In 2022, China’s car exports reached 3.40 million, officially surpassing Germany to become the world’s second largest car exporter. In most people’s impression, China’s auto industry is often "big but not strong". Although it has been the world’s largest sales market since 2009, foreign brands account for more than half of the market. Chinese brands that have grown up in China have not performed well. Even if they have completed "going overseas", most of them are relatively marginalized markets such as "Asia, Africa and Latin America". But in fact, this is an "impression flow" – a brand like Lynk & Co that originated in China has already entered Europe, the core market of global automobiles, and has established itself with a "subscription-based" innovative business model.
Last year, Lynk & Co’s ** payment increased by 300%, and the annual overseas shipment was 35,588 vehicles. Among them, Lynk & Co 01 PHEV, as the main overseas product, ranked first in the export of Chinese brands 250,000 and above. At present, it has obtained close to 200,000 subscription members in Europe.
In China, Lynk & Co is also continuing to expand its product line to cope with fierce market competition – for example, the Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition, which plays the role of "driving value assassin" in the 150,000-class SUV segment. On February 27, the Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition, which is officially priced at 165,900 yuan, was officially launched. Users who buy a car before April 30 can enjoy a claim price of 159,900 yuan, and the first owner "free quality assurance for life, free road assistance for life and free data traffic for life".
A "great value ideal SUV" worth buying and worth buying
The Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition is a limited version launched to commemorate the holding of the Hangzhou Asian Games. The biggest selling point is that it meets the dual needs of users for cost performance and quality. For Lynk & Co users, this is a "value-for-money ideal SUV" that is worth buying and worth buying. The core product strength of the Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition includes the standard 2.0TD T5 + 8AT gold powertrain, which ensures that the car has the power performance of a supercar – 254Ps maximum horsepower (187kW) and 350N · m peak torque, which can break 100 in 7.1 seconds. Another core competitiveness of the Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition is the chassis and handling stability of the European driving style, which allows its braking distance of 100 kilometers to reach 35m in the supercar class.
This car also lacks the "smart" attributes of the smart car era – a new generation of electronic and electrical architecture, supports OTA upgrades in the chassis domain, smart driving domain, cockpit domain, and body domain, and fuel vehicles can also enter the smart era. Including intelligent configurations such as Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chips and dual 12-inch large screens, this car has an intelligent digital cockpit that "understands the user’s driving best". In other configurations, Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition does not fall behind. For example, it inherits the lineage of the family’s "Central Europe Five-Star Safety Standard". It adopts a cage body structure, mainly composed of high-strength steel and aluminum alloys, to enhance the passive safety protection of the whole vehicle. The back panel of the rear seat also adopts a steel plate structure, giving the seat enough strength to effectively protect the safety of the rear occupants in the event of a rear-end accident. In terms of cabin internal health, the Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition uses a new CN95 anti-virus filter, which can remove 99% of the coronavirus. The Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition also integrates a number of active safety configurations, including AEB active emergency brake assistance system (with pedestrian identification), LKA lane keeping assistance system, dTPMS active tire pressure monitoring, 360 ° panoramic imaging system + 180 ° transparent chassis system and other intelligent driving auxiliary features. Other configurations are also very kind, such as the rare panoramic sunroof in the same class, front leather power seats, etc.
As the "Asian Games Commemorative Edition", the car has some details that highlight the more trendy custom Asian Games elements – such as the custom 18-inch wheels of Lotus Crown (homonym "continuous crown"), which are inspired by the "big lotus" of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium. In addition, the Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition will soon launch a limited gift box including Asian Games souvenirs, and later owners will have the opportunity to receive special benefits such as Asia-Pacific memory tours, event tickets or VIP rights access.
Rich product line, covering market segments user requests
As a high-end brand under Geely, Lynk & Co can be said to be born with a global DNA – in October 2016, the Lynk & Co brand was launched in Berlin, Germany. About a year later, the first model, Lynk & Co 01, was officially launched in Ningbo, China. The most important point is that Lynk & Co has now taken the lead in changing its role from a car manufacturer to a mobility service provider in Europe – a transformation benchmark for all traditional car manufacturers. At present, Lynk & Co has opened 11 offline experience stores in 6 European countries including the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain, and the global service system has been basically established.
As of February 2023, Lynk & Co’s cumulative sales exceeded 850,000 vehicles. In the domestic market, Lynk & Co has also established a youthful brand tone and a model matrix covering user requests, realizing a three-dimensional product layout of fuel + new energy, SUV + sedan and performance vehicle, and has achieved great success in the market. The launch of the Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition has enriched the product line, realized the expansion of the Lynk & Co 01 fuel version, and also enhanced the product competitiveness of Lynk & Co 01 in the 150,000-class SUV market segment. This allows the Lynk & Co 01 family to realize three power configurations: fuel, gasoline-electric hybrid, and plug-in hybrid, covering the efficient and environmentally friendly travel needs of almost all users in the market segment.
"150,000-class SUV driving value assassin"
At present, Lynk & Co also launched the purchase of the Asian Games Commemorative Edition model to receive an exclusive 6,000 yuan entitlement fee. Users who buy a car before April 30 can enjoy a 159,900 yuan entitlement price, which is excellent in the market segment. It is also based on this that this car is considered a "150,000-class SUV driving value assassin". Overall, the launch of the Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition is actually a victory in the era of user economy, using productivism to solve market pain points – although the 150,000-class market is the most intense competition, so far there has not been a real "killer new car". Lynk & Co 01 Asian Games Commemorative Edition is obviously here for this – to use the strongest product power and the highest cost performance to connect with user requests and solve market pain points. This allows Lynk & Co to establish a foothold in the basic market of China and expand the global market.
As mentioned earlier, Lynk & Co is actually the first Chinese high-end brand to successfully establish a foothold overseas. To some extent, this is completely logical – Lynk & Co itself is a brand with global resource allocation, with four major styling centers (Sweden, China, the United States, and the United Kingdom) and four manufacturing bases including the Yuyao factory. This makes Lynk & Co’s products inherently have the attribute of "global strategic models". Especially in the context of the current surge of Chinese cars "going overseas", Lynk & Co’s pioneering in Europe has not only realized local innovation in business models, but also walked a new path in both domestic and foreign markets. It also provides other brands, including JK, with experience in entering overseas markets. ( (Photo by Gilly Lynk)