On September 28, the Leapmotor C11 was officially launched. The official guide price is 159,800 to 199,800 yuan. The new car is the first new car based on the Leapmotor C architecture and is positioned as a medium-sized pure electric SUV model.
As the first high-end SUV under Leapmotor, C11 plans to enter the smart electric mainstream market with the price of a mainstream compact SUV and the specifications of a luxury mid-size SUV.
The launch of the Leapmotor C11 also announced that Leapmotor has officially leaped into the 2.0 era and entered the first camp of new car-making forces. As a new car brand in the same batch as Wei Xiaoli, before this year, it can be said that the presence of Leap Motors has not been high.
At the beginning of its establishment, Leapmotor was positioned as a smart electric brand. It has always emphasized the insistence on self-development of core technologies, including core technologies such as three-electric systems, automatic driving systems, and chips.
In January 2019, Leapmotor launched its first 100,000-yuan smart pure electric Coupe - Leapmotor S01, positioning it as a technologically intelligent product for young people, but objectively speaking, this product was not successful. Along with the wave of closures of new car manufacturers, Leap Motors has also encountered huge doubts.
In 2020, Leapmotor launched the "National Model" T03, positioning it as an A00-level pure electric vehicle, with the intention of creating a mass-market model, and bringing Leapmotor back to the public eye.
However, there are already strong competitors in this segment of the market, not only Wuling Hongguang MINI as a strong opponent, but almost most of the independent brands have a layout in this field, and the pressure on Leap T03 is not small.
On the whole, the launch of the first two models did not succeed in creating a very deep brand label for Leapmotor. Brand attributes such as "independent research and development, mastering core technology" and "intelligence" have not been clearly reflected.
Since 2020, the market has undergone significant changes. On the one hand, independent brands have opened up the high-end smart market one after another, and the smart market has begun to show a strong momentum; second, after several years of cultivation, the consumer market and the industrial chain have also established a certain foundation. The company's self-developed technology has begun to land, and a new round of competition has begun.
Now, the zero-run C11 is here, which indicates that the zero-run car has leapt into the 2.0 stage.
Self-developed core technology "leads the way"
C11 can be regarded as a concentrated display of Leapmotor's 6-year car-making road of insisting on self-developed global core technology achievements, so what is the level of this car?
According to the official introduction, the Leap Pilot 3.0 intelligent driving assistance system equipped with the Leap Run C11 includes full-stack self-developed core technologies such as chips, algorithms, perception, and data.
Among them, almost all the core chips of the entire ADAS system are domestically produced, including the self-developed Lingxin 01 chip released at the beginning of this year, which will also be officially mounted on the C11 for mass production. This is so far, besides Tesla, the second car company to use a self-developed assisted driving chip.
The entire system uses two Lingxin 01 chips, with a computing power of 8.4TOPS (the computing power of a single chip is close to twice that of the mainstream Mobileye EyeQ4 in the market), and can be connected to 12 cameras to achieve 2.5D 360° surround view, automatic parking, and ADAS domain Control and nearly L3-level intelligent driving assistance functions.
According to the data, the C11 series comes standard with 28 sensors, including 1 binocular camera, 1 forward-facing millimeter-wave radar, 4 angular millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars, 4 surround-view cameras, 4 blind-spot cameras and 1 face recognition camera. At the same time, 128G high-precision map storage space is reserved to prepare for subsequent OTA upgrades.
Leap Pilot3.0 intelligent driving assistance system SOP mass production stage launched 10 functions, mainly ACC, AEB, FCW, LDW and APA automatic parking assistance functions, etc., and also equipped with DMS fatigue driving warning.
Subsequent OTA will upgrade 12 functions, mainly including LCC lane centering assist, TJA traffic jam assist, hand-off steering wheel warning, HWA high-speed driving assistance, ATC adaptive curve cruise, ALC automatic lane change assistance, LCA lane change warning, etc. In addition, according to reports, in the second quarter of 2022, the intelligent pilot assisted driving system will be officially launched for internal testing.
It can be said that whether the above-mentioned functions are pushed as scheduled and how the real performance after launch will also directly affect the market performance of Leaprun C11.
