Kong Ngai, the public relations director of Fan Fei Automobile Company, was interviewed by us in an exclusive interview with Easy Car-Auto Production Network.
The following is the interview record.
Auto sankei: We made our debut in Fan Fei R7 at this auto show, right? I think the online data shows that this car delivered 65,438+05,065,438+0 vehicles in the first month, which surpassed many models such as Weilai ES6, Zhiji L7 and Volkswagen ID.6, and set a new record for the delivery of 300,000-class China brand pure electric SUV in the first month. What are the technical advantages of this car body that can make it have such a big breakthrough as soon as it goes on the market?
Kong Ngai: Fan Fei R7 is the first medium-sized and large SUV of Fan Fei automobile, and we define it as an extremely intelligent and high-grade pure electric SUV. Among them, you can clearly feel that the extremely intelligent point is a very important communication point that we have given this car at present. The so-called ultimate wisdom is that we spare no effort in intelligent cabin, intelligent driving and intelligent electricity. Let's talk about the smart cabin first. First of all, this car is equipped with Rising MAX 3+ 1 giant screen, among which the 43-inch wide true color triple screen is the largest integrated triple screen among domestic brands. Its advantage is that these three screens can interact with each other, and you can easily share your information with the co-pilot or the user who is driving through the co-pilot. At the same time, the whole system also supports the separate operation of the main driver and the auxiliary driver, that is, my main driver can watch related video entertainment content through the AR-HUD, and the auxiliary driver can also enjoy a completely independent video and voice environment through the Bluetooth headset. So the whole three-screen system brings you a very good sense of interaction. From the size to the material of each screen, just like the screen around us is an AMOLED LCD screen, the advantage of this screen is that it can make all black places black enough, and the effect it brings is that we can look at this screen from any angle, and it will bring you the best visual effect. Moreover, the color reproduction degree is also very high, and the high-definition resolution is 2.5K.
The other screen is Huawei's AR-HUD head-up visual enhancement system, which is the first in the world. This system is quite advanced in hardware in the whole industry. Its field of view is13× 5 degrees, which is the largest in the industry at present, and its resolution reaches 1920×730. It is also the clearest hardware in the AR-HUD field at present. From the software point of view, we also integrated all the information in the whole driving, including vehicle information, navigation information, intelligent driving information and so on. All these can be realized through the AR-HUD system, that is, you don't need to look at other dashboards when driving. These are some highlights of our entire "3+ 1" giant screen or smart cabin hardware.
In terms of software, we developed a system named Rising OS and our SAIC null beam system. The advantage of this system is that it atomizes many automobile functions, including automobile control, through SOA. There are many points that the whole vehicle can be handed over to consumers for independent control, including the power output of our vehicles. The power output of general vehicles may be preset in terms of fuel, economy and sports, while the power output of Fit R7 can be self-adjusted from 0- 100. The openness of this car gives users the greatest choice. You can configure many systems and many parameters by yourself.
The other is that we also make it easier for users to use through intuitive interaction, without learning costs, just like using a mobile phone product. The other is that we use some commonly used software functions, such as negative one-screen Widget Box, which is often used in mobile phones. Through these, you can easily find some points where you want to control the car. In fact, it is intuitive interaction, that is, seeing. Through such interaction, some expectations of users for cars can be easily and conveniently realized. In addition, the voice system in our car is also outstanding. It also supports continuous dialogue in about 5-6 dialects, giving users a good experience. This is the smart cabin level.
