Can't Chinese people make a million-dollar luxury car? No, now they can! The Zunjie S800 is launched to compete with Maybach

It is said that China does not have a car model that can impact the million-level ultra-luxury brand market. It was true in the past. However, it exists now.

At the Guangzhou Auto Show some time ago, the "fourth world" of Hongmeng Intelligent Driving - Zunjie was unveiled in the form of a "secret booth". Yu Chengdong, Huawei's executive director, chairman of the Terminal BG, and chairman of the Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU, revealed the release time of Zunjie, "officially released together with the Mate70 mobile phone."

As for the positioning of Zunjie, as early as May this year, Yu Chengdong had defined it as: "It far exceeds the level of Maybach and Rolls-Royce Phantom, and is more luxurious, high-end and comfortable than them."

Looking back, although Yu Chengdong had promoted the Hongmeng Intelligent Driving "First Three Realms" before its release, it was the first time that the new car was not unveiled at the auto show. Regardless of whether it was intentional to create "suspense", this new car, which is about to "compete" with Maybach and Rolls-Royce before it is launched, has already "maximized" everyone's expectations.

On November 26, the Zunjie S800 arrived as scheduled, and the pre-order was opened at its first public appearance, with a pre-sale price of 1 million to 1.5 million yuan. And that night, Yu Chengdong revealed on Weibo that three users had already placed orders through him personally.

Even though Richard Yu had already announced it, many people still found it hard to believe the price when it came out. After all, in the entire Chinese auto market, there aren't many models that dare to start at a price of one million. Of course, this is not the point. As long as the product strength can support the price of one million, everything is not a problem.

From the actual performance of this car, the model that was unveiled adopts a silver and purple color design, with a length of nearly 5.5 meters, a wheelbase of over 3.3 meters, and two rows of headlights on the front. This size is undoubtedly comparable to Maybach and Rolls-Royce. The logo part does not adopt the vertical logo design of Maybach and Rolls-Royce as everyone guessed before, but prints a MAEXTRO logo similar to AITO. It is comparable but not trendy, which can be regarded as persistence.

In addition, the door handles are designed as hidden door handles, and the highlight is its starry embellishment design, which is full of stars at a glance. The interior has a starry sky roof and has full active perception services. Although Yu Chengdong did not introduce it in detail, he also emphasized that there are many "unique designs" from other perspectives, which left some suspense. Afterwards, Yu Chengdong introduced that the chassis of this car uses the second-generation Longxing platform of the Tuling chassis, which is designed for L3 autonomous driving. The 8S design standard does look a bit extraordinary.

With the entry of the Zunjie S800, in terms of actual product strength, it is backed by Huawei's intelligent technology and JAC's decades of car-making capabilities, and is fully confident to compete with Maybach and Rolls-Royce.

Of course, it is always difficult to go from 0 to 1. Even though the "first three realms" have paved the way, Hongmeng Zhixing is the first to impact the ultra-luxury car market. A Chinese ultra-luxury brand without a long history and story, but only with leading technology and product strength, has made its own voice in this million-level market for the first time.

Professor Ji Xuehong, director of the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, reminded that building a super luxury brand is not a one-day job. In this field, consumers do not pay too much attention to configuration, power, and black technology, but focus on safety, privacy, brand concept and service. Therefore, in the process of building super luxury models or brands, independent brands must have long-term planning and sufficient patience in addition to leading technology.

However, if this is an inevitable path, then Zunjie has a lot of meaning to go on. You know, Chinese automakers have been working hard for so many years, but they have always been hovering in the low-end and mid-range fields. Even if they have made some breakthroughs in recent years, they have not deeply touched the ultra-luxury brand market. The emergence of Zunjie can inspire more Chinese automakers to move towards the pinnacle of the automotive industry together.

In other words, this is the first step for the Chinese auto industry to become a century-old ultra-luxury brand. Once it is successfully taken, perhaps the Chinese auto industry will quickly enter the next dimension. Therefore, the significance of the birth of Zunjie cannot be summarized by a single sentence: "entering the ultra-luxury market."

As Xiang Xingchu, Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman and General Manager of JAC Motors said: "The cooperation between JAC Group and Huawei is a very good solution for both parties to complement each other's advantages and empower each other. Moreover, we are facing the high-end luxury market. Chinese brands must continue to move forward and take the path of high-quality development. This is an extremely rare historical opportunity." And what Zunjie is doing now is "moving upward."

Of course, Hongmeng Zhixing is not the only Chinese auto company that has awakened to the concept of ultra-luxury. At the Guangzhou Auto Show, which opened on November 15, Hongqi's large sedan Hongqi Guoya was officially launched. The new car has two models, priced at 1.4 million to 1.86 million. The length, width and height of the new car are 5353/1998/1511mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 3260mm. In terms of size, it should also be comparable to the Maybach S680 and other models.

Also during the Guangzhou Auto Show, BYD Yangwang U7, the third model in the Yangwang family, officially started pre-sale. Yangwang U7 is positioned as a flagship executive sedan, with a body size reaching the D-class large car level, and the price is expected to be in the millions of yuan level.

Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, also revealed that NIO's flagship executive sedan ET9 will be officially launched on December 21 this year. The car was officially released and pre-sold at the NIO Day 2023 event last year, with a pre-sale price of 800,000 yuan. Its direct competitors are also luxury brand large executive sedans such as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Mercedes-Benz Maybach series and BMW 7 Series.

The last of Huawei's "Four Realms" has been decided, and its future is still unknown. What is certain is that as the penetration rate of new energy continues to exceed 50%, domestic new energy has replaced joint venture fuel. The old "war" is over, and the new "war" has begun. The opportunity for domestic brands to compete in the ultra-luxury market has arrived. As for whether the "Zunjie" can "beat" ultra-luxury brands such as Maybach and Rolls-Royce, we might as well wait and see.