When a new brand is born, it will always face various challenges of public opinion. Just like the moment he became ceo of Feifan Automobile on November 1 last year, Wu Bing also needs to face the doubts of the outside world.
Does SAIC still need a new mid-to-high-end brand? Is actively high-end Roewe brand, positioning high-end luxury Zhiji car, SAIC Group has laid out too many brands, Feifan Automobile, what kind of positioning will exist, how to avoid the competition between the left and right hands of the group, how to break out of an extraordinary road of its own?
On February 24, the Automotive Innovation Harbor is also the Shanghai headquarters of Feifan Automobile, when Wu Bing sat in front of the media, he has gone through a full three months and 24 days of thinking, Wu Bing, a lawyer, has a rigorous work style, close to 120 days of thinking period, without a meticulous plan, it is impossible to easily face the media.
"The 'Co-creation Exchange Meeting' is to put the thinking of Feifan Automobile during this time, including the ideas and future development goals and visions of Feifan Automobile, to communicate with you, hoping to create with everyone and help Feifan Automobile take the pulse." At the scene of the communication meeting, Wu Bing said modest words while carefully taking notes.
Although Wu Bing's attitude is humble, in fact, Feifan Automobile has embarked on an extraordinary road, and Wu Bing already has a spectrum in mind. "By 2025, Feifan Automobile will become the head enterprise of high-end intelligent electric vehicles, and at the same time, it must become a head influential enterprise." Wu Bing said.
The "extraordinary" place of Fei Fan
"We have clear business goals and strategic goals, at least one brand new model per year in 2022-2025, and at least 100% growth per year by 2025, which are the two most basic goals that are determined, because as a startup, you must have such a growth rate, you can quickly occupy the market as a relatively latecomer." Wu Bing said.
Feifan Automobile's English brand name is Rising Auto. Flying represents the spirit of exploration that hopes to continue to work hard, leap upwards, and never stop. Everything means not only to have grand dreams, but also to adhere to the authenticity and make down-to-earth efforts to fulfill them.
"Feifan can not only let inspiration fly in the sky, inspire the imagination of intelligent travel, but also pragmatically study the earth, so that intelligent technology can be cashed in products, continue to rise, and achieve extraordinary results." Wu Bing said that this is also in line with the vision of Feifan Automobile. Feifan Automobile brand positioning is a high-end pure electric intelligent mobile space, while the brand DNA is also six words and three words, authentic, pioneering, tasteful.
In terms of products, in addition to the current sale of ER6, MARVEL R, this year, Feifan Automobile will have a new generation of architecture, a new technology application of the extremely intelligent high-end pure electric SUVR7 listed, but also in the definition of the third and fourth fifth vehicles, planned to be delivered in the hands of users during the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" period.
Wu Bing revealed that the business logic and operation of Feifan Automobile itself have determined several major directions: First, the independent operation of assets. The so-called light assets are: we will fully integrate and make good use of SAIC's existing resources, technologies and capabilities, do not duplicate investment and construction, and focus on users, data, channels and user contacts and product definitions.
Independent operation, it is an independent company, it is an independent company appointed by the board of directors of SAIC to be responsible for the CEO, all the decisions we make are very fast and efficient, we can make decisions very quickly, according to the needs of the market.
Second, it is the three major strategies of user-driven, digital-driven and intelligent-driven. According to the user-driven strategy, the entire company's organizational structure will be adjusted and scattered, divided into user development, user services, user experience, user operations and other departments, all departments will take the user operation journey as the core. And through the Feifan cloud to collect the data of the car, the data of the user, the data of the use, and the experience data together, it will better feed back the development, positioning, and adjustment of future models, and these data will also be conducive to a deeper understanding of the user and can better serve the user. At the same time, a co-creation center of intelligent driving and wisdom cabin has been established exclusively with the technology center and zero beam, and through the co-creation model, the products are more intelligent.
Take advantage of the layout of the time and place
As a latecomer, Feifan wants to achieve extraordinary, inseparable from the time and place.
"The most important reason for the thinking of establishing Feifan Automobile is this map - the theory of the chasm." Wu Bing said that after 15%, a new technology and new products will change from early users to new technologies and new products used by the early public, and 15% is the key node to cross the gap. If this gap cannot be crossed, new technologies and products may disappear or fail.
At this moment, new energy vehicles are in a critical period of crossing the gap. Since September last year, the average monthly penetration rate of new energy passenger cars has exceeded 15%, and new energy vehicles have been recognized from the perspective of new technologies and new products, from the early users to the early stage of mass consumer recognition.
According to the information from the agency, in 2025, the sales volume of new energy vehicles will reach more than 8 million vehicles, and the penetration rate will exceed 30%. In 2022-2025, whether from the perspective of theory or from China's consumption practice, it is the rapid outbreak stage of new energy passenger vehicles.
Decisions made at this time will affect subsequent developments.
Turning over the history of SAIC, looking back at the entire development of SAIC Group in the original traditional fuel vehicle market, we can see that SAIC has come all the way, all the way in the development law of homeopathic expansion: from SAIC Volkswagen in 1980 to SAIC-GM in 1997, to Wuling in 2004, until Roewe in 2006, SAIC ranked first in the Chinese market, occupying 25% of the market share, thanks to the layout before 2005.
