Author | Chai Xuchen

Editors | Zhou Zhiyu, Wang Xiaojuan

The mainstream domestic automobile market has entered a dark horse that is disrupting the situation.

From second-tier players with monthly sales of 10,000 units a year ago to a new leading force with monthly sales of 0.04 million now, Zero Run, which has not been exposed to much spotlight in the past, has unexpectedly become an anomaly in the new energy market.

As the four C-series models were launched and remodeled one after another during the year, Zero Run's scale was a breakthrough. With a delivery volume of 0.0381 million vehicles in October, it surpassed the world and became a new force ranking second only to ideals. Chairman Zhu Jiangming revealed that Zero Run will exceed the annual sales target of 0.25 million units this year. This has also brought about some “happy worries”. Currently, its two factories in Jinhua, Zhejiang are producing at full capacity.

Not only did sales rise, but under the popularity of high-margin models such as the C16 and C10, Zero Run's gross margin rebounded 5.5 percentage points month-on-month to 8.2% in the third quarter, exceeding market expectations; losses also contracted at the same time, with an adjusted net loss of 0.54 billion yuan.

This means that Zero Run has finally achieved a breakthrough in brand awareness in an inflexible market, and sales and financial levels are on par with giants such as Ideal, BYD, and Tesla. Zhu Jiangming followed the trend and set up a flag at the earnings conference. “Next year's sales volume of 0.5 million plus a gross margin of 10% or more is the lowest target.”

You need to know that there are many players in the mainstream market, and the “latecomers” and “old money” are desperate to break the situation where BYD is alone, but there have been no successful cases of a successful landing.

What makes Zero Run stand out in the smoke of share and price wars? Its trick is to focus enough on the price range where it is located to provide users with competitive products.

Relying on the “Uniqlo” strategy and using the “half price ideal” label, C-series SUVs focused on zero running quickly became popular in the market this year and became a brand moat. Wu Qiang, president of Zero Run, revealed that the C series accounted for more than 80% of the new orders in October, with orders for the C11, C10, and C16 models all exceeding 10,000 units. Zero Run also used this to stabilize the 0.15 million yuan price band.

In terms of product strength, Zero Run is also shifting from meticulous global self-development, focusing on investment in intelligence, especially smart driving. Wu Qiang said that currently Zero Run is increasing investment in manpower, computing power, and equipment for smart driving, and is even setting up a separate Smart Driving Research Institute to mass-produce end-to-end capabilities next year. Zhu Jiangming is even more vocal about entering the first tier of smart driving by the end of next year.

Focusing on strong product segments, price segments, and product strength, Zero Run coincides with the ideal strategy of “New Force One Brother”.

According to Zhu Jiangming, electric vehicles are large electronic products, and their iteration and price reduction are much faster than traditional fuel vehicles. At the same time, in the current market environment where consumption is being downgraded, cost performance will increasingly become a consumer preference.

After seizing the 0.15 million-0.2 million yuan market segment, Zero Run also needed to take advantage of the victory and dive down 0.1 million-0.15 million yuan, a racetrack with a greater share of imagination. As a result, Zhu Jiangming presented the B-series new Wang Bang.

Zhu Jiangming revealed that next year, the B-series will be the focus of increasing contributions. Currently, three models are planned. They are preparing to replicate the success of the C series and enter the horse-racing market segment with the largest sales volume in China. “Although it is a B-class car, we need to sell it at the price of an A-class car.” Zhu Jiangming will also devolve smart driving and use lidar and Qualcomm 8650 chips in the B-series.

Zhu Jiangming's expectations for the B-series are to reach 0.04 million units per month, surpassing the C-series within the next two years. Together, these two series will become the main force of Zero Run, undertaking the task of 60 to 70% of sales.

In other words, Zero Run is ready to reap the 0.1 million to 0.2 million yuan market. According to data from the Passenger Federation, in the first 10 months of this year, this price segment accounted for 51% of passenger cars. To this end, Zero Run is building new production capacity in Hangzhou and Jinhua. It will be put into operation in the first half of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, respectively. At that time, it will achieve a total production capacity of 1 million units/year.

Next, by 2026, Zero Run will also take the A and D series, corresponding to 0.06 million-0.08 million yuan and 250,000 yuan models, respectively. Zhu Jiangming's grand blueprint is to achieve full coverage of the 0.06 million-0.25 million yuan market through the “ABCD” four platforms.

On the other hand, with the resources of Stellantis (Strantis), Zero Run International is also preparing to follow the domestic rise line and face the outbreak after a solid period of two previous years of cultivation. To this end, Zero Run will accelerate the promotion of localized manufacturing to reduce tariffs and transportation costs, and gradually lay out the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and South American markets.

At the moment, Zero Run's ambition is also clearly revealed - to become the next BYD. In the eyes of the market, Zero Run seemed to have won, yet Zhu Jiangming tortured his soul.

“At this stage, we can survive with annual sales of 0.5 million, but we won't be able to make one million vehicles in three to five years. Can Zero Run survive”? In the interview, he said bluntly on Wall Street that market share is critical to Zero Run. Currently, Zero Run is ranked 9th and 10th among new energy vehicle companies. Zero Run must drastically increase sales in the next three years. “The first five can survive, and only the top three can eat.”

Zhu Jiangming is not Versailles, because Zero Run's current mainstream market is full of temptations yet fraught with crisis. Established car companies with strong resources, such as BYD, Great Wall, and Geely, are fighting hard in this price range. Back waves such as Xiaopeng are also stepping up their offensive, while the once glorious Nacha and others have gradually lost their volume under the reshuffle.

Most players don't dare to say that they have a solid winning ticket, and the rotation of fate always accompanies them.

Zhu Jiangming said that people are now taking more share from fuel vehicles; this is relatively easy. Next, there are no increases; they can only strangle each other within their stocks; it will definitely be more difficult. “If you don't have scale, then you don't even have the capital to compete,” Zhu Jiangming said bluntly.

There is only one last resort to survival — scale up and become a giant with a voice. Zhu Jiangming believes that he will get more than 3 million cars until he actually survives. His focus on the new series and going out to sea is to get closer to this size step by step. In the global automotive market, a top seed player is developing savagely.

However, on this path to promotion, Zero Run also needs to respond more sensitively to turbulent market changes, so that its dream of being a giant can truly come true.