In 2025, Haobo will officially become "Guangqi Haobo" independently from the Guangqi Ai'an sub brand, and be listed as one of the three major independent brands of Guangqi along with Ai'an and GAC.

At the dealer conference of GAC Group at the beginning of the year, Ma Haiyang, who had previously worked in GAC Aion's overseas business group, officially appeared as the CEO of Haobo and laid the foundation for the future development of this brand with the theme of "Haobo, Starting Again". At that time, it should have been clear to the outside world that Haobo might once again stand at the center of the stage and compete with new forces.

The newly appointed Chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group, Feng Xingya, publicly stated that "there will be no upper limit to support Haobo in the next three years", promising to invest top-notch manpower, material resources, and financial resources, with the goal of building it into a "technology, luxury, and high-end" Chinese luxury brand.

Through independent operation and resource allocation, Haobo has finally embarked on its own path of advancement after experiencing a sluggish development during the brand's initial stage.

As the entire Guangzhou Automobile Group enters a "wartime state", recently Yin Shuang, who had previously worked at Jiyue and Mobike, was appointed as the Haobo brand marketing officer of the Haobo marketing headquarters by Guangzhou Automobile Group. It seems that everything has laid a solid foundation for the development of this brand.

Last night, Guangzhou Automobile Group showcased its long-awaited "Star Source Extended Range" while Haobo took advantage of the situation to launch the HL Extended Range Edition as the first car under the new technology label. It is obvious that this is another profound implementation of the chairman's unconditional support for the development of Haobo.

But at the same time, we should also understand that the current market situation of high-end brands in China is much more complex than imagined.

Leaving aside the question of whether the market capacity will truly increase due to the weak influence of traditional luxury brands such as BBA, judging solely from the current aggressive attitude of domestic car companies towards this market, Haobo's future path may not be determined by a single move.

01 Range Extension Ignites Hope for Haobo

As is well known, the Chinese car market is still very volatile this year. As the price war deepens into the bone marrow of the industry, almost everyone sees the sinking of technology and the reduction of product dimensions as the key to breaking through.

For many years, as the spokesperson for range extender power, I believe there is no need for me to say much about how strong its appeal to users in the end market is. At first glance, there seems to be no difference between the L6/7/8/9 models, except for the product lineup in terms of body size, which is not much more advanced than the new cars launched by competitors. However, in terms of sales, it is a unique presence in the Chinese car market.

Even more so, precisely because of such market performance, Wen Jie, who is also betting on range extension, has largely replicated the ideal approach. Even though some people say that Huawei's golden brand has played a significant role in it, according to market feedback, this type of extended range SUV is really "fragrant".

Since the beginning of this year, how many similar products have emerged in the market? Just by flipping through the vehicle declaration drawings released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in the past six months, I dare say that any Chinese car company has also produced corresponding new cars.

For a moment, not to mention the actual demand for medium and large new energy SUVs, for various brands, it's like "thousands of troops crossing a single wooden bridge" is just a joke. In such a market environment, Haobo certainly has no reason not to follow, but this means that in order to break through and emerge, it will have to use some tricks.

Previously, Haobo HL pure electric briefly explored the boundaries of mid to large new energy SUVs. Now, if the HL extended range version intends to bring some returns to the group's efforts, simply shouting slogans is not enough.

In order to achieve the effect of "Rocket", Haobo HL Extended Edition hopes to use its technical strength to achieve "large power, ultra fast charging, free charging" and comprehensively solve user anxiety.

Upon closer inspection, the Haobo HL Extended Range Edition is equipped with the unparalleled 60kW · h Ningde Times Snapdragon Super Hybrid Battery in its price range, providing users with the longest pure electric range of 350 kilometers in its class, accurately hitting the core pain point of traditional extended range vehicles' frequent charging. It can be used as a pure electric vehicle in daily life.

In terms of energy replenishment efficiency, the Haobo HL extended range version has the only 800V/5C supercharging technology in its class, which makes a qualitative leap in charging efficiency. It only takes 10 minutes to replenish 210 kilometers of range.