Wu Bing himself joined SAIC-GM in 1998, then called Shanghai GM, and can be said to have experienced the process of SAIC-GM from zero to one. When SAIC-GM was established, it was also faced with questions at that time, SAIC already had SAIC Volkswagen, why should it engage in a SAIC-GM, and whether the market capacity in the future would be enough?
In 2004, when SAIC-GM-Wuling joined SAIC-GM through the merger of SAIC Group and GM, we, as a member of SAIC-GM, were also asking this question, with SAIC-GM and SAIC Volkswagen, why should there be SAIC-GM-Wuling.
From the current point of view, it is precisely because of the previous layout, SAIC Group seized the rapid growth of 1998-2005, becoming a "brother" in the domestic automotive industry, in 2021, SAIC Motor Group with sales of more than 5.46 million vehicles, continue to rank first in the domestic automotive industry.
"Practice has proved that when encountering a rapidly developing market, multi-brand to meet the needs of customers with different needs is a strategic tactic that SAIC has always adopted. Through the establishment of different enterprises, different models, different ways of playing, in the whole of China's large market, to find its unique positioning and position. Wu Bing said.
Turn your attention back to the new energy vehicle market. Similar to the market expansion from 1998 to 2005, the inflection point of the new energy market at this moment has arrived, entering a stage of rapid growth, although there are many players entering the game, there are Internet companies, traditional vehicle enterprise transformation, consumer electronics products into the game, but the entire winning and losing situation is far from the stage of falling out, and the victory or defeat has not yet been determined.
SAIC's target for 2025 is to sell more than 2.7 million new energy vehicles, accounting for no less than 32% of vehicle sales. From 730,000 today to 2.7 million in 2025, an increase of nearly four times. For SAIC To achieve its new energy strategic goals, the price range of 200,000 to 500,000 needs more competitive products, and behind these products need more differentiated brands and even enterprises with unique business models to support. This is also the meaning of feifan car's new independence.
Wu Bing's blessing makes Feifan understand users better
SAIC Motor's own brand passenger cars, on the basis of the original Roewe MG two major brands, have successively created a high-end new energy vehicle brand Zhiji. Not long ago, saic motor group R brand transformed into a new start with the name of "Feifan Automobile".
If Zhiji Automobile focuses on the high-end market, then Feifan Automobile is the main brand of SAIC Group entering the mainstream high-end market. Invested 20 billion yuan to create an exclusive future-oriented intelligent platform for Feifan Automobile.
"Feifan Automobile, from Shanghai, we will manufacture at the Shanghai Lingang base, the technical team engineering team is attached to the overall resource advantages of SAIC Group; originating from SAIC, the highest technology came into being, SAIC's latest electronic architecture technology, the latest design language, the latest smart cabin intelligent driving self-developed independent technology will be used for the first time in Feifan Automobile." Wu Bing said.
While catering to the time and place, it should be said that it is also very concerned about the personnel layout. In the senior resume of SAIC Motor, Wu Bing has a history of entrepreneurship that has been continuously started from scratch.
He was the first general manager of SAIC Insurance, a joint venture between SAIC-GM and Volkswagen. In 2018, he started SAIC's mobile travel strategy brand Xiangdao Travel, which made him more comfortable in the face of Feifan from scratch.
"In terms of mentality, I am relatively more relaxed in the entrepreneurial process from zero to one, and I am more comfortable in grasping the rhythm." In the face of Feifan Automobile's new brand, Wu Bing said frankly. At the same time, because I have done a period of to C work, especially in the three years of Hexiang travel, not only To C but also compete with companies that occupy absolute market share, so the understanding of To C and the rapid needs of users is deeper.
At the same time, because it is not a typical CEO of engineering background, Wu Bing said that more from the user's feelings, to challenge the design team, challenge the technical solution, relatively more objective, more neutral, or on behalf of the user's voice will be more.
"After entering the mainstream market in the second half of the year, especially in the next few years, the tolerance of mass consumers in the early stage will be relatively low, and it needs a relatively balanced intelligent electric vehicle, which is why you will see that the car we designed is not very extreme, and we hope that it is still a relatively balanced car in all aspects." Wu Bing said.
At present, as the electric vehicle market crosses the gap and enters the consumer group of more and more mainstream masses, the target customers of consumption are not the same as the previous target customers, and the audience has become larger. Perhaps, some of the gameplay dominated by Tesla and Wei Xiaoli in the early stage, it is time to make some adjustments. Who can cut the next step of more popular consumer demand, who will win the next market share.
"Our business model and operational perspective will be more user-focused, and data is the foundation or core asset of the company for us. From the perspective of the technical route, we believe that the strategy of smart is smart driving and smart cabin. Wu Bing believes that coincidentally, in these aspects, Feifan Automobile has a strong endorsement from SAIC.
"SAIC Has invested a lot in smart driving and smart cabin technology in the past few years, and I believe that when we launch our technology products, we will show the team of smart driving, the team of smart cabin, and the investment and unique differences and advantages in these technologies more clearly." Wu Bing said.
The wish is good, but the road is also long and difficult, let us wait and see the extraordinary road of Feifan Car!
Yuguan Car City was founded by Yu Linglin, an automobile reporter who has been in the industry for more than ten years, all articles in this public account are original, and only represent personal views, copyright, please contact the author's public number for reprinting: 2844125311, and can be reproduced with consent, and please indicate the source and author.
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