Editor’s note｜On November 19, the 19th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition officially kicked off. As the finale of this year’s large-scale automobile exhibition, the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show has attracted many domestic and foreign auto brands, and a large number of new models will be unveiled, especially in the areas of new energy and intelligence. Confidence in the auto market and the development potential of China’s auto industry. Sohu Automobile directly hits the scene of the auto show, focuses on the most cutting-edge trend signals of industry development, and reports the most valuable first-hand information for you. Sohu Auto’s original news account “Car Cafe” will talk to dozens of top guests in the auto industry and share their latest insights on the auto industry.
At the Guangzhou Auto Show, Lantu, a high-end intelligent electric brand owned by Dongfeng, released the world’s first large-scale luxury electric MPV Lantu Dreamer. It entered the MPV track with five leading advantages of super space, performance, luxury, intelligence, and safety. A multifunctional vehicle for family travel. At the Auto Show Media Day, Lantu Auto CEO & CTO Lu Fang and CBO Lei Xin attended the media communication meeting and explained Lantu’s product and marketing plan in more detail.
Q1: Previously, domestic MPVs were basically made by joint venture brands and imported brands. Why did Lantu consider the MPV track for the second car? What do you think is the advantage of Lantu as a new energy MPV?
From a national perspective, the carbon peak and carbon neutral target puts forward new requirements for the development of the automobile industry. The “window period” for the rapid popularization of new energy vehicles in my country has opened, but there is currently no MPV that can meet the conditions for low-carbon travel.As a high-end electric vehicle national team, Lantu has the responsibility and obligation to meet the market’s demand for low-carbon travel.
From a market perspective, new energy MPVs are just needed by consumers, but the market is blank.With consumption upgrades, changes in the family structure of two and three children, coupled with the family structure of “4+2+X” with only one child, one family is one family when they go out. Consumers need a model that can improve the quality of travel and take care of every family member. MPV on demand. But currently, there is no MPV on the market that can meet the travel needs of the whole family.
From the external environment, the current MPV market does not have high-end products for users to choose from.There is no MPV on the market that truly meets the family experience and business travel, no MPV that truly meets the family economy and can enjoy high-end quality, and no high-end electric MPV that meets the current development trend.
Therefore, Lantu hopes to create an MPV that can compete with foreign luxury brands. Both Lantu FREE and Lantu Dreamer hope to promote the brand on behalf of Chinese brands. This is also our confidence in technology.
Lantu Dreamer has opened up a new category of MPV with “super performance”, “super luxury”, “super intelligence”, “super space” and “super security”.On November 17th, Lantu held a small-scale tasting event and officially unveiled it today. In just 3 days, it has received many feedbacks from users, hoping to order it as the second or third car in the family. Even Lantu FREE users are already recommending this car to friends around them, which shows that Lantu’s choice is correct and meets the needs of users.
Q2: Many companies now talk about user operations or circle-level operations. The User Night held by Lantu not long ago also left a deep impression on everyone. What are Lantu’s operational experience in this regard, and what plans does Lantu have for the future?
With the intelligentization and networking of automobiles, users have established a closer relationship with brand owners during the entire life cycle of the car. In the past, users simply paid attention to the product, but now they pay more attention to the service of the entire life cycle of the car.The purchase behavior of users has gradually become a social activity, and users are more willing to enjoy the joy of contributing wisdom and thinking in the process of participating. Therefore, what kind of relationship to build with users and how to create more value for users are issues that car companies must think about in order to achieve a win-win situation.
in this regard,Compared with user operations and user circles, Lantu chooses and adheres to the concept of co-creation and sharing with users. Lantu has an equal relationship with users, and treats users as partners and good partners, enabling two-way empowerment, rushing in both directions, growing together, and sharing development results.
In 2019, Lantu has started to co-create with users. In the phase of the Lantu FREE engineering prototype, users will test and inspect together with Lantu. At that time, users put forward two or three hundred optimization suggestions, and Lantu finally adopted more than 130. This is why many users feel that Lantu FREE is very kind, because Lantu FREE also contains the hard work and crystallization of many users.
Lantu does not only provide simple services for product sales, but truly enhances the value of users. It will definitely put user needs in the most important position, and strive to explore a better mode of co-creating and sharing with users.
Q3: Lantu hopes to enter the commercial market more through the Dreamer car, or does it focus on family personal travel? Lantu’s first car is named FREE in English, and the second car is a Chinese dreamer. What are your considerations for the future naming system?
