I don’t know since when, people’s life scenes are no longer simple, only work and family are two points and one line, but more elements such as travel, camping, sports, etc., and gradually become richer. Especially camping has become a high-frequency choice for young people's leisure and entertainment nowadays, which makes Geely smell new opportunities. On July 12, Geely officially released the radar car brand, and the brand's first pickup RD6 based on the SEA vast architecture also made its debut.

In today's increasingly fierce competition for electric vehicles, Geely, as the first brother of an independent car company, has naturally attracted the attention of the industry for its electrification transformation route. The newly established Radar Auto, which focuses on niche models such as new energy pickups, can survive the complex and fierce battle situation?

On the day of the launch of the new brand, Dr. Ling Shiquan, CEO of Radar Automobile, and Yi Han, CGO (Chief Business Growth Officer) of Radar Automobile, were interviewed by the Future Auto Daily and other media. Questions such as future development trends have been answered one by one.

Source: Radar Automotive

"The National Information Center and European IHS forecast the scale of China's pickup truck market in 2030 to exceed 3 million units." This is where Radar Auto's confidence lies, even if the domestic pickup truck market will only have a scale of 500,000 vehicles in 2021.

In fact, the loading attribute of the pickup now exceeds its travel attribute, and all functions have not been unlocked, and there is still a lot of development space to be explored. At the same time, under the wave of electrification and intelligence, there are more possibilities for the development of pickup trucks, which Radar Automobile defines as "new energy + diversity".

New energy is pure electric + super hybrid, and multi-dimensional is to meet the needs of users for outdoor travel and off-roading. Pickup trucks will no longer be limited to the positioning of production tools.

"For more than a year, the profound insights into the market, products, and user needs have been a process of growth and maturity for me," Ling Shiquan said in an interview. Obviously, meeting the more diverse travel needs of users and creating products with electric and intelligent technology are the core of radar cars.

The following is the dialogue between Ling Shiquan, Yi Han and Future Auto Daily:

Q: What is the new track of "new energy + diversification" proposed by Radar Auto? Please talk about the mental journey since the establishment of Radar Auto.

Ling Shiquan: The new track of "new energy + diversification" is based on our deep insights into economic trends, user needs, products and technologies.

First, from a macro perspective, the current overall economic trend of our country has become the second largest economy in the world since 2010. In the more than ten years since then, our country's economic strength, industrial policies, and the general environment for enterprise development have all defined a new track. This is a major change unseen in a century.

Second, from the perspective of people's living needs, in the previous period when the economy had not developed to a certain level, work and family were basically two points and one line. Now, people's time and scene have developed from the two points of work and home to the three poles of work, home and outdoor. Outdoor travel carries people's expansion of healthy lifestyle and knowledge and interest.

Third, from the perspective of the automotive industry, new energy vehicles have done very well in terms of intelligent technology and driving experience, but in the field of pickup trucks, they still rely on traditional fuel technology and are very single in function, or focus on tools. class, or focus on a single function. Therefore, we believe that the technology and products of pickup trucks need to be reformed to give users a better product experience through outdoor positioning.

Q: Start-up brands are all about co-creation and resource sharing with users. What ideas and plans does Radar Auto have in this regard?

Yi Han: In the past few years, I have participated in a lot of brand co-creation and business co-creation. During the process, I also deeply felt that the trend of "outdoor" is gradually emerging, and our end users' demand for outdoor is becoming more and more prominent.

Source: Radar Automotive

We visited many users before finally establishing the future products and business direction of Radar Auto. We hope to strengthen the building of fan groups, project the concept of fan groups to car owners, and the diverse friend brands we cooperate with, so that more friends can participate in it. The purpose is to let everyone give us more under the theme of diverse outdoor life. Inspiration, let each other have more participation, let more like-minded fans feel the happiness brought by outdoor life.

In the future, we will regularly hold activities, including car experience, to meet everyone's needs for traveling with electricity, and will also research outdoor travel tools based on more scenarios. Of course, outdoor is one of the directions we cut in, and we will expand more applications for the three poles of home, work and outdoor.

For example, fishing is very popular on self-media platforms now. This kind of activity has a very clear demand for cars, and many fishing enthusiasts have also begun to turn their attention from SUVs to pickups. Of course, in addition to fishing, outdoor camping, rock climbing, off-roading and other scenes, everyone has a common feature, that is, they want to share, and many friends who participate in the activities hope to share happiness through group activities. Radar Auto also hopes to participate, including regularly holding various activities for everyone.

Q: What are the technical advantages of Radar's first product, RD6, and what are the highlights in usage scenarios?

Yi Han: As our first car, the pure electric pickup RD6 is still in the engineering stage, and there are still several months before it is officially launched to the market. This car has the blessing of Geely Group's technical resources and is built based on the vast structure of SEA. It is currently the first domestic pickup product based on pure electric platform research and development, which is very different from some oil-to-electric pickups in the market.

