“The market response to the pre-sale conference of Hengchi 5 is very good, better than expected, and I think the market sale of Hengchi 5 models is a foregone conclusion.” Not long ago, the confident statement of Liu Yongzhuo, president of Hengchi Auto, made a deep impression. As a car company with its own halo and a model with the dazzling label of “global extremely intelligent pure electric luxury SUV”, in the view of Hengchi Auto, Hengchi 5 has incomparable differentiation advantages of other models. As the first mass-produced new vehicle of Hengchi Auto, Hengchi 5 has been receiving continuous attention from the automobile consumer market since its debut.
Picture: The Hengchi display experience center is relatively cold.
Is this new car, which combines many points of interest, really as advantageous as the manufacturer’s publicity?
Showroom atmosphere is cold
“To be honest, I never thought that Hengchi 5 would be so popular in the end-consumer market.” On September 12, a reporter from China Consumer News went to the Hengchi display and experience center located in Dongba Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, and heard the sales consultant share his inner joy as soon as he entered the store. Such a voice coincided with the views expressed by Liu Yongzhu earlier. It seems that Hengchi 5 has become the object of many consumers’ pursuit.
It was the mid-autumn holiday, and the square next to this experience center was bustling with a strong festive atmosphere. However, only a few dozen meters away from the Hengchi experience center is a different scene: a moonlight white display car and two sales consultants, making the arrival of the reporter is particularly striking.
In the process of introducing the vehicle, the sales consultant repeatedly hinted to the reporter that “the new car is recognized by many consumers”, releasing the signal that Hengchi 5 has high market popularity.
In recent years, new energy vehicles are playing an increasingly important role in the domestic auto market. The latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that in August, the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles has risen to 28%. In other words, for every four vehicles sold in the market, at least one of them is a new energy vehicle.
The wave of electrification has made new car brands, including Hengchi Auto, see a broader space for development. Unlike the mainstream new car brands, Hengchi Auto, which entered the market late, is bound to face more fierce market competition. Because of this, the market success of Hengchi 5 has attracted wide attention.
On July 20, Hengchi Auto announced at its “First 720 Hengchi Festival” that the number of orders for Hengchi 5 was 37,296 as of 19:00 that night, and this figure is still increasing. “.
The first 10,000 consumers who purchase a car in August can enjoy the purchase discount of 10,000 yuan against 20,000 yuan, and the reserved car owners will enjoy a number of rights and benefits, including a 60% discount on the value of the car within 3 years and a lifetime warranty on the three electric motors. The new energy vehicles are exempt from purchase tax. The new energy vehicles implement the purchase tax exemption policy, and the final market price of HCH5 is 169,000 yuan.
In order to further dispel consumers’ concerns about purchasing a car, Hengchi Auto has launched the “notary sale” model, in which consumers pay the pre-sale deposit, large deposit and the final payment for the purchase of the car to the designated notary’s special account, during which, if consumers do not successfully subscribe or choose to return the car within 15 days, the car will be returned from the notary’s special account to protect consumers’ legitimate rights and interests. The notary will refund the final payment from the notary’s special account to protect the legal rights and interests of consumers.
From product features to market pricing, from the purchase discount to purchase rights and interests, Hengchi 5 can be said to have made every effort to win more consumer recognition. However, the reporter found that the market performance of HCH5 is far from being as hot as it is claimed to be.
During the interview on September 12, the publicity page next to the only show car in the showroom caught the reporter’s attention. The information displayed on the promotional page was still the poster of the “First 10,000 units Mega Concession” marketing campaign in August, in which “if the subscription is not successful, the pre-sale deposit of 1,000 yuan will be returned from the special account of the notary on August 31” was a constant reminder that this promotional information has expired.
When the reporter asked the sales consultant whether there are still preferential places, the sales consultant gave a positive answer: “You can still enjoy the right of the first 10,000 owners to buy a car now, the opportunity is too good to lose.”
On September 14, when the reporter browsed the official website of Hengchi, he found that the promotional information about Hengchi 5 deposit of 10,000 yuan against 20,000 yuan was set in a prominent position on the website. It is worth mentioning that this time Hengchi did not give a deadline, only showing “Hengchi 5 hot subscription, the above rights and interests for the first 10,000 customers to purchase a car exclusive.
