In the view of NIO founder Li Bin, stable prices are one of the essential conditions for a brand's high-end journey. Therefore, Li Bin has mentioned the phrase "NIO will not lower its price" more than once in public.
But in the current era of sluggish growth in the high-end electric vehicle market and deep internal competition in the industry, how should NIO respond? Li Bin's answer is: Le Dao.
Photo by Zhang Xin
On June 22nd, LeEco's first pure electric mid size SUV, the L60, made its debut at the NIO delivery center in Hangzhou. It is reported that this will be transformed into the first offline experience center of Ledao brand in Hangzhou, and will share after-sales, delivery, maintenance and other services with NIO. At present, the pre-sale price of L60 is 219900 yuan, and booking now can also enjoy a discount of 2000 yuan to 6000 yuan.
Can this cheapest electric car help NIO gain a broader market?
Targeting the home market
Maximizing space and energy consumption
The idea of NIO promoting its sub brand has actually been circulating in the automotive industry for a long time. The initial project code was "Alps", and the final name was "Ledo". Compared to "NIO NIO", the name "Le Dao" has a more pronounced "family flavor", with the official meaning of "happy family and proper household management". Choosing to debut on International Family Day on May 15th, its brand positioning is self-evident, aimed at a large number of family users.
Firstly, in terms of product positioning, the L60 targets the most mainstream mid size SUV market. In fact, when discussing the positioning of the car models, Ledo clearly identified two benchmark models - the Toyota RAV4 and Tesla Model Y. L60 is also facing the benchmark from all aspects.
Photo by Zhang Xin
On the day of the event, there was also an interesting accident. A semi-trailer filled with Tesla Model Y parked perfectly behind the L60 showroom, seemingly indicating that a war without gunpowder had begun.
In terms of size, the length, width, and height of L60 are 4828 * 1930 * 1616mm, with an axle spacing of 2950mm. Except for the height of the car, they are slightly larger than the Model Y size. Although the L60 does not have much advantage in size, the interior space is exaggerated.
In the live demonstration PPT, two 1.83m models can easily cross their legs in the front and back rows, and can also easily stroll around in the back row. In such a spacious interior, the trunk can still be fully packed with four large and one small suitcases. Judging from the large size of the rear door, the interior space of the L60 is sure to bring us surprises.
Another powerful tool of its hard competitors is the L60, which has achieved the lowest 100 km power consumption among mass-produced mid size SUVs, with only 12.1kWh/100km, even lower than the industry benchmark Model Y. Its low power consumption is mainly due to a wind resistance of 0.229 and a 900V electrical architecture. This may also be the reason why Ledo's first car would be a sleek SUV - its natural low drag advantage.
As the current exhibition cars can only be tasted from the outside, we will provide more driving and riding information when the exhibition cars are open.
Born with a golden spoon in hand
Where are the opportunities and challenges in the music industry
In the eyes of the outside world, Ledao is a brand born with a golden spoon in its mouth, boasting over 1000 NIO battery swapping stations across the country, and sharing after-sales and maintenance teams. The battery swapping business, which was once seen as a burden for NIO, has now become an insurmountable moat among similar brands due to its early layout and large quantity.
Photo by Zhang Xin
Compared to a brand new, Ledao can be said to have a unique advantage in its user service system. You should know that Polestar, which has been in the Chinese market for several years, only has a few after-sales repair centers shared with Volvo in some major cities in China.
From the currently released configuration information, it can be seen that the L60 front suspension double wishbone has been replaced with a more comfortable MacPherson, and the overhead LiDAR has also been removed. The minimum battery capacity has been reduced from NIO's 75 degree to 60 degree lithium iron phosphate. All of this is just to achieve one goal: lower pricing.
Photo by Zhang Xin
At a price of over 200000 yuan, LeDao users are destined to not receive the same performance and service as NIO owners. Ai Tiecheng, Senior Vice President of NIO and President of LeEco, also emphasized in a media interview that there should be a clear distinction between LeEco and NIO.
It is reported that LeDao does not have an exclusive charging station and cannot enter the exclusive space of NIO House. It will not share offline stores with NIO. That is to say, apart from repairing cars and replacing batteries, Ledao car owners cannot grab NIO's wool.
As far as Ledao is concerned, having a cheap price alone is far from enough. Explaining the relationship between LeDao and NIO to consumers, what is the difference, and quickly establishing brand awareness require a lot of time and cost to lay the groundwork.
But for NIO, the imagination space brought by Ledo to the capital market is already sufficient.