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Before opening the main topic, let's throw a few questions, from its establishment in 2014 to the present, tossing and turning kaiyi cars for many years, there are days, places, and people, but why is it still struggling? Is Kaiyi's sluggishness dragged down by Chery, or is the new team too incompetent? New cars have been pushed and failed, is it a problem with the model, or is it the responsibility of marketing? There are frequent marketing experts to join, but why is it still tepid and silent.
Recently, the long-dormant Kaiyi finally had a hint of movement and sound. According to media reports, Zhao Shiqian, former director of the marketing department of FAW-Volkswagen Sales Co., Ltd., joined Kaiyi Automobile as deputy general manager of its sales co., ltd. This is after senior marketing expert Guo Deqiang joined Kaiyi Automobile, another marketing veteran with rich FAW resume.
It is understood that Zhao Shiqian has successively served as the manager of the western region of audi sales division and the director of the east China marketing department. In 2016, Zhao Shiqian was promoted to the director of the Marketing Department, responsible for the marketing and marketing of FAW-Volkswagen new products, and in 2020, Zhao Shiqian was transferred to the general manager of Moose Zhilian Technology Co., Ltd., a joint venture between FAW-Volkswagen and Volkswagen China. Since entering FAW-Volkswagen in 2001, Zhao Shiqian has more than 20 years of industry experience, which can be called the "old cannon" of marketing in the automotive circle!
Let's talk about Guo Deqiang, who joined Kaiyi before him. Since entering FAW in 1990, he has successively held many positions in technology, project preparation, marketing, etc., and has marketing management experience of FAW Toyota, FAW Hongqi, FAW Car, FAW Mazda and other brands. In October 2021, he officially joined Kaiyi Automobile and served as the assistant general manager of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., the executive deputy general manager of Kaiyi Automobile Co., Ltd., and the general manager of Kaiyi Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., responsible for coordinating the market, brand, sales, network and service work.
In this way, Kaiyi ushered in a new era of marketing for FAW's "double males". It is said that the train runs fast, all by the headband. So, after Guo Deqiang had the help of Zhao Shiqian, could he lead KaiYi to soar into the sky? In the small editor's view, it may still be very difficult.
At the beginning of the chapter, it was mentioned that Kaiyi Automobile also had a favorable time and place. First look at the sky, the entry of Kaiyi just caught up with the vigorous development of domestic independent brands in the environment, you know, such as Geely, great wall and Chang'an, are from 2014, there has been a rapid development. Looking at the geographical advantage, Kaiyi has a strong combination of Chery Automobile and Yibin City State-owned Assets and Wuliangye in the later stage, with abundant funds and policies in place. As for people, in recent years, there have been a number of senior marketing experts including Guo Deqiang to join the help.
However, there is only one result, and Kaiyi Automobile is like a dou that cannot be supported, and it is still difficult to live!
After its establishment in 2014, Kaiyi Automobile has successively launched C3, C3R, E3, V3, X5 and other models, which is still strong in terms of products. However, although there are many products, there are no explosive products, and the overall sales volume is also very general. According to the data, in 2015, Kaiyi's annual sales were 24,000 units, compared with 37,000 units in 2016 and 41,000 units in 2017, and sales fell back to more than 24,000 units in 2018. In terms of these sales, it is difficult to survive. Therefore, in 2018, Chery issued an announcement that at a price of 2.494 billion yuan, the equity transfer of 51% of its brand Kaiyi Automobile was taken over by Yibin Automobile Industry Development Investment Co., Ltd. (holding 50.5% of the shares) and Sichuan Yibin Pushhi Group Co., Ltd. (holding 0.5% of the shares, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wuliangye Group), and the company name was changed to Yibin Kaiyi Automobile Co., Ltd.
It is said that the new company has a new atmosphere, reorganizes Heshan's Kaiyi, sets a sales target of 60,000 yuan in 2009, and welcomes the joining of Liu Hongwei, a senior marketing expert of chery Automobile. However, the ideal is very full, and the reality is as bone-chilling as ever. By 2020, even if there are new cars in the world, the annual sales will only be 33,277. What is even more tragic is that in 2021, after the high-hope Xuandu listing, it is still tepid, and the annual sales volume has fallen to 20345 units, setting a record for the worst sales performance of Kaiyi Automobile since its inception. As a result, Liu Hongwei also left from kaiyi automobile with hatred.
Back to the above topic, why is it said that Guo Deqiang and Zhao Shiqiang have little hope of joining forces? Xiaobian believes that these factors cannot be ignored.
First look at the brand, the original Kaiyi is Chery's sub-brand, brand power and Chery will also have some gaps. After changing hands to cooperate with Yibin State-owned Assets and Wuliangye, even if the new partners are rich and powerful, they are after all laymen in the automotive industry. Therefore, the question is, Chery itself already has a "low" label and cognition, how can Kaiyi establish a higher "human design"? Without brand support, if you want to quickly explode the amount of popularity, the difficulty can be imagined!
Speaking of products, since the brand is derived from Chery, the product naturally cannot run, and it is also highly dependent on Chery. As mentioned in the previous article, many of Kaiyi's products are almost all shell versions of Chery's eliminated models, which is nothing more than fine-tuning the appearance. I would like to ask, hanging Chery's logo can't catch fire, how can it be changed to Kaiyi? Although Kaiyi's "take-ism" saves research and development costs and accelerates the process of pushing new products, how competitive can such new products be? In other words, today's consumers are more rational, and there is no market for models without sincerity.
As for marketing, in a word, without sales support, where is the profit, and how to hit the "ammunition" of the market? Therefore, we can't see the superiority of Kaiyi's new products in marketing, nor can we see the colorful marketing activities of Kaiyi new cars. In this way, Mo said Guo Deqiang, any master comes, I am afraid it will be difficult to toss out the results!
Finally, let's talk about these two marketing generals from FAW. Let me ask you, is the success in FAW because of their own capabilities, or because of their powerful platforms and products? Did FAW need marketing in those years? Perhaps after coming to Kaiyi, Fang is the moment to test the true strength of these two marketing "old cannons"!
As for how to evaluate their performance in Kaiyi, the only way to look at this year's sales!
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The brand strength is weak, the product strength is insufficient, and the marketing is not innovative enough, even if there is a FAW marketing general to join, I am afraid it will be difficult to improve. Therefore, there may only be two results waiting for Kaiyi Automobile, either eliminated by the market or changed owners again! In fact, Xiaobian is thinking, instead of suffering in the fuel vehicle market, it is really better to comprehensively transform new energy vehicles, even if you learn from Jianghuai and do a foundry, it may be a way out!