Text: Understand the original Che Di Li Dezhe
On the last day of 2021, Ren Yun, senior director of brand marketing at Skoda, was investigated.
In just half a year, two Skoda brand executives have fallen one after another. This has undoubtedly cast another shadow over the Skoda brand in the new year.
Skoda had an eventful autumn last year
As the most "marginalized" brand under SAIC Volkswagen, Skoda's current situation is really sweaty. In the past year, SAIC Volkswagen's personnel has undergone major adjustments, and Yu Jingmin, who has been working for SAIC Passenger Vehicles for many years, has returned to SAIC Volkswagen as the general manager of SAIC Volkswagen Sales Company.
In Yu Jingmin's own words, he served as the "first" sales director of the Skoda brand in his early years, and his first stop back at SAIC Volkswagen was also to choose the platform for the Skoda brand.
However, despite the IP blessing of "Fat Head Yu", the Octavia PRO promoted by Skoda last year failed to set off a wave in the market.
Yu Jingmin's first stop on SAIC Volkswagen's return was the Skoda brand platform
In May 2021, the new Octavia PRO was launched with a two-month delay. Skoda locked competitors directly into the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. However, judging from the sales performance of the whole year, this Octavia PRO, which is the same as the eighth generation of golfers, has an annual sales of only 16,700 vehicles, and even cannot catch up with Corolla's one-month performance.
The Octavia PRO is just a microcosm of Skoda's performance in China. In the Volkswagen Group global market, Skoda is the third-best-selling brand. However, in the past year, none of the 8 models sold by the Skoda brand in China sold more than 20,000 vehicles a year. Of course, there may also be factors such as chip shortage and capacity supply, but it is also difficult to hide the fact that the Skoda brand is marginalized in the entire SAIC Volkswagen system.
In the past year, none of the 8 models sold by the Skoda brand in China has sold more than 20,000 vehicles a year
Looking back at the past two years, the domestic auto market, especially the joint venture brand, has undergone a lot of turmoil. Renault Passenger Cars withdraws from China, North-South Mazda announces mergers, French car sales remain sluggish, Dongfeng withdraws from kia joint ventures... All this undoubtedly sounded the alarm bell for Skoda. The continuous rise of independent brands has deeply touched the nerves of all joint venture brands...
Ningbo, executive director of savoy-Volkswagen Skoda brand marketing, also admitted last year that Skoda is also thinking about how to quickly adjust its subsequent development strategy, how to quickly respond to the needs of Chinese users, and how to speed up the pace to adapt to the adjustment of the Chinese market. Tim Steiskal, executive director of the marketing of the Skoda brand, also said that he hopes to build Škoda into a "temperature" car brand.
NINGBO, China Executive Director of SAIC Volkswagen Skoda Brand Marketing Business
At the beginning of the new year, Skoda took the lead in introducing a mid-term modification of Kodiak. Apparently, Skoda hopes to boost morale with this classic flagship SUV.
It is worth mentioning that the new Kodiak design style has even attracted the envy of foreign designers. Miroslav Jaskmanicki, design manager of Skoda Automobile in the Czech Republic, said that there are many young consumers in the Chinese market, but the European market is different, the Chinese version of Kodiak particularly emphasizes dynamics, and the Chinese designers of Skoda are also influencing the European Skoda team, such as the interior design of the new car, the Chinese version of the new Kodiak is also the envy of the European market.
The new Kodiak will be available in the first quarter of this year
Chen Zhixiong, senior manager of sachinia volkswagen Skoda's early research and development and styling, said that the biggest difference between Chinese and Western consumers is that Chinese consumers will pay more for the car, so manufacturers will also give more feedback and will come up with more good things to give to consumers. In the future, Skoda will continue to exert efforts in terms of family heritage, quality and control.
Of course, it is not enough to rely on only one product to open up sales channels, and the optimization and adjustment of organizational structure and the transformation of marketing ideas will also play a decisive role.
Last year, SAIC Volkswagen made every effort to build momentum for the ID. series and achieved results. In the second full year after independence, the Jetta brand has also increased annual sales to nearly 170,000 vehicles.
SAIC Volkswagen's ID. series broke the circle of marketing last year
Skoda's adjustment and transformation is also underway. In the past year, SAIC Volkswagen Skoda has integrated the functions of the original marketing, sales, value-added, service and other subdivisions into the chief representative. One of the functions of the Chief Representative is to work with dealers to improve the customer's sales and service experience and increase user satisfaction. From the original sales promoter to the companion and participant of dealer operation, to the manager to the participant of marketing services.
Ningbo has pointed out that in the past, there were indeed problems with the health of Skoda's dealers. Only when the health order of the dealer is restored, we have the ability to provide customers with fuller and more satisfactory service.
2022 is the first year for car companies to relax the restrictions on foreign equity ratios, but for many joint venture car companies, the period of enjoying the dividends of China's auto market has passed, and there are more opportunities and greater challenges. In the past year, the performance of joint venture passenger car companies has generally been less satisfactory. On the one hand, the performance of new energy is not good, on the other hand, the supply constraints of the traditional fuel vehicle market.
This year Skoda will fight backwaters
As far as Skoda is concerned, the official has not announced the specific sales target set for the new Kodiak for the time being, but everyone can see that this will be the backwater battle that will determine Skoda's stay in the Chinese market.