Will the new car challenge the Mercedes-Benz Maybach?

Following AITO and HUAWEI Inside, Huawei's HarmonyOS Intelligent Drive "Third Realm" has arrived as expected.

Recently, Huawei held the HarmonyOS Intelligent Drive Enjoy S9 and Huawei Full scenario new product launch event . At the event, the long-anticipated Enjoy S9, the first model under Enjoy, which is a collaboration between Huawei and Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) BluePark, was launched, positioned as a pure electric mid-to-large-sized sedan. According to Yu Chengdong, Executive Director of Huawei, Chairman of the Terminal BG, and Chairman of the Intelligent Vehicle Solutions BU, the fifth product in the HarmonyOS Intelligent Drive family starts at 399,800 yuan and will compete with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series 750Li, and Audi A8L in the high-end luxury sedan market.

Yu Chengdong even exclaimed at the event, "Our overall experience surpasses the benchmark of traditional luxury executive sedans – the Mercedes-Benz Maybach!"

Currently, the AITO brand, jointly created by Thalys and Huawei, has entered a harvest period, with the popularity of AITO models driving Thalys, which had been loss-making for four consecutive years, into profitability. BAIC BluePark naturally hopes that Huawei can boost its sales and turn around its performance.

Zhang Jianyong, Chairman of BAIC Group, stated at the event that Enjoy S9 will be a core strategy, prioritized at the highest level, and that the company is all-in on Enjoy S9.

In recent years, most successful breakthrough models from new energy vehicle brands have concentrated in the SUV segment, with a few MPVs also making their mark. However, in the largest sedan segment, the top ten list is still dominated by traditional automakers. Can Enjoy S9 break through the brand ceiling in sedans, especially luxury executive sedans?

Dual 9 Flagships?

The Enjoy S9 is born on BAIC Group's Polaris platform. This platform is a self-developed pure electric high-end flagship platform that deeply integrates homologous designs from the Mercedes-Benz MRA luxury rear-wheel-drive platform in engineering design, module development, and other aspects, as well as the new framework of the Darwin 2.0 technology system.

As the first luxury flagship sedan under the Huawei HarmonyOS Intelligent Drive Alliance, the Enjoy S9 measures 5160mm in length, 1987mm in width, and 1486mm in height, with a wheelbase of 3050mm. Yu Chengdong noted that due to the advantages of its interior design, the Enjoy S9 offers significantly better interior space than traditional luxury D-class sedans.

Image source: BAIC BJEV

In addition to spatial advantages, Huawei's core strength in breaking into the high-end market is inseparable from its intelligent capabilities. The Enjoy S9 features the debut of the HUAWEI ADS 3.0 advanced intelligent driving system, with a standard 192-line lidar and an end-to-end new architecture, achieving comprehensive upgrades in active safety, intelligent driving, and smart parking.

Yu Chengdong stated that the Enjoy S9 and AITO M9 will form the "Dual 9 Flagships," reshaping the luxury experience. The new car will be released and available for purchase immediately upon announcement.

In addition to Huawei's support, Enjoy S9 also benefits from CATL's robust backing. At the event, Zeng Yuqun, Chairman and CEO of CATL, was present and stated, "The combination of Huawei, BAIC, and CATL is like mastering math, physics, and chemistry – with that knowledge, you can go anywhere without fear." Zeng noted that CATL has created the industry's thinnest 800V, 100kWh safe battery for Enjoy S9, with a maximum CLTC combined range of 816 km. Paired with an 800V high-voltage fast-charging platform, it can add 200 km of range in just 5 minutes. "This is the best battery produced by CATL's 8th generation production line, with a defect rate of one in a billion," said Zeng. It is reported that within 72 hours of its launch, Enjoy S9 received over 4,800 orders. Yu Chengdong commented on his WeChat Moments that this exceeded expectations.

