The Year of the Tiger is coming, Guangzhou Renfu 4S store is full of lights, and the rich New Year atmosphere is coming.
Just half a year ago, Renfu (China), including Guangzhou, changed the "owner" of the existing Mercedes-Benz stores in the mainland. Zhongsheng Group, the country's second largest auto dealer group, acquired the ownership for $1.3 billion.
This is the largest acquisition in the domestic auto dealer industry since Guanghui Automobile acquired Baoxin Automobile since 2015, and it has attracted much attention. After the completion of the acquisition, the stock price of Zhongsheng Group has risen all the way, becoming a major event in the capital market of the automobile industry in 2021.
Kung Fu Auto observed that mercedes-Benz was the car brand with the highest revenue from new car sales in Zhongsheng Group in the full year's sales data. It can be said that the reason why Zhongsheng Group is favored by the capital market is inseparable from the empowerment of Mercedes-Benz.
As we all know, the current global automotive industry is rapidly transforming to electrification and intelligence, the automobile dealer model is undergoing profound fission, and many new car-making brands have broken the original distribution model, which has brought a great impact to the traditional dealer system.
After Zhongsheng Group acquired Renfu's Mercedes-Benz business, it continued to be favored by the capital market. This has triggered the industry's "soul torture": as the leader of luxury brands in the era of fuel vehicles, how does Mercedes-Benz achieve rapid transformation in the new era of "new four modernizations" and make dealers and consumers in the terminal market "applaud and applaud"? What is the "magic" of the "car inventor" that can make the traditional distribution group instantly become the object of capital's favor?
At the recent Mercedes-Benz New Year tea party, Kung Fu Automobile took these questions and chatted with Zhang Yan, senior executive vice president of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd.
During this time, we felt that a "lion boy" galloped and was dancing confidently.
Channel fission shows the "original intention", and digital creation becomes a "drumbeat"
According to the judgment of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production and sales of China's new energy vehicle market are expected to reach 5 million units in 2022. Such rapid growth and scale expansion have put forward higher requirements for the service quality, service model and service innovation of new energy vehicles in the vehicle cycle.
Therefore, innovation in sales channels and models for electric vehicles is crucial.
In this regard, Zhang Yan said that whether it is a new force or a traditional car company, the goal is to make customers satisfied, no matter what kind of marketing model, it must start from customer needs and customer experience. This should be the "original intention" of luxury cars in the transformation of channel services.
We see that in the face of the endless innovative marketing of new forces, Mercedes-Benz did not mess with its own steps, but found a "drum point" and established a business model that is more suitable for the development of the Mercedes-Benz brand itself in the process of practice. That is, digital innovation.
According to Zhang Yan, Mercedes-Benz is working with dealers to promote the entire business system to reach customers more directly through physical and digital touchpoints, and provide services that make customers more satisfied.
Specifically, at the dealer level, more than 450 Mercedes-Benz dealers are currently licensed for sale under the Mercedes-EQ brand. Mercedes-Benz has a set of strict assessment standards for dealers who have obtained the sales rights of Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles. For example, Mercedes-Benz's first choice is to set up Mercedes-EQ authorized dealers in hot cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. These cities have strong demand for new energy vehicles, the concept of electric travel has been widely popularized, and there are relatively perfect charging infrastructure conditions. At the end of the first quarter of this year in Shanghai, the fourth Mercedes-EQ city showroom will serve customers with a new image.
"We attach great importance to the existing dealer partners and dealer system, and will work with dealer partners to jointly explore and develop future new models when conditions are available, and provide customers with services with brand temperature." Zhang Yan's remarks, in the eyes of Kung Fu Automobile, are the "original intention" of Mercedes-Benz channel innovation.
"Heart luxury" continues to be optimized, "to the vast and subtle"
So, in the era of "all-electric", in the face of the growing customer demand for electric vehicles, how can Mercedes-Benz use the "drumbeat" of digitalization to make the service experience more innovative?
This is not only a new topic for Mercedes-Benz, but also a "question of the times" for the entire luxury car industry.
Mercedes-Benz's answer can be spied on the "heart luxury" service.
For example, Mercedes-Benz took into account many factors such as technical requirements for high-voltage systems and battery energy storage technology when formulating standards related to Authorized Dealers under the Mercedes-EQ brand. Mercedes-Benz requires 100% of the on-the-job personnel to meet the relevant standards, and the selected professional team needs to fully understand the needs of pure electric customers, know how to communicate with customers, and timely solve the concerns of customers in the process of car purchase and use.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz also promotes Mercedes-EQ dealer professionals to participate in training and certification work, and puts forward higher requirements for the ten positions of EQ dealers involved in sales, after-sales, service and other fields, so that Mercedes-EQ staff can truly understand and sell new energy vehicles through a period of training.
On the digital retail side, Mercedes-Benz has launched the digitally based OTR+dealer operating system, which is not only a system developed by Mercedes-Benz specifically for the Chinese market, but also the industry's first digital mobile solution to help dealer partners improve operational efficiency and enhance customer experience.
For after-sales service, Mercedes-Benz launched O2O personalized recommendation service, based on the customer information and vehicle information provided by all digital online contacts, into offline customer service solutions to meet customer personalized service needs. O2O personalized recommendation service for car owners of the whole life cycle management, can reach nearly 100% of the customer retention.
In terms of digital services, more than 3 million car owners have activated the Mercedes me interconnection service. In 2020, the Mercedes me app was revamped to provide more services to car owners, including remote car search, remote start, remote door opening and closing services, etc., with more than 2.5 million downloads and an average of more than 250,000 daily active users.