In the traditional automobile market, MPVs, SUVs, and sedans are clearly divided into To B market or To C market.But in the era of smart electric vehicles, new energy vehicles are in their infancy, and the market is undergoing great changes.In the current consumption upgrade, consumers are more concerned about whether a product can meet their own needs, no matter whether the product is a car, SUV or MPV. Regardless of whether it is To B or To C, there is no obvious difference in the logic of on-demand selection.
At present, the new energy market is not as rich as the fuel vehicle market, and there is not so much choice, soLantu’s creation of super MPV is looking forward to meeting everyone’s demand for high-end MPV,FullIt meets the common needs of the family market, the travel market or the official market.Lantu Dreamer can be customized according to user needs. The 4-seater version may be more inclined to business travel for high-end business people, and the 7-seater version pays more attention to family travel. However, Lantu does not deliberately target a certain market. Lantu aims at all target users, hoping to bring you a free, free, and constantly exploring lifestyle and life philosophy with richer products.
For start-up brands, in a sense, the product is the brand.Through separate naming, we hope to create explosive products, and then empower the Lantu brand.Lantu Dreamer is the world‘s first large-scale luxury electric MPV. We hope to create an explosive product with a separate name.
As an independent high-end new energy brand, Lantu will be named mainly in Chinese in the future.Back to the name of the dreamer, this name has two meanings. A dreamer is not only every person who has a dream, but also every person who strives for the Chinese dream. It is also a movable home. In work, it is a mobile living room, in the family, it is a movable warm home. It can be used for oil and electricity, IKEA and business, and the city can be far away. It is the third mobile space that everyone wants to have.
Q4: At the morning conference, many state-owned enterprises came to Lantu’s booth, and Lantu’s national team circle of friends also caused heated discussions. What do you think of this issue?
State-owned enterprises are a very important supporting force for the rapid development of the entire Chinese economy. There is naturally a close relationship between central enterprises. Through cross-border cooperation and mutual empowerment, they can bring more value to society and provide more opportunities for users.
First, Lantu is a subsidiary of Dongfeng Company, and Dongfeng itself is a central enterprise. Central enterprises are to serve the people, that is, to serve users. Cooperation between central enterprises can create more value for the society and users. This is a manifestation of practicing the social responsibility of central enterprises.
Second, the central enterprises themselves have abundant resources and capabilities, and mutual support and support between central enterprises and their respective advantages can enable the central enterprises to develop together better.
Third, cooperating with state-owned enterprises can make users more confident in us, let users see that Lantu has a strong ability and believe in Lantu’s strength.
Fourth, Lantu has been cooperating closely with central enterprises in terms of the entire ecological chain. Lantu’s direct-operated stores, financial services, intelligent network connection, charging piles and other aspects are cooperating with central enterprises such as COFCO and China Unicom. This kind of close cooperation will provide great support for Lantu’s products and services.
Q5: Lantu MPV Dreamer, as far as the previous model, Lantu FREE, is there any upgrade in terms of automatic driving? How do you look at the field of autonomous driving in future plans?
From a technical perspective, Lantu FREE and Lantu Dreamer can achieve L2+ advanced driving assistance. At the Dongfeng Motor Brand Autumn Conference and the 6th Science and Technology Innovation Week held on September 26,Lantu has already demonstrated intelligent driving technology, and the technology is actually very cutting-edge.
But Lantu does not promote autonomous driving, and tells users that it is an intelligent assistance system or advanced driving assistance.Because Lantu insists on safety first, insists on seeking truth from facts, and never misleads consumers for the sake of gimmicks.
Lantu MPV Dreamer, the first to introduce intelligence into MPV models, is the world‘s first MPV equipped with L2+ level intelligent assisted driving system, the world‘s first MPV with Snapdragon 8155 speed chip, and the world‘s first MPV with 5G car entertainment office system. It is a new species of MPV intelligence, which will lead MPV into the era of intelligence.
Q6: It has been more than a year since Lantu was born, and the second model has been released. From an idea to a reality, how did it achieve the current results? What are the reasons?
When Lantu was established, there were two tasks. The first task was to promote the independent brand upward.. It’s not that you call it high-end when you sell things expensive, but to narrow the gap between the same brand. In the future, Lantu hopes to continue to narrow the price gap with internationally renowned luxury brands.