Is the total number of sales never exceeding 10,000, or the preferential policy is still continuing? As of press time, Hengchi Auto has not publicly disclosed the sales data of Hengchi 5. The actual performance of the Hengchi 5 in the end consumer market, which claimed that “the big sale has become a foregone conclusion”, is a bit baffling. More people think that the Hengchi 5, which is declared by the manufacturer and sales consultants to be a high market hit, is afraid that it is not worthy of its name.
There are differences in configuration
At present, with the profound involvement of intelligent network connections in automobile products, the self-driving function, which provides consumers with a better driving experience, is a necessary element for many consumers to consider when purchasing a car.
The Hengchi 5 is a pure electric luxury SUV that is designed to meet the needs of the mainstream market, and it is easy to see that intelligence is the main advantage that distinguishes it from other models from the publicity of the “Global Smart Pure Electric Luxury SUV”.
The reporter learned from the sales consultant that Hengchi 5 will officially open the first delivery in October this year. It is reported that Hengchi Auto, like other new car brands, adopts the direct manufacturer model, that is, the manufacturer schedules production according to the order information submitted by consumers, and then realizes vehicle delivery after production is completed. According to industry common sense, the configuration of the vehicle delivered to consumers should be the same as the functional configuration advertised by the manufacturer.
The reporter browsed the official website of Hengchi and the color page of Hengchi 5 product introduction and noticed a statement: “Configuration model configuration information may differ from the final mass production model.”
So, what exactly are the differences between the configuration and the manufacturer’s claims? The answer to this question is directly related to the consumer’s feelings with the car.
The reporter learned from the interview that the configuration of the difference is not an optional fringe function, but the most critical H-Pilot intelligent assisted driving package. The H-Pilot APP rights and interests interface clearly shows that consumers buy cars with intelligent assisted driving hardware as standard, and the corresponding software functions will be opened for free one after another. In this way, 16 assisted driving functions, including traffic congestion assistance, full-speed adaptive cruise control, lane keeping system, etc., will not be available to consumers until they are officially opened.
According to the official statement of Hengchi Auto, the above-mentioned functions are expected to open before February 28, 2023, consumers will wait for nearly half a year. Among them, for the majority of consumers are most concerned about the time information, “expected” expression not only does not dispel people’s concerns but also adds a lot of uncertainty.
In order to confirm the opening time of the assisted driving function, the reporter called the official customer service hotline of Hengchi, the new car consultant who answered said “not clear about the information”.
Some consumers questioned, has been, Hengchi 5 is located in the L2.5 + level intelligent assisted driving system, in which, the rich automatic driving function is its main advantage. According to the reporter’s interview, the upcoming delivery of the Hengchi 5, can really deserve the title of “global intelligent pure electric luxury SUV”?
The exhibition car is not a real car
“This car is only an exhibition car, not a production car, so many of the features you see and the actual car are different.” When the reporter sat inside the car and was experiencing the feeling of space in the back row ride, the sales consultant in the store said so to the China Consumer News reporter.
According to past experience, the auto companies will place the mass-produced real cars in the showroom for consumers to truly feel the quality of the vehicles. The practice of Hengchi Auto is obviously not in line with the mainstream industry perception.
When the reporter asked whether a non-mass-production model was placed because of the lack of mass production capacity, the sales consultant did not answer.
The salesperson explained that there are differences between the inductive electric tailgate and the front seat rear stowage of the vehicles in the showroom and the vehicles delivered. In a sense, even if consumers come to the store to experience the vehicle, they can only experience the vehicle’s driving experience in a general way.
As a vehicle that focuses on intelligent networking, the intelligent connectivity system of the Hengchi 5 has become another major focus of attention. Unfortunately, the display vehicle placed in the store is not networked, so visitors cannot truly experience the music ecosystem, car home connectivity and other intelligent networked features.
A sales consultant for the new car brand, who asked not to be named, said in an interview with China Consumer News, “Such a situation is not in line with the industry’s regular practice. For auto companies, they hope to attract consumers’ attention with high-quality products, instead of choosing ‘alternatives’ that cannot fully demonstrate the superiority of their products for exhibition, as this may cause consumers to have a poor experience and thus give up buying the model.”
In the face of all the above market performance of Hengchi 5, some consumers cannot help but ask: Is Hengchi Auto really ready?
