Produced 丨 Tiger Sniff Car Group
Author 丨 Li Wenbo
Edited 丨 thoughtful
Head Map 丨 《Nine Pin Sesame Officer》
The matter of building a car first playing tricks is the beginning of the new forces.
Abroad, Tesla's boss "cosmic internet celebrity" Elon Musk is frantically tweeting and proofing. In China, the three leaders of "Wei Xiaoli" are busy with primitive reproduction.
Among these controversial quotations, Weilai Li Bin contributed the most, picking up a few: "It is not difficult to surpass Tesla in China", "Electric vehicles can go wherever gasoline cars can go", "Porsche factories are not as good as Jianghuai factories", "Musk does not understand automatic driving", "Why are there still people buying oil cars now".
Li wants to mouth and does not spare people, representative works are: "a bunch of people engaged in (beep beep) stinky technology, every day rushed to us BB, they came up with what fart technology", "let a group of people who have no user thinking, do not care about the user at all, every day to study the technical route", "rumors that we use mercury people and the media, I wish you mercury flowing in your blood, your brain is full of mercury!" ”
He Xiaopeng is honest and prefers to be sarcastic: "The core of smart cars is in operation, not in manufacturing", "The basic principles of the car can't be read, it's too hard", "Toyota shelled the electric car reminds me of dozens of executives who cried when Nokia was acquired", "I bought a lot of liquor to solve the problem." ”
Musk has the courage to provoke Volkswagen, BMW, Ford and General Motors because Tesla has indeed single-handedly accelerated the entire auto industry into the era of smart electric. But the "Wei Xiaoli" bosses are full of mouths, on the one hand, the lack of the most basic reverence for the automobile industry in the early stage of entry, on the other hand, the marketing costs are stretched, and they can only take the free boss as the fulcrum to try to pry the hot spots of public opinion.
This atmosphere of "fighting wars of words" soon began to spill over from "Wei Xiaoli" and spread to traditional forces. For example, Liu Tao, CEO of Zhiji Automobile, recently published that "spending more than 400,000 plus taxes to buy BBA users is more tragic and more helpless", which makes the users of the top three Ashkenazi feel that their fate is tragic for the first time.
More often than not, the traditional forces are fighting for their own grievances: we honestly develop and develop, get up early and greedily produce black, sell cars in a disciplined manner, that is, the mouth is stupid, how can we live worse than these greasy mouths and slippery tongues?
The Wei brand under Great Wall Motors is the majority that was once silent. But now, awakened by the new forces' approach, they have begun to try a "not very honest" path of branding.
On April 13, Weipai CMO Qiao Xinyu passionately opened a wheat on Weibo: the new forces are more like using cars as mobile phones, only doing what they are good at or the most superficial things (such as UI, software), and then frantically throwing money at consumers with the so-called "new" to make consumers blind. When the new forces spend their budgets on marketing, we do spend it on research and development.
It sounds harsh and the directionality is clear. But Qiao Xinyu's boss, Weipai CEO Li Ruifeng, was even more ruthless, picking a few:
"The new forces of car-making have successfully masked the innate inadequacy of trams with the structure of social psychology and superiority. In terms of mass sociology, the construction of Internet user designs masks the lack of technology. Playing with your good and covering up my embarrassment. Building a car is not a noun. Simply change the backward technology to a package, and the era of cutting leeks is gone. ”
"The transformation of traditional luxury brands is too slow, the value output is single, always using the old luxury standards, standing still, and forcibly continuing to live by nibbling on the old original."
"With the popularity of pure electricity, in the highway and scenic spots on holidays, there is a different kind of scenery: charging for an hour, queuing all day." Go out for a day trip, seconds to recharge the tour. ”
Previously, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd., was also rumored to have expressed the view that "the new forces (beep beep) understand a fart, Li Xiang and Li Bin do not understand technology, and Xiaopeng only understands software" in a drunken state.
From the perspective of mobilizing emotions and provoking controversy, the Wei card after changing the name is obviously enlightened compared to the previous stupid Wei Pai, and it is not difficult to jump in one breath. But we think it's okay to call out new forces, but it's not necessary. Compared with the short victory won by the sharp teeth in the field of public opinion, it is more meaningful to be at the forefront of China's automobile sales list for a long time, after all, Wei Pai is a new base plate buried by Great Wall Motors in the era of intelligent electric vehicles. People who want to be big brothers can't fight with their little brothers.
Try to take a detour
On the eve of the Guangzhou Auto Show in November 2016, the WEY brand was officially released. The origin of this name is as simple as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Bentley, And Maybach: the surname of Wei Jianjun, the founder of Great Wall Motors. The emergence of the WEY brand has achieved two firsts: the first Chinese car brand named after the founder's surname and the first Chinese local luxury car brand.
