Rome wasn't built in a day, and a brand can't become a high-end brand by setting a high price. In addition to product technology, in order to achieve high-end, Weipai is undergoing "invisible adjustment".
Author 丨 Zhang Yan
"The mission of Weipai is to serve as a benchmark for the upward breakthrough of the Great Wall Motor brand, and all the resources of the group will be tilted towards Weipai." The day before the launch of weipai mocha DHT-PHEV, Weipai CEO Li Ruifeng said in an interview with the media.
This product with a price range of 295,000 yuan to 315,000 yuan is the beginning, after which the Dream Series and MPV Series that Weipai will launch will be positioned in the market range of 300,000-400,000 yuan. Li Ruifeng said that positioning the brand in the high-end market of more than 300,000 yuan is "a price range supported by a strain, not a single product." ”
The transformation to high-end new energy is not only Wei brand, but also an important task of Great Wall Motors in 2022.
"Only the success of Wei Pai's soaring can lead the high-end brands of various segments that will differentiate in the future to break through upwards." Wei's mission is not only a brand, but also "a variety of responsibilities in one, to break out of a successful road for great wall motor brands to break through upwards." ”
But obviously, this is still a bad road for Wei, who has encountered many challenges in the 6 years of its establishment.
01. The great wall's sense of crisis, Wei's anxiety
6 years ago, the birth of Weipai led to a number of independent car companies to launch independent high-end brands. However, since its development, compared with other brands under the group, its development is difficult to describe as "smooth". Nowadays, in the "turning battle" for high-end new energy manufacturing, Wei Pai even said: Only by living to the death can we achieve renewal.
This is not an alarmist remark, but a sense of crisis and anxiety pervading the senior leaders of the Great Wall - although Great Wall Motors has handed over a good report card in the past year, there are still undercurrents surging under the gloss, especially Wei Pai, who is facing great pressure.
In 2021, Great Wall Motor Group sold more than 1.28 million vehicles, an increase of 15.2% year-on-year, a higher growth rate than in 2020; overseas markets also blossomed, with 140,000 sales volume increasing by 103.7% year-on-year. However, according to the sales target of 4 million in four years set in the "2025 Strategic Plan", this performance is still far from the same.
In order to support the rapid increase in sales, great wall is rapidly rolling out products in an all-round way. In addition to the new intelligent electric brand salon, the tank brand is independent from the Wei brand, and in 2021, the Great Wall has launched more than 30 new cars, attacking the market at an average rate of more than 2 new cars per month.
Both tanks and Euler have a good performance in the market, but behind the 1.28 million sales, it is still The Haval company that dominates - with 770,000 sales accounting for more than 60% of Great Wall Motors, and of which more than 350,000 are from the Haval H6 that has been selling for 10 years.
At the crossroads of intelligent transformation, if you want to let the entire group go to the future, it is obviously not enough to rely too much on a fuel vehicle with a price that is difficult to break through the ceiling of 200,000 yuan.
Taking the road of high-end and making a breakthrough in the brand has always been the wish and dream of Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors. For this reason, it was only in 2016 that he bet his surname on the birth of "Wei".
After several twists and turns, the current Wei Pai is still far from Wei Jianjun's expectations. In 2020, the burden of trading Weipai fell on Li Ruifeng, who was then senior vice president of Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. Since graduating from university in 2003, Li Ruifeng has worked at Great Wall Motors for nearly 20 years. Now in the position of CEO of Weipai, Li Ruifeng needs to find a way out for this brand that has always been "confused" by the outside world.
Wei is also reflecting internally, whether it is product planning or brand building, Wei has some regrets in the past 6 years, and the feedback at the sales level is the most direct - after the "tank" that can support sales performance is established as a separate brand, Wei brand final sales in 2021 will be 58,000 vehicles.
The tank brand that Wei spun off in 2021 can be called a "blockbuster product". In the hardcore off-road segment with a small market volume, the Tank 300 model that has just completed 1 year on the market has thrown competitors out of more than one position and ranked first. There is almost "a car is difficult to find" on the market, which shows its popularity.