From the perspective of positive research and development, the RD6 has the inherent advantages brought by the pure electric architecture, such as the sense of space. The volume of the front trunk of the RD6 exceeds 70L, which is suitable for multiple loads in cities and outdoors. You can store daily necessities and outdoor equipment. All put into the car, and even some special work equipment, such as drones, instruments and equipment, electronic components, etc.

Compared with the attributes of fuel-based pickups, the RD6 is comfortable to ride and performs well in autonomous driving technology.

In addition to the acceleration advantages and cost advantages of conventional electric vehicles, RD6 also has an external discharge function, and its external discharge power can reach 6kW. In outdoor scenes, users have a great demand for electrical loads, which can not only meet the needs of users to use projectors and induction cookers, but also meet the needs of users to use high-power, high-load electrical tools such as electric welding. So, RD6 can become a super large power bank.

Q: What is the internal connection between Radar Auto and Geely Auto Group?

Ling Shiquan: Radar cars are an important part of Geely's new energy strategic planning, which enriches Geely's industrial layout. In terms of brand, it develops side by side with other brands of Geely Automobile. At the same time, Radar Auto is mainly aimed at creating product attributes and service characteristics for diversification and outdoor. From a technical point of view, the radar RD6 has developed its own product characteristics using Geely's original technical foundation.

Q: Electric pickups belong to a relatively small market segment. Traditional pickups have non-load-bearing bodies and beams, and have traction functions. If an electric pickup is built, will these functions still exist? In addition, in terms of energy supplementation, how is the radar car laid out?

Ling Shiquan: For pure electric vehicles, high torque is the characteristic of the motor, which has a strong drag ability. Relatively speaking, new energy pickups also have the characteristics of high torque, environmental protection, and strong acceleration performance.

The structure of traditional pickups with girder and I-beam cannot be used for real pure electric drive. When Haohan Architecture designs the platform, the frame is integrated into the entire frame, and the body strength will be stronger, because we will use more aluminum alloy materials.

Regarding the energy replenishment system, first, Radar Auto will rely on the original energy replenishment system of Geely Automobile. Second, radar vehicles are interconnected with third-party energy platforms, and can use most of the mainstream third-party energy supplement systems in the domestic market. Third, we have also planned some contingency plans for users.

Yi Han: Radar RD6 has a battery life of more than 600 kilometers, which can meet the daily needs of more than 95% of users.

If users who prefer off-road are going to places like no-man’s land, there are still some gaps in pure electric vehicles. However, in the future, we have planned super-hybrid products, which can be used as supplementary solutions in some areas in the west that are rich in oil and low in electricity.

Q: The pickup truck market in China is relatively small. How big is the domestic new energy pickup truck market predicted by Radar Auto?

Yi Han: In the 1950s and 1960s, the living conditions of the middle class in the United States improved, which promoted the rapid rise of many outdoor products. At the peak, the penetration rate of pickup trucks in the United States can reach 20% or even exceed 20%. In my country, the penetration rate of pickup trucks in 2021 will only be 2.1%, which is nearly three times lower than the global average of 7%. Therefore, pickups in our country are severely restricted.

With the rise of outdoor demand, more users have begun to consider products such as pickups.

What's more positive is that from the national level, both the National Development and Reform Commission and the traffic control department have sent positive signals about the future product management and road management of pickup trucks. Especially recently, in order to stimulate the recovery of the entire new energy vehicle market, the state has gradually relaxed Restrictions on light trucks and pickups entering the city.

Q: How does Radar Automobile view the future development trend of the pickup industry? What are your expectations for the future development of the pickup industry?

Yi Han: The National Information Center and European IHS forecast that China's pickup truck market in 2030 will exceed 3 million units. It can be seen that the pickup truck market has huge development space in the future.

Ling Shiquan: There are two main factors influencing the future development of the pickup industry.

The first is the market, that is, customer demand. Everyone wants to live a better life, just like the diversification we propose. Compared with traditional utility pickups, people want to have a more comfortable driving experience; if it is an off-road pickup, people want to be more diversified. Except for off-road scenarios, the best It can also be used in daily life. In general, consumers in the pickup truck market are currently pursuing diversified expansion and a better car experience.

The second is policy guidance, one of which is product regulations. In the regulations promulgated last year, traditional pickup trucks began to change to passenger cars, which is related to product positioning; the second is about corporate policy guidance, which is very friendly to the pickup truck market; the third is To the benefit of consumers, the policy of pickup trucks entering cities has been gradually loosened. I believe that the pickup truck market will be the growth point of the future automobile industry chain and the change point of the stock.

Q: What is the origin of the name of Radar Car? Does it mean precise and hardcore?

Yi Han: In fact, in addition to hard-core and accurate understanding, "radar" is more important than intelligent technology, because the invention of radar has brought more possibilities for human beings to explore unknown spaces. The purpose of radar is to perceive the outside world and find things that the human eye cannot see. We named the brand "Radar" for this reason.

In the future, Radar Auto will also launch medium-to-large and full-size models, as well as full-size pickups (nearly 6 meters in size), which will be further improved in terms of styling, style, towing and off-road capabilities.