In terms of smart cockpit, the Leap AI smart cockpit system of the Zero Run C11 is equipped with the mainstream Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 digital cockpit platform in the market, equipped with 12G running memory and 128G storage space.
C11 is equipped with an immersive triple-screen audio-visual entertainment system. The system can recognize faces and match IDs, and realize automatic adaptation of 15 functions such as air conditioners, rearview mirrors, ambient lights, music, seats, and driving modes. Driving habits, interests and preferences to form a memory and actively provide related services.
Set up a 200,000-class smart electric SUV benchmark and break through with zero running
The zero sports car C11 is obviously prepared. According to the official statement of zero running, it is to set a new standard for the performance of smart electric vehicles within 200,000 yuan.
In addition to intelligence, this car also shows sincerity in terms of performance and configuration.
One is the large space. Leaprun C11 has an ultra-long wheelbase of 2930mm, making it the pure electric SUV with the longest wheelbase within 200,000 yuan;
The second is the acceleration performance. This Leaprun C11 has launched a performance version, which is equipped with front and rear dual oil-cooled electric drives independently developed by Leapmotor. The maximum output power of the dual motors reaches 400kW, the maximum torque is 720N m, and it has a 4-second-level zero-hundred Acceleration ability;
The third is battery life. The new car is equipped with a high-capacity battery with a maximum capacity of 90 degrees. The maximum NEDC battery life can reach 610km, and the battery life can be 100 kilometers after charging for 10 minutes. It only takes 36 minutes for DC fast charging with 30%-80% power.
In terms of interior configuration, the C11 adopts frameless doors, a large area of NAPPA leather inside the car, including the above-mentioned triple screen and so on.
C11 is positioned as a medium-sized pure electric SUV. This market segment is mainly occupied by Tesla Model Y, Weilai ES6/EC6, and BMW iX3. The price of the main models is in the range of 300,000 to 400,000. With a price of less than 200,000 yuan, the zero-run C11 is also an effective way to break through the market.
Monitoring data from Gaogong Intelligent Automobile Research Institute shows that in 2020, the total number of domestic new cars in the price range of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan will be 3.1421 million vehicles, accounting for 16.47% of the market. Among them, 214,300 medium-sized SUVs were insured.
The main models in the market include Envision, Hongqi HS5, Explorer, Weipai VV7, Trumpchi GS8 and Skoda Kodiaq. The number of pure electric vehicles in this range was only about 1,000 last year, and the main contributions came from Skyworth ET5, Chery Ant, and Weimar EX6.
Obviously, C11 has the potential to become a "dark horse" in this market segment. However, as a new car manufacturer in the same group as Wei Xiaoli, Leap Motor is far behind the top three new car manufacturers in terms of models, brand awareness, and financing.
The launch of C11 will be the key for Leapmotor to enter the main track of mid-to-high-end intelligent electrification.
One of C11's core competitiveness lies in intelligence. In addition to self-developed chips, Leapmotor said that its biggest advantage in autonomous driving perception and algorithms is based on Dahua's accumulation in the field of image recognition, and in the development of general and underlying algorithms. Provide support for zero running on the Internet.
Zero Run itself can devote more energy to the algorithm development of special scenarios. Leapao technical team personnel accounted for more than 60%, and an L4-level algorithm team has been established.
Under the current trend of self-owned brands launching full-stack self-research, this time Leapmotor has kept up with the pace. Of course, the implementation and iteration of technologies in multiple core areas still need to be based on the scale of mass-produced models.
On the bright side, Zero Running has entered the fast-running stage, with a cumulative financing of more than 8.8 billion yuan this year. In addition, at the end of last year, Lingpao finally obtained the production qualification through the acquisition of New Fuda Motor.
In the past August, the total order of 0-run cars was 7,607 units, an increase of 16% month-on-month; 4,488 new cars were delivered, a year-on-year increase of 720%, and the market performance exceeded many people's expectations. As of now, the cumulative order of Leapmotor in 2021 has reached 35,662 units, and this once "laggard" new strength is trying its best to catch up.