The True-Electric Vehicle Popularizer Is Here? SAIC Volkswagen ID.4 X subverts its past self

First, a question: Would you buy an electric car from a newcomer or a traditional carmaker?

Deduct 1 for new forces, 2 for traditional car companies, and I'll see you in the comments.

There's an argument that says most people who buy an EV are just looking for something totally new, "I'm buying an EV why should I still buy one that's the same as a fuel car?" So while the Ranger sells 30-40,000 units a month, not many people buy the Ranger Pure EV. Traditional car companies get it too, so the ID.4?X, based on the MEB platform, it's here! From its origin to its capacity plan, it has to be a popularizer of EVs going to the mass market, what will it do and can it do it? That's something I'm sure we're all curious about.

Volkswagen is an old player in the car circle, or the world's largest kind, from the Beetle to the Golf, although not the brand that created the car, but called one of the automotive standard-setter. This time, the traditional intention to become a disruptor, SAIC Volkswagen's understanding of ID.4?X is "re-create the car".

Subversion, not to change a digital sense of the plane car label, or on a L3-level driver assistance system on the line, want to have a completely different car experience, with 23 million of SAIC Volkswagen, is the re-understanding of the value of the user, is the concept of design and product form of the transformation, but also from manufacturing to sales and service, the entire system of remodeling, and ID.4?X is the beginning. The ID.4?X is the beginning.

ID.4?X

Chinese name? Guanghuo 4?X, based on Volkswagen's global ID.4 development, medium-sized pure electric SUV, will be officially launched in the first quarter of 2021, with a pre-sale price of no more than 250,000 yuan after subsidies. SAIC Volkswagen wants to make this car "very electric, very Volkswagen", so that people can immediately see that this is a Volkswagen electric car. Moreover, the car's digital human-machine interaction features should give people a new experience that is different from that of a fuel car.

There's one thing that strikes me about the ID.4?X is that it's very much an SUV in the first place, and that charisma is pretty close to that of the CR-V and Touareg, which is not at all a new species concept. But that doesn't stop me from making it clear that it's an EV, with a closed front, very short front and rear overhangs (body dimensions are 4612/1852/1640mm, with a wheelbase of 2765mm), and semi-hidden door handles, these elements are more than enough to make the point.

As for being very VW, what impression does VW give you? Without blowing it out of proportion, VW is premium. Volkswagen's cars make me feel a little more advanced than their counterparts every time. id.4?X has a visually appealing wide front face, exquisitely detailed and rich headlights, a triple-lined teardrop side shape, and a lighting effect that can be illuminated along with the lamps and markers. Putting every detail in place, and then harmoniously combining them, is a good impression that for the time being neither the new forces nor the joint-venture car companies have achieved.

IQ.?Light matrix headlights, richly detailed, with 38 lamp beads, independently adjustable, organizing different lighting effects

Two front wing and door trim and exterior mirrors, exterior mirrors with side cameras and welcome light irradiation holes

Semi-concealed door handles with micro-current opening to unlock the doors more easily

21-inch low-rolling resistance wheels with Goodyear Royal Ride series tires, the Seal?Tech technology used enables automatic repair of irritation damage within 5 mm

Integrated charging ports, but unfortunately no electric opening and closing caps

The ID.4?X is also very young and very unpopular. For example, the IQ.?Light matrix headlights can say hello to you, and can independently control 38 individual light beads to achieve different lighting effects, provide 6 body colors of Cyber Yellow, Superconducting Red, Ionic Gray, Crystalline White, Galaxy Blue, and Permanent Magnetic Gold, and 3 themed color-combination interior schemes of Trend Coordinates, Elegant Tone, and Urban Passion, and have a completely different interior design and a digital information display never before seen by Volkswagen The i-ID is equipped with i-ID information combination instrument and 12-inch floating center control screen, touch buttons throughout the car, and ID.voice butler.

i-ID information combination instrument with integrated gearshift knob on the upper right side

Touch buttons with vibration feedback

The ID.4?X will be available in different battery capacities, with the high end having a battery capacity of 83.4kWh, and with a combined operating range (NEDC) of up to 555km, and the low end of the range will be 400km or more in the version that is already open for bookings. The maximum power is 150kW, the peak torque is 310Nm, the drive form is rear-wheel drive, and the acceleration from 0-60km/h is 4s. SAIC-Volkswagen specially explained that the battery pack of ID.4?X has gone through 338 items of safety tests, covering collision, fire, heat diffusion, high and low temperature storage, temperature shock, salt spray test and so on, so as to safeguard the safety of the battery pack in all kinds of extreme working conditions.

Shanghai Automotive Volkswagen did not explain what its OAT capabilities are, nor did it introduce much about the car's driver-assistance features, wondering if it's deliberately avoiding such a tone and wanting to focus on "digital human-computer interaction". In fact, the ID.4?X will be equipped with L2+ level automatic driver assistance capabilities, including Front?Assist, Lane Departure Assist, SWA Lane Change Assist, etc., and can realize 0-160km/h adaptive cruise control. In the exchange after the launch, SAIC-Volkswagen executives also mentioned that the EV's future OAT capability will help it retain its value better, so it seems that the ID.4 is not without OAT capability, but SAIC-Volkswagen has avoided the "pie" type of marketing approach.

