2021 is a challenging year, with difficulties such as repeated epidemics and chip shortages continuing to impact the operations of car companies. Under various challenges, Volvo Cars still handed over a bright report card, with the total sales volume of the Chinese market exceeding 171,300 units, an increase of 3.1% year-on-year.
Behind this report card is a comprehensive demonstration of Volvo's system strength. Mr. Yu Kexin, Vice President of Sales of Volvo Greater China Sales Company, explained the reasons for Volvo's growth against the trend, in summary, in the face of market challenges, constantly exploring new possibilities for products, user services and channels, which has contributed to Volvo's sustained growth in recent years.
Yu Kexin, Vice President of Sales of Volvo Greater China Sales Company
The age of electrification
Discover a new definition of luxury
"The electrification strategy and determination of the Volvo brand is very resolute, and the continuous enrichment of the electrification product matrix is the foundation of our transformation." Yu Kexin said.
2021 is a year of comprehensive acceleration of volvo cars electrification, and Volvo Cars has taken the lead in realizing the electrification of all products in traditional luxury brands. The sales performance of its RECHARGE series products was very eye-catching, soaring, with a global increase of 63.9% year-on-year, accounting for 27% of the annual global sales, a record high.
"Mainstream luxury car brands have indeed missed a period of time in terms of electrification, and brands such as Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, Tesla, and BYD occupy the mainstream market." But mainstream luxury car brands still have an opportunity to regain their strength, not to fight for the market of 100,000 or 200,000, but to redefine electric luxury cars. Yu Kexin said.
The new Volvo Pure Electric C40
In the era of electrification, Volvo Electric Vehicles will also inherit the safety genes of the brand, adhere to the original intention of people-oriented, and escort travel in the era of electrification.
Resolve anxiety
Explore new models of services
"Safe undertones and services can provide a premium to brands, whether they are electric vehicles or fuel vehicles. Luxury brands and general brands of cars will not be too different in terms of use functions, the difference is to provide customers with value-for-money services and enhance customer experience. Yu Kexin said. Whether it is an electric vehicle or a fuel vehicle, high-quality service can provide a premium space for the brand, and the best result of service improvement is that the car buyer treats you as a friend and helps you recommend customers, which is a high-level service.
In the face of the era of electrification, consumers' concerns are more about energy replenishment. It is not so much that the competition in this era is the mileage of the product, but rather the competition is the radius of life created by the supporting services. In this regard, Volvo's service philosophy is: there is electricity everywhere, recharge as much as you want. By analyzing the actual car needs of customers, we will work with domestic head CPOs to create a high-quality charging network for specific scenarios such as homes, stores, public places and emergencies.
At the same time, in the field of traditional services, Volvo adheres to the brand concept of "people-oriented", conforms to customer needs, continuously optimizes and improves the quality of services, and brings consumers the care of the life cycle of all-use vehicles.
Last year, Volvo Cars issued 12 "wholehearted commitments", including 6 sales service commitments and 6 after-sales service commitments, which can effectively make consumers feel Volvo's full sincerity.
Take "filling a tank of fuel" as an example, there was once a customer who came to buy a car to share such a story, before buying Volvo, he bought another brand of models, after picking up the car, he drove out of the 4S store for 300 meters, and the fuel tank bottomed out of the car, and the situation was very embarrassing at that time. What's even more embarrassing is that the solution of this brand's 4S store is to fill a cup of oil into the tank. For him, the experience provided by "filling a tank of oil" is completely different from his past experience, and while feeling sincere, it also deepens his good feelings for the brand.
Volvo is committed to 12 services
Win-win together
Explore new channel formats
"First, the company has made great efforts in procurement, and Volvo has strong procurement capabilities, and continues to exert efforts on the procurement end and supply side to ensure the supply of production capacity." Second, the sales-side order management is doing a good job, which is the key point for us to maintain positive growth in the case of the overall lack of cores last year. In the face of the challenge of lack of core throughout the year, Yu Kexin said. When it comes to optimizing order management, it is necessary to mention the official direct sales model that Volvo first launched in the traditional luxury brands, and Volvo is also ahead of the channel transformation.
The starting point of transformation must be the user experience, and the biggest difference between the official direct sales model and the traditional dealer sales model is the "one-price" pricing model. In the traditional dealer model, users spend a lot of time "shopping around" when buying a car, just to find the "lowest price". The launch of the official direct sales model has completely solved the pain points of this traditional sales model. Bargaining burden reduction is not only for users, but also for dealers. Under the direct sales model, dealers can also invest their energy in improving service quality, so that their service quality can have the strength to compete with new power brands. In addition, Volvo has also cooperated with dealers to open city center stores in major prime locations, allowing users to visit shopping malls while driving and buying a car is no longer an exclusive experience for new power brands.
Volvo's first city center store in China, Shanghai Qiantan Jingyao store
Unlike many new car-making forces that rely on direct sales models, for Volvo, the dealer system is an important part of its rapid development in the Chinese market. Volvo Cars neither blindly follows the direct sales model of the new car-making forces, nor lies in the traditional system of dealers in the past. Through the official direct sales model, while improving the user experience, it is possible to alleviate the inventory pressure of dealers and stabilize market prices. At the same time, through a series of supporting means such as pre-sales and after-sales, we will realize the change of dealers' concepts, pay more attention to providing services, and be prepared to embrace the future.
Full of confidence
Meet the challenges of the future
In the new year, the epidemic and chips are still facing uncertainty. Volvo's response is to find a customer base that belongs only to Volvo, find people who like Volvo products, and sell the cars they want to sell.
Instead of lamenting the variability of the market, it is better to be down-to-earth, find a path of your own, and unswervingly go on, perhaps, this is the way Volvo has succeeded in the past 95 years.