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In order to expand the market share of the A0 pure electric market, BYD has launched a new model in the market.
On March 26, BYD Yuan UP announced its official launch, with a price of 96,800-119,800 yuan. The Yuan UP is positioned as an A0-class pure electric SUV, which is one level lower than the previously launched Yuan PLUS.
Compared with Yuan PLUS, BYD hopes that Yuan UP can attract young people who pursue fashion elements, and the target user groups are young people who have just entered the society, family users who have purchased more after 80/90 and young women. Therefore, there are some non-mainstream exterior colors in the selection and naming of exterior colors, such as four exterior colors such as slack green, bold pink, pleasing white, and sassy gray, as well as the interior decorated with pink elements.
With the launch of the Yuan UP, BYD has laid out 4 models in the A0-level pure electric market, and the other 3 models are Dolphin, Seagull and Yuan Pro. In this way, the company hopes to expand its market share in the A0 segment. It is reported that the target sales volume of Yuan UP is more than 20,000 units per month.
Since the end of the Spring Festival holiday on February 19 this year, BYD has intensively launched 17 new models, and the main price range is almost all gathered between 10-300,000 yuan. This area gathers the main group of car buyers. On March 20, Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said at the 2023 financial report investor communication meeting that BYD's main competitors for new models launched in the near future are fuel vehicles and joint venture brands.
So, with the launch of the Yuan UP, which hopes to become a popular product, and more new products that have been introduced to the market one after another, can BYD further subvert the pattern of fuel vehicles this year?
For the first time, the e-platform 3.0 has been transferred to the A0 class electric SUV
Yuan UP's main competitors include pure electric cars such as Wuling Binguo and similar fuel vehicles such as Geely Binyue. Although positioned as an A0-class pure electric SUV, thanks to the advantages of vertically integrated R&D, the Yuan UP is equipped with many of BYD's latest technologies, including e-platform 3.0, CTB battery pack technology, and a rotatable central control screen.
Yuan UP has two kinds of endurance - 301 km and 401 km, and the batteries are all from the blade batteries of BYD's self-developed assets, with capacities of 32 degrees and 45 degrees respectively. The drive form is a single motor drive, and the motor power reaches 70KW and 130KW respectively.
At present, the biggest opponent of Yuan UP is the Wuling Binguo PLUS at the same price, the latter has an advantage in battery life, but the size is insufficient, the length is only more than 4 meters, and it is a 4-seater model. In this regard, some netizens said that the endurance of Yuan UP should start at least 400 kilometers, because now 300 km endurance models at the same price are rare.
Although it has not exceeded user expectations in terms of battery life, in other invisible places, Yuan UP also has a certain competitive advantage. For the first time, BYD applied the e-platform 3.0 technology to the A0-class pure electric SUV, and the Yuan UP adopted the CTB battery-body integration technology. The technology features the integration of the battery pack cover with the body floor of the conventional structure, thereby increasing the rigidity of the body and improving the interior space. As a pure electric car, its wheelbase reaches 2620mm, the whole car has a total of 18 storage spaces, and the trunk space is up to 1320L when the seats are folded down.
Compared with competing products, the Yuan UP car has more space and more comfort, which are all effects brought by the e-platform 3.0.
In addition, Yuan UP is also equipped with a rotatable central control display of BYD models, and the car machine system comes from BYD's self-developed DiLink system, which users can use to complete common voice commands, and can also use multiple common car machine apps including maps, music, and entertainment. The DiLink system also supports OTA functions to ensure that the software functions are always up-to-date.
It is worth mentioning that the Yuan UP is also equipped with an 8-inch W-HUD head-up display system that is not common in the same class. The system can display driving-related information such as vehicle speed and navigation, so that users can understand key driving information without looking down, thereby improving safety. Correspondingly, Yuan UP also supports L2 level assisted driving including adaptive cruise, traffic sign recognition and other intelligent driving functions. This function needs to be optional, users need to spend an additional 6000 yuan, and only support 401 km version.
In addition, Yuan UP also supports VTOL external discharge function, which is also an uncommon function on pure electric cars. This feature is a rigid need for users who need outdoor camping scenarios. The VTOL of Yuan UP supports a maximum power of 3.3kw, which can meet the needs of most high-power electrical appliances.
Overall, thanks to the blessing of BYD's e platform 3.0 technology, some of the technology and functional leadership of Yuan UP are its core selling points to attract young users.
Strengthen the offensive against fuel vehicles
Yuan UP is BYD's 17th new model to be released to the market in the past month, but it is also a relatively important main model among the models released by BYD in the first quarter of this year.
Previously, BYD has upgraded its main models in the form of a new "Glory Edition" model. The strategy of upgrading is mainly to play the card of "increasing volume and reducing price". For example, the Qin PLUS DM-i has been as low as 79,800 yuan, and this entry-level family sedan sold more than 400,000 units last year, ranking first in the same market.
More than 50% of BYD's new models launched this year are 100,000-level models. In the family car market of about 100,000 yuan, fuel vehicles still maintain a leading share. The industry believes that BYD will definitely further affect the existing market structure by launching new cars in a targeted manner.
For BYD, this year's offensive against fuel vehicles is not over, and it is also making technical and product preparations for hitting more market share.
According to Wang Chuanfu in the recent financial report communication meeting, BYD will launch the fifth-generation DM hybrid technology in May this year, which further strengthens the advantages of fuel-saving attributes and long battery life. Through technical improvements, the fuel consumption will be reduced to 2.9 liters/100 kilometers, and the comprehensive range will be increased to 20,000 kilometers when fully charged and fueled.
BYD's sales in March are expected to exceed 300,000 units, increase its share of the entire passenger car market to 17%, and further expand its market share in new energy vehicles to more than 35%, Wang Chuanfu said. According to the data of the Passenger Car Association, from January to February this year, BYD's share in the passenger car market was 10.4%, and its share in the new energy vehicle market was 30.8%.
In addition, Wang Chuanfu also said that the industry has entered the knockout round, and the next three years will be a competition in technology, cost and scale. There is a view that with the continuous advancement of the survival of the fittest, the price war will come to a halt. But there is no sign of subsiding yet. Wang Chuanfu believes that in the next five years, the share of joint venture brands will drop from 40% to 10%, and Chinese brands will take 30% of the share. According to the data, from January to February this year, mainstream joint venture brands completed sales of 1.01 million units, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%, and their market share decreased by 2 percentage points compared with 2023 to 32.3%.
At the financial report communication meeting, Wang Chuanfu also revealed BYD's sales target for 2024, which is expected to grow by at least 20% on the basis of 2023. In 2023, BYD will sell 3.02 million units for the whole year, and according to this calculation, BYD's goal in 2024 is to achieve at least 3.6 million units.
In addition to continuing to roll in China, foreign markets are also BYD's incremental space in 2024. According to Wang Chuanfu, BYD will achieve overseas sales of 500,000 units in 2024, doubling from last year. In 2023, BYD will sell 240,000 vehicles overseas, a year-on-year increase of 334%. From January to February this year, BYD exported 60,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 1.1 times.
(This article was first published on the Titanium Media App, author|Wang Ruihao, editor|Zhang Min)