In terms of digital finance, Mercedes-Benz provides customers with online financial services, and the newly upgraded digital end-to-end financial loan process allows customers to complete auto finance loan services in less than 10 minutes.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz has also launched five "star" charging services, covering all-scenario experiences from home smart charging wall boxes, public charging piles, valet charging services in urban hotspots, roadside assistance charging services and Mercedes-Benz exclusive charging stations, so that "luxury electric travel" is basically formed.
"The concept of digitalization, touchpoints and the application of big data allow us to more accurately understand and reach customers in the marketing process and provide customers with the services they need." Our ultimate goal is to unify sales, service and finance, form a full range of closed loops, and bring customers diversified touchpoints through multi-dimensional network processes. Zhang Yan looked forward.
Undoubtedly, Mercedes-Benz is innovating marketing channels with digital innovation, and optimizing the service system with digitalization, comprehensively enhancing its competitive advantage in soft power.
In the view of Kung Fu Automobile, this is an innovative solution that empowers dealers to digitally transform at the channel level. The whole scheme can be described as "to the vast and the subtle".
"Full electric" has made a good start, and the "new luxury" product matrix is more symbolic
The digital transformation of channels and services has opened up a good situation for Mercedes-Benz's "comprehensive electric" strategy, and has also accelerated the "new luxury" product matrix in the terminal market, and the luxury brand of "full of electricity" has a new look.
We see that in the field of technology, the VISION EQXX concept, which was unveiled not long ago, is the most energy-efficient model ever made by Mercedes-Benz. Equipped with a large number of recyclable materials and breaking through many technical barriers, the wind resistance coefficient is reduced to 0.17, and the driving range of a single charge exceeds 1000 kilometers. Many of the features currently used in concept cars have been applied to production cars.
Secondly, in terms of product launch, we will further enrich Mercedes-Benz's product lineup in the luxury electric vehicle segment and interpret the "new luxury doctrine". By the end of 2021, Mercedes-Benz will sell 4 pure electric models in China, covering different market segments, and in 2022, including pure electric luxury models such as the new EQE, as well as plug-in hybrid C-class cars and S-class cars will be listed one after another.
It is worth mentioning that in terms of technical reserves, Mercedes-Benz not only invested 1.1 billion yuan in China to set up a new Daimler China R&D technology center, but also became the first luxury brand in Germany to obtain the international certification of the global conditional automatic driving (L3) system.
All this not only laid a good foundation for Mercedes-Benz in the upcoming electrification technology competition, but also prepared its new generation of technologies and products to continue to maintain the leading advantage on the electrification track, making the "new luxury" product matrix more concrete.
Based in China, adhere to the "sustainable way"
If resonating with the times through the empowerment of electrification and digitalization is the "change" of Mercedes-Benz's transformation, then basing itself on the Chinese market and adhering to the path of sustainable development is his "unchanged".
"We uphold the vision of sustainable development with our local partners and suppliers, and run through the whole value chain of technology research and development, raw material extraction, manufacturing, logistics and transportation, product sales, after-sales service, and recycling." Zhang Yan pointed out that Beijing Benz is committed to improving energy efficiency, protecting the environment and building a green supply chain through green production.
In September 2021, Beijing Benz became one of the first batch of enterprises in Beijing to purchase green electricity, and in the same year, it won the title of "Intelligent Manufacturing Benchmarking Enterprise" and was selected as one of the "Top Ten Scientific and Technological Progress of China's Intelligent Manufacturing" in 2021. Its business strategy of continuously improving energy efficiency and developing environmentally friendly low-carbon production has been widely recognized by the whole society.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz promotes green retail, and contributes to energy conservation and emission reduction in authorized dealer stores upgraded by the "2020 Network Upgrade Plan" through air source heat pumps, roof greening, water recycling, rooftop solar photovoltaic power generation and other initiatives.
In the field of public welfare, the environmental protection program jointly promoted by Mercedes-Benz and UNESCO, the public welfare strategic cooperation with the Palace Museum and the Dunhuang Research Institute, and the "Safe Children's Walk" for young people are constantly increasing. Up to now, Mercedes-Benz has invested more than 280 million yuan in Public Welfare in China. Relying on the Mercedes-Benz Star Wish Fund, Mercedes-Benz will continue to deepen the "Way of Nature" and "The Way of Humanity" in the future, and practice the "Sustainable Way of Responsibility" in many fields such as ecological environment, humanistic inheritance, and public welfare for young people.
"Mercedes-Benz has always fulfilled its corporate social responsibility, and what we call high-quality development is also the hope that through efforts, it will drive the sustainable development of the Mercedes-Benz system and help the sustainable development of the country and the industry in the future." Zhang Yan said.
Kung Fu shoots
In the ups and downs of 2021, Mercedes-Benz through the "all-electric" strategy, with digital creation into a "drum", on the "new four" stage, like a "lion teenager", danced the majesty of luxury brand transformation.
These sharp dance steps let the outside world see the new vitality of Mercedes-Benz in the new era, and called new Mercedes-Benz channels, bringing new benchmark services for the electrification of luxury vehicles to terminal dealers and consumers. This effect is corroborated by the popularity of the Zhongsheng dealer group in the capital market, which is mainly engaged in the Mercedes-Benz business.
"Under the transformation of electrification and digitalization, Mercedes-Benz has always worked with dealer partners to gain insight into new trends and explore new opportunities under the premise of mutual trust and win-win results, so as to provide more Chinese users with a travel experience that meets their driving needs and lifestyles."
In the view of Kung Fu Automobile, Zhang Yan's words express the "original intention" of luxury brand transformation and the "end" of the exploration of the new four modernization era.