Every reporter Sun Tongtong, every editor Sun Lei Currently, while the car circle is “rolling inward”, the car companies are also facing the dilemma of homogenized competition. Recently, the chief designer of Zhiji Automobile, Xu Dengtao, posted on Weibo: “I was shocked when I woke up this morning. Since the debut of Zhiji L7 in 2021, it’s not the first time that the exterior design has been copied.” He also posted three pictures, including Dongfeng Fengxing Xinghai S7, Zhiji L7, and a comparison of the two, questioning whether the styling of Dongfeng Fengxing Xinghai S7 is suspected of copying L7.
From the perspective of the comparison chart released by Xu Dengtao, the shapes of the headlights of the two cars are indeed quite similar, both using long and slender LED light strips with a large area of smoked black design, and the shape and width of the lower front air intake are also almost identical. In response to this, a relevant person from Dongfeng Fengxing said, “I don’t know about this.” Zhiji did not respond positively to this matter. The reporter learned that Zhiji should not take further action. Public information shows that the Zhiji L7 is positioned as a pure electric mid-sized sedan, which made its debut in 2021 and was launched in 2022, with a current price range of 299,900 to 578,800 yuan (80400$), with single and dual motor models available. Under the extreme competition in the domestic car market, Zhiji announced in late February that the price of the 2024 L7 will be adjusted to 299,900 to 419,900 yuan (58330$) to further enhance its market competitiveness. Data shows that in 2023, Zhiji’s cumulative sales were about 38,000 units, and in 2024, Zhiji plans to target an annual sales goal of 120,000 units. As the first pure electric mid-sized sedan under Dongfeng Fengxing’s automobile, the Dongfeng Fengxing Xinghai S7 is based on the Dongfeng Group’s S2-E architecture platform, with a CLTC range of up to 500km. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the new car’s length, width, and height are 4935, 1915, and 1495mm respectively, with a wheelbase of 2915mm and a curb weight of 1730kg. According to the data released by Dongfeng Group, in 2023, Dongfeng Fengxing’s cumulative sales were about 85,700 units, a 29.94% year-on-year decrease, making it one of the brands with more severe internal decline within the group. In fact, as early as the end of 2022, Dongfeng Fengxing released a comprehensive new energy strategy – the “Photosynthetic Future” plan, proposing to achieve 100% electrification within three years and to stop producing fuel vehicles within five years. 2024 is a comprehensive new year for Dongfeng Fengxing, and they are planning to launch multiple new energy strategic models. Against this backdrop, the pure electric model Xinghai S7, based on a new platform, undoubtedly holds high expectations for Dongfeng Fengxing.
It is worth noting that in the process of electrification transformation of car companies, many electric vehicle models have been questioned for suspected plagiarism. Previously, the designs of models such as NIO ET7, Zhiji L7, Fevan R7, and Weimar M7 have been compared, and they are considered very similar in design style and even body posture. Some companies even went to court because of similar designs. For example, in 2018, Geely Automobile sued Weimar Automobile, claiming that the design of the Weimar EX5 model was suspected of plagiarizing the Geely Yuanjing SUV model, and demanded that Weimar Automobile pay 2.1 billion yuan in compensation and recover the patents that had been applied for by Weimar Automobile. In the end, Geely Automobile won the lawsuit, and Weimar and several other companies had to compensate Geely Holdings and Geely Automobile Research Institute 7 million yuan, including 5 million yuan for economic losses and 2 million yuan for expenses incurred to stop infringement. In 2023, Changan Automobile sent a lawyer’s letter to Geely Automobile, claiming that the Geely Galaxy “Galaxy Light” prototype car had many similarities with Changan Automobile’s concept and production cars, and was suspected of infringing Changan Automobile’s intellectual property. According to media comparisons, the original Galaxy model and Changan Shenlan SL03, UNI-V and other models do indeed have certain similarities in the front face, headlights, and tail design. However, this controversy was quickly resolved with the subsequent cooperation of the two companies. Some industry insiders believe that the reason electric vehicles have fallen into homogenized competition is largely related to the high similarity of electric vehicle technology in the three areas of automobile architecture, manufacturing technology, and functional equipment. Compared to fuel vehicles, the underlying logic of electric vehicle technology has changed, making it difficult for car companies to avoid falling into design homogenization in order to demonstrate the characteristics of electrification technology in their designs. Zhang Xiaoliang, founder and CEO of SoCar Product Strategy Consulting, believes that on the one hand, although China’s car design has made great progress with its own ideas and styles, the resources of designers are still relatively limited, and they may be influenced by similar educational backgrounds or design partners when it comes to the homogenization of electric vehicle design. On the other hand, car companies today rely too heavily on the design of smart electric vehicle products. Although appearance is important, car companies currently seem to completely tie sales to design, hoping for outstanding designs. This overlooks the direction in which smart electric vehicles should evolve, which is how to create differentiated user experiences and scenarios.