Like many world-renowned car brands, the WEY logo originates from the company's birthplace and the hometown of its founders. Wei Jianjun installed the landmark building of Baoding in China, the "Baoding Directly Subordinate Governor's Palace Big Flagpole", on every new WEY brand car that came off the production line. In a promotional film starring Wei Jianjun himself, the Baoding drift prince was happy with the WEY logo, but was hesitant about the name: "I worry about whether it is too bold." ”
Baoding is directly subordinate to the flagpole of the Governor's Palace
But what could be bolder than betting on all your wealth and past achievements to create a new Chinese luxury brand?
In April 2017, mass production of the WEY brand, which had been in existence for half a year, began, the first of which was the VV7, which sold for 160,000 to 190,000 yuan. The price now sounds not luxurious at all, and even a little cheap. However, at that time, the VV7, which landed more than 200,000 yuan, pierced the price ceiling of 150,000 yuan of its own brand in one fell swoop, becoming the goalkeeper of the 200,000 yuan model of the Chinese brand.
Four months later, the second production car, the VV5, rolled off the production line, and the price dropped at 120,000 to 170,000. The VV5 set a precedent by challenging the U.S. roof static pressure test for the first time and passing it. At that time, the WEY brand was desperate to promote VV5, so desperate that WEY brand CEO Yan Si sat directly in the car with more than 6 tons of containers and accepted the interview with a relaxed face.
At the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, the VV5 was ranked as a mass production car in one of the "top five most successful models of the auto show" selected by the German weekly Focus, surrounded by either the Pyramid Tip of the Porsche 911 GT3, which is difficult for ordinary people to reach, or the concept cars that cannot be found on the production line of Audi Aicon, Honda URBAN EV and Smart EQ.
In 2017, wey brand sales totaled 86,000 units. In 2018, weY brand signed C Luo as the brand spokesperson, selling 139,000 units. In 2019, the WEY brand released the third model VV6, and the Chinese name "Wei Pai" began to appear at the rear of the car. In October of the same year, the 300,000th vehicle of the WEY brand rolled off the production line at great wall motor Xushui plant. Three years after its establishment, wey brand became the first and fastest Chinese luxury brand to produce 300,000 complete vehicles.
This year, Wei Jianjun wrote three development keywords for weY: users, technology and globalization. But it was also in this year that Wei Pai began to enter the downward channel of sales: in 2018, Wei Pai had 8 months of sales exceeding 10,000. In 2019, only 4 months exceeded 10,000, and in 2020, there was only 1 month.
The "Chinese luxury brand" that was hard to support was hanging in the balance, and Wei Jianjun could not sit still. You know, the "build a brand by category" strategy he created has not failed: Haval is the market leader of China's economic SUV, Euler is the world's most woman-loving car brand, Tank is the world's first off-road brand, Salon is a luxury smart electric vehicle brand, and Gun is the world's leading brand of pickup trucks.
What is Wei Pai? Wei Jianjun's heart was clear, but he couldn't tell. Therefore, he wishfully used the word "luxury" to summarize.
In fact, Weipai is the flag bearer of Great Wall Motors' unswerving high-end. This banner tree rose in the era of fuel vehicles and was displayed in the era of new energy.
But the reality from 2020 to today is that both platforms and products originated from Haval's Wei brand, and after a honeymoon period based on freshness that every new brand has, it is not surprising to go high and low, embarking on a detour with no next road sign. In 2021, in the territory of Great Wall Motors, Haval sold 770,000 units, accounting for 60%, pickup truck sales of 233,000 units, accounting for 18%; Euler sales of 135,000 units, accounting for 11%; tank sales of 85,000, accounting for 7%. Wei brand sales are the lowest, only 58,000 units, accounting for 5%.
But even so, the weight and significance of Wei Pai in the Great Wall Automobile empire, as long as Wei Jianjun does not retreat, there is no brand that can reach. Because it is too red and actively stripped of the Wei brand tank, it can only continue to forage for survival in the niche market such as hard-core off-road, and no matter how high the skill is, it cannot cover the main.
Ruifeng dancing sword, it will be the most fierce
Ask him what he can do, first to know who he is.
Li Ruifeng, graduated from Hebei University of Economics and Business in 2003, chose to join Great Wall Motor as a salesman. In 2009, he was promoted to deputy general manager of Great Wall Motor Sales Company, in 2014 he was promoted to general manager of Great Wall Motor Sales Company, and in mid-2020, he became ceo of Weipai.