From the aspect of intelligent driving, you may already know that our car hardware was still outstanding before. 33 Perceptual hardware has brought us a good intelligent driving team, including the use of Orin X chips, including ZF's 4D imaging radar, and the use of 8 million cameras, which has brought us very good hardware quality of the whole vehicle, which can be said to be the state of all hardware. But from our point of view, just having good hardware does not necessarily mean that you can bring a good experience to users. Because the hardware is relatively easy, as long as you are willing to spend money and pile up materials, you can bring some intuitive parameters to users, but I think the software is more difficult to adjust, such as the Rising PILOT fully integrated high-order intelligent driving system on R7. The so-called complete integration is also an intelligent driving system jointly developed by us and SAIC Innovation Institute. At present, the concept of full integration may be more like Tesla in the market. It is a pre-convergence scheme. Through powerful computing power and software simulation, the information collected by relatively weak hardware configuration brings a final result, so Tesla's strength may be at the software level. In addition, at present, more camps should be headed by Wei Xiaoli, which may be post-integration. They capture some different levels of information through top-level hardware, and then do some decision-making things through hardware, and summarize them into the whole central brain to make decisions. Our concept of total convergence is actually a combination of the two, that is, on the one hand, we have a strong algorithm in software; On the other hand, we will collect detailed information through hardware before making corresponding decisions, and finally we will do a composite operation before and after fusion. Therefore, the confidence of the whole intelligent driving has been promoted to a relatively high state, which is also a result of what we call the combination of top-level hardware plus the triple integration of pre-integration, post-integration and compound integration, which finally brings very good intelligent driving ability. If you have paid attention to the evaluation of some media, the overall experience brought to users is very good. In fact, our complete convergence algorithm was also selected for this year's CVPR Summit. The concept of CVPR is a bit like the Oscar in the field of intelligent driving, and our intelligent driving scheme was also published in the September issue of Nature. As an intelligent driving solution in China, it has been discussed by global users or practitioners, and it has also caused quite a storm in the whole industry.
Automotive sankei: When it comes to the genes of software, for example, you say that the software of Aouita is strong because Huawei is behind it, so why is Fan Fei as strong as you just said, and where did its genes come from? ?
Kong Ngai: All our technologies are independently developed and basically come from the most advanced technologies of SAIC. You may think that SAIC brand has invested a lot of money and resources before, and there may not be a particularly good product that can bring these cutting-edge technologies to consumers in the past two years. But in fact, SAIC spared no effort in this respect, and then accumulated very deeply.
SAIC also has several technical routes. We are more independent and self-researched. Our Innovation Research Institute has an intelligent driving team of nearly 500 people. In two and a half years, we started flying the whole intelligent driving system in early 2000, which is the fully integrated high-order intelligent driving system we just mentioned. It took about two and a half years and nearly 500 people to reach this situation. Therefore, there is still a lot of investment in this area, and there is a certain accumulation. From our listing to our own testing and media testing, we are now in the first echelon.
Automobile sankei: I think this car comes standard with a power exchange architecture, and it has introduced two business models: vehicle purchase and vehicle-electricity separation. Judging from the current order situation, which one do consumers prefer?
Kong Ngai: Judging from the proportion of our current orders, about 45% of users have chosen the mode of changing electricity or separating vehicles from electricity, which is still relatively high. Everyone's preference or willingness to accept such an energy supplement system is still relatively high. In our power exchange system, SAIC cooperated with China Petroleum, China Petrochemical and Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. to establish a joint venture company named Shanghai Jieneng Zhidian. In the future, we will rely on the layout of two barrels of oil in gas stations across the country to realize the layout of power exchange points. Judging from the current industry, Weilai has done a very good job in power exchange, and we also hope that more enterprises can participate in the power exchange track. From the point of view of power exchange, although it is not a particularly mainstream channel to supplement energy, it is a good supplement in the current charging field, and many of its usage scenarios are very close to the refueling experience of fuel vehicles.
Automobile sankei: 2022 has entered the countdown. How to evaluate Fan Fei's achievements in independent operation for more than a year? What trial and error and experience have you had?
