Economic Observer Network reporter Gao Feichang On January 8, Dongfeng Citroen held a "Versailles Conference" for car owners in Sanya, Hainan. Dongfeng Citroen invited singer Yu Kewei and some popular bands in China to sing for car owners and fans. The reporter saw from the scene that there were several painted and modified Versailles C5X models, booths of cultural and creative products spontaneously produced by car owners, and story sharing meetings from car owners, which together formed an immersive trend music party.
Versailles is an important part of Dongfeng Citroen's "Customer Co-creation" program. Dongfeng Citroen officially said that the purpose of holding such a customer event is to create a lifestyle belonging to the Versailles C5X for the owner, so that customers can feel the attitude of life of the Versailles product representatives from a more dimensional perspective.
Looking back at the end of August 2021, when the Versailles C5X had not yet been officially listed, Mao Chuangxin, general manager of Dongfeng Citroën, once said in an interview with the media, "I can clearly say that (the manufacturer) is not profitable. At that time, Dongfeng Citroen's market strategy for the Versailles C5X was to "increase sales first, and then reduce costs." In other words, "don't seek profits, just become a hit". Today, Mao's desire for innovation has gradually become a reality.
Since its launch in mid-September 2021, in just over three months, Dongfeng Citroen Versailles C5X has delivered a total of 12,114 vehicles, of which 5,000 vehicles have been delivered in November and December for two consecutive months. In the context of the current automobile consumer market entering the stock stage, it is rare that a new car can achieve an average of 5,000 vehicles per month. The Versailles C5X also became a veritable French bike sales champion in 2021.
Driven by the Versailles C5X, Dongfeng Cieron bottomed out in 2021, and sales in 2021 increased by 137% year-on-year. The entire DPCA also achieved annual sales of more than 100,000 units, completing the sales target planned at the beginning of the year. From the perspective of total sales scale, the performance of DPCA in only 100,000 vehicles is very inconspicuous, but compared with the previous state of heavy setbacks for several consecutive years, it is a long-lost warming signal.
At present, the delivery of the Versailles C5X is also plagued by insufficient capacity. An insider of Dongfeng Citroen told the Economic Observation Network reporter that since the listing of the Versailles C5X, the company's most important job is to "protect orders", and now the highest customer call for manufacturers is "hurry up and prepare goods". Due to insufficient preliminary preparation, one of the things that people at the level of deputy general manager of the company must do every month is to coordinate with suppliers to solve chip problems.
The Versailles C5X was first released at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2021. Citroën's global model will be launched in the Chinese market, changing the previous practice of first entering overseas markets and then introducing products into the Chinese market. In a sense, this shows a change in the attitude of the Citroën brand towards the Chinese market. At that time, the name of the car "Versailles", which fit with the Internet buzzword, also had a solid memory in a short period of time.
From the model point of view, the Versailles C5X is the first product based on the third generation of the Stellantis Group's EMP2 platform, and its selling points are fashion, comfort and intelligence. The vehicle has the styling characteristics of cars, station wagons and SUVs, which has attracted the attention of many young users. The body size of the B-class car, which only started at a price of less than 150,000 yuan, further made this seemingly niche model enter the list of consumers.
The scene of the Versailles Congress
Product competitiveness is the basis for the Versailles C5X to reach 5,000 units per month. In addition, Dongfeng Citroen's customer co-creation program has also played a pivotal role. Along with the Versailles C5X is Dongfeng Citroen's new "customer-centric" business philosophy, which not only provides a car for car owners, but also conveys to customers a comfortable and comfortable attitude to life that is in line with product characteristics.
As an important part of the customer co-creation program, since September 2021, the "Versailles Congress" has been held in many parts of the country. As car users become younger and younger, major car companies generally embrace "customer thinking" and hope to achieve emotional connection and value resonance with customers through diversified marketing means. For Dongfeng Citroen, one of the practical significance of hosting the Versailles Conference is that its brand culture is no longer stuck in the elusive "French romance" impression of the past, but step by step in line with the real needs of Chinese users.
In order to further deepen the "customer co-creation", Mao Chuangxin announced a new plan at the event site: it will create a new "131X" family with 3 million Citroen car owners, and promote Dongfeng Citroen to a new stage of "co-creation community".
Among them, "1" refers to co-creating community brands: Smile Tower, in 2022, Dongfeng Citroen takes the Eiffel Tower as the prototype to create a smile tower with customers to deliver and share a comfortable and pleasant car life experience; "3" refers to the large community system: Based on the concept and value of Smile Tower, Dongfeng Citroen will work with customers to create and build 3 major community systems, including customer self-built groups, Dongfeng Citroen certification communities, brand friends to create a common prosperity platform; the second "1" Refers to a community support plan: Dongfeng Citroen encourages customers to help each other and help customers pursue their dreams through activity support, dream realization support and service support; "X" means to create unlimited possibilities.
In 2022, Dongfeng Citroen will promote four major customer co-creation activities, namely the 2022 Annual Versailles Small Goal Co-creation Collection and Sharing, the Owners Club Certification, the Versailles C5 X Modification Competition and the development of life peripherals. At the same time, Dongfeng Citroen also plans to launch the Versailles C5 X Year of the Tiger co-creation version in January.
Due to the hot sales of the Versailles C5X car, Dongfeng Citroen and the entire French car have finally found a trace of dignity in the Chinese market. According to the plan, in January 2022, Dongfeng Citroen plans to deliver more than 5,000 more Versailles C5X. Throughout 2022, Dongfeng Citroen will continue to focus on promoting brand development around Versailles C5X, deepening "customer co-creation", and accelerating the layout of a new sales and service system. In addition to the Versailles C5X, Dongfeng Citroen will also launch an annual remodel of other existing models to promote the overall sales of the company.