Relative to some of the new forces of the product, ID.4?X is still on the stable side, but it is not a car without new ideas, it can give the car experience, I believe than the fuel car will still be very different. In my opinion, this car is in a very new but risky new power products, and traditional fuel cars, to find a good balance between the fresh, different from the fuel car experience, but do not want to risk what spontaneous combustion, loss of control of driver assistance, functionality is not adjusted and information insecurity. SAIC-Volkswagen has also repeatedly emphasized that the hardware and software meet vehicle-grade safety requirements, which may be the criteria they use to judge whether to offer some features.

If subversion, please start from the essence

In addition to the product itself form and function of the different, the current perception of the electric car also includes a different way to buy, the service is also different.

What is the essence of traditional car sales? I think it is the "manufacturer-4S-customer" model, in fact, when we go to a 4S store to buy a car, in fact, this car has long been delivered from the manufacturer to the store, we bought a car with the 4S store, not with the SAIC Volkswagen bought a car. This model has its advantages, but the disadvantages are also very obvious, first of all, the chain is too long, it is difficult to achieve customization, especially the batch is relatively large manufacturers, and secondly, as the brand side of the manufacturers, the communication between the consumer is not direct, the brand image all depends on the 4S stores, the latter to give a natural good you good, but most of them are the result of each other's harm.

The new forces have adopted a direct sales model, partly probably because at the beginning they could not find so many people to join the 4S, and more to reduce the intermediate links, hoping to give customers a better purchase, maintenance, and use of services to improve satisfaction. To SAIC Volkswagen, such a traditional car companies say, to do direct sales is very difficult, the past model is very mature, this company has more than 1,000 dealer partners across the country, it is impossible to give up the partnership, and the subsequent products come up, its sales and the new forces of the volume of the growth of the route is completely different, how to ensure that the service to keep up with?

Shanghai Automobile Volkswagen plans to use a direct sales + 4S service model. Consumers buy a car and SAIC Volkswagen contract, on the official small program to order a car, the official will be dedicated to contact with the purchase of the customer to confirm the specific order information. Then the 4S store to provide the relevant test drive people, finance, insurance, licensing and delivery services, from these links to assess the 4S store, according to the quality of service and the number of service units to pay the 4S store commission. In essence, the subversion of the fuel car has formed a kind of solid business model, this way in the traditional car enterprises is feasible? Whether the consumer experience will be better, to be verified by time.

Service, a field of imagination

At least for the moment, there are still a lot of uncertainties and anxiety factors in the use of electric vehicles, and users are looking forward to the manufacturers to provide peace of mind and worry-free "bottom" policy. Some traditional car companies are also following up the worry-free service program, SAIC Volkswagen for the first batch of ID.4?X ordering customers to provide 8 benefits, and the launch of the points system, recommended the purchase of incentives, etc., owners can earn points for service.

As an optional, service packages will be an area of imagination in the future of developing EVs. As an example, the general manager of SAIC Volkswagen's sales company, Yang Siyao, mentioned that EVs have anxiety about long-distance driving, and that in the future, car companies may provide owners with off-site car services through heterogeneous integration, such as when a customer from Shenzhen travels to Hangzhou on business, he can choose to take a high-speed train to Hangzhou, and then pick up a car at the high-speed train station and use it in Hangzhou.

Today we say that electric cars are not as convenient as fuel cars, maybe it's just that the development of electric cars hasn't been long enough, and our whole industry and supporting facilities are still in the exploratory stage, and more scenarios in line with the use of electric cars are waiting to be developed, and the supporting facilities are yet to be perfected. I think there are a lot of possibilities here, in the service field dominated by OEMs, as a travel terminal, electric cars have greater possibilities than fuel cars.

Editors say:

Volkswagen is the world's most fervent traditional manufacturers on the development of electric vehicles, the investment in this can be said to spare no effort. The modular platform is naturally one of VW's strengths, as are its superior craftsmanship and high degree of standardization, which people certainly believe VW can do very well, but everyone had their doubts before the ID.4 came out in terms of digitalization and intelligence.

Looking at SAIC Volkswagen's ID.4?X, VW is using half traditional and half innovative thinking to make an EV. The principle of trying to give new experiences that have never been seen before, within safe and controllable limits, but not putting anything on the table that hasn't been fully proven remains the same, and a car like this one doesn't have the autopilot tech of newer forces like Tesla, but it's fresh enough. It allows those who are a bit conservative, but want to taste the freshness of the user can step into the door of the electric car, more in line with the role of popularizing the electric car to the public.

This article comes from the authors of Auto Home Car, and does not represent the viewpoint position of Auto Home.