The second task is to explore the best practices for independent careers.We believe that people are the most critical factor in the development of a company, so we actively explore changes in the company’s operating mechanism. Lantu uses the OKR management model internally, and the management is very flat. For products, internal decision-making is very fast and efficient. For example, not long ago, we discovered the demand of urban users for high-end electric travel, and soon launched the Lantu FREE pure electric city version, which is also the only model with standard air suspension among the 300,000-class SUVs. Lantu currently has more than 4,000 employees. We can quickly receive opinions from APPs, stores, test colleagues, etc., and quickly implement them. This flattening ensures the high efficiency and high quality of management decision-making.
Chairman Zhu Yanfeng said that we need to provide a platform for everyone to have the courage to deal with market-oriented competition. Lantu is to create such an opportunity for employees.Lantu believes that employees and the company are not just a relationship between employment and being hired. The relationship between employees and the company is actually a relationship of mutual growth and common development. The external users of the enterprise are the users, and the internal employees are also the users. We must also talk about the user experience, and turn the management and control type into a support type and an enabling type. Therefore, Lantu is actively exploring for employees to hold stocks and help employees achieve value enhancement.Employees and the company are working together towards the same goal, so this is some of the important reasons behind the speed of Lantu and the efficiency of Lantu.
Q7: Can you tell us about the price range, competing products and time to market of Lantu Dreamer?
Dreamer will be officially listed in the middle of next year, and the price will be announced at that time. This is a super MPV, a brand new category, and a market breaker. At present, the high-end new energy MPV market is still a blue ocean. There is no MPV that truly meets the family economy and can enjoy high-end quality. There is no high-end electric MPV that meets the current development trend. As a new category of Lantu dreamers, there is no MPV. Competitive products.
Q8: At present, what achievements does Lantu have in channel construction, and what are the follow-up plans? In sinking cities like the third and fourth lines, or even the fourth and fifth lines, how do we plan to deploy them?
Lantu adopts a direct sales model, just to have direct contact with users, We need to reach users most efficiently and directly. This is our original intention of doing direct business.
At the end of this year, Lantu will build 57 Lantu spaces and more than 110 exhibition halls in densely populated places such as shopping malls and supermarkets. 23 delivery service centers and 51 officially authorized sheet spray centers have been built.The channel will expand even faster next year. We will expand our construction channels in these cities, such as the second and third tier, third and fourth tier, and fourth and fifth tier cities. As long as there is a demand, even if there is no local store, Lantu will find ways to meet the demand, such as door-to-door test drive, door-to-door delivery and so on.
When Lantu was working on the Global Test Companion Program, I encountered two users in a very remote county in Xinjiang. The final delivery was to find a way to send the car to the car. We will follow up the service including follow-up repairs and maintenance.And we treat all users equally, regardless of the region. No matter where you choose Lantu, Lantu will serve you to the end.
Q9: What are our sales expectations for the Lantu Dreamer car? I have talked about the three-year plan for the three major categories before. Can you elaborate on some of the plans after the dreamer?
Lantu hopes to rank among the top sales in the luxury MPV category of electric vehicles. When the Lantu brand was released, it had already planned for the next five years to cover multiple market segments such as cars, SUVs, and MPVs, and continue to expand the product lineup of high-end electric vehicle brands.Lantu is not the same as many new car-making forces. From the beginning of its establishment, Lantu has been continuously transforming fuel vehicles to electrification. We hope that in the next 5 years, 10 years or even longer, the entire product series will be perfected.
Q10: What kind of company does Lantu Auto hope to become in 5 or 10 years?
It is hoped that Lantu can become a leading enterprise in China’s high-end new energy vehicles.To this end, a lot of technical innovations have been made,Lantu’s super fast charging technology, It can not only improve the user’s charging experience, but also shorten the time that might otherwise take half an hour or one hour to about 400 kilometers in 10 minutes of charging. In addition, from the perspective of social energy, after the voltage is increased, the efficiency of the vehicle will be improved. , Has a certain helpful meaning to the society.
Lantu’s vehicle-road synergy, behind the thinking is how to make the most efficient use of the road, I believe that the next 5-10 years will definitely be realized. By achieving synergy, we can plan routes in advance and use the most economical way to maximize the efficiency of each road. Many technologies developed by Lantu consider how we can make the most efficient use of social resources in the future without excessive waste.Return to Sohu to see more
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