To sum up simply, Li Ruifeng is a handsome man cultivated by the Great Wall system, a confidant of Wei Jianjun, and a loyal guard who has entered the gate of the Great Wall Motor Company and has never left No. 2266 Chaoyang South Avenue since then. How much power does Li Ruifeng have at Great Wall Motors? As big as the four kings of great wall motors marketing - Liu Zhifeng, Liu Yan, Ning Shuyong and Wen Fei - must be reported directly to him.
Media familiar with Li Ruifeng once described him as a "two-faced bandit": daily mood and anger are not colorful, and emotions rarely have waves. Once standing in front of the traditional luxury brands and new forces of car-making, the bandits are full of anger, put on the bayonet, and take the lead in the charge.
In the nearly two years since he took over Wei Pai, Li Ruifeng has only done one thing: the second rush.
It is no longer the traditional high-end market, but the high-end new energy market. How to rush? High-end pure electricity is controlled by Tesla, Weilai and some Xiaopeng. You can only switch tracks and choose the hybrid of "riding the wall", so that under the change of thinking, Wei Pai's opponent on the table is only left with the extended range hybrid overlord Ideal ONE.
Weipai did this, there are three considerations: first, in 2021, China's new energy vehicle sales of 2.989 million units, hybrid model sales of 545,000 units, an increase of 171.2% year-on-year, the growth rate of 168.6% growth rate of pure electricity 2.6 percentage points; second, pure electric vehicle endurance virtual standard, energy replenishment, low retention rate and other dilemmas have not yet appeared the ultimate solution, pragmatic consumers are more willing to accept hybrid models without the aforementioned anxiety; third, plug-in hybrid in the non-restricted city market has been opened. It has shifted from policy-driven to product-driven.
According to the "Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0" released by the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, by 2025/2030/2035, the total proportion of hybrid vehicles in China's overall automobile sales will reach 42%/47.8%/52.5% respectively, and hybrid vehicles have more than 16 times the growth space in the 5 years from 2020 to 2025.
Li Ruifeng feels that the technical ability of Weipai is one level higher than that of new and old players, and he has repeatedly publicly stated that "Weipai DHT hybrid is the best new energy technology in the world", and has repeatedly emphasized that the new forces have not only not solved the anxiety of users, but even created new anxieties.
This is true, from the analysis of paper, DHT hybrid combines the advantages of engine and motor, with a two-gear solution to solve the technical pain points of electric and plug-in hybrid, to meet the needs of daily travel is very appropriate. But the problem is that the best part of the world is not built by bragging, but by user reputation. Toyota's good quality is not made by Toyota Akino's Tweet, but by millions of car owners around the world. The premise of forming a user reputation is a sufficiently rich user contact point.
The car is a comprehensive, structural experience, the new forces can quickly accumulate word of mouth, what to do is a full-dimensional experience, from adhering to direct operation, to user co-creation, from self-built charging pile replacement power station, to package maintenance, the new force pulled through the whole life cycle of a car experience process, and improved the user experience in a stepwise manner. This is the part that Wei Pai was not very good at in the past, relying on Li Ruifeng and a number of Wei Pai executives to fight with the new forces on social media, and it cannot be made up. It is to sink down, learn "Wei Xiaoli", and do user operations and services step by step.
Write at the end
Wei Pai is the first luxury brand that was born in the true sense of the word, and is different from the red flag with the "aura of the country", different from the Lynk & Co born from the overseas brand Volvo, and even more different from the zhiji grown from the body of the state-owned enterprise SAIC: Wei Pai is a luxury brand spawned by the market. Li Ruifeng defined Wei Pai's reform as "a battle to die." Judging from the scene, this battle Wei Pai is indeed fighting, but the firepower is far from being driven to the maximum.
Two details: First, Li Ruifeng revealed that a user had written a 5,000-word improvement proposal in the early days of the new car listing, from which Weipai executives listed 51 targeted projects and landed 40. On the bright side, the team is really good. But from another point of view, a New Wei brand car can be picked out by an ordinary user 51 faults, of which 80% are correct, which is how much does not understand the needs of users.
Second, Li Ruifeng opened Weibo 1 day before the launch of Weipai's new car, and Qiao Xinyu was 3 days ago. If you really have the heart to make friends with users, such an open and important communication channel as Weibo should have been opened long ago, rather than cooperating with the new car listing and grinding the gun.
Great Wall Motors' past achievements are obvious to all, Weipai's self-subversive growth is also underway, and now the first task is to clarify the brand construction route and put up the real banner of China's high-end new energy vehicles as soon as possible.
As for the matter of playing tricks, it is the head of the new forces, and it is better to let the new forces continue to work. No one wants to listen to Wei Pai's nonsense, and everyone is waiting to see Wei Pai's good drama of breaking the myth of new forces building cars.