Since 2023, the strategic value of tank brand to Great Wall has become increasingly prominent.
Among the group’s five major brands, tank is the only brand that has maintained rapid growth, with sales contribution rising rapidly from zero to 16% in just three years.
Great Wall maintained a high gross profit margin of 20% despite a slight decline in sales, and its quarterly net profit was stable at more than 3 billion yuan, with half of the credit overseas and the other half in tanks.
A number of research papers have unanimously mentioned that tanks have played a key role in improving Great Wall’s profitability and gross profit margin.
In recent years, the product matrix of tanks has been continuously enriched and the technology has been continuously iteratively upgraded to consolidate its market position.
At present, the success of tanks in the hardline cross-country SUV market is widely recognized.
Does this mean that the moat built by tanks is solid enough to be unmatched? On December 3rd, the new Hi4-Z version of the tank 500 was added and the pre-sale price was 379800 yuan.
There are industry insiders evaluation, the pre-price can attack and retreat can be defended.
The particularity of the car is reflected in two aspects: the unique body color and the first new off-road platform Hi4-Z technology.
, photo source: tank brand, the new car is painted with its own red and white gradient, officially named “must be red”.
In popular terms, it means “the horse is red”.
The model appeared in the new car declaration catalogue announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in October and made its debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November.
In addition to the body color, its styling design and interior structure are basically the same as the version on sale.
Hi4-Z technology is the biggest highlight of this model.
Hi4-Z is derived from Hi4 technology architecture.
Hi4 technology is a new intelligent four-wheel drive electric hybrid technology released by Great Wall Automobile in March last year.
This technology has realized three major innovations: three power source structure distribution, iTVC intelligent torque vector control system and electromechanical coupling transmission system, and the intelligent technology is deeply integrated into the vehicle system.
Great Wall extends the Hi4-T and Hi4-Z platforms based on the Hi4 architecture, both of which are built for the first time on tank 500s.
Hi4-T is a proprietary parallel hybrid architecture optimized in terms of power output, energy management and safety performance, while Hi4-Z is a longitudinal dual-motor hybrid architecture designed to meet the needs of the pan-off-road market.
According to analysts at the Global Automotive Research Institute, Hi4-T uses mechanical four-wheel drive design, which pays more attention to handling and is suitable for strong off-road scenes, while Hi4-Z uses electric four-wheel drive design, which is suitable for pan-cross-country scenes.
Source: tank brand, a technical staff of the research institute further explained that the Hi4-T adopts the P2 scheme, while the Hi4-Z uses the hybrid structure of “P2+P4+3 block DHT”, which cancels the drive shaft, which makes the switching of driving conditions more flexible.
He pointed out that, in theory, this design can also improve transmission efficiency, reduce power loss, and then improve the life of pure electricity.
The design principle of this technology is similar to Toyota’s planetary gear system.
Hi4-Z integrates the distributed layout of “three-speed DHT+ dual motor”, using high-performance engine and front and rear high-power motor system to break through the problem of insufficient wheel torque in power shunt and heavy load scenes.
This is the first time in the world to use the plug-in vehicle with power shunt, which realizes the natural energy distribution, achieves the common output power of “engine + motor + battery” and improves the operation efficiency.
The maximum horsepower of the tank Hi4-Z is 863PS, and the comprehensive torque of the system is 1195mm.
This is also conducive to the improvement of thermal efficiency, increasing the transmission efficiency of direct drive to 96%, while the thermal efficiency of 2.
0T and 3.
0T engines is as high as 40% and 38.
5%, respectively.
The platform is also equipped with 59.
05KWh high-capacity battery, and the pure electric range can reach more than 200km under WLTC condition.
And support 800V architecture, the maximum charging power up to 163KW, fast charging 15 minutes can be charged to 120km.
Based on this design, Hi4-Z technology has four advantages: long life, fast charging, strong power and efficient energy consumption.
Why is the Hi4-Z architecture launched? Gu Yukun, executive deputy general manager of the tank brand, once explained, “the launch of Hi4-Z is because we are aware of users’ high-frequency car scenes, mainly focused on urban transportation and outdoor paving, who pay more attention to inductance rather than extreme cross-country challenges, but are always yearning for outdoor life.
” Tank: the fulcrum of the high-end transformation of the Great Wall.
Tanks to Great Wall Automobile is not only a successful attempt of its brand, but also the cornerstone of its profit stability.
At first, it was just a test of the hardline off-road SUV market for Great Wall Motor.
Four years ago, Great Wall released Tank 300, filling the gap in the Chinese brand hardline off-road SUV market.
The car quickly became popular with its muscle shape and high performance-to-price ratio, becoming a “phenomenal” product.
At that time, China’s off-road vehicle market was dominated by imported cars, with prices as high as hundreds of thousands or even millions.
The listing of Tank 300 will push the price of hard-line off-road vehicles down to 180000 yuan.
Some off-road modification enthusiasts told Galaxy that many cyclists sold imported off-road vehicles and replaced them with tank 300.
In his view, the “China brand” off-road vehicle is “more suitable for the Chinese market”-it has the advantages of suitable price, low cost of modification and maintenance, durable operation and high intelligence.
Some self-driving enthusiasts told the story of self-driving in the northwest to Geji, “encountered a lot of tank 300 models.
” In December 2020, the Tank 300 quickly sold more than 10,000 vehicles in its first month on the market.
Great Wall immediately adjusted its strategy and made tanks its fifth largest brand the following year, focusing on the hardline off-road SUV market.
The arrival of the tank brand has helped Great Wall through the trough in sales to a large extent.
After 2019, Great Wall accelerated its transition to high-end electrification, but its strategic layout made a mistake.
