In 2021, Audi ushered in a historic moment when cumulative sales in China exceeded 7 million vehicles. Among them, FAW-Volkswagen Audi efficiently implements the business strategy of "gathering momentum and starting the new", aggregates potential energy such as user-centered product matrix, brand marketing, and new energy layout, opens up the three major digital transformations of products, services, and experiences, and helps Audi's annual delivery volume in China to continue to stabilize at 700,000 vehicles, thereby realizing the "two-line leading pattern" in the fuel era and the electric era.
Looking forward to 2022, Audi's "Golden Decade" plan ushers in a key time node. FAW-Volkswagen Audi has formulated a business strategy of "Yijin Innovation", which will promote Audi to rebuild the "Golden Decade" through two major strengthenings, four major upgrades, and two major innovation strategies.
2021 is a year to remember for the automotive industry. This year, under the influence of multiple unfavorable factors such as repeated epidemics, chip shortages, and continuously high raw material prices, the domestic automobile market still ended three consecutive years of decline and bottomed out with production and sales of more than 26 million vehicles.
Among them, the high-end car market continues to rise and continues to become an important support for the domestic car market. According to data from the China Automobile Association, the cumulative sales of high-end passenger cars in China in 2021 were 3.472 million units, an increase of 20.7% year-on-year, 14.2 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of passenger cars. In particular, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi (BBA), which lead the high-end car market, sold a total of 2.306 million units in China last year, accounting for more than 60% of the total sales of passenger cars.
In contrast, Audi still ranks third in the BBA, but with the accumulation of three decades in China, it also has unparalleled advantages of other competitors, and there is no shortage of highlights in the performance of the whole year. In July last year, Audi ushered in the historic moment when cumulative sales in China exceeded the 7 million mark, and was the first and currently the only high-end car brand to achieve this achievement.
In addition, at the Shanghai Auto Show in April last year, Audi's second joint venture in China, SAIC Audi, was officially unveiled, and the north-south Audi pattern was formed. In September, SAIC Audi's first model, the new Audi A7L, rolled off the production line and opened pre-sale; the first batch of SAIC Audi city stores opened...
Of course, Audi's current performance in China still relies on FAW-Volkswagen Audi. According to the data, last year, Audi's cumulative global sales reached 1.6805 million vehicles, a slight decrease of 0.7% year-on-year. Among them, FAW-Volkswagen Audi helped the Audi brand to continue to stabilize its annual delivery volume in China at 700,000 vehicles, and the sales proportion of the Chinese market continued to increase by nearly 42%, almost "half of the country".
Gather momentum and boost high-quality development
Looking back on 2021, in the face of a severe and complex market situation, FAW-Volkswagen Audi efficiently implemented the business strategy of "gathering momentum and opening up the new", aggregated potential energy such as user-centered product matrix, brand marketing, and new energy layout, opened up the three major digital transformations of products, services, and experiences, and helped the Audi brand achieve high-quality development in China with the strength and arrogance of "twilight and strong pine, chaotic clouds and flying crossings are still calm".
Last year, FAW-Volkswagen Audi built an unprecedented lineup of new cars, covering segments from A-class to D-class. From the listing of the new Audi A3 family at the beginning of the year, the listing of the RS King Dynamite Group, to the listing of the new Audi Q5L in the middle of the year, the listing of the Audi e-tron family, and then to the listing of the new Audi Q2L at the end of the year, FAW-Volkswagen Audi has completed the refresh of all products. Thanks to this, FAW-Volkswagen Audi won the sales championship in four market segments last year, highlighting the strong competitive advantage of its "user-centric" product layout.
At the same time, last year was also the big year of Audi's brand, FAW-Volkswagen Audi synchronous Audi global launch brand strategy renewal, relying on the 4 major brand battles, strongly driving the Audi brand upwards. As the main marketing body of the Audi brand in China, combined with the increasingly important position of the Chinese market, FAW-Volkswagen Audi has cooperated with Audi Global to create a number of "first-of-its-kind" marketing events to further consolidate the voice of the Audi brand in the Chinese market.
