Near longitude 124 degrees east and latitude 46 degrees north, there is a well-known city in Northeast China - Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province. 65 years ago, a group of experts discovered a super large continental sandstone oil field here. Its abundant crude oil reserves and the fearless exploration of "iron men" such as Wang Jinxi completely changed the development layout of China's petroleum industry and shook off the label of China's poor oil and backward development.
The discovery of Daqing Oilfield is a glorious chapter in the history of energy development in New China. 65 years later today, various new energy sources are taking over from petroleum energy and entering the homes of ordinary people. In Daqing, located in the northeast, there are new energy vehicles such as the Ideal L series shuttling through the streets and alleys, bringing the spring breeze of new energy to this small oil city.
In the 21st century, developing the new energy industry has become an important development strategy and goal in China. New energy technology can not only slow down the consumption of non renewable resources such as oil, but also significantly reduce social carbon emissions. New energy vehicles are a major representative of China's new energy industry and have become an important force in the automotive and new energy industries at present.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to May 2024, the retail sales of new energy vehicles in China increased to 3.253 million units, with a penetration rate of over 40%. In May, the retail sales of new energy vehicles in China reached 804000 units, a year-on-year increase of 38.5% and a month on month increase of 18.7%; The penetration rate of retail sales of new energy vehicles in that month reached 47%, a year-on-year surge of 14%.
Independent brands are the backbone of China's new energy vehicle industry. Since 2015, multiple domestic independent brands have successively launched new energy vehicle models, leading the industry with excellent product strength and leading electrification technology, becoming the main force in the automotive industry. As the best-selling new energy vehicle brand in China, Ideal Automobile is a witness and witness to the development of China's new energy vehicle industry. Faced with the rapid development of the industry and fierce competition in the market, Ideal Automobile has responded and taken responsibility as an independent brand.
Stable top spot, growth not influenced by environment
The competition in the automotive market in 2024 is particularly fierce. Under various price wars, internal competition, and public opinion struggles, the development pressure on automotive companies has increased sharply. Even the best-selling ideal car among new energy brands is hard to avoid.
"The three years from 2023 to 2025 should be the most critical elimination period for the entire industry," Liu Jie, Vice President of Ideal Automotive Product Line, once told Time Finance. "In these three years of elimination, no enterprise can rest assured, and no enterprise is absolutely leading and safe."
In fact, Ideal Automobile faced challenges far exceeding those of other brands during the same period in the first half of this year. Li Xiang, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Ideal Automobile, has repeatedly reflected on his mistakes and conducted profound self reflection. Fortunately, Ideal Car chooses to actively respond to challenges and make quick adjustments. In just a few days, Ideal Automobile has resumed its high-speed growth trend.
Data shows that in May this year, Ideal Automobile returned to the top of the new force sales chart, delivering a total of 35020 new cars that month, a year-on-year increase of 23.8%. In 2024, Ideal Automobile has delivered a total of 141207 vehicles, ranking first in the single brand list of new forces, with a year-on-year growth rate of 32.5%.
It is worth noting that the cumulative growth rate of 32.5% in the first five months of Ideal Automobile exceeded the overall market growth rate: from January to May this year, the insurance coverage of new energy vehicles above 200000 yuan in China was about 1.087 million, a year-on-year increase of 23.8%; The number of new energy vehicles with insurance coverage of over 300000 yuan in China is about 400000, a year-on-year increase of 12.1%.
Entering June, the sales growth rate of Ideal Automobile even further advanced: from June 3rd to June 9th, the weekly sales of Ideal Automobile exceeded 10000 units, setting a new high for the year. Not only that, Ideal Automobile's monthly sales surpassed BMW and Audi's two major first tier luxury brands for the first time, ranking among the top three in China's luxury car market sales and creating a new history for Chinese brands.
As of June 9th, Ideal Automobile has held the top spot in sales for 7 consecutive weeks this year. Behind this, the L series of Ideal Automobile has sold well.
