The entire automotive industry revolves around carbon neutrality and intelligence in 2021, and it won't change in 2022. Carbon neutrality is a huge challenge and an inevitable task facing mankind, and intelligence is an important carrier for experiential consumption and the landing of new profit models. As the world's largest car market, China's car market has ranked first in global automobile sales for many years, not only leading the world, but even continuing to drive global economic growth, combined with the absolute advantages of the Chinese market in new energy and intelligence, but also allowing more and more automakers to take China as an important base in the process of electrification transformation.
On April 19, in order to continue to deepen the strategic layout of the Audi brand in the Chinese market, Audi China officially released the "Audi China Enterprising 2030 Strategy", and in the future, audi will be more Chinese in China with five major successes, three missions and two paths. At the same time, at the grand ceremony, Sphere's third brand new concept car, urbansphere, was also officially released, which is not only a concept car, but also a perfect interpretation of the core of "Audi China's enterprising 2030 strategy".
As the first batch of media in China, Youche Zhilian participated in the Audi Urbane Concept Car Media Appreciation Conference and the Audi China Enterprising 2030 Strategic Communication Meeting, talked with Dr. Wen Zeyue, President of Audi China, and Wu Yunzhou, Head of Interior Design of Audi China, and felt Audi's unique understanding of future travel through the new urbansphere concept car.
Dr. Wen Zeyue, President of Audi China
It is worth mentioning that at the tasting meeting, Dr. Wen Zeyue also communicated with Chinese media on the Audi Workshop as the president of Audi China for the first time. At this communication meeting, we can also feel Dr. Wen Zeyue's desire to share the "Audi China Enterprising 2030 Strategy" and the determination to make Audi more Chinese. He said: "Under the guidance of the 'China Enterprising 2030 Strategy', we will continue to deepen the Chinese market, focus on electrification, digitalization, intelligence and sustainable development, accelerate the transformation to high-end mobility providers, and strive to return to the first place in China's high-end automobile market!" ”
Wu Yunzhou, head of interior design at Audi China
At the same time, Wu Yunzhou, head of interior design of Audi China, also came to the scene, and told us about the entire process from submitting the design plan to landing in the new urbansphere concept car at the tasting meeting, and unlike in the past, Chinese consumers also participated in the entire design process for the first time. Although the design was completed by the German team, from the sketch selection, it was all involved by Chinese consumers.
The Audi urbansphere concept car perfectly explains the new strategy in China
As the carrier of the "China Enterprising 2030 Strategy", we can see the most extreme sense of space of the Audi brand through the Audi urbansphere concept car, as well as the design core that pays attention to the future travel experience and intelligent experience, and it is also a concept model that is prioritized by the Chinese design team for interior design, and after the interior framework is built, the German team will improve the design concept model. It highlights urbansphere's emphasis on future travel to China's big cities, as well as the needs of Chinese consumers for a sense of space.
In the in-depth exchange of customers, Audi observed that Chinese consumers' views on the future of high-end travel have changed. Their expectation of a high-quality luxury travel experience is the release of space, wanting to have a sufficiently spacious space and making the sense of comfort a unique feature. Because in addition to physical space, they are also looking for a spiritual space that can slow themselves down in the busy urban life. Dr. Wen Zeyue said: "Through the design of the Audi urbansphere concept car, we call it the 'space concept', and the car becomes a 'third living space' outside of work and family life, like a living room at home. Each passenger has their own exclusive screen for a personalized and enriching experience. For example, when parents take their children to sit in the car together, children can use the car entertainment system to play games, and parents can open skype video conferences."
Based on this concept, the Audi urbansphere concept car is Audi's largest model to date, with a body length of 5510mm and a wheelbase of 3400mm, which can accommodate six passengers at the same time. Looking at the domestic market, Japan and some European countries are the world of small cars, and only large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in China can really make the urbansphere concept car show its fists.
Urbansphere is not only a model in which the Chinese design team is solely responsible for the interior design, but also a model in which Chinese consumers participate in the co-creation, which is unique in the history of the Audi brand. From the sketch selection, it was all participated by Chinese consumers, and the results of consumer co-creation also amazed the design team, the space in the car made people feel extremely relaxed, coupled with the timeless classic luxury lounge design and reference to the sense of space brought by the Chinese courtyard architecture, Zen full of Zen. At the same time, Wu Yunzhou, head of interior design at Audi China, said: "Consumers who participate in co-creation even see dozens of solutions earlier than Audi design directors in Germany. "It also lays the groundwork that the Urbansphere will also be a more Chinese concept car."
The complete sphere trilogy is the clearest expression of Audi's future luxury propositions, the previously unveiled Skysphere and Grandestite two-year car respectively showed the design direction of Audi's two-door GT model and four-door sedan, and urbansphere fully demonstrated Audi's definition of China's future urban high-end travel blueprint, through this concept car, we can see that Audi is constantly committed to providing Innovative Products and Technology Roadmap for Chinese users. The finale also highlights the importance of the Chinese market.