Kong Ngai: Fan Fei was just established in June last year (1 1), and it has actually been more than a year now. Our core goal this year is to build the whole brand and launch the first high-quality flagship model, Fan Fei R7. I think these two points are a very core goal that we set after our establishment, including at the beginning of this year. In fact, judging from the final result, I think we have done a good job. From the perspective of brand building, on the one hand, we have reorganized the definition of Fan Fei brand, including our value to consumers, and extracted a very important point from it. We call it authenticity. We hope that Fan Fei, a genuine enterprise, can bring genuine products to users, communicate with users and get rid of some problems that may be caused by the current capital bubble. For example, when everyone spends a certain amount of money to buy a car, the car he actually gets is not a complete car, and the user needs to make up for what he should enjoy through continuous ot a payment. From our point of view, it was listed on September 27th, and the delivery began at the end of June at 5438+ 10, and June at 5438+065438+ 10 was our first complete natural delivery month. In this process, the products we deliver to users are actually consistent with the products we advertised before. Whether it is from smart cabin to smart driving, after everyone gets it, the function of high-speed navigation in our city is actually open to users, which may be different from many brands at present. This is what I want to emphasize. On the real level, from what kind of value our brand brings to users, we have done a lot of corresponding combing at this level and brought it to our consumers through our products. On the other hand, from the whole service system, from the outlets we sell to the whole user perception, whether in the delivery stage, sales stage or after-sales stage, we have completely upgraded the whole service system, giving users a refreshing or brand-new feeling. On the other hand, when it comes to the high-quality delivery of R7, because this car has just mentioned that we are equipped with many top hardware configurations in the industry. In fact, many hardware are used for the first time in the whole industry. So in this process, we spent a lot of energy and time to make these hardware and software match well, which can not only bring some intuitive experience to users, but also avoid some confusion that users will actually discount the experience although they have these high-end hardware. We have put a lot of effort into this aspect, which is actually an important part of our high-quality delivery. Therefore, we are doing brand building this year, including high-quality delivery. In fact, we have done a lot of work and gained recognition from some markets, including now consumers affectionately call us the "screen tyrant" in the smart cabin industry, and the feeling that our entire smart cabin brings to everyone is recognized by users. From the perspective of the industry, in fact, many media have also given us the title of "king of quantity" in the field of intelligent driving. At this level, whether it is hardware or software, we have achieved the expected results. I think we are doing better in these areas. Judging from the total sales volume, you just mentioned that our delivery volume in the first natural month reached 150 1, which is also the first echelon of medium and large pure electric SUVs. I think these achievements are positive for us, and we also hope to bring more and better products or services to our consumers in the future, so that we can further feel the sincerity of Fan Fei Auto.
Auto sankei: What's your forecast for the auto market next year?
Kong Ngai: From the whole new energy or pure electricity market, the market penetration rate has actually exceeded 15% since the end of 2 1. We believe that if a new technology can maintain the penetration rate of 15% or more, it will basically enter the mass consumption market and will soon enter the vision of mainstream users. This year, in fact, the whole year also confirmed such a process. Since September, my impression is that the market penetration rate of new energy has exceeded 30%, which we think is a very obvious signal. When buying a car before, you may just regard the new energy vehicle as an early adopter or a very leading product. But now I believe that when people buy a car, they will go to see new energy products more or less, so this is a big change. From my point of view, the growth of new energy will continue until 2023, and it will also be a very important market segment, which will lead the whole automobile industry to move forward. This is my rough judgment. Of course, on the one hand, it is the performance of some data I just mentioned, on the other hand, it is also the technical strength of domestic independent brands of new energy. As I said just now, our intelligent cabin, intelligent driving and intelligent power are actually capable of leading the world or overtaking in corners, so we are still relatively confident. On the other hand, from the consumer's point of view, everyone is increasingly dependent on new energy vehicles, because everyone has passed the previous anxiety stage, anxiety about mileage and anxiety about vehicle safety. Now, in fact, judging from the experience brought by the whole intelligence to users, if you really use a new energy vehicle and then go to see a fuel vehicle, it may have a great change to his experience. Of course, there is still a big challenge next year, that is, the inevitable process of the decline of new energy subsidies, which should have a certain inhibitory effect on the whole market in a short time. But as I just said, the whole new energy vehicle will enter the mainstream market. I think the declining slope may have a certain impact in the first quarter, and you may have some repeated or cautious questions, but in fact, from the experience of the whole new energy products, I think there will still be some growth this year.
Auto sankei: What's Fan Fei's new plan for next year?
Kong Ngai: From our point of view, you should have seen the relevant information released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Our next flagship F7 is on the way, so we will communicate with you at an appropriate time next year.
Automobile production: Will it be the same competitive field as its own R7?
Kong Ngai: There will be some overlap in large market segments, but in fact, from the perspective of products or the expectations of users, it should be completely different. In terms of extreme intelligence, all intelligent content brought by Fan Fei will be inherited to F7 mode. From the perspective of other products, what I am telling you now is worth looking forward to. You can pay attention to our model. From a slightly longer-term point of view, from 23 to 25 years, at least one new car will be launched every year, which will also cover the SUV, car, MPV and other models I just mentioned, so this is also a product that everyone can look forward to. In addition, we will also make some corresponding breakthroughs in the whole user operation system or system level of new retail. At present, we have 65,438+097 retail stores and 65,438+08 distribution centers in China. In terms of energy supplement system, we have 1 14 brand charging station, which exceeds 165438 brand equity charging station, and more than 540,000 third-party charging piles have been connected, which has basically covered. In 2023, we will continue to exert our efforts in these areas, and there will be further actions in the continuous expansion of stores and the continuous improvement of the energy replenishment system. Stay tuned.