Furthermore, in terms of configuration, double zero gravity seats are standard, the chassis adopts front double wishbone+rear five link aluminum alloy suspension, and intelligent adjustable shock absorbers SDC and dual chamber air springs are standard;

In terms of intelligence, the new car is equipped with an intelligent cockpit with the new generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295P chip; Equipped with GAC GSD advanced intelligent driving assistance system, including laser radar, Orin-X chip, end-to-end large model algorithm, etc.

To be honest, when the HL extended range version sets a price range of 269800 to 299800 yuan for a bunch of seemingly valuable software and hardware systems, I feel that Haobo is actually quite sincere.

However, 2025 is destined to be a year of fierce competition.

The Lynk&Co 900 is becoming more and more courageous, and the all-new WENJIE M7 is on the verge of being launched. These two individuals alone are likely to completely disrupt the SUV market at this price point. Not to mention, if the Ideal series were to engage in a price war, new cars such as the Geely Galaxy M9, which focus on cost-effectiveness, could educate potential consumers at any time. What would this market look like.

Having good products alone is far from enough

At present, Haobo is in a critical period of transformation where resources are abundant but sales are under pressure. Faced with a severe market environment and constraints on its own development, any new car launched will always gather all the resources that the group can provide to Haobo. We have no reason to question this.

Interestingly, not long ago, when the Ledo L90 was released, Li Bin, the leader of NIO, raised questions about the current state of the new energy SUV market.

We have seen a trend now, that is, the battery of the range extender is getting larger and larger, not to further reduce the frequency of use of the range extender. Originally, you could use it five or six times a year, but now you may only use it once or twice a year

Given the current completeness of energy replenishment infrastructure and the impressive peak range of various pure electric vehicles, it can be said that the disadvantages of pure electric vehicles in the past have gradually been erased.

However, the fact is that Chinese users have never felt at ease when facing the issue of mileage anxiety. Under strong range anxiety, once a car company proposes to equip extended range vehicles with a large battery and convince consumers that this is the trend, it will definitely become the industry consensus of most people.

At this point, is it wise for Haobo HL Extended Range Edition to follow this logic and be launched into the market? And will it gain a certain first mover advantage?

Looking at it optimistically, because competitors have been somewhat conservative in their use of large batteries, and have indeed given newcomers some opportunities to break through. Haobo HL Extended Range Edition is likely one of them.

But objectively speaking, it should be asked whether such product advantages focused on the car use stage can actually bring some benefits to brands with weaker user bases like Haobo before sales? I don't think the answer is so certain.

In the relatively high-end new energy market, the outside world has always felt that compared to the product itself, a large number of consumers are following the trend. It's really difficult to persuade Ideal and Wanjie to embrace other brands when they have already put the standard choices of this market in front of them.

Yes, from Haobo's own perspective, the launch of the Haobo HL extended range version is not only the first landing of GAC Xingyuan extended range technology, but also a downgrade blow to the new energy SUV market in the price range of 260000-30000 yuan with the product strength of "full rights and luxury full configuration".

For Haobo, we can also conclude that the breakthrough point in the future will be that if the upcoming Haobo HL Extended Range Edition can fulfill its promises in terms of battery life and experience, it may become a key lever to reverse the decline; At the same time, if Haobo can accelerate the reconstruction of user trust and make precise adjustments to brand positioning, it is uncertain whether it can achieve a small victory in the red ocean of the high-end new energy vehicle market.

Anyway, the market's sense of backbone cannot be ignored. Next, from the Haobo HL extended range version to the Haobo A8 that just appeared in the list of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, their burden will not be reduced at all due to overwhelming confidence.

To put it simply, no matter how much resources the group provides to Haobo and how deep the background of the newly appointed senior management is, sales are still the primary criterion for measuring everything. So, instead of setting up a persona and shouting slogans, we look forward to Haobo being able to enhance the brand's presence in the end market with the HL extended range version as the anchor point in the remaining months of 2025.