In a recent live broadcast, Lei Jun stated that if car company bosses all love cars and understand them, China's automotive industry will continue to improve. Wei Jianjun, the boss of Great Wall Motors, would certainly agree with his perspective. Recently, Lei showed off a drifting video at a press conference, but Wei not only revealed on Weibo that he has been riding motorcycles for 40 years, but also learned to drift with a second-hand Lada in the 1980s, and later modified a 212 to embark on the path of an off-road enthusiast.

The title "Baoding Car God" is not without foundation.

As big names in the car industry step into the limelight, Wei Jianjun, who once retreated behind the scenes, has also become a newcomer in the live broadcast circle, contributing many memorable quotes to the media. This time in Baoding, he returned to the stage of a new car launch after six years, telling the story of his relationship with the Weipai Blue Mountain.

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As a car brand named after his own surname, Wei Jianjun's passion for Weipai is unquestionable. In front of the all-new Blue Mountain, which has undergone a mid-cycle facelift, he said that he participated in the research and development and testing of the car, investing a lot of effort. The all-new Blue Mountain also carries the latest generation of Great Wall's technology, which is why he specifically came to support and cheer on the research and development team.Wei Jianjun, at the press conference, candidly admitted that the journey of the Wei brand has not been smooth sailing. In addition to fluctuations in sales, there were also high-computing power hardware and major suppliers building systems. However, due to the lack of phased integration, many issues arose with the smart cockpit, leading to a poor reputation.

Subsequently, the internal team launched a "vehicle machine battle", mastering key technologies through self-research, learning from products of Huawei, Xiaomi, and new forces, and co-creating and communicating with media and consumers. Now, the user experience is completely different.

Great Wall has never been a car company that excels in intelligence, but once a goal is set, it must be pursued. Now, the vehicle machine's smoothness is already leading the industry. Wei Jianjun "criticized" the team for being too modest, always claiming to be in the first echelon. However, in reality, they have been at the top of the Antutu vehicle machine benchmark for several months, and also ranked first in the Lu Master test. Therefore, they should confidently say that the new Blue Mountain is the current number one.

Regarding intelligent driving, Wei Jianjun also confidently stated that "the new Blue Mountain is the best in the industry now"—even though there is still a lot of room for improvement with the large model's data being insufficient.

Wei Jianjun recalled a previous live broadcast in Baoding, where he thought taking over once or twice would not be a problem. However, the intelligent driving team had high demands, and they managed to achieve 16.8 kilometers in 45 minutes in the bustling city center without any takeovers. The team's confidence grew, and they took him to Chongqing for another live broadcast. They very engineer-like chose complex road conditions, which made Wei Jianjun so nervous that he hardly spoke during the first half of the test, with sweat pouring down his back.After becoming more talkative, Wei Jianjun also mentioned some things that are "not suitable for broadcast."

He spoke about the young people in the intelligent driving team, saying: "Mr. Wei, you are over 60 years old and still causing us trouble." They jokingly mentioned that at this age, the license to drive heavy trucks has just been revoked, but everyone is talking about delaying retirement, and at 60, one still needs to be employed, so he still has to work. Especially since making cars has always been something Wei Jianjun is passionate about, so he doesn't feel tired and thinks every day about how to create more valuable products.

Including the new Lanshan's Hi4 plug-in hybrid, it is also the direction of design that Wei Jianjun is leading, and he has also figured out the tough off-road characteristics of "faster and slower" for the Hi4-T. He believes that the driving experience of the Hi4 performance version is very good, not only is the performance 3 seconds faster than two-wheel drive, but it also enhances safety. The decoupled four-wheel drive suitable for off-roading is very suitable for urban SUVs. Plus the clear color TV, convenient intelligent driving, practical refrigerator, and comfortable seats, the experience of the new Lanshan has taught him a lesson as an off-road veteran.

The new Lanshan model is the car that best represents the Wei brand. Wei Jianjun believes that it is very difficult to create such a product by relying on taking from others or suppliers. Good technology should stand the test, and users who are willing to drive and buy it is the greatest support for Great Wall.

