Wen | Deng Cheng
Recently, the controversy over the hole-digging machine cover has made the car circle, which was quiet for a few days during the May Day holiday, lively again. People can’t help but sigh that the mass of new cars at the Shanghai Auto Show will never be as hot as the slobber.
When it comes to performance modification, Xiaomi SU7 Ultra looks murderous, and with the lap speed endorsement of Zhesai, the expected value of the hole opener cover is getting higher and higher. Coupled with Weibo forwarded by Lei Jun on March 2, it is even more hanging(quasi)The appetite of car owners has changed their orders from the original machine cover to the carbon fiber hole opener cover.
The performance modification market has always been divided into two markets: performance parts and mood parts, because track and street driving are always the scenes at both ends of the balance, so far no manufacturer can achieve a perfect balance. If we add another price factor, then the three will be a impossible trinity. No matter if the coordinate axis tilts a little to either side, it will inevitably sacrifice the other side.
In this case, if the manufacturer shows the appearance of "wanting both", then it can only do "superficial work", and the most popular modification of mood pieces in the past decade is the product of this marketing stunt.
Black lid and performance hook
I’m afraid we should start with AE86.
If the cartoon is the enlightenment of the post-80s, then the Initial D starring Jay Chou is the youth of the post-90s. In the movie, the engine limit was ignored because of Fujiwara Takumi’s eagerness to win. Finally, it ended in a blowout and lost to the Evolution of Sudo Keiichi.
However, this explosion also made Fujimoto discover the progress of his son’s strength, so he modified a 4AGE engine for him. At this point, the most classic panda black cover AE86 appeared, and both animation and movie accompanied Tuohai to win the following games.
The black cover on the family car has also become the best memory of "performance modification" in the hearts of the post-80 s and post-90 s.
With the vigorous development of the automobile industry, the substantial increase in the number of cylinders and the popularization of turbine technology, the hood has also turned from the initial flat and monotonous design to the functional evolution. For example, with the addition of electric turbine and variable cross-section turbine technology, the turbine hysteresis problem that originally needed double turbines to solve was improved. The turbine that originally needed 4,000-5,000 revolutions to start pressure quickly evolved to output surging power within 2,000 revolutions.
But the laws of physics will not disappear, the power will come faster and faster, and the accumulated heat will be more fierce. Super-runners with middle and rear engines can dissipate heat through the way of engine placement, while most performance cars with front engines can only introduce more air through the way of engine opening, so as to achieve the results of cooling and improving downforce.
Gradually, consumers’ cognition has also changed. Those things with black covers, big tails, front shovels and blades will still give people the momentum of speeding up at any time even if they keep driving at a constant speed on the road.
Impossible trinity is the same as the laws of physics.
Deeply troubled the marketing department of car companies.
Just as heat dissipation is inseparable from punching holes, car companies are also facing the problem of consumers’ growing appetite.
The demand for "mood pieces" in the domestic market is much higher than that in overseas markets. Traditions such as BBA have obvious differences in the appearance of domestic and foreign models. Various AMG, M, S-line kits emerge in an endless stream. Originally, they need additional accessories in overseas markets and will not easily appear in the appearance of entry-level models, but they have been decentralized to C200, 325i and A4 40TFSI in the domestic market.
So that in order to distinguish the real M series, BMW later changed the G8X model into a huge kidney shape, which made the most thorough distinction from the ordinary 3 series. If we follow BMW’s previous design ideas, I’m afraid fans can only distinguish the 325i dazzling night version from the real M Power through the slightly widened fender.
However, the increasingly comfortable 3 Series also proves the change of the market trend. Consumers just want a car that looks sporty, not a car that really moves when driving. After all, when stuck in the rush hour, the sore waist will let you know who is the real owner of the body.
So, the limited budget, the necessary and important market demand and the unbreakable physical laws have become the new impossible trinity of the marketing department of automobile enterprises.
The Xiaomi Marketing Way of Cheng Ye Lei Jun and Defeat Ye Lei Jun
Back to the screenshot of Weibo on March 2nd, it is not difficult to see that Lei Jun, who regarded Xiaomi as the last battle of his career, worked very hard at least before the car accident.
Auto executives actively marketing on social media can really bring high-efficiency traffic feedback, but auto products have extremely low transaction frequency and are prone to major accidents when they are not used properly. When negative news happens, executives are also the first batch of cannon fodder that will be dragged up to block the muzzle of public opinion.
How much performance improvement Xiaomi’s hole opener cover has brought, and how much reducibility it has for the exaggerated aerodynamic kit of the Newbei prototype, has always been a mystery on the SU7 Ultra.
The 911, which also has a front trunk, on its high-performance track version GT3, the space of the front trunk is cancelled, and a small area of ventilation duct is designed instead to improve heat dissipation and increase downforce.
On the other hand, the higher-order GT3RS uses extremely outrageous aerodynamic kit and opening area to achieve stronger downforce and enhance its high-speed bending performance.
It can be said that from 911, to GT3, and then to GT3RS, consumers can perceive where the money is spent, and the efforts of the engineering team in challenging the boundaries of physical laws.
Interestingly, there is also a big gap in the data of downforce between the production car and the prototype car of SU7 Ultra. The downforce publicity page of the production car not only did not show the version of the open cover, but the overall downforce was only 285kg.
The downforce of the prototype at the press conference reached a horrible 2145kg, which was seven times as much. Although the two models are consistent in dynamic performance, they are very different in aerodynamic performance.
Perhaps the performance of the prototype is too dazzling, which gives consumers too high expectations, or perhaps it is the vague statement forwarded to Weibo on March 2, and the feedback of the tapping machine cover in the market is too good. Xiaomi chose to actively downplay the performance of the tapping machine cover. After all, everyone wants to do this business of "selling performance parts and making money from mood parts".
So back to the theme of the matter, electric drive technology makes power cheaper, and the performance related to competition, whether it is aerodynamic kit, chassis tuning or braking technology, is still a peak that cannot be easily crossed. The price war has been killing today, and everyone is trying to lower the threshold of luxury cars and performance cars with lower prices.
Consumers are sure to love it, but they don’t want to be deceived. After all, playing emotional value is still inseparable from those two words: sincerity.
