When evaluating why the Tesla Model 3 can stand out in the domestic market, the general opinion is that in the electric car market of the same price, it is difficult for you to match a comparable opponent for the Tesla Model 3. It is true that in terms of interior and exterior design, Tesla Model 3 does have many details that will be complained by users, but within the price range of about 300,000, the new energy models that can surpass Tesla Model 3 in terms of car experience are indeed. not much.

　　But one of the costs of becoming a "benchmark" in the market is that an endless stream of competitors will flock to it. After the domestic Tesla Model 3 is launched and sold well, the most important thing is actually a competitor. In the past two years, the models that are advertised as the lifelong enemy of Tesla Model 3 can be described as one after another. As long as there are products of the same type on the market, it is already an essential process to take a tough anti-Tesla Model 3 attitude in marketing. This is also commonplace in the industry, and not many people will really take it to heart, but a new car that has been launched recently has brought the topic of "catching up with Tesla" back into the hot spot.

　　This car is the BYD Seal.

　　On May 20, SEAL officially opened the pre-sale, and the pre-sale price was 212,800-289,800 yuan. It is reported that within 7 hours of the pre-sale of the new car, the number of orders reached 22,637, and within two days, the number of orders exceeded 50,000. The power layout of medium-sized pure electric cars, rear-wheel drive + four-wheel drive, all signs are obvious, what the seal has to do is to pull the Tesla Model 3 down from the altar.

　　Are seals the Han of Ocean Net?

　　In the medium-sized electric sedan market, BYD has previously launched a "star" model, the Han, which has two versions: pure electric and plug-in hybrid. The market target set after the launch is also the Tesla Model 3.

　　The first thing we need to understand here is, is the seal another Han? Previously, many people in the industry regarded the seal as another Han launched on Haiyang.com under BYD's "two-car strategy". It is a certain fact that after distinguishing between Haiyang.com and Dynasty.com, BYD did sacrifice " Two-car strategy" card.

　　The so-called "two-vehicle strategy" previously mainly refers to the fact that many joint venture brands have relatively limited product resources, in order to better coordinate the two joint venture companies (according to relevant industry policies, foreign car companies can only have at most two domestic car companies. The same type of vehicle joint ventures) resource allocation, balance the revenue and product lineup, and finally realize the product strategy adopted for the purpose of increasing the overall sales in China: the same model will be put into production in two joint ventures respectively.

　　Volkswagen can be regarded as the ancestor of the "two-car strategy" in the domestic auto market. Today, its main models are basically produced by SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen; Honda and Toyota are also outstanding in this regard, XR-V and Binzhi, CR-V and Haoying, Corolla and Lei Ling, Rongfang and Willanda, etc., two car companies are also actively promoting their own "dual car strategy".

　　A major premise for the success of the "two-car strategy" is that the brand power of car companies must be strong enough. In addition, the potential of market segments and the market appeal of prototype cars must also have a certain foundation. From this point of view, in the current domestic auto market, BYD is indeed an independent car company that is more suitable for implementing the "two-car strategy". First of all, in terms of brand power, BYD's current momentum can be called a one-off. More importantly, the Dynasty series and Ocean series distinguished by BYD will have different overall concepts in design, which can avoid the problem of serious homogeneity of products under the "two-car strategy". In terms of market potential, BYD's market focus has completely shifted to the field of new energy, and the new energy market is obviously the field with the most market potential in China. As for prototype cars with strong appeal, BYD is not in short supply at present. Qin PLUS, Song PLUS, Yuan PLUS, etc., the new cars launched by BYD in the past two years are already strong competitors for the sales champion in the market segment.

　　BYD did exactly that. On the premise that Qin PLUS continues to sell well, BYD brought the destroyer 05, a brother model of Qin PLUS, in March this year, and began to promote the "two-vehicle strategy" between Dynasty.com and Haiyang.com. When the seal first announced the product information, because the wheelbase was exactly the same as that of the Han (both wheelbases were 2920mm), it was widely speculated in the industry that the seal would be the Han of the ocean network, but with the gradual improvement of the officially announced product information, we It was also gradually discovered that, apart from the same wheelbase, the seal and the Han have little in common. With a new design, a new battery layout, and stronger power performance, it is clear that in the medium-sized electric vehicle market, BYD is showing its own evolutionary form through the new model of the Seal.

