They thought they understood the market, but it turned out that they could hardly sell 4,000 units a month. iCAR 03 is another product that Chery made on a whim.

There are more and more square box models.

Mainstream manufacturers such as Great Wall, BYD, and Chery are all doing this. Chery alone has a number of square box models such as the Jetour Shanhai T2, Exploration 06, and iCAR 03, and there are also models such as the Jetour Shanhai T1 which will be launched soon.

In these aspects of Chery Box Among the models, iCAR 03 is the most special.

First of all, its price is quite cheap, starting at 109,800 yuan, which is low compared with the fuel-powered SUVs of the same level;

Secondly, this car is a pure electric model, and the idea of ​​linking pure electricity with "off-road" is a bit aggressive;

Then, iCAR is still an independent brand and is highly expected by Chery.

So how are the sales of this car?

Data shows that from January to June 2024, the cumulative sales of iCAR 03 reached 17,851 units, with an average monthly sales of less than 3,000 units; in fact, the average monthly sales of this car have increased to about 4,000 units since March, but it is still far from Chery Automobile's initial expectations.

If the sales volume of iCAR 03 were given to a new domestic brand, it could be boasted about a little; but for Chery, it is not impressive.

iCAR is a new energy brand created by Chery, which ranks alongside Chery, Jetour and Xingtu. In 2023, Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery, publicly stated that Chery will no longer be polite in 2024, and iCAR 03 is positioned as Chery's main force in attacking the new energy market.

But now the monthly sales of iCAR 03 are suppressed to less than 4,000 units, which seems to be just that. Compared with Chery's huge scale and investment, this result is obviously unsatisfactory.

What's more, iCAR 03 is a low-end car with a starting price of 109,800 yuan. It is an embarrassing situation that low-end cars cannot be sold in large quantities.

In the Chinese market, if you want to really attract the attention of competitors, monthly sales of 10,000 vehicles are barely a passing score, and you have to enter the 10,000-vehicle monthly sales club in a short period of time.

Zeekr 001 is a pure electric hunting coupe with various buffs stacked all over it, and its monthly sales are stable at over 10,000; Xiaomi SU7 uses a coupe body that was not favored, but it quickly entered the monthly sales club of 10,000 units after its launch; the main model of Wenjie M9 is priced at more than 500,000 yuan, but its monthly sales have been above 15,000 units for three consecutive months.

iCAR 03 has been on the market for several months, and its sales volume has always hovered below 5,000 units. There is a saying in the stock market that "a long period of sideways movement will inevitably lead to a fall". The Chinese auto market is extremely inward-looking, and automakers are rowing against the current. If they do not advance, they will retreat. If a car fails to become a hit after being sideways for several months on the market, it will be forgotten by consumers.

Before the iCAR 03 was launched, there was a lot of hype on the Internet. But why did it become so unpopular when it was finally launched?

If you only look at the product performance of this car, it is actually acceptable.

The minimum range is 401km, and fast charging only takes half an hour. Models above 139,800 yuan have four-wheel drive dual motors, models above 149,800 yuan have L2 level driving assistance, and models above 119,800 yuan all provide 3.3kW external discharge function.

With such a price and configuration, what else do you want from a bicycle?

But the problem is that Chery positioned this car as a "mild off-road vehicle" for young consumers, which is rather troublesome.

The iCAR 03 has a body length of 4406mm and a wheelbase of 2715mm. This size is definitely too small for family users and not enough for young consumers.

Since it is a light off-road vehicle with a strong "fun" attribute, you can either take it with friends or family to go camping around the city or take a day trip to the countryside. The narrow space inside the car will only cause congestion.

Moreover, the iCAR 03 is a pure electric vehicle with a range of 401km at the shortest and 501km at the longest. This range is enough for driving only in urban areas, but the positioning of this car is to allow consumers to go "off-road" outside the city.

A range of more than 400 kilometers is still an ideal state. The actual range will be reduced, and it will also be reduced in the winter in the north. Then, after a few times of charging in the suburbs, this range is actually not enough to support a perfect short-distance self-driving tour.

