Changan Auchan X7PLUS has become a hit again!
On October 17 this year, Changan Auchan X7PLUS announced a global listing, with an official guidance price of 7.99-13.39 million yuan. At the same time, Auchan Automobile has also prepared a taste of luxury gifts for users, and some models directly subsidize 3,000 yuan, making it a "value-added choice". According to the data, as of press time, the cumulative orders of Changan Auchan X7PLUS have reached 25,000 vehicles, once again breaking the record.
This is not the first blockbuster model of Auchan Motors. As early as November 2019, Changan Auchan X7, the first strategic model of Changan Auchan that has just transformed into a passenger car market, was officially launched in the Great Hall of the People, officially opening a new chapter in the development of this brand.
To this day, the scene of that day is still imprinted in my mind - Beijing with the first snow, unusually cold, the Great Hall of the People is full of friends, and "Auchan Red" is fluttering everywhere. The host Zhu Xun read the user's letter with deep feeling, and the price announcement and the "double exemption policy" pushed the atmosphere of the day to a climax.
Later, everyone knows the situation, Auchan X7 debuted that is the explosion, last year, Auchan auto cumulative sales of more than 150,000 vehicles, of which Auchan X7 bicycle sales exceeded 100,000, reaching 101079, becoming one of the few "dark horses" in the compact SUV market.
On November 29 of the same year, the second model of the Changan Auchan X series, The Changan Auchan X5, was officially launched, and the price range of the eight models was 69,900 to 102,900 yuan. With the sporty exterior, exquisite interior workmanship, Blue Whale's new generation of NE1.5T engine, face recognition system, and unique wheat-free KTV and track mode and other selling points, Auchan X5 is also a hit, in the context of the market downturn, set a record of 10,155 units sold in the first month of listing, more than 50,000 orders in the 73 days after the listing.
Some people say that now the market has entered the stage of survival of the fittest, if it is not the traditional strong brand and new forces, there is basically no possibility of sudden emergence; others say that the compact SUV market competition has been white-hot, the highest monthly sales of 70,000 Haval H6, now have fallen back to the level of more than 20,000 vehicles, new products to stand out, almost impossible...
However, from Auchan X7 to X5 to X7PLUS, Changan Auchan has gradually gone from being unoptimistic to pushing a fire, constantly creating miracles and impressing everyone. It can be said that the Slogan of Auchan X7PLUS is not only an accurate description of the user image of Auchan Automobile, but also the best portrayal of the brand spirit of Changan Auchan.
This brand, which was born in the market adjustment period but is bent on "going to the shang", took only three years to complete the development from 0 to this year, which is expected to sell more than 200,000 vehicles per year, and has grown into the first choice for many young consumers to buy cars and a respected Chinese cutting-edge car brand, providing a very good model for the upward development of Chinese brands.
So, in just over three years, what did Auchan Auto do right?
"User thinking" can't just be a talk
In recent years, "user thinking" has become the most talked about topic in automobile companies, but how to land "user thinking", different companies have different explorations and practices, some are just verbal talk, and some are really promoting it as a corporate strategy.
Auchan Auto is a typical representative of the latter. From the beginning of product research and development to the whole process of quality, service and user experience, from the senior leaders of the enterprise to every employee, they are truly implementing the principle of "user-oriented". "Only when the product definition is accurate, we have the hope of survival, and this definition is decided by the user." As Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said, "Keeping up with the pace of users is the way out for the brand." ”
Whether it is Auchan X7, X5 or X7PLUS, from the beginning of product development, they fully listen to the voice and needs of users, and in the product development process of other car companies, Changan Auchan Automobile invites potential customer groups to "supervise and guide" every time. Since 2015, Auchan Auto has held the first season of "Super Tester", and this year has been the fifth season, this year Auchan Auto set the theme as "Popular PLUS Refining", the protagonist is Changan Auchan X7PLUS.
These potential users have participated in new car test verification projects including alpine test, wind tunnel test, safety crash test, NVH test, operation stability and floor test, and implemented the suggestions made by these users into product optimization.
It sounds easy, but it's not easy to really implement "user co-creation" into the product. Because, users definitely want to use the best of everything, and there is no need to consider issues such as technical matching, but from the perspective of manufacturers, it is necessary to take into account cost, efficiency, feasibility and universality. More importantly, there are many issues such as development cycles.
