"Will Great Wall Motors survive next year?" In my opinion, life hangs in the balance. This is the feeling of Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, standing on the special node of the thirtieth anniversary.
"How to fight a beautiful turnaround battle?" Only by living to the death can Wei be renewed. This sentence of Weipai CEO Li Ruifeng has the courage of Wei Jianjun's clear understanding of the brand itself and reform.
In 2016, when its own brands encountered bottlenecks in development, Weipai shouldered the mission of ending the huge profits of joint venture brands, bravely entered the 150,000-200,000 SUV market, and achieved a relatively good sales scale, becoming the leader of China's high-end automobile brands.
In 2021, the entire market structure has changed, and new energy vehicles have become a new outlet. In Li Ruifeng's view, Wei Pai's gorgeous turn now, if it is simply reflected in the scale of sales, is meaningless and worthless. Only the success of Wei Pai can lead the high-end brands of various segments of differentiation in the future to break through upwards.
On March 1, 2022, Mocha DHT-PHEV was officially listed at a price of 295,000-315,000, directly entering the price range of luxury brands such as BBA, which means that Weipai has once again refreshed the new height of its own brand. On the eve of the listing of Mocha DHT-PHEV, Uncle Zhong interviewed Weipai CEO Li Ruifeng and Weipai CMO Qiao Xinyu to discuss in depth a series of changes and challenges of Weipai's transformation and upgrading.
Take the initiative to seek change, Wei Pai's mission
Li Ruifeng said that Weipai has undertaken the mission of the group to rush upwards since its birth, driving the upsurge of independent car companies to launch independent high-end brands. Therefore, weipai's mission is not only a brand, but also a variety of responsibilities in one, to break out of a successful road for the upward breakthrough of various brands of Great Wall Motors.
Standing under the wave of "new four modernizations", Wei Pai chose to compete to break the circle, from 200,000-level high-end luxury to 300,000-level high-end new energy, from traditional high-end to compete with new forces. It can be said that it is driven by the trend under the consumption upgrade, and it is also driven by the mission of Weipai as the forerunner of Great Wall Motors.
Judging from the positioning of the previous main sales model VV series in the main range of 150,000-200,000, Weipai has entered the 300,000-300,000 price range this time, and the span is quite large. In addition, the track has crossed from traditional fuel vehicles to high-end new energy vehicles, which has created a precedent for independent brands.
Is Wei Pai's move a bit radical? In uncle Zhong's view, this is the determination and courage brought by the brand to die, and the time and opportunity are left to those who are prepared. Li Ruifeng said frankly that Wei Pai's renewal is definitely no less than the second entrepreneurship, which is different from the new forces of car manufacturing and xiaomi, which are cross-borderers, and the difficulty is very high to cross several stages.
No longer simply pursuing the number of sales, fading the identity of the vanguard of Chinese luxury brands, and pursuing the development quality, upward height and sustainable development of the brand, Weipai's strategic vision has become more and more mature.
Brand accumulation, Wei brand can also do
Why can traditional independent brand products sell for more than 300,000 levels?
If you still look at the MOCHA DHT-PHEV with a traditional eye, you will definitely question its market performance. But Weipai dared to launch this level of products, which proves that Mocha DHT-PHEV has superiority. From the brand level, this is the rebirth of Wei Brand; from the product level, this is the reshaping of product value.
Under the general trend of consumption upgrading, the new energy vehicle market of more than 300,000 is growing rapidly, especially the new car-making forces led by Tesla, Weilai and Ideal, whose market sales and brand voice are obvious to all. Qiao Xinyu threw out a question: "Since the ideal has succeeded through the smart + new energy track, why can't we?" ”
As a benchmark for the upward breakthrough of the Great Wall Motor brand, Weipai's brand confidence comes from the fact that all the resources of the group will be inclined to Weipai. Therefore, in terms of product strength, Mocha DHT-PHEV is more dominant, such as having the industry's only 204km WLTC ultra-long pure electric endurance, and the NOH intelligent pilot assistance system is not lost to the new forces in the head.
Li Ruifeng has publicly stated that "Wei brand DHT hybrid is the best new energy technology in the world". If there is no huge technical reserve, it is difficult to achieve long-term, which is the most important difference between the new car-making forces and traditional car companies.
DHT hybrid maximizes the advantages of engine and electric motor, and can realize a variety of working modes such as EV driving, hybrid drive, and series drive. Coupled with the industry-leading intelligent two-gear DHT, power performance and fuel economy can be combined at the same time, giving the best working mode in the face of different working conditions.
