Dignity or sales

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Author | Wang Lei

Editor | Qin Zhangyong

Last night, Dongfeng Honda's long-anticipated S7 was officially launched. As Honda's first high-end pure electric SUV in China, its promotional materials also target new forces. Many people's first reaction was that Honda is finally taking the pure electric market seriously.

Unexpectedly, Honda still pulled a surprise move.

The problem lies in the price. There are two versions of the new car, namely the Trailblazer and the Navigator, priced at 259,900 yuan and 309,900 yuan, respectively.

Once the price was announced, it caused quite a bit of discussion. Some netizens said, "Is this the last stubbornness of joint venture cars?" "Toyota has already entered the market with a bang, and the price of Honda S7 is simply speechless."

It's mainly that there is no harm without comparison. On the same evening, GAC Toyota held a new car launch event for the BZ3X in Hangzhou, with a starting price of 109,800 yuan. The high-end intelligent driving version with LiDAR starts at only 149,800 yuan, and there are also a series of limited-time benefits to reduce car purchase prices.

It is undeniable that from a configuration perspective, perhaps within Honda's system, the S7 is indeed a good car, but being good on its own is not enough, because there are many competitors outside who are desperately trying to survive.

01

Too many and too strong competitors

First, we need to clarify the market positioning and competitors of Dongfeng Honda S7.

Its length, width, and height are 4750mm, 1930mm, and 1625mm, respectively, with a wheelbase of 2930mm, which is a standard mid-size SUV size. Combined with its starting price of 260,000 yuan, it is not difficult to see that it is also targeting Tesla Model Y. Currently, the starting price of the refreshed Model Y is 263,500 yuan.

In the pure electric vehicle market, it is quite difficult to seize a piece of the "cake" in this segment, otherwise, the scenario of "six major sects besieging Model Y" would not have played out.

Naturally, a group of domestic "Model Y killers" have also become direct competitors for Dongfeng Honda S7.

Obviously, in terms of price, Dongfeng Honda S7 does not have any advantage. We can take a look at the current selling prices of mainstream mid-size new energy SUVs in China.

The price of the Zeekr 7X ranges from 229,800 yuan to 309,800 yuan, the price of the Xpeng G6 ranges from 209,900 yuan to 279,900 yuan, the price of the Letao L60 ranges from 206,900 yuan to 256,900 yuan, and the starting price after battery leasing is even as low as 150,000 yuan. The price of the IQI R7 ranges from 249,800 yuan to 339,800 yuan, the price of the IM Motors LS6 ranges from 209,900 yuan to 282,900 yuan, and the price of the AITO M5 ranges from 249,800 yuan to 279,800 yuan.

It can be seen that the general starting price is around 210,000 yuan, and the top-of-the-line models are controlled within 300,000 yuan. Even the older version of Model Y is cheaper than Dongfeng Honda S7.

It has to be said that Dongfeng Honda S7's pricing is bold enough.

These models are not only cheaper than Dongfeng Honda S7 in price, but also have their respective strengths in terms of overall product strength, whether it is hardware configuration parameters or actual experience.

In terms of intelligent driving capabilities, there is the cheaper Xpeng G6. The current price gap is already 50,000 yuan. The upcoming 2025 Xpeng G6 may further reduce its price, and it is fully equipped with various experience functions such as color TVs and large sofas.

In terms of comfort, there is also the Lixiang L6 looming. The current price of Lixiang L6 ranges from 249,800 yuan to 279,800 yuan. However, this price range has already reached the mid-to-large SUV market. Isn't it a good deal to buy Lixiang L6 at this price?

02

Reluctant to shed the "long robe"

Let's take a look at Dongfeng Honda and why it would set the price at 260,000 yuan.

In terms of specific configurations, Dongfeng Honda S7 is officially known as "Honda's strongest pure electric car ever." Developed based on Honda's all-new intelligent and efficient pure electric W architecture, it uses Honda's current strongest dual-motor setup with a combined power of 350kW and a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 4.6 seconds (for the top-of-the-line model). The entry-level model starting at 260,000 yuan is only equipped with a single motor with a maximum power of 200kW.

In addition, it is equipped with an 89.8kWh ternary lithium battery from CATL, with a CLTC range of 650 kilometers for the single-motor version and 620 kilometers for the dual-motor version.

Apart from that, Dongfeng Honda S7's highlight parameters also include a 50:50 weight distribution, a high-strength body, an ADS full-time adaptive suspension system, zero-pressure seats, and a 15-point intelligent heating system.

In terms of intelligence, the L2-level assisted driving system supports full-speed adaptive cruise control, active braking, lane change assistance, lane centering, and various collision warnings. Additionally, it supports the Honda SENSING 360+ assisted driving system, comes with high-speed navigation assistance and intelligent parking assistance, supports Carplay, Carlife, and Huawei Hicar mobile phone interconnectivity, and features a 41.9-inch AR-HUD head-up display.

Comfort configurations are also complete, including heated steering wheel, electric adjustment of driver and passenger seats, wireless phone charging, and electric tailgate.

However, it should be noted that the entry-level model does not have seat ventilation, and Bose audio needs to be optionally installed. Dongfeng Honda has also launched many optional packages, which will additionally increase the cost of purchasing the car.

Actually, with such configurations, the starting price of 260,000 yuan would not be a problem in the past few years and might even sell well. However, times have changed. Nowadays, S7's competitors have already rolled up their sleeves in the race for intelligence and configuration. If it still stubbornly insists on brand premium, it obviously won't work.

03

How many sales will there be

Compared to Honda's dignity, Toyota's approach is much more "down-to-earth".

At the new car launch event, GAC Toyota described the BZ3X as "very new force" and "also very Toyota," implying that it wants both the quality trust of joint venture brands and the technological sharpness of new forces.

Although the GAC Toyota BZ3X is positioned as a compact SUV, its limited-time starting price of 104,800 yuan is enough to compete with many domestic electric vehicles.

The configuration is not low at this price. It features a front MacPherson and rear torsion beam non-independent suspension, a front-mounted single motor with a power of 150kW or 165kW, a battery from Jiangsu Zhengli/CALB with a range of 430, 520, and 610km, which is in line with the mainstream level at this price point.

The entire line is standard with a 360-degree panoramic camera, an 8.8-inch full LCD instrument cluster + a 14.6-inch central control screen, an 8155 in-car chip, a 9-speaker audio system, and a heat pump air conditioning system. Such configurations are much higher than previous Toyota models.

Moreover, the most critical point is that the 149,800 yuan intelligent driving version even comes with a high-performance Nvidia Orin-X chip + 1 LiDAR.

Based on the Momenta 5.0 end-to-end large model, the high-level intelligent assisted driving system can realize INP highway and urban navigation intelligent driving assistance as well as intelligent parking. This is also the first time in the industry that the price of LiDAR high-level intelligent driving has been pushed into the 140,000 yuan range.

Held on the same day, the market reactions were diametrically opposed. Dongfeng Honda S7 has not yet announced any orders, while BZ3X received over 10,000 orders within one hour of its launch.

As pioneers of Japanese brands, the two automakers are heading in different directions. Toyota is beginning to wake up, while Honda, the once "automotive genius," is still stubborn.

In 2024, Honda's total sales in China fell to a historical low since 2014, with a significant year-on-year decline of 31%, selling only 852,000 vehicles.

Entering 2025, the decline is still expanding. Dongfeng Honda sold only 19,971 vehicles in January, a year-on-year plunge of 69.3%.

Nowadays, S7 seems to be playing the role of a firefighter, but at this price, how many people will buy it?