In the early days, Great Wall promoted hybrid technology and intelligent achievements with high-end brand Wei Brand, but due to high product pricing and general machine experience, it failed to open the situation as scheduled and missed the opportunity for the development of new energy market.
At the same time, Harvard gradually lost its oil tanker position under the impact of new energy products at the same price.
In 2022, Great Wall car sales fell 16.
7% year-on-year to 1.
068 million vehicles.
Among them, the tank brand achieved a year-on-year growth of 46.
5 per cent to 124000, accounting for 12 per cent.
But with the exception of tanks, sales of the other four brands fell by more than double digits over the same period.
Harvard, as the main brand, contributes less than 60% to the group’s sales, which is down 20% from the same period last year.
Without tank support, Great Wall would not have been able to maintain a million vehicles that year.
It is worth noting that in the case of declining sales, the gross profit margin of Great Wall Motor in 2022 was year-on-year.
Increased by 3 percentage points to 19.4%. Guoxin Securities analysis believes that this is mainly due to the continuous optimization of the product structure, that is, the pull of the tank brand.
In 2023, the average price of Great Wall cars reached 141000 yuan per car, an increase of 8.
9% over the same period last year.
A number of institutions believe that this is mainly due to the increase in the proportion of high-end brands, of which tank brands play an important role.
This year, the contribution of tanks to Great Wall increased to 13%.
In the first 11 months of this year, cumulative sales of tank brands rose 44 per cent year-on-year to 209000, making it the only second-largest brand with double-digit growth, accounting for nearly 20 per cent.
With the help of the tank brand, this leaves more time for the transformation of the Wei brand.
Sales of Wei Brand have also increased by 20% this year after the application of Hi4 technology.
The growth in sales of high-end brands was superimposed by the expansion of export business, and the net profit of two-wheel drive Great Wall exceeded 10 billion yuan in the first three quarters of this year.
At present, there are four types of tanks on sale, covering gasoline, diesel and mixed power types, and gradually eroding the share of foreign-funded off-road vehicles, growing into the leader of this market segment.
According to Great Wall, Great Wall accounts for 65 per cent of the domestic off-road SUV market as a whole.
According to big data, the global auto industry, the cumulative sales of tanks reached 39000 in the first 11 months.
The total sales of the tank 500 reached 60,000 in the same period, making it the second growth curve of the tank brand.
Even the tanks, which cost more than 400000 yuan, sold 15000 in the first November because of their six-cylinder engines and luxury configurations, showing a strong market performance.
However, with the tank brand “fire” hardline cross-country SUV track, this market segment is shifting from the blue sea to the red sea.
In the past two years, many car companies have entered the bureau one after another: BYD launched the equation Leopard brand to focus on the 250000 + market, while millions of brands also have U8.
Chery Jetta launched the Traveler and Shanhai series, focusing on the 150000-level market.
Dongfeng Group launched the fierce brand.
Changan Deep Blue launched G318.
Beijing Automobile is also strengthening its market competitiveness.
In this round of competition, shortcut travelers and equation leopard are particularly eye-catching.
Sales of Leopard 5, the first model of equation Leopard, have risen steadily, selling more than 4000 vehicles for four months in a row and exceeding 40, 000 in the first 11 months of this year.
Shortcut travelers rely on extremely cost-effective, monthly sales of more than 10,000 vehicles, November is more than 30, 000 vehicles, the previous November cumulative sales reached 169000 vehicles.
The monthly sales of Jietu Shanhai series are also about thousands of vehicles, which has a good market performance.
Joint venture brands are also accelerating their layout.
Jiangling Ford launched the Ford vertical and horizontal brand in 2023, which is oriented to the outdoor cross-country market in China.
In April this year, the brand’s first model, the Ford Marines, went on sale, starting at 299800 yuan.
As a “pure blood” off-road vehicle, the Ford Horse has been renovated to the sixth generation and has a lot of fame in the off-road circle.
Since listing, Liema sales have gradually climbed, reaching more than 2000 vehicles in November.
In the face of increasingly fierce market competition, tanks are also consolidating their advantages by enriching the product matrix.
The fifth model, Tank 800, will soon be on the market, and some industry insiders predict that with reference to Tank 700, the starting price of the car may be around 500000.
In addition, Great Wall Chairman Wei Jianjun also revealed that the self-developed 4.
0T V8 large-row engine will be launched in April and May next year to provide services for Great Wall’s off-road and special-purpose scenes.
Great Wall’s ambition is also to become the standard-setter in the off-road vehicle market, proposing a classification standard for off-road vehicles in October.
Based on the four dimensions and 20 performance indicators of geometric passability, power transmission, safety and reliability and structural configuration, Great Wall divides the off-road vehicle into four levels: urban SUV, pan-off-road, strong off-road and super-off-road.
Great Wall Motor said that this is to improve the off-road vehicle’s compatibility with the specific environment and provide consumers with more professional services.
Some industry insiders said that Great Wall’s classification of off-road vehicles is “highly professional.
” From the perspective of sales trend, brands or models facing the hardline off-road vehicle market do not have serious internal friction for the time being, but show an overall growth momentum.
It also reflects the growing consumer demand for off-road vehicles, especially pan-off-road vehicles.
Some employees of off-road vehicle modification revealed that driven by the market, the number and product types of domestic modified parts manufacturers are increasing.
According to the prediction of Geshi Automotive Research Institute, the market size of off-road vehicles will reach about 1.
65 million by 2030, accounting for about 10% of the total SUV market, which is three times higher than the market of 520000 in 2023, and has great market potential.
It can be predicted that more and more car companies are targeting the hard-line off-road SUV market.
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