Chery may have overlooked a feature of new energy vehicles: their usage scenarios are wider than those of fuel vehicles. When driving new energy vehicles for self-driving tours or camping, users will plug in electricity to cook, turn on the air conditioner and sleep in the car for half a day, and also power other electrical appliances. The power consumption is actually very fast.

If it is a plug-in hybrid or extended-range car that can be refueled, this is not a problem, but for a pure electric car like the iCAR 03, it will be awkward to go to places where the charging infrastructure is not perfect.

Besides, since it is an off-road vehicle, it must look like one. iCAR 03 adopts a square box shape, which does look like an off-road vehicle, but it only looks like one. It has almost nothing to do with real off-roading.

In other words, the biggest difference between iCAR 03 and other new energy SUVs of the same level is its square box shape, but how many people would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just for this?

If you just want to drive around the city on the weekend and don't consider the driving experience or the size of the space, then why should you choose this car? The Wuling Hongguang MINI EV which costs RMB 30,000 to 40,000 and the Baojun Yue which costs more than RMB 70,000 can also do the job. Both cars are square boxes.

91che believes that Chery overestimated at least three aspects of the iCAR 03.

1. Overestimating the users' tolerance for pure electric vehicles. The main purpose is "travel" and "off-road", but the pure electric power system is adopted. Even the high-tech Yangwang and off-road professional Great Wall dare not try this.

2. Overestimating the appeal of the square box shape. In the new energy era, there are indeed more square box models, but it is always a niche model. Without the support of real black technology, it is basically impossible to sell in large quantities for a long time.

3. The square box shape is not necessarily popular. The iCAR 03 is less than 4.5 meters long. After adopting the square box shape, it looks like a matchbox, which in itself is very "discouraging".

More than half of the families in China do not have a car, and most people's car purchase budget is only about 100,000 yuan. Moreover, most people mainly use their cars in the city. Short-distance self-driving tours and nearby tours on weekends are only occasional car needs. Not many users will really buy a car for this reason.

Chery may have set its sights on the current booming camping economy, but when it comes to camping, almost any car can be used, and pure electric vehicles are the least popular type.

So far, the market performance of iCAR 03 still cannot be characterized as a "failure", but it is indeed very embarrassing. It looks more like a product of Chery's "snap decision" and is far from the actual car needs of consumers.

Those who know Chery know that this is not the first time Chery has done this. Among the leading domestic manufacturers, Chery may be the most chaotic in product planning.

Under the Chery brand, the Tiggo, Arrizo and Fengyun series are all considered normal, but it also has the oddly named Omenda and Exploration 06; Chery New Energy has a total of 5 models, namely, Unlimited Pro, Comfort Home, Little Ant, QQ Ice Cream and Arrizo e. The five models compete with each other and their mothers can hardly recognize them.

In June 2024, only two models of Chery, Jetour Traveler and Tiggo 8, had monthly sales of over 10,000 units. Among the new energy product lineup, the highest-selling model was Jetour Shanhai T2, which sold only 4,556 units. Chery likes to have multiple brands, but it is seriously lacking in popular models. This is Chery's biggest problem now.

The main reason for this situation is that the real market demand has not been understood, nor is the consumer's car usage environment truly understood. So-called innovation is actually just self-talk. After listening to a few calls on the Internet, they begin to feel that they have a grasp of the market trends.

The general process is like this: first, slap your forehead to approve the project, then slap your thigh to pass the buck if it turns out not to be right, and finally slap your butt and leave. This is the so-called three slaps.

In the automotive industry, there are many car manufacturers with this problem. Even BYD has the failed model Denza N8, Ideal MEGA, and Tesla's previous single-pedal mode, which are typical examples of being severely punished for wanting to "educate users."

Today, automakers should understand this simple truth: consumers spend money to buy cars, and they are the ones who know cars best. Chery should understand this truth, right?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.