On the one hand, the separate split will help the growth of the tank brand, on the other hand, the Great Wall and the trader Wei Jianjun may not want the "Wei brand" to focus only on the smaller segment of the hardcore off-road market, but hope to use mocha, latte, macchiato and other coffee series models to enter the mainstream high-end car market - obviously this goal will take time to complete.
However, in the sales range of 300,000 yuan, it is not easy for Wei and even all independent brands to enter the market that luxury brands and new car manufacturers have occupied.
02. Build the brand first, build sales later
In the high-end consumer market, Great Wall Group does not have much experience. Over the years, although there have been frequent explosions, critics believe that the Great Wall, which is well versed in the psychology of Chinese consumers, has always been "taking shortcuts" and relying on the "flat substitution" of various high-end products to occupy the market.
However, in the range of more than 300,000 yuan, whether the brand can support product pricing has become a key factor in determining sales. Consumers in this price range are more discerning than the familiar customers of the Great Wall, and there are more products with brand accumulation to choose from.
Wei Pai chose a difficult path.
As Li Ruifeng expressed in an interview, the entire group of Great Wall Motor is transforming to high-end. Due to the loss of bicycles exceeding 10,000 yuan, the group's brother brand Euler has stopped receiving orders for A00-class electric vehicles black cats and white cats, and hopes to switch the product to more than 150,000 yuan of ballet cats and punk cats.
Weipai is also in the product switching cycle. The three coffee series models of Mocha, Latte and Macchiato have replaced the previous VV5 and VV7, while the subsequent Dream Series and MPV Series have yet to be introduced into the market. How do they lead Weipai into the high-end market?
Wei Pai's strategy is: build the brand first, build sales later - the sales volume is not to sell, but to "sharpen the knife and not cut the wood by mistake" at the moment when the brand cannot be supported. The information revealed in the interview on the listing of Mocha DHT-PHEV is that whether it is a product, brand, or user operation, Weipai is stepping up its layout for the necessary options on these lists.
In the future, Weipai will fully shift from traditional car manufacturing to new energy vehicles. "Smart DHT" and "Coffee Intelligence" as the two core technologies, Weipai will be the whole series of long-lasting DHT-PHEV models, with "0 anxiety intelligent electric" as the core selling point to leverage the market. At the same time, Weipai will focus more on the new middle class in first- and second-tier cities. "Wei Pai's renewal is definitely no less than the second venture." Weipai CEO Li Ruifeng said.
At present, Weipai also needs to change and occupy the user's mind. "The zero-anxiety intelligent electric and long-endurance DHT that we want to convey can form a new understanding of us in the customer's mind, and if it is formed, it means that the cognitive system construction of the brand pyramid is completed." Li Ruifeng said.
In addition to product technology, in order to achieve high-end, Weipai is undergoing "invisible adjustment".
Li Ruifeng said: "From an internal point of view, we also realize that this time is not simply to rely on the brand, product renewal to win, is the entire group and research, production, supply, sales of each dimension must face the user, to achieve brand, product, channel, user, research and development, production, technology multi-dimensional all-round renewal battle." ”
Wei brand CMO Qiao Xinyu
The city of Rome was not built in a day, and a brand cannot become a high-end brand by setting a high price. Weipai CMO Qiao Xinyu said in an interview: "We must have a breakthrough, from the past To B, To C to now direct To C, which must first do a good job of supporting systems. For example, terminal services, network layouts, and even Weipai's own internal organization are also changing. ”
In the interview, Li Ruifeng mentioned that Wei Pai is adjusting the organizational mechanism. Among them, the assessment dimension should shift from the past product market share and sales dimension to user satisfaction, user reputation, and brand health. "Take the user's satisfaction as an evaluation index, so that it can run through from the organization to the mechanism, and truly land and serve the customer."
In addition, channels and businesses are changing. "The traditional automotive industry is all based on the quality of business results to determine the future agency rights and long-term profit sharing strategy." He said, "Now is the way to distribute agents and organize business policies, and the follow-up business policies should also be adjusted, and the business policies should be built with user-driven, from short-term interest-driven to long-term 'user-centered' management model changes." ”
At present, the pressure is on the shoulders of the Wei Pai team, and time is not waiting for anyone.
Image source: Network