In October last year, FAW-Volkswagen Audi for the first time led the global debut of audi's flagship product, the new Audi A8L Horch Founder Edition, and in November, relying on the Audi Future Ceremony, FAW-Volkswagen Audi completed the first China launch of its global brand strategy... It is reported that in the 2021 brand image survey, the overall perception score of the Audi brand reached the highest level in the past 5 years, and the brand familiarity score continued to rank first in the high-end car market; at the same time, FAW-Volkswagen Audi also won the 2021 Effie Award Effect Marketing Gold Award, becoming the only car brand to win the gold award.
More critically, last year, FAW-Volkswagen Audi officially opened a new chapter in electrification. In April, relying on the launch of the Audi e-tron and e-tron Sportback, FAW-Volkswagen Audi officially upgraded its "S.T.E.P step into the future" fully electrification strategy to the 2.0 stage. With the official unveiling of the Q4 e-tron at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November, FAW-Volkswagen Audi has also completed the comprehensive layout of Audi's four major electric vehicle platforms (MLB evo, MEB, J1, PPE) products, thus realizing the "dual-line leading pattern" in the fuel era and the electric era.
Enlighten the new and empower digital transformation
In the face of increasingly turbulent industrial changes, FAW-Volkswagen Audi has achieved rapid digital transformation in 2021 through the layout of "qixin" while "gathering momentum". Together with Tencent and other ecological partners, FAW-Volkswagen Audi provided users with WeChat car version and 7 other Tencent service applications last year to help Audi models achieve OTA upgrades, and to create a personalized customization platform for users, covering all domestic models and giving users a "thousand faces" product experience.
In terms of services, FAW-Volkswagen Audi launched the audi cloud listening system, a digital user management platform, covering 5 loud source channels, with comprehensive insight into customer experience pain points and helping users improve service. In terms of experience, FAW-Volkswagen Audi focused on promoting the digital upgrading of online + offline user experience, realized the full integration of the FAW Audi APP online, and upgraded to version 3.0, one port can open up the full contact point of user travel, and registered users successfully exceeded 1 million; offline, by the end of last year, 325 dealer showrooms have been upgraded to give users the ultimate pleasure of digital experience.
While consolidating high-quality development, FAW-Volkswagen Audi does not forget the social responsibility shouldered by the company, and last year, based on the "CSR + strategy", it joined hands with the China Children and Teenagers Foundation to accumulate new strength for the "Spring Bud Project • Dream of the Future" action. On July 29, the "Spring Bud Dream Growth Camp" was launched in Beijing, on October 11, the "Spring Bud Dream Choir" public welfare project was launched, and on November 15, the "Dream Voice Rural Campus Radio Station" project was launched. In addition, for the flood situation that occurred in Henan last summer, FAW-Volkswagen urgently cooperated with 3 major brands such as Audi to donate 25 million yuan to the disaster area and provide vehicle rescue, emergency maintenance and other services for Henan users.
"From the continuous pursuit of higher performance, stronger technology products, to the commitment to create a more attractive and meaningful experience, focusing on showing the 'people-centered' brand transformation, not only makes the Audi brand inherit a century of enterprising spirit more contemporary temperament, but also makes the Audi brand more emotional temperature and more desirable." Sun Huibin, executive deputy general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Audi Sales Division, said.
At the beginning of last year, Audi released the "Golden Decade" plan - in the next three years, Audi's annual sales in China will exceed 1 million. In 2022, the plan ushered in an important time node. To this end, FAW-Volkswagen Audi adheres to the original intention of the brand, adheres to the user-centered, and formulates the business strategy of "Yijin Innovation", which will help Audi recreate the "Golden Decade" through 2 major strengthenings, 4 major upgrades, and 2 major innovation strategies.
In the new year, with the continuous consolidation of the supporting role of FAW-Volkswagen Audi and the gradual development of the north-south Audi pattern, what kind of excitement the Audi brand will bring to Chinese consumers, let us look forward to it together. (China Economic Network Auto Channel)