Many companies have failed after trying, but Changan Auchan has persevered. To give a few simple small examples, the main changes of the general remodeled model are the product appearance details and configuration, but based on the user's opinion on the space demand, Auchan X7PLUS has even increased the size. It is reported that the length, width and height of Changan Auchan X7PLUS reached 4730/1870/1720mm, the wheelbase was 2786mm, and the wheelbase was 1590mm, which was 25mm longer than the Auchan X7, creating better space comfort.
It is based on the insight of users, Auchan X7PLUS is positioned as a "high-performance intelligent control damei SUV", in addition to strengthening the new generation of Blue Whale NE engine, Onstyle3.0 + car machine system intelligence two core advantages, but also in the space mining and layout of a lot of effort, the purpose is to make it into a fun space for family life, so that users can better perceive the value of the product and a beautiful family car scene.
In addition, in terms of service and zero-distance communication with users, Auchan Auto can also be said to truly start from the user's experience and realize the full life cycle service of "purchase, purchase and repair" of users.
As Wang Jun, president of Changan Automobile, said: "What users think you are is more important than what you think you are." I think it is precisely because of the past three years that Changan Auchan has been adhering to the "user thinking", thinking about what users think, and anxious for users to need, in order to stand out in the downturn of the market and become the "back wave" that makes other brands envious.
Can product strength and cost performance be balanced?
Choosing product strength or cost performance is a dilemma faced by many users. The answer given by Changan Auchan is that other brand users need to do multiple choice questions, and we "want it all".
Of course, you can't make money at a loss, after all, the loss of money is not long-lasting. Therefore, it is particularly important to exert scale effects and reduce costs. The advantage of Changan Auchan is that it is backed by the "big tree" of Changan Automobile and fully shares the global R&D, procurement and manufacturing system of Changan Automobile's "five countries and nine places", which can not only maximize the scale effect, but also use the latest technological achievements.
As a leading enterprise of Chinese brands, Changan Automobile invests more than 5% of its sales revenue in research and development every year, ranking first in China's automobile R&D strength industry for 10 consecutive years, and successfully selected as a national technological innovation demonstration enterprise.
For example, the new generation of 1.5T Blue Whale NE engine equipped with Auchan X7PLUS has a maximum power of 138kW, a peak torque of 300N·m, and zero hundred acceleration measured for only more than 8 seconds, which can be said to be the "strongest Chinese heart". To make a simple comparison, the third-generation Haval H6, which also takes "strong power" as the selling point, is also equipped with a 1.5T engine, with a maximum power of 124kW and a maximum torque of 285N·m, which is slightly inferior to Auchan X7PLUS.
In addition to the stronger parameters, the Auchan X7PLUS is also matched with the Blue Whale 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission, which not only accelerates quickly, but also shifts smoothly and has almost no frustration.
In terms of intelligence that young consumers are more concerned about, Auchan X7PLUS is equipped with a full-scene OnStyle3.0+ version of the intelligent control car machine system, which not only supports the map desktop full-time online navigation and online entertainment system, has a large number of wake-free passwords, and the response is more sensitive; and it has 12 ultrasonic radars and 4 fisheye cameras, which can achieve one-click parking, coupled with the ACC driving system and the original car machine cloud rearview function, making driving simpler and safer.
In fact, Auchan X7PLUS has many advantages in product strength, however, it is such a product with excellent performance and configuration, and the price is only 79,900-133,900 yuan. Sometimes it is difficult for me to imagine why Chinese brands can make the cost performance so high, while the price of joint venture models with the same performance and configuration is more than twice as expensive. Is it really paying for the brand?
If a few years ago, the gap between Chinese brands and joint venture models was indeed too large, consumers did not have much choice, then now, Chinese brand products can be said to be equal to the joint venture competitors, but with higher cost performance, at this time, let more consumers understand and experience the excellent products of Chinese brands, is a very meaningful thing.
Perhaps it is precisely because of the realization that its brand is not strong enough, Auchan X7PLUS not only gave a price of enough sincerity, but also launched a 3,000 yuan early adopter fund, and there were four surprise gifts such as four early tasting gifts and wayward superimposed gifts on the day of listing. Counting down, it is equivalent to giving users a discount of several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, making people simply unable to believe how Changan Auchan did it.