Specifically, the Ideal L9 has won the sales championship for 11 months in the 400000-500000 yuan new energy vehicle market; The Ideal L8 has won the sales championship for 18 months in the six seat new energy vehicle market with a price range of 300000 to 400000 yuan; The Ideal L7 has won the sales championship for 7 months in the 300000 to 400000 yuan new energy vehicle market.
The new products of the Ideal L series also have no shortcomings: the first fully delivered monthly sales of the Ideal L6, which was launched in April this year, easily exceeded 10000 units, and it is expected that the delivery volume in June is expected to exceed 20000 units. As the youngest model in the L series family, the strong growth of the Ideal L6 is expected to become the strongest competitor of Model Y in the 200000 to 300000 new energy vehicle market.
Through the fog, the market sees ideal value
Although the sales volume remains at the top of the new forces list, the goal of Ideal Automobile is no longer a cold number.
"In the past, we focused too much on sales and competition from top to bottom, allowing desire to surpass value." Li Xiang said, "We need to lower our expectations and desires for sales and return to healthy growth. We need to focus on users rather than competition, value rather than desire."
This is precisely the core reason why Ideal Automobile is continuously favored by consumers in a fiercely competitive and competitive market.
Ideal cars have a comprehensive interpretation of value - from creation to transmission, and finally realizing value. Ideal cars are starting from multiple aspects around value.
Firstly, Ideal Automobile has created the product matrix with the most comprehensive price range and the most complete coverage of household user needs among new power car companies. From Ideal L6 to Ideal MEGA, Ideal Automobile has fully covered the household user market of 200000 to 300000 yuan, 300000 to 400000 yuan, 400000 to 500000 yuan, and 600000 to 600000 yuan. Compared to the disorderly product layout of some car companies, Ideal Automobile efficiently and high-quality meets the segmented needs of different family user groups.
At the same time, Ideal Automobile continues to invest in intelligent driving and product capabilities, creating more intelligent new energy vehicles. Currently, Ideal Automobile is one of the fastest OTA upgrades among intelligent electric vehicle companies. In the first half of this year alone, Ideal Automotive's intelligent driving has launched four OTA upgrades, adding or optimizing over a hundred new features such as AEB collision avoidance performance, intelligent parking, high-speed NOA, and the all-new urban LCC.
In the eyes of industry insiders, high-frequency OTA is a reflection of the ideal car's focus on user value. In addition to providing substantial feedback to some users through OTA, it can optimize the driving and riding experience in a timely manner, and quickly enable users to experience the latest intelligent driving and intelligent space technology, meeting their needs in different scenarios.
In his speech at the closing meeting of the 2024 China Automotive Chongqing Forum, Li Xiang revealed that he will officially launch the National No Image NOA to all users in the third quarter of this year, and also promote end-to-end+VLM (Visual Language Model) to test users. "We trained end-to-end+VLM (Visual Language Model) with approximately 3 million clips (pre trained model). This system will be the most important technical architecture and system for the entire physical world of robots in the future," he said.
It is worth mentioning that the investment of Ideal Automobile in the research and development of intelligent driving and other technologies is constantly increasing. In the first quarter of this year, the R&D expenses of Ideal Automobile reached 3 billion yuan, ranking first among new energy car companies.
The most direct reflection of Ideal Automobile's return to user value is the adjustment of its sales strategy. At the end of the first quarter of this year, Ideal Automobile announced the adjustment of its sales strategy, committed to improving the efficiency of its direct network operation.
Specifically, while increasing the number of stores, Ideal Automobile continuously optimizes the quality of each sales store, providing more exhibition car numbers and store space. As of the end of the first quarter of this year, Ideal Automobile has opened a total of 43 new stores, of which more than half of the stores can display more than 9 exhibition cars, and some small stores have been closed.