Wei brand then announced the price of the new Lanshan: the Intelligent Driving Max version is 299,800 yuan, and the Intelligent Driving Ultra version is 326,800 yuan. Compared with the previous pre-sale prices of 308,800 yuan and 335,800 yuan, it has further reduced and entered the 200,000 yuan range, gaining a competitive advantage over the Li Auto L8.All pre-order customers of the new Blue Mountain have already received a lifetime free NOA advanced driving assistance feature and a benefit of 2000 yuan off 10000 yuan. At the launch event, Weipai offered new rights and interests, including not only free smart driving features but also a 5000 yuan discount for 8000 yuan in car purchase, a 5000 yuan optional fund, and a maximum of 30000 yuan replacement subsidy for old car owners.

The newly launched Blue Mountain is quite grand, with the entire series coming standard with CDC variable damping suspension, Hi4 performance version dual motors, the third-generation coffee OS car machine, and advanced driving assistance features. Comfort configurations such as refrigerators and sofas are treated equally, with a price difference of over 20000 yuan mainly in the 7.8kWh battery, rear entertainment screen, and suede-like wrapping.

Specific to the product details of the new Blue Mountain, I think they can be summarized in 9 aspects:

1. The new Blue Mountain's exterior has not changed much, with the most noticeable change being that the crossbeam in the middle of the trapezoidal front grille has become the same color as the car body, highlighting a sense of strength. The central laser radar on the roof is also a mainstream layout solution.

However, Weipai has made significant changes inside the car, with a minimalist design that better fits the mainstream consumer group's understanding of "new energy". The layout is very similar to the Ideal L series and the Lan Tu Dream Home, with the elimination of physical buttons and the use of eco-friendly fabric materials that are very Nordic—usually an additional cost of 2000 yuan, but now included in the high-end configurations.2. The original horizontal full-screen display has been replaced with a 15.6-inch 2.5K dual-screen setup for the central control and co-pilot, with a 9.5mm thickness, which is currently the thinnest automotive LCD screen available. Moreover, the front screens of the all-new Blue Mountain, like the 17.3-inch 3K rear entertainment screen, are the first in the automotive field to receive the TÜV Rheinland flicker-free certification. They also have low blue light certification, showing a genuine commitment to eye protection for children during viewing.

In addition to a 12.3-inch instrument cluster LCD screen, the all-new Blue Mountain also offers a 29-inch projection area for the SR-HUD head-up display, providing rich information and intuitive interaction with the driver.

3. Great Wall's self-developed Coffee OS 3 comes with 16GB of memory and 128GB of storage. The new UI interface of the all-new Blue Mountain aligns with mainstream new forces. The CPU computing power of the Qualcomm 8295 chip is 2.1 times that of the previous model, the GPU computing power is 2.8 times, and the NPU computing power is 6.7 times.

With a boot time of 2.7 seconds, a drag frame rate of 60 FPS, and a voice wake-up time of 298ms, it supports Air Touch gesture control and AI voice large models. These are all leading industry standards— at least according to the performance rankings of AnTuTu and Master Lu, and the car machine fluency rankings, the all-new Blue Mountain is currently number one.

4. Nappa leather seats are just the basics for the all-new Blue Mountain. Not only do the co-pilot and rear seats come with leg rests, which the Ideal L8 lacks, but from the official images, it appears that the co-pilot seat can be completely laid flat by removing the headrest, and it can be combined with the rear seat to form a comfortable large bed. Coupled with the standard ventilation/heating/8-point massage functions for the first two rows, the comfort it can provide during long journeys is maximized.From an actual experience perspective, the third row of the all-new Blue Mountain does not boast exaggerated legroom and headroom; instead, the trunk retains ample loading capacity even with six seats, and when the third row is folded down, it forms a flat cargo space.

5. The first-placed configuration of refrigerator, color TV, and large sofa cannot be missing. The all-new Blue Mountain features a 7-liter refrigerator integrated into the central armrest, with a separate compressor and a temperature control range covering -6°C to 50°C, while the refrigerator in the Ideal L8 has a temperature range from 0 to 50°C.

The all-new Blue Mountain also makes its global debut with its independently developed three-dimensional dynamic panoramic sound technology, with 23 rare earth speakers peaking at 2110W, and a sound intensity of over 100dB, which is already at the "audiophile" level. However, the all-new Blue Mountain still does not come with an optional electric door closer; is it because the car owner might not like it?

