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At the 2023 Hainan Auto Show held on January 6th, the Harvard H-DOG is a brand new model with two boxes. The new car adopts a relatively strong design style and a plug-in hybrid system. In terms of appearance, the Harvard H-DOG uses the 3ax 4 scale family gene, and the front part of the car is similar to the Haverdog, but the grille is more stylish, the polygonal narrow front grille is supplemented by dot matrix chrome plating similar to the rounded rectangle, and the round headlamp is the same as the dog's design, with a well-defined front bumper below and a large narrow strip trapezoidal air intake. In addition, Harvard H-DOG will adopt a new Harvard brand logo, which will not only improve recognition, but also let others know at a glance that it is a new energy model.

On the side of the body, Harvard H-DOG uses the usual design techniques of off-road models, such as a high body, a muscular wheeled eyebrow and a rich waistline. At the same time, the car adopts a flat roof design, which can provide sufficient head space for passengers to a certain extent and bring a more comfortable ride experience. In the rear part, the new car uses a polygonal taillight group, together with the English logo of the Harvard brand in the center, to further broaden the lateral perspective of the car. In terms of size, the length, width and height of Harvard H-DOG are 4705/1908/1780mm and wheelbase 2810mm respectively.

In terms of interior decoration, the Harvard H-DOG adopts a new design style, the size of the suspended central control screen is further enlarged, and a row of physical buttons are retained below to enhance the driver's operation while driving the vehicle, while the steering wheel and dashboard are basically the same as the Haver Dog. At the same time, the new car uses a block handle shape similar to the tank 300 model, with a power switching knob behind it.

In terms of power, the new car will be equipped with a 1.5T+2 block DHT-PHEV powertrain with a maximum power of 240kW and a peak torque of 530Nm. The pure electric mileage will provide both 50km and 100km for consumers to choose from. In other ways, the car is equipped with two locks and a Bogwarner intelligent electronically controlled all-wheel drive system.

In September 2020, the Haver Dog officially launched, the model uses a load-bearing body, positioning city off-road SUV, providing 1.5T and 2.0T power, the current official guidance price of 11.99-167900 yuan. The emergence of the Harvard Dog has broken the market's perception of the Harvard brand, but it has earned enough attention from the naming of the model. Since then, Harvard seems to have mastered the "traffic password", listed one after another Harvard first love, Harvard Red Rabbit, Harvard God Beast and other models. The Haverku dog, which is based on the Great Wall lemon platform, was officially launched in August 2022 and is the second model of the Harvard dog line with an official price range of 1.38-149800 yuan. The newly launched Harvard H-DOG will become the third model of the "dog series", which is significantly higher than the Harvard Dog and the Haverku dog, and in fact, the first plug-in hybrid model of the Harvard dog series indicates that it is expensive.

In August 2022, Harvard held a new energy strategy conference to announce the brand's comprehensive transformation to a new energy track. According to the plan, the proportion of sales of Harvard new energy models will rise to 80% by 2025, and the sale of fuel vehicles will be officially suspended in 2030. The insurance figures show that Harvard New Energy vehicles sold only 1426 vehicles from January to November, while Harvard sold a total of 423400 vehicles, which is not worth mentioning to the Harvard brand.

It is important to note that although there are still eight years to go before Harvard officially stops production and sale of fuel vehicles, the decision is obviously difficult because it is still fuel vehicles that are responsible for the sales of the Harvard brand. According to the Harvard official website, only a small number of models currently on sale, such as H6, H6S, Red Rabbit and Immortal Beast, are equipped with gas-electric hybrid technology, while M6, first Love, Big Dog, H9, F7 and other models only offer fuel options. By contrast, BYD announced that it would stop production of fuel-fueled cars in early April 2022 and completed the switch between fuel and electricity in March.

The bigger challenge for Harvard is that Chinese regulation defines a narrower and clearer scope for "new energy vehicle brands". The official document of the National Development and Reform Commission pointed out that gas-electric hybrid (HEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles all belong to the scope of fuel vehicles. It also means that Harvard must clear internal combustion engine products, plug-in hybrids and gas-electric hybrids from its product range by 2030, leaving only pure electric vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles. At present, Harvard has zero products in the two major areas of pure electric and fuel cell vehicles.

For Harvard, the challenges ahead are enormous. According to the production and sales data released by Great Wall Motor, the Harvard brand sold a total of 572224 vehicles in November 2022, down 15.30% from the same period last year, of which November sales were 53923, down 22.04% from the same period last year. In 2011, Harvard officially launched H6, which broke through the encirclement of the joint venture brand as soon as it was listed, dominating the SUV market for ten years in a row, allowing more consumers to realize their SUV dream, while under the wave of new energy vehicles, H6 began to go unnoticed by the market, and sales fell again and again. In the first 11 months of 2022, Harvard H6 sales totaled 234157 vehicles, down 24.8% from a year earlier, and was overtaken by BYD Song and Tesla Model Y, both of which are new energy models, according to FIFA data.

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