Recently, the China Passenger Car Association?(CPCA)?released the sales data of NEVs in the first quarter of this year. Among them, as a large number of new products being introduced into the market, the rankings of the brands were also changed compared with the same period last year. The newly launched Ora R1, whose brand is under the Great Wall Motor (GWM), entered the first quarter of the new energy sales list for the first time, and ranked ninth. Since its launch in January 2019, the Ora R1 has increased in three consecutive months, with sales reaching 7,588 units, creating a good start for GWM.

Forward R&D, GWM to create an exclusive NEV platform

In the early stage of the development of NEVs, due to subsidies or savings in development costs, many car companies chose to abandon the exclusive platform or chassis for electric vehicles only for short-term benefits. And their NEVs were only modified on the basis of fuel vehicles. However, in terms of equipment layout and space utilization, there will be many constraints on changing fuel vehicles to electric vehicles.

At the beginning, GWM did not choose to enter the new energy market immediately. It was not until 2018 that the Ora brand was officially launched. This is also the first year of GWM's NEV. The biggest difference between Ora and other brands is that at the time of its launch, the new electric vehicle ME platform was released simultaneously.

The development of a NEV platform boasts two major advantages. First, it can be adapted from the initial stage of the design to the needs of electric vehicles, and more suitable parts for electric vehicles. Second, there is no structural limitation of the fuel vehicle, and the system layout is more reasonable. In addition, the body structure designed for electric vehicles is also more conducive to improving safety and NVH performance.

Why does GWM choose to build an exclusive platform instead of saving money to make modification on the basis of fuel vehicles? The Ora brand told IIA: "The first model, the Ora R1, is based on the ME platform developed by GWM for electric vehicles. The platform is characterized by scalability, intelligence, lightweight, low power consumption."

Thanks to its good scalability, the Ora R1 has a wheelbase of 2,475mm which also increases its rear space. Compared with the current mini-cars on the market such as the Chery eQ1 and the Zhidou D2, the Ora R1 shows the characteristics of small space with reasonable space utilization.

In addition to the existing two models, the Ora iQ and R1, the new ME platform will cover A00- to A0-class cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles.

Since there is no structural constraint like a fuel vehicle, the powertrain layout of the electric car is more reasonable. The Ora R1's pure electric cruising range announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, PRC, reached 351 kilometers, which is further than the small SUV in the market. In addition, since it is an exclusive platform, more than 60% of the Ora R1 body has adopted high-strength steel, and it also has a safety design such as instantaneous power failure when collided, which also breaks the traditional perception of consumers that mini-cars are insecure.

The exterior of the Ora R1 is also different from those modified models. The stylish two-color body and the round headlights are impressive and eye-catching, bringing the car a extremely high degree of recognition.

The marketing of the Ora brand is consumer-oriented

Independent brand operations, more competitive market prices, fast delivery and strong channel development capabilities represent the "Ora speed." The Ora R1 is a reasonable product with a good marketing. Ning Shuyong, the special vice president of Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. and the general manager of Euler brand, described at the establishment of the Ora brand: “We are a new force for car making. As a new brand, consumers’ word of mouth, sales channels all need to start from scratch."

However, unlike many new vehicles that aiming at the high-end market, as the leading force of GWM in the new energy field, the Ora brand focuses on the electric vehicle market of less than 100,000 yuan. This means that not only the mega cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Shenzhen, the brand will also concentrate in the whole country, especially the third-tier to fifth-tier cities. GWM's plan shows that by the end of 2019, the number of franchised stores will increase to 150, the number of shop-in-shops will be reduced to 20, and the distribution stores will be 300, achieving full coverage of major markets nationwide. Being pragmatic is the first sense that the team of Ora brought to the market.

At the same time, the Ora brand is also exploring a new mode, which forms an online sales network with e-commerce platforms such as T-mall, JD, Suning.com, 58.com, and cooperates with car-hailing platforms such as Didi Chuxing, Meituan, and Shouqiyueche, forming a trinity structure.

In addition to the complete sales channels, the Ora also focuses on the car culture. According to the needs of various groups of people, they introduced customized electric cars. For example, the Ora R1 “Goddess” version that was released not long ago has added the exclusive exterior colors of strawberry red and coral orange or titanium white body color. A number of female-specific equipment has been added to the configuration. The car also comes in “Intelligent” and “Sagacious” versions.

Summary: Most of the Chinese NEV brands tend to build a car with large space or long cruising range, and some new automakers even forcibly pull up their product demand and positioning which is undoubtedly seeking short-term benefits. The steady improvement of the Ora R1 relies on the brand support of Great Wall Motor on the one hand, and the result of adhering to positive development on the other hand.