6. The all-new Blue Mountain uses the Hi4 performance plug-in hybrid system, a hybrid system with a 4-speed DHT and dual front and rear motors, which can adaptively switch among "three engines and nine modes," balancing performance and energy consumption: according to official information, the Ultra version has a WLTC fuel consumption of 6.6L/100km when the battery is depleted, and it can accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in just 4.9 seconds.

7. The all-new Blue Mountain 4WD Smart Drive Max is equipped with a 44.5kWh CATL ternary lithium battery, offering a WLTC range of 185km, and it does not downgrade to Xingwangda like the lower-end Ideal L8. The Ultra version, like the L8 Ultra, uses a 52.3kWh CATL ternary lithium battery, and the all-new Blue Mountain has a WLTC pure electric range of 220km, which is 15km less than the L8.The new Blue Mountain's WLTC comprehensive range is up to 1343km, and its large fuel tank significantly outperforms the Ideal L8 in terms of endurance. Moreover, the Wei brand's 1.5T engine boasts an additional 12kW of power and can run on regular 92-octane gasoline, resulting in lower vehicle operating costs.

8. In terms of chassis architecture, the new Blue Mountain continues to use a combination of MacPherson and five-link suspensions, but this time it introduces CDC (Continuous Damping Control) variable damping suspension, which allows for certain optimizations in driving quality from a hardware perspective. Coupled with a nearly 50:50 load distribution between the front and rear axles, iTVC (Intelligent Torque Vectoring Control), and 20-inch quiet tires, the new Blue Mountain does not have a weak point in driving, even without air suspension. It also avoids the resonance range of 2-5 Hertz, making it less likely to cause motion sickness.

9. Since the term "smart driving" is included in the model name, it indicates that the new Blue Mountain is heavily focused on intelligent driving capabilities.

In simple terms, it comes standard with Great Wall's third-generation Coffee Pilot Ultra, which not only has a 254TOPS computing power with an Orin-X chip but also includes 27 sensors such as lidar, 11 cameras, and 3 millimeter-wave radars, aligning its perception and mapping capabilities with mainstream intelligent driving solutions.

In the introduction, the new Blue Mountain can achieve full-scenario NOA (Navigation on Autopilot) without high-precision maps. The SEE smart driving large model also gives it the popular "end-to-end" capability of the moment—I asked the technical staff on-site, and this smart driving system follows the same single-model approach as Tesla and Ideal, but the specific lower and upper limits that the new Blue Mountain can achieve still require more real-world testing to determine. To verify this, Wei brand has prepared a 500km adaptation period for users who activate the feature for the first time, as safety must always be the primary concern, no matter how user-friendly the smart driving system is.Jia Shi Summary:

Bringing the all-new Blue Mountain's price back to the 200,000 yuan range is, in my view, not an impulsive decision by the Wei brand.

From a product positioning perspective, the direct competitors of the all-new Blue Mountain are the momentum-gaining Li Auto L8 and the AITO M7 Pro. The difficulty of carving a share from these explosive models is akin to snatching food from a tiger's mouth.

Looking down the market, Dongfeng Yipai and Leaper have already rolled out six-seater SUVs for under 200,000 yuan, and second-tier luxury brands have further lowered the price of their mid-to-large SUVs to the 300,000 yuan range. These external conditions all pose challenges to the all-new Blue Mountain—after all, it is the mainstay of Wei brand's sales.

In the absence of "what others don't have, I have," we believe that Wei brand's competitiveness lies in "what others have, I excel at," and compared to the 2023 Blue Mountain model, it can be considered as added value without a price increase.At the brand-new Blue Mountain launch event, Wei Jianjun stepped forward to address the doubts from the outside world —— Can Wei brand still make it through next year?

Saying give up is actually the easiest thing to do, but people always have to make difficult yet correct choices. Wei brand has experienced a smooth start and also needs to make a comeback against the odds. In the current complex automotive industry environment, it is not easy to regain momentum, but Wei Jianjun believes that his presence here is the best answer to this question.