselves. From the perspective of traditional three-power technology, there are also two aspects: intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit. When it comes to battery packs, we purchase cells from the supply chain. We just defined two types of cells to provide them to more battery suppliers.
In addition, the battery module is manufactured and completed by ourselves. What are its benefits? For example, when batteries are relatively tight in April and May, we can use a multi-supplier strategy to have enough supply, and then the entire standardization can be donebetter. In terms of smart batteries, we have a unified BMS and an AI cloud platform in the background that can monitor the temperature and pressure difference of all cells. So far, our zero-running battery packs are the safest and most stable. Batteries are a very costly carrier, and we have also achieved a cost reduction of 5% to 10% through self-production.
With the entire battery pack made in-house, we are also the first in the world to mass-produce the CTC battery-chassis integration technology without battery pack on the C01, integrating the battery and the body into an integrated design. The advantage is that the weight can be lighter and the ride is smoother. The space can be larger, and the battery life and safety are better. This is the battery part.
As for the electric drive, Leopao has established our electric drive team since 2015. Nowadays, many car companies promote all-in-one and eight-in-one electric drives. In fact, we have already mass-produced them on the S01 in 2019. Eight-in-one electric drive. We now use all-in-one electric drives in C01, C11 and T03. All our electric drives are developed by our company.
The reliability, stability and advancement of our electric drives have now reached the highest level in the industry. The current C11 and C01 both use oil-cooled electric drives, which are currently the most advanced and can have higher efficiency and lower noise. The lifespan can reach 1 million kilometers, because the electric drive is like the original traditional engine, it is a heart and an important symbol that determines durability and reliability.
In addition, there are vehicle controllers, including smart cockpits (representing the degree of intelligence, comfort, humanization, and human-machine functions are all realized through smart cockpits), smart driving (future car companies, because of the future Electric cars must be smart cars, which determine how far and how high they can go). These are where the focus is on manpower and material investment. These will bring benefits to our future platformization and cost reduction due to our scale advantage.
Although our R&D staff is now close to 1,800, this is not the largest number. We have the best foundation. Overall, in the long run, our model is relatively more suitable for this kind of electronic products. In the future Automotive electronic products account for more components, 70% are electronics and 30% are cars, so self-research in all areas is more advantageous. Tesla and BYD are both successful models. BYD even manufactures its own batteries, making Leap Then intelligent driving will be heavily invested in research and development, which is basically the current situation.
Media: Regarding design issues, all new energy designs are now highly homogeneous, including headlights, taillights, etc. How does Leapmoon view this issue of homogeneous design? Do we have some more differentiated design thinking and expression in the future? Cao Li: In fact, our design team and the entire product definition team have been thinking about this issue. It is true that the homogeneity that everyone has seen is getting more and more serious, but we have been thinking about the core of future electric vehicles and its core value. Where exactly? As Mr. Zhu said, we have invested heavily in research and development of smart driving and smart cockpits. Similarly, we will focus on the car itself, especially the smart phone.We believe that the core value that Nengqi will bring to everyone in the future lies in the intelligent experience, so we still have a concept in design, adding to the experience, and then subtracting as much as possible in the styling design, because of this In addition to bringing pleasure to everyone in terms of experience, it is also intelligent In addition to its operation, we also need to improve its efficiency, so we should try to improve the design efficiency as much as possible from the mechanical aspect or the energy aspect. We will delete all redundant designs and then improve the experience. , In terms of texture, we add comfort and add more design inside.
Media: It can be seen that the sales of Leap Motors have continued to rise after entering 2022, but some consumers’ understanding of Leap Motors is still in the early stages, and there are big differences. In the face of future consumption upgrades and the mainstream trend of upward branding, will Lingpao eliminate the disadvantages caused by low prices in the future? What measures are being taken in this regard? What are the product focuses? Zhu Jiangming: Why we launched T03 in the first place was because we wanted everyone to understand Zero Pao with a lower threshold. T03 is the most high-end among all small cars. Its power is 80 kilowatts. When accelerating, you can experience the same enjoyment as an A-class car. It meets the biggest needs and pain points of users at this stage. We hope to surpass users' imagination. Products can create awareness about Zero Running. With the awareness of low threshold, a lot of publicity and investment can be reduced at this time. This is why we launched C01 and C11 after we released T03, sold 100,000 units, and introduced users to Zero Pao. Our users also proved that it was reasonable for us to do so, because many T03 users All have become C11 users. They think this car is easy to drive, easy to use and worth the money. So after seeing that the C11 has such good product capabilities, from design to configuration, and the price-quality ratio is very high, more and more people will buy the Leap-Moon. This is our logic. Because T03 users are not a very low-income group. According to our statistics, more than 70% of T03 users are female, and they all have a certain taste. Many people who have BBA cars at home have bought T03. In fact, our top ten cities account for It's also very high. Leapao is committed to building a century-old store in the automotive industry. Whether it is T03, C11 or C01, Leapao has keenly grasped the biggest pain points of users at this stage and provided users with a higher-level product experience. Thank you.