Five successes, three missions, three paths
At the communication meeting, Dr. Wen Zeyue also introduced the connotation of "Audi China Enterprising 2030 Strategy" in detail. "By 2030, China's high-end car market will grow to 5.8 million units, while the electric vehicle market will reach 3.1 million, which means that the sales of electric vehicles will exceed that of traditional fuel vehicles for the first time, and we hope to follow the trend and help the market transform," he said. Audi China's new corporate strategy will guide our approach to this goal. ”
Interestingly, Dr. Wen Zeyue brought an old straight mobile phone with buttons and a full-touch screen smartphone to the communication meeting, and explained to us the transformation of intelligent MPV with a simple and clear comparison, the old mobile phone is similar to the MPV concept now mentioned, and the urbansphere is equivalent to a smartphone. We believe that in the near future, the purpose, purpose and meaning of cars will change, which will affect the innovation of products.
In the "Audi China Enterprising 2030 Strategy", Audi proposes to succeed in five key areas: focusing on the needs of China's high-end customers; promoting the transformation of China's automotive industry; promoting regional development and prosperity in China; working with Chinese partners for win-win results; and creating Audi brand success in China. These five key successes will help Audi return to market number one. To this end, Audi will work together at the two levels of end product service and system in China, clarifying the three major missions to bring customers the ultimate experience journey, and the three practical paths to build a new governance system.
Three missions: to strengthen Audi's high-end product offensive in the Chinese market, to create a comprehensive high-end ecosystem in China, and to continuously create an excellent and extraordinary customer experience for Chinese customers around high-end products and ecosystems.
Three main paths: further strengthening R&D activities in China, especially in the development of intelligent interconnection and electronic functions, investing in new technology areas; strengthening localized production capacity through the new Audi FAW New Energy Automobile company; and continuing to explore innovative sales models with partners.
The combination of five major successes, three missions and three major paths" was referred to as the "533 Strategy" by Audi, and comprehensively achieved the "Audi China Enterprising 2030 Strategy".
Despite the rapid pace of change in the automotive industry, Audi, as the first luxury car company to enter the Chinese market 34 years ago, Dr. Wen Zeyue is still full of confidence in localization and tells us about its work experience in China, Wen Zeyue once worked at Changchun FAW-Volkswagen Co., Ltd. for seven years. During his first two years in office, he established a local R&D center at FAW-Volkswagen, and later established an R&D center in the field of electric vehicles. Through the gradual implementation of continuous improvement of local research and development strength, Wen Zeyue's R & D team at that time also increased from 800 people to 1500 people. At this time, 10 new FAW-Volkswagen plants were put into operation to improve the ability to localize production, including New Audi production sites in Foshan, Tianjin and Qingdao. Construction of four factories started at the same time, but the number of personnel in Wen Zeyue's team did not increase. This means that local production efficiency has been greatly improved.
Through Dr. Wen Zeyue's sharing, we learned about his hard power in localization promotion and multi-project simultaneously, and the "Audi China Enterprising 2030 Strategy" also happens to be his "professional". Let us have more confidence in audi's products that meet the Needs of the Chinese market. At the same time, Dr. Wen Zeyue also admitted that the speed of change in the automobile industry is extremely fast, and the challenges to car companies in the context of the new era are also emerging. For a global company like Audi, it is precisely with full trust and active and effective communication from all parties that we can adapt to the situation and seize opportunities.
For example, for the Chinese market, Audi builds trust with partners, and the German headquarters and China also establish trust, so that it can quickly respond to and understand the needs and feedback of the Chinese market. In this process, through multi-party communication and coordination, a consensus of opinions is reached, and then the work is promoted.
This trust also includes the trust from customers in the development of Audi, especially at the level of intelligent driving, with the influx of companies with Internet background into the automobile manufacturing industry and the rise of intelligent electric vehicles, more and more car companies hope to enter the market as soon as possible, deliver products that have not yet been developed to users, and optimize and improve through subsequent updates and iterations, consuming consumers' trust in intelligent driving. As a luxury brand with a history of more than a century, Audi always puts the safety of users in the first place in the design of any model, which is also a huge responsibility and mission of a century-old luxury brand. Whether it is driving or autonomous driving mode, how to create a safer and smarter car, for all customers who trust Audi to provide excellent driving experience has always been Audi's original intention.
At the level of intelligent driving, Audi will also give full play to the synergistic advantages of the Volkswagen Group, rely on the group's R&D department and the group's software company CARIAD, improve software strength, and charge the scale of its own R&D team in China, attracting more talents, especially in the field of intelligent interconnection and electronic function development. In addition, Audi is also cooperating with leading Chinese companies in key areas such as power batteries, autonomous driving, and digital ecosystems. Whether it is the synergy with the Volkswagen Group, the introduction of talent, or Audi's mature technology in autonomous driving, it is the foundation of user trust.
Write at the end
During his tenure in China, Wen Zeyue clearly saw the speed of change and development in the Chinese market, although for multinational groups like Audi, rapid response still takes time, but after building trust and full communication, it is possible to achieve rapid response and advancement. The Audi urbansphere concept car is an excellent example, which not only reflects that Audi China is continuously strengthening its local research and development capabilities and actively developing cars, products and technologies for the Chinese market, but also is expanding its territory and influencing the world in the field of high-end mobility innovation in the future. For automobile companies, products have large and small years, and sales will also have ups and downs, but only brand tone and strategic determination are the unchanging hard power behind them. With Dr. Wen Zeyue's understanding of the Chinese market and the ability to promote localization, we believe that the "Audi" of China is not far away.