Thanks to the "halo effect" of Huawei and AITO, Enjoy S9 has garnered significant attention since its launch. AITO M9 has achieved 120,000 orders within seven months of its launch, continuously setting new sales records for luxury models priced above 500,000 yuan in China. After successfully tapping into the high-end market, BAIC and Huawei have high expectations for Enjoy S9. According to a document published on BAIC BluePark's official website, Enjoy S9 is expected to sell 480,000 units over its lifecycle (5 years), with annual sales projections of 60,000, 120,000, 120,000, 96,000, and 84,000 units from 2024 to 2028, respectively.

"According to market statistics, the self-reliance penetration rate in China's executive luxury car market was only 8.3% in 2023, meaning that only 8 out of every 100 executive luxury cars are domestically produced and branded. This represents significant market potential for domestic brands," said Zhang Jianyong. He added that in collaboration with Huawei, BAIC has prioritized its core strategy, pooling all its advantages in vehicle R&D and production, components, and service trade across the entire industrial chain to go all-in on Enjoy S9.

Formidable Competitors

The high-end pure electric sedan market that Enjoy S9 aims to conquer has seen multiple brands and models attempting to break through, but no successful cases have emerged so far.

The NIO ET7, priced from 428,000 yuan, targets the high-end sedan market. However, public data shows that from January to June 2024, cumulative sales of the NIO ET7, a high-end pure electric sedan, reached only 3,320 units. NIO's founder, Li Bin, exclaimed, "It's not easy to succeed in the high-end pure electric market."

While the new car is positioned as a mid-to-large-sized sedan, Yu Chengdong envisions Enjoy S9 competing not just in the mid-to-large sedan segment against models like the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and NIO ET7, but also in the higher-end segment against the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series. Yu Chengdong personally recounted that he used to struggle to sleep in a Maybach, but during a recent business trip to Beijing, he felt particularly sleepy after lunch and had a great nap in the back seat of the Enjoy S9, thoroughly enjoying the experience.

"Enjoy S9 costs just one-tenth of a Maybach but is smarter," Yu Chengdong said. In his view, Enjoy S9 not only rivals BBA (BMW, Benz, Audi) but also surpasses the Maybach in comfort and intelligence, even boasting "bigger than a Benz" and "more luxurious than a Maybach."

"I've been driving it to and from work recently, and the daily usage cost is less than one-third of that of a traditional luxury gasoline-powered car," "The frameless doors are quieter than those of Mercedes-Benz and BMW," "The braking distance far exceeds that of many luxury cars"... At the event, Yu Chengdong repeatedly compared Enjoy S9 to BBA's flagship sedans and the Maybach.‍

Image source: BAIC BJEV

The luxury large sedan market, where the Maybach resides, is one of the few segments in the automotive market that combines sales volume and profitability. Long-term leaders in this market are all German luxury brands. Terminal sales data shows that the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sold 23,378 units in 2023, solidifying its position as the sales champion in China's luxury large sedan market. The Maybach S-Class outsold the BMW 7 Series with annual sales of 14,216 units, while the BMW 7 Series sold 12,711 units, and the Audi A8L sold 11,456 units. From a monthly sales perspective, only the Mercedes-Benz S-Class averages close to 2,000 units per month, indicating a relatively stable market landscape.

Although AITO M9 has successfully entered the luxury SUV market and ranked high in sales, Huawei's brand dividend in the automotive market has largely been captured by AITO, with subsequent brands like HUAWEI Inside and Enjoy receiving far less market response.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Furthermore, Chinese automotive brands find it easier to break through with SUV models than sedan products, regardless of whether in the gasoline-powered or new energy vehicle markets. In July, when new energy vehicle sales surpassed gasoline-powered vehicles for the first time, according to the China Passenger Car Association's domestic retail data, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the luxury segment was only 27%, far below the 73.9% for domestic brands.

As Enjoy S9 targets the million-yuan-plus sedan market, will it be able to change the perception that this segment has low demand for vehicle intelligence, thereby enabling new energy vehicle brands to break through in the high-end sedan market?

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