　　Can Seals Really Challenge Tesla Model 3?

　　But the question is, can the evolved seal be able to challenge the Tesla Model 3?

　　As a reference, we can first take a look at the performance of the "predecessor" model Han. Although it has experienced market fluctuations for a period of time, on the whole, Han's attempt on mid-to-high-end electric cars is undoubtedly successful. At the beginning of the listing (officially listed in July 2020), BYD Han's attention and market performance have shown a trend of soaring, and in November 2020, it quickly achieved a breakthrough in monthly sales of 10,000 vehicles. After April 2021, the sales data of BYD Han has dropped significantly. It failed to break 10,000 for several consecutive months. Until the second half of 2021, with the overall outbreak of BYD in the new energy vehicle market, the Han family returned to the market. It has reached a high of more than 10,000 units per month.

　　But compared with Tesla Model 3, Han has always had a big gap in market performance. Up to now, the highest monthly sales record of BYD Han is 13,700 units in December 2021, and the monthly sales of Tesla Model 3 have been since March 2021 (the special situation of Tesla’s Shanghai factory being suspended for a long time due to the epidemic in April this year. Except), basically maintained at more than 20,000 vehicles.

　　Next, to catch up with Tesla Model 3, this is something that Han has not done, does the seal really have a chance?

　　Previously, in the field of electric vehicles, when comparing with Tesla, the first thing everyone would mention is the brand power. There is still a relatively obvious gap between Chinese car companies and Tesla. However, in the current domestic terminal market, BYD's brand influence is no longer under Tesla's, and its new cars are not as popular as Tesla's, so the answer to the question of whether Seal can challenge Tesla's Model 3 does not matter. Not in terms of brand power, the key is to answer what the seal has evolved.

　　At the press conference of the seal pre-sale, the CTB technology was the highlighted part. The full name of CTB is cell to body, which is a battery-body integration technology and a relatively forward-looking new technology in the current and industry. Previously, Leapmotor officially announced its CTC (full English name cell to chassis) battery-chassis integration technology, and announced that it would mass-produce the technology on its mid-to-large sedan Leapmotor C01. The structural battery released by Tesla CEO Musk at the Tesla Battery Day in September 2020 also belongs to the category of battery body integration technology; Volvo and Volkswagen Group have previously held their corporate strategy conferences. , have mentioned CTC; CATL, a leading company in the domestic power battery field, also said that it is accelerating the research on CTC technology, and plans to launch the fourth-generation highly integrated CTC battery system around 2025.

　　In BYD's official introduction, it explained what is battery-body integration technology. The battery upper cover and the body floor are further integrated into one, and the "sandwich" structure of the original battery pack has evolved into the "sandwich" structure of the entire vehicle. The power battery system is both an energy body and a structural part. This technology is similar to the current battery structure of smartphones. In the era of traditional mobile phones, the batteries of mobile phones can be disassembled. However, with the popularity of smartphones many years ago, the battery structure of mobile phones quickly completed the iteration of integrated batteries. In the history of mobile phone development, it can be called a peak technological innovation. In BYD's view, the battery-body integration technology will also bring the same changes in the field of automobile design. This integration simplifies the body structure and production process, and will be a subversive change to the traditional body design.

　　However, after the battery becomes a structural part, a new question must be answered first. After the vehicle is hit, will the battery structure lose control due to the greater impact? BYD's solution is to change the packaging structure of the battery, which can significantly improve the safety performance of the CTB chassis through the honeycomb aluminum structure packaging.

　　The evolution of the seal is also reflected in the fact that through this car, BYD has also entered the era of the rear area. Yes, the seal is BYD's first mass-produced rear-drive car. It has to be said that in the minds of many consumers, the rear drive itself represents the advanced level. In addition, it is very important that the chassis system of Seal is also fully optimized. Seal adopts double wishbone front suspension and five-link rear suspension, which should bring better performance in terms of handling and comfort. .

　　If Han is regarded as a product that has threatened Tesla Model 3, then the seal, which has advantages over Tesla Model 3 in terms of chassis structure, dynamic performance and even price, should be a more qualified seal player. At least, the seal should be the beginning, kicking off the prelude of Chinese electric vehicles challenging Tesla in the mid-to-high-end market.