Backed by SAIC, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech and Alibaba, Zhiji Automobile, with a valuation of nearly 30 billion yuan, has played a good hand.
Recently, the production and sales data released by SAIC showed that Zhiji Automobile sold only 608 vehicles in November, down 29.3% from the previous month, reaching 4,545 vehicles in just six months.
Previously, Tamia Liu, CEO of Zhiji Automobile, once said: "We will review this year many years later, which may be the first year of the counterattack of smart electric luxury cars. We have a high probability that we will ride the dust in the future growth curve."
Tamia Liu, who loves to talk big, is a marketing "veteran". Recently, when Tamia Liu displayed Zhiji L7, there were many illegal behaviors, such as high-speed violation, lane change without turning signal, solid lane change, continuous lane change and speeding.
Although Tamia Liu apologized afterwards, netizens still believe that "all of the above may lead to the tragedy of car crash and death. As the CEO of Tangtang Automobile, it is really shocking to ignore the law and ignore the safety of others."
Monthly sales fell rapidly after breaking thousands.
Zhiji Automobile was founded on December 25, 2020, and it has been exactly two years since then. It is a high-end pure electric automobile brand jointly built by SAIC, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech and Alibaba, among which SAIC holds 54%, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech holds 18% and Alibaba holds 18%.
According to the data, the financing scale of Zhiji Automobile’s initial round reached 10 billion yuan, which is the first automobile science and technology company in China to reach the order of 10 billion.
It is worth mentioning that Wang Xiaoqiu, president of SAIC, is the chairman of Zhiji Automobile. It is reported that within SAIC, Zhiji was named "No.1 Project" and made it "China Tesla".
On June 18th, 2022, the first product L7 of Zhiji Automobile was officially delivered nationwide, and the project development of the second product LS7 was promoted in an orderly manner.
In August 2022, Zhiji Automobile obtained financing from investors such as Bank of Communications, SAIC and ICBC Investment, with a valuation of nearly 30 billion yuan.
Changjiang Business Daily reporter found that since July 2022, SAIC has included the sales of Zhiji automobile in the production and sales express, and Zhiji automobile sold 816 vehicles in July, with a total of 1,051 vehicles.
In August, the sales volume of Zhiji reached 1,007 vehicles, breaking through the 1,000-vehicle mark for the first time. In September, the company sold 1,019 vehicles, and the cumulative sales in four months reached 3,077 vehicles.
However, the sales volume of Zhiji Automobile, which was not too much, began to decline from the previous month. In October, the sales volume was only 860 vehicles, down 15.6% from the previous month.
In November, the monthly sales volume of Zhiji Automobile declined again, only 608 vehicles, down 29.3% from the previous month, reaching 4,545 vehicles in six months.
According to the data, the reference price of Zhiji L7 dealers is 338,800 yuan to 578,800 yuan, which is not cheap among a number of new energy car companies.
In 2021, after Zhiji officially announced the "luxury pure electric smart car" Zhiji L7 to the outside world, Tamia Liu, CEO of Zhiji Automobile, once said: "We will review this year many years later, which may be the first year of the counterattack of intelligent electric luxury cars. We have a high probability that we will ride the dust in the future growth curve."
The "riding the dust" of Zhiji automobile has not yet appeared, but it is a fact that it has plummeted.
For poor sales, SAIC responded on the investor platform that compared with other independent competing products, Zhiji Automobile is still in the initial stage of the brand. It is very challenging to build a brand-new independent high-end brand. In the initial stage, it is necessary to ensure the quality of product delivery and customer satisfaction.
SAIC Group said that every new brand has experienced the difficulties of starting and climbing. "Please give SAIC’s own brands more patience and time, so that we can do our products and services well, so that sales growth and user reputation can be guaranteed."
The non-delivery has attracted complaints.
Interestingly, the number of Zhiji cars has not been sold, and the complaint has been found.
According to Chezhi. com, a Zhiji car consumer bought a 2022 Angel Wheel, but less than one month after picking up the car, he found a large number of indelible black spots on the front windshield.
After inspection at the after-sales maintenance point of Zhiji Tongpu Road, it was found that the glass was burned by high temperature after leaving the factory and before installation. There were about forty or fifty black spots on a piece of A4 paper, and the quality problem was serious.
The consumer said that Zhiji Automobile also admitted that it was a manufacturer’s quality problem, but it just did not give a reasonable solution.
In fact, Zhiji automobile has received many complaints before it was delivered.
Zhiji Automobile released its products in April, 2021, and launched the "angel rights" promotion policy for the first 3,000 car owners who booked Zhiji L7.
However, since May 10th, hundreds of car owners who have reserved the Zhiji L7 have voiced on the Internet, demanding that Zhiji Automobile respond to the problems such as the damage to the rights and interests of Angel Wheel users, the reduction of vehicle allocation and the shrinking of batteries.
Regarding the problem of shrinking battery and cruising range, Zhiji Automobile said that it was caused by different battery power measurement methods, and the battery life of Zhiji L7 did not shrink, and there was no deception to consumers. The wireless charging configuration of the Zhiji L7 production concept car displayed at the Shanghai Auto Show last year is not standard, so it does not involve false propaganda.
Finally, Zhiji Automobile blamed the lack of rigor in its work, and said that it would accept users’ suggestions in the future, adopt a unified data caliber and clearly publicize relevant test standards and remarks.
The quality of the car can’t be guaranteed, but Zhiji car is a "good hand" in marketing.
"Tamia Liu, CEO of Zhiji Automobile, was stunned to promote the so-called super-running mode of his own car. On the highway, he completely ignored the safety of himself and others, and all kinds of dangerous illegal driving were illegal." Recently, a car blogger exposed a news that Tamia Liu, co-CEO of Zhiji Automobile, was driving illegally on the highway, which was vomited by many netizens.
As seen in the video, Tamia Liu claimed to accelerate the floor oil of Zhiji L7 in a static state, and take everyone to experience the immersive feeling of Zhiji L7 super-running.
A car blogger wrote that the driving involved high-speed violation, lane change without turning signal, solid lane change, continuous lane change and speeding. "All of the above may lead to the tragedy of car crash and death. As the CEO of Tangtang Automobile, it is really shocking to ignore the law and ignore the safety of others."
According to the above-mentioned violations, some netizens calculated that Tamia Liu would face 16 points and a fine of 1000 yuan.
After the incident, Tamia Liu publicly apologized for its illegal test drive. Tamia Liu wrote in Weibo that he had paid close attention to the criticism of netizens recently, made profound introspection and actively cooperated with the investigation, and was punished on December 5.
At the same time, Tamia Liu said that as a practitioner in the smart electric vehicle industry, it is more important to put compliance with traffic regulations in the first place, leaving passionate driving control to the track, and safe driving needs to be consistently adhered to. (Reporter Jin Du)
