Is Wuling okay? This question may be a matter of opinion, but in the heart of Zhou Xiao, deputy general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling Sales Company, the answer must be yes, otherwise he would not have announced the change of Wuling to China Wuling at the Wuling brand strategy conference.
"We aspire to be a proud global brand for young people. What is China Wuling? Since you dare to call this name, you should take on more important missions and responsibilities. This is Zhou Xi's original words.
What supports Zhou's courage is that Wuling released the two wings flying together brand strategy with "user wings" and "technology wings" as the core on the same day, with the goal of opening a new journey for the Wuling brand to rise.
However, just as the unstable factors in the automobile market are increasing, Wuling's change to China's Wuling represents the dilemma that the Wuling brand is facing today, so it has to let Zhou Xiao try to promote the development of the brand by "kidnapping" consumers' national feelings in the name of "China Wuling".
I have to say that thanks to the marketing strategy of "what the people need, Wuling will create", Wuling has frequently appeared in the newspaper in the past two years, coupled with the popularity of Hongguang NIMIEV, Wuling can be regarded as a brand with a full sense of existence. However, when the tide fades, it is only when it is known who is swimming naked, and in the environment of more rational and upgraded consumption in the automobile industry, the market of Wuling is being eaten away step by step, which is also an indisputable fact.
One of the most intuitive performances, Hongguang MINI EV sales are deteriorating, and now there is no momentum of 50,000 or 60,000 at the beginning, as for Capgemini, it has declined for three consecutive months from November 2021, and only more than 4,000 units have been sold by January 2022. Moreover, more serious than the decline in sales, Wuling hopes that the brand upward strategy has completely failed. At the level of electrification, Hongguang MINI EV cannot support the brand electrification transformation strategy; at the global level, Capgemini has affected the market foundation accumulated by the entire Wuling brand because of price and quality problems, making all the bold words that Wuling once made empty talk.
It is true that the short-term sales fluctuation cannot negate the Wuling brand, but what about at the level of user feedback? Wuling didn't seem to be doing a good job either.
Recently, with the approaching of 315, more and more consumers have reflected the problems of Wuling products on the complaint website.
For example, turning the detailed page of Wuling Capgemini complaints, we can see that the most important thing about the car is the problem of the power system. Wuling Capgemini uses a 1.5T + CVT powertrain, which is the same model of Wuling Hongguang S3 code name LJO engine, this engine is the early General Motors domestic production, the older technology is older, idle jitter, dry roar does not go the power is insufficient This series of problems all appear in this car. Some car owners also said that the engine often fails, and the fuel consumption is quite high, up to 9.0L per 100 kilometers, which is a disaster for the economical household MPV itself.
In terms of driving texture, Wuling Capgemini has a series of problems such as steering wheel deviation, chassis abnormal sound, body idle shaking, brake abnormal sound, poor sound insulation, and excessive wind noise during driving, which have also been exposed one by one after the owner has used the car for a long time. At the same time, this series of problems is not only related to comfort, but also directly affects the safety of vehicles. It is understood that in the crash test announced by C-NCAP of China Automobile Research Institute, Wuling Capgemini only received 4 star evaluations, and it became the only model C-NCAP to receive a "four-star" rating in 2021, which is also very "rare" in C-NCAP, which is known as the "five-star wholesale department".
Industry insiders have long analyzed that the biggest problem restricting the Wuling brand is technology, which has a unique and accurate understanding of the needs of China's entry-level user groups, but over the years, Wuling has not labeled itself as "technology", which is a major hidden danger for the brand upwards.
From the perspective of fuel vehicles, the core power system and chassis adjustment are the proof of technical strength; from the perspective of pure electric vehicles, the pure electric vehicle platform, intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving level are the proof of technical strength. But at present, Wuling lacks enough convincing "products" in both aspects.
However, this common perception is actually automatically blocked by Zhou Jiao, and he is still hyped up his "technology coffee" label, which is obviously a bit insulting to consumers.
Didn't Zhou Xiao know the predicament that Wuling was in? No, but from its consistent marketing point of view, the so-called "China Wuling" is just a common trick.
From the 18th China Auto Marketing Summit Storm last year to the 12th Global New Energy Vehicle Conference this year, Zhou Xi twice elaborated on his and Wuling's marketing philosophy, one is to grasp the mainstream trend and use the "gap" to strengthen communication efficiency; the other is that marketing must follow the trend, these two speeches are basically a core - Wuling's marketing should follow the needs of the country, the needs of the people, and the needs of society.
It sounds pragmatic, but in the general principles of marketing, this is actually a theory that does not stand up to scrutiny.
As we all know, the automobile is the pillar industry of today's world economy, which also means that automobile companies not only want users to "consume products", but also guide users to "need products". But how did Wuling and Zhou Xi do it? Instead of coming up with corresponding products and marketing strategies, it is taking advantage of the rising national sentiment of consumers to try to bundle the Wuling brand upwards with the national righteousness.
This is a very dangerous thing. With the name of "China", it must be that after killing the blood road first, it is accepted and recognized by consumers, and finally recognized by the market as a "national brand". But Wuling and Zhou Xi did the opposite, first self-identification, and then kidnapped user consumption, such a strategy is really difficult to call the best policy.
However, perhaps this is also the cleverness of Zhou Jiao, which has always emphasized the need to follow the trend, then the current "potential" is not the national pride of Chinese, Zhou Xiao out of this move, maybe it will cause consumer empathy? Anyway, it is much better to gamble than to stare at Wuling 'collapse'.
Whether Zhou Xi can gamble or not is unknown, but it needs to be reminded that consumers' enthusiasm for national brands really does not mean that they will consume irrationally, after all, all wild consumption premise is that the brand's products are worth it. Therefore, if you want to become "China's Five Lings", don't live up to the word "China", Zhou Jiao, and act cautiously.
Write | Water miao
Edit the | Respect for the distance