Media: Xpeng G9 has made industry press conferences more and more popular. What kind of preparations will be made for the next Leap Run C01 press conference?
Zhu Jiangming: The entire pricing strategy is very simple. All smart luxury configurations are standard on the entire series. The Leapmoon C11, which was launched last year, has been standard on the entire series. The only difference is the battery capacity, and Whether it is a single electric drive or dual electric drives, it is more convenient for users to choose. In fact, Leapao C01 will continue the same model and the same method, making it clear to users at a glance and very convenient. This can also minimize the workload for everyone to choose. This isOur style. There are only three steps to choose Zero Running C01. The first step is to choose battery life, the second step is to choose power, and the third step is to choose optional packages. Since our optional packages are very value-for-money, most users will choose them, so it is actually a two-step process. It can be done.
Media: The black-box intelligent driving solution can significantly reduce R&D costs, but Leapao still chooses to conduct self-research across all areas. Does this mean that intelligent driving has become Leapao’s selling point? In addition, does Leapao C01 have the ability to convey brand value to users? What strategies and goals do you hope to achieve with this car? Zhu Jiangming: Regarding the black box model, we actually rejected it in 2017 or 2018. Why did we say that we would develop it ourselves at that time? In order to reject the black box, we used our own technology to build the entire architecture, from perception to The entire calculation, to the entire control, is such a logic, which is in line with our global self-research. We also hope that we can "play" intelligent driving. From system architecture to hardware, software, and algorithms, everything must be independent and reliable. control. On this basis, we will continue to improve the capabilities of the algorithm to achieve global leadership.
We have had such successful cases in the past, such as face recognition, license plate recognition, and all PK competitions we did in Dahua. Every time we make a contract, we need PK. Whose algorithm is better and whose recognition rate is higher? In the future, cars will be safer and better than you. Self-driving cars must be compared, and PK cannot be avoided. Therefore, we will also spend the most energy on this to achieve breakthroughs, which can also become a plus point for the product.
The second question is that the brand value of Leapao at this stage is to make everyone feel that it is worth their money. At the same time, our products are also very intelligent and have a good sense of design. These will ultimately make a Brand to cultivate users’ minds. The current slogan of Leapmo is "Leapa cars, exceeding your expectations". I hope everyone will feel that Leapao is a value-for-money brand and that the products are not bad and must be good. We are currently working hard and hope to achieve this goal.
Media: What are the advantages of Leapao CTC technology compared with battery chassis integration of other brands? How will it help improve the competitiveness of Leapmo C01? How does Leapao view the battery swap mode? Cao Li: Leapmoon’s CTC technical solution is that we remove the battery pack. There is no independent battery pack. We use the structure of the car body as part of the battery pack. The benefits it brings are in four aspects: one is higher performance; The stiffness of the entire vehicle has been increased by 25%. It can be more economical in terms of space, saving 14.5% of battery space; it can increase the overall battery life by 10%; in terms of safety, with higher stiffness, for example, the safety of the entire vehicle collision will improve the safety of the entire battery pack structure. higher.
As for the battery replacement mode, we have always believed that it is the same as the evolutionary trend of mobile phones. We think that mobile phones have evolved from being able to replace batteries to now having batteries that are completely integrated and integrated into the entire vehicle.It’s the same thing. We believe that after the vehicle’s battery life exceeds, say, four or five hundred kilometers, there is actually no need to replace the battery directly. When infrastructure such as charging piles becomes more and more abundant, it will be able to fully meet the needs of daily use. .