The two-wheel drive version of the WLTC has a pure electric endurance of 204km, a comprehensive endurance of more than 1000km, and a fuel consumption of 5.55L for 100 km feeder. The high-performance electric four-wheel drive system has a maximum power of 355kW, a maximum torque of 762N·m, and can break through 100 in 4.8 seconds. A number of core data on new energy vehicles show that Mocha DHT-PHEV is quite leading in the 300,000-level new energy vehicle market, which is where its strength lies.
Multi-dimensional renewal, impact internationalization
Although products are important in the process of transformation, the brand building of Wei brand outside the products, including service, technology accumulation, word of mouth, marketing methods, and brand culture, cannot be underestimated. Li Ruifeng said bluntly: "The transformation is very difficult, because this is an all-round challenge. ”
"Internally, it is the entire group and research, production, supply and 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." There must be disruptive innovation, and the whole way of thinking has to change. From Li Ruifeng's words, it can be felt that the transformation of Wei Pai is a protracted offensive battle.
How to quickly establish the value of the brand? Obviously, this is not something that can be solved by quickly setting a high price. Choosing to enter Germany, the hometown of BBA with a century-old car manufacturing foundation, dares to accept the world's most stringent test and shows the true top strength of China's intelligent manufacturing, which is very important for Weipai's 300,000 value support.
In the view of Uncle Zhong, independent high-end brands limited to the Chinese market cannot be regarded as high-end brands in the true sense, which may be one of the reasons why Weipai chose the European high-potential energy market in the first battle of globalization. There are the world's most stringent inspections, and it is also a battlefield for luxury car owners gathered by experts. There is no huge user base, but also from scratch to achieve German localization research and development, technical certification and styling design.
If you can have a place in the German market, it is also an endorsement to win the brand and product battles in the domestic market. "We want to define the most stringent international standards as the most basic standards of Weipai," Li Ruifeng said, which is the sense of mission and responsibility that a global brand should have.
Reinvent the system and face the customer
Indeed, the transformation of Weipai is facing various challenges, which is the zeroing of the brand, the re-departure of the new track, and the reshaping of product value.
In the view of Uncle Zhong, Weipai entered the 300,000-level high-end new energy vehicle track, the competition circle and user circle have undergone major changes, how to make consumers or weipai's target group, recognize the value of the two core technologies of intelligent DHT and coffee intelligence, is the biggest breakthrough of Weipai.
During the short one-hour interview, Li Ruifeng and Qiao Xinyu repeatedly mentioned the term "face the user". They believe that from the past To B, To C to the current direct To C, reshaping the service form, business model, service industry and even internal organizational structure, and creating a user-centered service brand and service model are the key to Weipai's transformation.
First, Li Ruifeng asked their employees to change their way of thinking. Abandoning the identity of management, but taking the identity of the chief experience officer of the product and taking the user as the center, we can better think in a different position and think about what the customer thinks, so as to continuously upgrade and optimize the product and walk at the forefront of the times.
For the traditional "dealer-customer-manufacturer" communication model in the past, Li Ruifeng believes that there are drawbacks. When customers have problems, they have to look for people everywhere and fail to deal with the problem efficiently. Using this function of data and information Internet, the three-in-one of the car machine, APP and terminal dealer are all-round direct connection and interconnection with customers, which is the main theme of Weipai's future.
As for the dealer model, Li Ruifeng said that how to solve the awareness of investors to actively serve customers is the key. In the past, dealers were more based on sales as the main assessment, and if sales blindly pursued volume, it would reduce the quality of service.
To this end, Li Ruifeng revealed that the cooperation mechanism for dealers must be reformed. For example, increase the proportion of service satisfaction assessment before and after sales, and no longer take sales volume as the main assessment data. At the same time, more high-quality dealers will be introduced, the original dealer system will be reshuffled and reshaped, and customers will be provided with higher quality services after the survival of the fittest.
Bell description
The city of Rome was not built in a day, and shaping the brand value and product positioning of 300,000 new energy vehicles was not achieved overnight. Weipai's courage to challenge the ceiling of traditional Chinese car brands is caused by the courage of the brand to "live to the death and fight a war against the water", and it is out of a high degree of confidence in the group's 38 years of car manufacturing.
Understand the shortcomings of the brand itself and have a clear strategic idea. Insight into the market for forward-looking layout, across the new track to achieve brand soaring. Regardless of success or failure, Weipai's move is of great reference value to the industry.