Geely enters the game with RADAR, electric pickup may become a new blue ocean

On June 17, RADAR, a high-endnew energypickup brand registered and established by Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd., was officially released.According to reports, the RADAR brand is positioned as a new independent new energy pickup company, mainly producing high-end new energy pickups.

Image credit: RADAR brand

At present, there is not much information released by RADAR to the outside world, but Geely's determination to enter the field of new energy pickups has been fully revealed.In fact, in the past two years, with the continuous introduction of relevant favorable policies, the pickup truck market has shown an increasing trend of recovery. Under the background of the upgrading of consumer demand and the active transformation of the automobile industry to intelligent electrification, high-end new energy pickup trucks will also become the pickup truck market. future development direction.

my country's pickup truck market continues to expand

According to statistics, since my country's first pilot of the lifting of the pickup truck ban in 2016, more than 90 cities have released and relaxed the restrictions on pickup trucks.At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly proposed policies such as "speeding up the removal of restrictions on pickups entering cities" and "promoting pickups to the countryside". These favorable policies have prompted the domestic pickup truck market to continue to rise.Statistics from the China Automobile Association show that in 2021, my country's pickup truck sales exceeded the 500,000-unit mark for the first time, reaching 554,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 12.83%.

With the continuous expansion of the pickup truck market, its product structure and regional market performance also show a diversified development trend.For example, among the top ten models of pickup truck sales in 2021, the top three models are commercial pickups such as commercial guns, Fengjun 5, and Jiangling Baodian. At the same time, the passenger guns of Great Wall also squeezed into thesales rankings. The top ten in the list means that pickup products have gradually transitioned from commercial vehicle positioning to passenger use and off-road use.

In addition, from the perspective of regional markets, the northwest and southwest markets are still the two main markets in the pickup field. It has also shown an upward trend over the past few years.

Analysts pointed out that the market economy in the northern and southwestern regions is relatively inactive, mainly relying on investment and engineering construction to drive demand. Therefore, these markets have a large demand for commercial pickups, while the demand for pickups in the eastern region has increased in the past two years. One is due to policy incentives, such as the relaxation of restrictions on pickup trucks in major cities, and the regulation of the State Administration for Market Regulation to include pickup trucks in the new three-guarantee policy for automobiles from February 1 this year, and treat them on the same basis as passenger cars; The impact of category diversification, such as the increasing number of high-end passenger pickups entering the market, has greatly enhanced the comfort and playability of pickup products.

Pickup truck electrification accelerates

With the expansion of pickup product types, electric pickups, as a branch of the new energy track, are now showing a rapid development trend, and foreign and independent car companies have layouts in the new energy pickup market.Among foreign car companies, in addition to the three giants GM, Ford and Volkswagen, Tesla, Rivian, Bollinger and other new car companies are also making efforts.Among them, Tesla's electric pickup, the Cybertruck, has attracted high attention from both inside and outside the industry since its debut in 2019. Recently, media reports said that the current order volume of Cybertruck is close to 1.5 million; while another American electric vehicle company Rivian's first electric double row The pickup RIVIAN R1T has already started delivery.

Great Wall Motors is the earliest independent car company in the field of new energy pickups.At present, Great Wall's electric pickup products include passenger gun EV, commercial gun EV, Fengjun EV and other models.In addition, SAIC MAXUS also took the lead in entering the electric pickup market with the MAXUS T90.

Analysts pointed out that in 2019, under the demonstration effect of Tesla Cybertruck, the electrification process of pickup truck models began to accelerate. This is first due to the perfect electrification modular platform of pickup truck models and the blessing of mature electric drive systems, which made Electric pickups surpass traditional pickups in terms of performance level, technological configuration and riding experience; secondly, electrification of pickups also effectively solves the problems of high fuel consumption, high emissions and high pollution that traditional pickups have faced for a long time, in line with current environmental protection concepts and trends , and also greatly reduces the cost of using the pickup.

In addition, the acceleration of the electrification process of pickup trucks requires the help of policies.According to statistics, more than 70% of cities nationwide have relaxed restrictions on pickup trucks entering cities.In April this year, the State Council pointed out in its opinion on promoting the continuous recovery of consumption, "implementing refined management of pickup trucks entering the city, and studying to further relax the restrictions on pickup trucks entering the city." Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Passenger Federation, pointed out that this means that since 2016 Since the implementation of the pickup truck ban pilot, the state's emphasis on releasing pickup trucks into cities has risen from the ministries to the State Council level for the first time.

Former "tool cart" turned into "big toy"

With more and more players in the electric pickup truck market, the pickup truck models that were once shown as "tool trucks" will also become "big toys" for the rich.For example, Tesla Cybertruck and RIVIAN R1T, in addition to being more avant-garde in shape, also represent a more fashionable lifestyle. The latter is regarded as the most essential difference between high-end electric pickups and general commercial pickups.

Based on this, Geely's high-end new energy pickup brand RADAR also intends to emphasize new lifestyles such as outdoor sports and camping.Its official public account name is "Unbounded 2 Square Meters", and the public account introduction is "mobile multiple charged spaces and explore more possibilities for outdoor travel."

In fact, with the improvement of people's living standards, outdoor life is becoming a fashion."iiMedia Research Consulting Camping Report" pointed out that it is expected that by 2025, the core market size of China's camping economy will increase to 248.32 billion yuan, driving the market size to 1440.28 billion yuan.This huge market, on the one hand, shows that the consumer car scene is changing, and on the other hand, it will also spawn more pickups to enter the new energy track.

In addition, from the perspective of policy, with the lifting of the ban on pickup trucks and ushering in strong policy support again, coupled with the continuous increase in the development ofnew energy vehiclesin various places , electric pickup trucks, as a branch of new energy vehicles, will be quickly activated and will become A new blue ocean in the field of new energy vehicles.