China’s Gen Z Females Love the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV
The WuLing Hongguang Mini EV rose to fame around July 2020. It is manufactured by the joint venture of SAIC, GM and Wuling. This all-electric city car became an instant hit among all generations, especially young female consumers. Hongguang Mini EV sold more than 200,000 vehicles within the first 200 days, setting a global sales record for new energy vehicles.
As we just hinted at, what is especially interesting is this vehicle’s consumer base. 72% of Wuling Hongguang Mini EV owners are born in the 90s. And 60% of Wuling mini owners are females. They proudly call themselves the Wuling girls.
The Origins of the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV
Many years ago, not long after China imposed restrictions on car buying to reduce pollution and traffic congestion, a new form of transportation emerged, which Chinese people refer to as an ‘elderly mobility vehicle’. The elderly mobility vehicle was originally designed as a small electric vehicle for elderly people to go to places such as hospital, pharmacies, and grocery stores. It is typically allowed in bike lanes and small roads and doesn’t require a license plate (although in some cities that is now changing.)
However, the industry took an interesting turn. As China imposed more and more restrictions on car ownership, young people who hadn’t yet won a license plate in the lottery or couldn’t afford a real car started to use elderly mobility vehicles as daily commute transportation.
And the industry saw this as an opportunity, and the design of these vehicles has also changed from tailored to elderly people to more modern, futuristic design to draw more younger buyers. So, the mobility vehicles went from simply an electric wheelchair type thing to become full blown mini EV cars. And because they are not classified as real cars, there are no restrictions on design, copyright and safety standards. Manufacturers started to come up with outrageous designs. Some even started to copy popular luxury cars, you can find yourself a nice “Hummer H2” for a fraction of the cost.
Transformation From ‘Elderly Mobility Vehicle’ to Trendy Mini EV
But not to confuse you – we are not saying the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is an elderly mobility vehicle. We are just explaining its origins. This vast market of mobility vehicles has been around for at least a decade if not more.
Wuling’s moto is “We build what people need.” So Wuling did not make something new, they just saw the demand for these types of vehicles and made one that is road worthy. They transformed the elderly mobility vehicle to a safe and trendy vehicle that can be driven on the highway.
Now the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is a huge step up from an elderly mobility vehicle. The Mini EV is equipped with two options, a 9.2 kWh battery capable of 75 mi (120 km) or a 13.8kWh battery capable of 110 mi (170 km) on a single charge. The Mini EV seats four and is equipped with air conditioning, stereo with USB hook up and antilock braking system. All of this makes it the perfect city car.
The Advantages of Buying a WuLing Hongguang Mini EV
The Mini EV cost between $4,162 – $5,607 making it super affordable. What’s even better is that many large cities in China are making exceptions for the Wuling Mini because its small and it’s an EV. For example, in Shanghai license plates cost 15,000 RMB on average. But if you buy the WuLing Hongguang Mini EV you do not need to pay for the license plate, it comes with the car. And because it is an electric vehicle there’s also subsidies from the government and no sales tax. In major first tier cities, the Wuling Mini also does not have driving restrictions.
From a drivability standpoint, consumers tend to shy away from micro cars, because they tend to feel unstable at high speeds or when cornering. However, the WuLing Mini EV doesn’t have this issue because it utilizes the popular EV ‘skateboard’ design where the heavy battery packs are located within the floor of the vehicle, making it heavy on the bottom, giving it a low center of gravity. It is a small car but stable to drive on the highway.
First time car buyers are now frequently choosing the WuLing Hongguang Mini EV because of its maneuverability and because it is easy to park. Inexperienced drivers can navigate the busy city streets with ease. And if accident does happen, because it is a cheap car, owners often just use fun decals to cover it up, instead of going to a paint shop have it repaired.
How else are they attracting young consumers?
Fun Designs
Younger generations want to express their individuality and personality, and WuLing has made the HongGuang Mini EV the perfect canvas. The auto maker is constantly debuting new colors, especially ones that are popular among female consumers. For example its newest series of ‘macaroon’ colors are avocado green, peach pink, and lemon yellow.
It also encourages buyers to take it a step further, with fun aftermarket modifications such as customized wheels, spoilers, roof racks and colorful wraps and decals. There are tons of posts on social media with car owners sharing their modifications.
Last year Wuling held a Wuling Mini Day, inviting tons of popular Chinese fashion and lifestyle influencers to come take pictures with dozens of themed Minis, including Doremon, Pikachu, panda, etc.
For another event, Wuling collaborated with popular new tea brand Hey Tea to create a special Wuling Mini design.
Social Media
Wuling is extremely active on key social media channels such as Xiaohongshu that are popular among its core consumer base of Gen Z females. Besides constantly publishing content on Xiaohongshu, the brand has also held many product giveaways contests on the platform. For example, they ran a campaign where customers had to take a picture with their keys and tag the brand account.
Wuling is currently holding a campaign to promote their new macaroon colors. Going on picnics and being in nature has become more popular among young consumers in recent years, so Wuling is holding a contest where people post pictures of themselves having a picnic or camping and use a specific hashtag for a chance to win a new Mini EV. It is running from April 2nd-25th already 61K people have participated and over 67 million have viewed content from the campaign.
Cheap But Cool
What’s really interesting about this vehicle is that even though it is EXTREMELY affordable, it has also become very trendy. In China, most of the time when it comes to cars, expensive is considered better. But this is not the case with the Wuling Mini. Wuling has done an incredible job with the car’s design and branding, making it a sought-after vehicle among China’s Gen Z and millennial females.