As of June 11th, the total number of Ideal Automobile retail stores is 497, achieving 100% full coverage in first tier cities, new first tier cities, and second tier cities, and 89% coverage in third tier cities. In the selection of store types, the proportion of central stores has gradually increased.
After adjusting the sales strategy, Ideal Automobile's stores across the country were able to better match the needs of different types of consumers, thereby driving the improvement of store operating efficiency. From May to June this year, the average number of views per car model in Ideal Auto's single store increased by 16% compared to December last year, and the efficiency of test drives increased by 30% during the same period. This has played a crucial role in the growth of ideal car sales.
Breaking through challenges and pursuing ideals always on the right path
Breaking through the encirclement, Ideal Automobile has returned to the right path, but this does not mean that Ideal Automobile has a promising future.
Since its inception, the Ideal ONE extended range electric solution has never lacked questioning and challenges, from being outdated in the earliest days to being maliciously slandered by the navy against the Ideal MEGA. Despite the current popularity of extended range electric solutions among multiple car companies and the popularity of various models in the Ideal L series, the growth path of Ideal Automobile is still fraught with obstacles.
So how to deal with the unpredictable changes in the automotive industry? The answer to an ideal car is: change and unchanging.
Change refers to actively adapting to competition and making efficient adjustments. After the launch of Ideal MEGA, it faced a naval attack on the market side, sales system limitations on the organizational side, and incomplete charging layout on the application side. Ideal Automobile quickly adjusted its MEGA product sales layout, accelerated charging network construction, and prioritized ensuring the sales of MEGA in core regions and L-series models nationwide, enabling Ideal Automobile to quickly recover from high-speed growth.
At the same time, we will make bold efforts to improve organizational efficiency. In April, Ideal Automobile began upgrading its matrix organization by renaming the CEO office to the "Product and Strategy Group" and establishing a new product line department and quality operations department. The new organizational structure is committed to improving operational efficiency, such as halving the number of internal meetings, simplifying processes, and focusing on core nodes rather than all aspects.
Constant, that is, the adherence to user value. Whether it is the comprehensive product layout that covers household users, the leading intelligent driving function in the industry, or the extremely safe body design, Ideal Automobile hopes to create a comprehensive and comfortable value experience for household users.
Ideal cars have surpassed their persistence in competition and sales by adhering to value. At this year's Beijing Auto Show, Liu Jie told Time Finance that the current domestic market competition is exceptionally fierce, but competition is not a life and death battle, and competition itself is not the focus of Ideal Automobile. "Our ultimate goal is to win users and create value for family users."
In fact, the advantages of Ideal Automobile cannot be underestimated, and the advantages it has created and accumulated over the years will also bring positive feedback.
At present, the user reputation of Ideal Automobile continues to lead among new energy brands: Ideal Automobile ranks first in the 100 people favor index with 54%, leading new energy vehicle brands; Ideal car brand ranked second in net recommendation value NPS, receiving 81.9% of user recommendations;
Ideal L8 and Ideal L9 ranked first and third in the net recommended value of vehicle models, receiving over 86% of user recommendations.
Among plug-in hybrid models, Ideal Car ranks first among Chinese brands in terms of one-year resale value, second only to the two super luxury models of Porsche Panamera and Cayenne.
"After the release of the Ideal L9, I ordered this car. The Ideal L9 has a large space, comfortable ride, and high level of intelligence." In Daqing, an Ideal L9 owner told Times Finance, "Importantly, the Ideal L9 has not yet experienced range anxiety, and even in Northeast China, it can still demonstrate the advantages of electric vehicles."
The challenge has always been present, and how to deal with setbacks and break through oneself is a challenge that every new enterprise will face.
From innovators in new energy vehicle manufacturing to pioneers in Chinese new energy enterprises; From obscure low-end brands to today's Fortune 500 companies. Ideal cars have come a long way, actively facing competition and setbacks, reflecting and innovating. Although the challenges are different, they have always been on the right track.