But it is precisely this kind of product strength and cost performance that allows Changan Auchan to produce a fire. You know, there are at least dozens of well-known products in the compact SUV market, and it is difficult to stand out in such a Red Sea market. Adhering to the "double value" commitment, Changan Auchan has done it, which is gratifying and congratulatory.
We must have "innovative thinking", but also have "strivers spirit"
Many people say that the market has now gone through the barbaric growth period and entered the survival of the fittest. Among them, a very significant feature is that second-tier joint venture brands, including the French system and the United States, are declining, and auto companies such as Brilliance, Zotye, Haima, Southeast, Hanteng and Qoros have disappeared.
In such a market environment, whether there is still a chance for weak and small brands to "counterattack", Changan Auchan has made a very good demonstration - the market has never lacked opportunities, what is missing is the people and brands that can seize the opportunities.
Whether it is to gain insight into the user's demands and pain points, to provide better products and higher cost performance, looking at the development of Changan Auchan in the past three years or so, I think it is very important to have both "innovative thinking" and "strivers spirit". It can even be said that "innovative thinking" and "strivers spirit" are almost engraved in the bones of Changan Auchan people and have become part of the corporate culture.
Behind this, it is also the result of competition. When Changan Auchan launched the Auchan X7 in 2019, he must have been trembling in his heart and did not have much confidence. After all, the market competition is so fierce, basically Changan Auchan can think of it, and other companies have already thought of it. How to provide users with more sense of value, On the basis of super high cost performance, Changan Auchan once again offered the measures of "no time limit, no number of times, unlimited mileage, lifetime free basic maintenance and lifetime free real warranty" of the national joint guarantee, referred to as "double exemption", which directly detonated the market.
At the beginning of the definition of Auchan X5 products, in view of the younger characteristics of the users of this product, the project development team of Changan Auchan investigated many potential users, and added two innovative models in the onstyle 3.0 intelligent car machine system - no wheat car KTV and racing mode, for long-distance travel and friends social networking and other scenarios, to provide consumers with a different interactive experience.
In the process of no wheat car KTV, in fact, the Changan Auchan team has also encountered no small challenges. But in the end, Wumai car KTV showed a very good use effect, coupled with the cooperation with the popular singing APP "Sing It", almost including the most popular songs at the moment, allowing users to sing any song they want to sing.
It can be said that the non-wheat car KTV plus racing model has become the unique selling point of Auchan X5 in the market segment, and has also created its good results since its listing and selling more than 10,000 consecutive months. "People have no me", "people have my essence", Changan Auchan team in the process of product development and marketing, every day with their own "competition", is to present better results to consumers.
Innovate to the point of not innovating anymore, and work hard enough to make no more effort. This is the best portrayal of the People of Chang'an Auchan. Otherwise, the market is so difficult, why do they become lucky? In this sense, it is easier to understand the slogan of "self-improvement when popular" was put forward when Auchan X7PLUS was listed. This slogan is not only for the users of Auchan X7PLUS, but also for Changan Auchan himself.
epilogue
Frankly speaking, Changan Auchan is expected to achieve sales of more than 200,000 vehicles from zero to 200,000 vehicles per year in just over three years, which is indeed unexpected by many people. After all, this year's unlimited scenery of "Wei Xiaoli" is still working hard for the annual sales of more than 100,000 vehicles; and many enterprises, including Shenlong, which originally sold hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year, have now fallen back to less than 100,000 vehicles.
The market is just that brutal. The intensification of competition can highlight the difficulty and difficulty of standing out. Now in the automotive industry, some people call Changan Auchan the "light of domestic goods", and some people call it "China's cutting-edge automobile brand", and even reduce it to the category of "new forces". But in my opinion, it doesn't matter what it's called, what it's done. In the past three years or so, Changan Auchan and users have written a good story of mutual empowerment and mutual achievement, and also given more Chinese brands that are still relatively weak to refer to and learn from.
It is foreseeable that the next decade will be the best time for the development of Chinese brands. Whoever can seize the opportunity has the potential to create miracles.