iCAR V23, the survival diary of Chery's “Special Zone”

The order exceeded 31,000 vehicles in 8 hours, but then it encountered a large-scale unsubscribe. This roller coaster experience of the iCAR V23 at the end of 2024 has become a typical case in China's new energy vehicle market.

This electric square box from Chery's "new force" not only carries Chery's ambition to rush to the first camp of new energy, but also faces multiple challenges in brand positioning, internal collaboration and market competition.

1 | Why is iCAR only here able to grow in Chery soil?

The birth of iCAR is not accidental. In April 2023, when Chery Group Chairman Yin Tongyue stood on the stage of the iCAR brand night, he called iCAR a "new special zone" of Chery and promised "no upper limit of investment."

This is not just empty talk.

The iCAR brand was registered as early as 2003, and this time was even earlier than the founding of many new domestic car-making forces. From the very beginning, the “i” in iCAR represents “I” and embodies the user-centered concept.

In Chery's comprehensive new energy strategy, iCAR is clearly positioned as the first new energy electric brand under the group, and is responsible for breaking the shortcomings of Chery's "lack of high-end new energy vehicles".

Looking at Chery Group, the division of labor among various brands is clear: Chery Fengyun and Jietu Shanhai mainly focus on the hybrid market, Xingtu Xingqi is positioned as a mid-to-high-end pure electric, while iCAR is aimed at young users (youthful mentality is also considered), focusing on the life scene market.

Behind this division of labor is the system capabilities accumulated by Chery Group over the years. iCAR is backed by Chery's "Yaoguang 2025" technology system. In the next five years, Chery plans to invest no less than 100 billion yuan to build 300+ Yaoguang laboratories.

Without iCAR, Chery will have obvious gaps in the younger and personalized pure electric market.

2|Double-sided iCAR, sales champion and reputation dilemma

The iCAR V23 sold a total of 39,979 vehicles from January to August this year, successfully winning the sales championship of the new energy vehicle "Square Box" segment market. But from the explosion of orders to the unsubscribed situation, to the rebound in sales, the market performance of V23 is full of contradictions.

The reason why many consumers choose V23 is very practical, which is both the "face" brought by hard-core styles and the "inside" with low cost of electric vehicles. In addition to the styling, the V23 has become a "affordable replacement" of hard-core SUVs, saving consumers the burden of high fuel consumption.

However, V23 also faces a dilemma of reputation. On social media, negative feedback from old car owners involves many aspects such as vehicle hardware materials, seat interior texture, intelligent driving and mental retardation, and lagging OTA upgrades.

For example, the sentry model promoted by the manufacturer earlier has not been pushed through OTA for a long time, which has led many potential customers to worry about being "cut off".

3 | Internet thinking collides with traditional manufacturing system

The development history of iCAR is also a collision between Internet product thinking and traditional automobile manufacturing system.

In 2024, Chery's iCAR team ushered in an important change - introducing Su Jun, a well-known team in Xiaomi's ecosystem, to be responsible for product design. Su Jun, founder of Zhimi Technology, served as chief product officer of the iCAR brand, and formed a "double-headed management" model with Zhang Hongyu, general manager of the iCAR brand business unit, which represents traditional manufacturing thinking.

The two thinking has obvious differences in specific products.

Su Jun’s team emphasized user thinking and positioned V23 as a “big toy” for young people, aiming at first-tier and new first-tier cities, emphasizing playability rather than cost-effectiveness. Traditional thinking focuses more on the economy and standardized production of products.

This conceptual difference even affects the product development process. According to the person in charge of the iCAR manufacturing system, V23 did not fully complete the entire process of the PP stage before mass production.

If Chery's standards are strictly followed, V23 still did not fully pass the entire PP stage process when it was announced mass production. In order to seize speed, V23 did not fully follow the nodes, but completed a lot of subsequent node work in advance. This Internet-style "fast pace" is in sharp contrast with the rigorous process of the traditional automobile industry.

Si|Marketing Myth, from "unsubscription storm" to market education

iCAR's marketing strategy has repeatedly caused controversy. The official price of V23 is only 200 yuan lower than the pre-sale price, which is significantly lower than user expectations. What makes consumers even more dissatisfied is that some features that are considered standard (such as speed dashboards) actually require paid options.

In the terminal sales process, iCAR tends to adopt the "low-price traffic diversion" strategy. When customers arrive at the store, sales staff face performance pressure and often turn to recommend high-end models or financial solutions with greater profit margins. This disconnection between marketing and products inevitably leads to a psychological gap between customers.

The remarks of Zhang Hongyu, general manager of iCAR brand, during the live broadcast have caused controversy. She said: "iCAR builds vehicles for young people, but many of the functions and configurations on the cars have never been used by consumers after getting the cars."

This attempt to make excuses for reducing product allocation has not only failed to calm consumer dissatisfaction, but has instead triggered more criticism.

In terms of channel construction, iCAR is also exploring new paths. In December 2023, the world's first iCAR Space opened in Chongqing. Its design is significantly different from traditional 4S stores. It incorporates elements such as water bars and dining bars, aiming to become a "trendy toy base for users." iCAR plans to increase Space stores to more than 400 by 2024.

Wu | Technical breakthrough, performance challenges under square box shape

As a square box model, the V23 faces innate technical challenges. The square box model has a large resistance coefficient, which directly affects the energy consumption performance. To solve this problem, the V23 S version has enhanced its performance configuration, equipped with 80.16kWh CATL battery cell and Huichuan six-in-one electric drive, with a comprehensive efficiency of 90.5%. The dual-motor four-wheel drive version has 455 horsepower and 490N·m torque, and the thrust-to-weight ratio is excellent.

iCAR officially claimed that the V23 S set a square box model record of 1 minute 50 seconds 889 in the Zhejiang competition, and achieved a time of 2 minutes 38 seconds 34 in the desert top challenge, becoming the fastest Shafeng mass-produced pure electric SUV.

These performance parameters are undoubtedly to strengthen the technological attributes of the product, but in the daily use scenarios of ordinary consumers, how important are these extreme performances?

As brands such as BYD, Deep Blue, and Great Wall continue to increase their investment in the square box market segment, iCAR's first-mover advantage is weakening. Many car companies try to attract consumers who pursue uniqueness through hard-core and personalized designs, but if the product image is contrary to the potential rules of the consumption environment of a specific group, it will form an irreconcilable conflict.