Great Wall Motors launches the ORA brand, positioning itself as a premium electric car to serve urban life and shared services

On August 20, Great Wall Motors launched its new energy brand, Ora. Great Wall Motors has finally made a big move in the field of new energy vehicles.

Not long ago, Great Wall Motors and BMW jointly established Beam, which also produces new energy vehicles, but this time Great Wall Motors is doing it on its own, which naturally has a very different meaning. It can be said that the launch of the Ora brand this time marks Great Wall Motors' thorough entry into the new energy vehicle field.

It has to be said that Great Wall Motors is a bit slow in the electric vehicle market compared to its peers. Not only compared with BYD and BAIC, but also compared with Geely, which has always been very patient, Great Wall Motors entered the market late.

However, as Wei Jianjun said, "Whether it is too late or not depends on the competitiveness of the product.

Great Wall Motors positions ORA as an electric car. At the end of this month, the first product of the ORA brand, the ORA iQ, will be officially launched at the Chengdu Auto Show. In January next year, the ORA R1 will also be launched on the market. Its third product, the ORA R2, will be launched in the third quarter of next year.

Ora's products are about to be launched on the market. Whether the car is good or not is up to consumers. But it must be said that positioning the Ora brand as an electric car is a wise choice.

Great Wall is not a new car manufacturer and must consider financial reports. It is impossible for it to take a dimensionality reduction approach and throw money at high-end electric sports cars. In fact, before there is a major breakthrough in the energy density of power batteries, electric sports cars are more of a tool for running data and a publicity gimmick.

Great Wall Motors took the opposite approach, starting with the most affordable electric car and further refined its positioning to serve the daily life scenes in the city. The three new cars launched by ORA this year and next are mainly used for daily travel, shopping in business districts, picking up children and shared travel services.

A fact that many people are reluctant to expose is that, with the current range of pure electric vehicles, most of them can only be used as shopping vehicles. Even if the range is as long as Tesla, it is definitely risky to drive it for a long distance. If you drive on the highway for a while, the range will be even more impressive.

Great Wall Motors has indeed maintained a down-to-earth style. It does not blindly boast about its range like other car companies do. Instead, it is very clear about its positioning, which is to make high-quality electric cars serving urban life. Of course, the upcoming ORA iQ has a similar range, with a NEDC comprehensive range of up to 360 kilometers.

Battery life is the biggest pain point of electric vehicles. It is natural for car companies to emphasize battery life when promoting their new energy vehicles. However, the biggest bottleneck of electric vehicle battery life at this stage is the energy density of the battery, and most batteries are not produced by car companies themselves. Moreover, the battery life of electric vehicles is not good enough compared with that of fuel vehicles.

After all, there have been many cases where the actual range of electric vehicles contradicts the mileage advertised by car companies.

Instead of worrying about the impressive range of electric vehicles today, it is better to clarify the true meaning and purpose of electric vehicles at this stage and focus on leveraging the advantages of electric vehicles.

This is not to say that we should not pay attention to the range. Car manufacturers still need to continuously improve electronic control, motors and optimize car design to make more space for batteries. But compared with the energy density of batteries, these improvements are ultimately a small part of improving range. Of course, if car manufacturers develop batteries themselves, it is another matter.

Electric cars are actually the largest market for electric cars in China. At present, high-end electric cars are actually more of a toy for a few rich people. The cost-effectiveness of electric cars is actually more easily accepted by the market in the early stages of electric car development. Ora's positioning is a more pragmatic choice.

It is unsustainable to keep losing money on electric vehicles. It is irresponsible to rush into high-end electric vehicle projects without manufacturing experience. Car manufacturing is a very serious matter. Considering its stringent requirements for safety, starting with low-end cars is a more reliable choice.

China's automobile market is huge, and the distinction between different grades of automobiles is also very clear. Although China's automobile consumption is upgrading, the low-end automobile market will not disappear. For domestic brands, it is a general trend to explore higher prices and pursue high-end brands, but the low-end market is the basic market and the foundation of domestic brands.

For traditional car companies, it is wiser to survive first and then develop; it is wiser to learn to walk first and then run. For Great Wall Motors, new energy vehicles are a relatively unfamiliar field, and a step-by-step approach is the right choice.

Moreover, the future application scenarios of electric vehicles are inseparable from travel services and sharing services. Electricity prices are lower than oil prices, and electric vehicles have less emissions than fuel vehicles, making them more suitable as public operation vehicles. In shared car services, the problem of electric vehicle charging is easier to solve centrally due to large-scale operations, and the disadvantage of electric vehicle endurance can also be effectively avoided.

Electric vehicles are more compatible with smart cars and autonomous driving. In the future, once autonomous taxis become a reality, the advantages of electric vehicles will be further highlighted. In terms of long-distance driving and highway driving, pure electric vehicles will probably never be able to beat fuel vehicles. The scenarios where electric vehicles replace fuel vehicles are more often "grocery shopping" and travel services, which is also the focus of ORA.

While launching electric cars, Ora is also developing travel services. Ora has already allocated 1 billion yuan as initial funding for its travel services. Ora's flagship electric cars can complement this development.

Traditional car companies have many advantages when providing travel services. First, cars are readily available. Second, most car companies have more capital and do not need to spend a lot of energy on financing like start-ups, and they can withstand long-term consumption and trial and error. What car companies need to learn from Internet companies is Internet thinking and operation methods. It may be a good choice for traditional car companies to introduce Internet teams in travel service operations.

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.