Hardcore off-road, this once niche market, has become this year's Chengdu Auto Show, "when the flower girl", from the Great Wall Haval, tanks, to the BYD look forward to the equation of the leopard, as well as the Dongfeng Mastodon, more and more of the layout of independent car companies off-road vehicles this market segment. Off-road vehicles have become the next wind mouth of the independent brand competition. However, the ups and downs of the off-road vehicle market is, after all, a niche market, there is really a need to become a must-contend place for car companies? Independent car companies and can break the monopoly of joint ventures, imported high-end brands in this market?
01 Off-road vehicles are piling up
At this year's Chengdu Auto Show, the hardcore off-road vehicles became the brightest presence. On 25 August, the Haval Mastodon made its debut at the Chengdu Auto Show and lowered its price to 160,000 yuan, which, in the words of Great Wall Motor, "fills the blank of the new energy off-road vehicle market within the price range of 200,000 yuan". Thanks to the addition of 1.5T + Hi4 electric four-wheel drive + rear axle electronically controlled differential lock combination, the Haval Raptor presents a strong off-road performance, with good performance in terms of passability and playability. And the vehicle offers 7 driving modes, which can fully cover various off-road needs such as snow, sand and mud. Dongfeng MORA Mastodon was also officially launched at the Chengdu Auto Show, and offers two power forms, pure electric and extended range, with a starting price of 637,700 yuan. It is understood that the MORA Mastodon skateboard off-road platform can support two power modes: pure electric and extended range. MORA 917 is equipped with a number of cutting-edge technologies such as VMC chassis dynamic domain control and AKC rear-wheel wire steering, with a minimum turning radius of only 5.1 metres, which supports the vehicle's "crab-walking" lateral driving. The frame adopts internal high-pressure unibody longitudinal beams, providing a body structure with higher strength and rigidity. The pure electric version is equipped with four motors at the front and rear, 142.7 kWh double-layer high-capacity and high-safety off-road battery packs, with a combined driving range of 505 km under CLTC conditions; the extended-range version is equipped with a combination of three motors and a 1.5T high-efficiency range extender, with a horse power of 816 hp and 65.8-degree high-safety off-road battery packs, with a pure electric range of 200 km under CLTC conditions and a combined driving range of up to 1,026 km. Up to 1026 kilometres. BYD has just refreshed the price ceiling of independent brands by virtue of looking up, and started the blind order of Leopard 5, the first strategic model of Equation Leopard, at the Chengdu Auto Show, and the blind order price of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan attracted a lot of attention. This car is BYD following the million-class off-road vehicle look up to the U8, released another model for the hardcore off-road field, but also the first model of the Equation Leopard brand. The Leopard 5 is understood to be powered by the DMO Super Hybrid Off-Road Platform, which consists of a new hybrid non-load-bearing architecture and an off-road-specific hybrid architecture. The Cloud Van-P system is also present on the Leopard 5, enhancing off-road performance. Official data shows that the Leopard 5 system has a power of more than 500 kW, and zero hundred acceleration reaches 4.8 seconds. With the DMO, the Leopard 5 feeds fuel consumption as low as 7.8L and has a combined driving range of over 1,200km. Just before the Chengdu Auto Show, the first model of Polaris Auto, Polaris 01, also locks the market for off-road vehicles, focusing on outdoor travelling scenarios. Official information shows that in order to improve the outdoor driving ability, in addition to the common three driving modes of Comfort, Standard and Sport, there is also an ad hoc "Crossing Mode" to maximise the release of suspension performance. In addition to the conventional pure electric and fuel energy modes, Jishi 01 also adopts the self-developed "Intelligent Hybrid Mode". 02Technological progress and market scale expansion is the bottom line
From the point of view of the data released by automobile enterprises, the off-road vehicle models launched by independent brands have demonstrated a variety of performance that is no less than the level of classic off-road vehicles such as the Honda, Raptor, and even the Wrangler. Independent brands are using real products to prove their own car-making ability and level of improvement. In terms of power, independent car enterprises in the hybrid power system technology level continues to improve, so that they cross the fuel engine mechanical system limitations, have the ability to build a variety of cross-country performance to meet the vehicle; in the body, based on the accumulation of technology over the years, the independent brand of the overall design and manufacturing capacity has been greatly enhanced, off-road vehicle design and manufacturing capacity has also reached a certain level, it can be said that current It can be said that the current independent automobile enterprises scramble to launch a variety of off-road vehicles can be called water to the drain. 
More crucially, "off-road" has become a new consumer demand, more and more young people began to pay attention to and join the cross-country "team", this way of life in the pursuit of a new fashion at the same time, but also further broaden the market for off-road vehicles. In recent years, off-road has become a new generation of young people as the representative of the new pursuit of consumer groups, whether it is a weekend short-distance leisure cross-country, or long-distance cross-country adventure, is becoming more and more consumers' new choice. "The radius of young consumers' lives is expanding, and with that comes a more colourful demand for travel." Wang Qing said that this new consumer demand is the key to the off-road vehicle market starting to heat up, and there will naturally be supply when there is demand. In fact, in the past, China's off-road vehicle market there is a lack of product supply, there are not many products to choose from, and the high price of the characteristics of the independent brand naturally understand this market characteristics, under the premise of the technical reserves are enough to support the inevitable target of this market segment. 03 Brand power enhancement is more meaningful than absolute salesIn China, the modified car market has always existed, and most of the modified cars are expanded around the off-road performance of the vehicle.
With the increase in market demand, tuning cars have also shown a trend of getting hotter and hotter in recent years.However, the tuning market has been restricted by various policies, and consumer demand is difficult to meet. Overall, the tuning market is characterised by relatively high prices and lack of policy support, and consumer demand is not met.Autonomous car companies, as the most understanding of China's auto consumer market, will naturally find this consumer demand, under the premise of the conditions are ripe to launch off-road vehicles without modification to meet the needs of more and more consumers in pursuit of individuality cross-country life, has become the choice of many car companies.Wang Qing believes that the front of the tuning market, not only to meet the needs of consumers, but also to bring a more economical price, safer performance, and naturally will be sought after by the market.
It is worth noting that the launch of more off-road models by independent brands will inevitably lead to the development of this market segment, which is the same trajectory as the development of the SUV market."Competition from independent brands in the SUV market has forced joint venture brands to launch more good-value products in this segment, which is the fundamental reason why China's SUV market has been booming."As Dong Yang, vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle Association and chairman of the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, said, the increased competitiveness of independent brands in the SUV field has not only led to the development of the SUV market, but also changed the monopoly of the joint venture brands in this field, so that China's SUV products are good value and inexpensive, and better meet the needs of consumers. With more and more independent car companies to enter the off-road vehicle market segment, the monopoly of joint venture brands and foreign brands in this field will also be broken, which can be seen from the Haval Raptor price down to 160,000 yuan.In the future, China's off-road vehicle market products will also be more diversified to fully meet the needs of Chinese consumers.
