When the ID. series of North and South Volkswagen was exploring the mainstream joint venture pure electricity field alone for more than a year, at the end of April, Japanese electric vehicles finally "grouped" to come:
On April 26, the first model of Dongfeng Honda e:N pure electric sequence, e:NS1, was officially launched;
On April 27, Ariya, a subsidiary of Dongfeng Nissan, which was born on the new CMF-EV platform, opened blind booking;
On April 28, the first model of Toyota's bZ pure electric series, the bZ4X, was pre-sold at the same time as FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota.
Just when japanese electric vehicles appeared in the eyes of expectation or doubt, it was reported that volkswagen, the "pioneer" on the other side, was planning to operate on the channel model of the ID. series - to open its own direct sales channels. If the news is true, this will be the second time Volkswagen has adjusted its electric vehicle channel – at the end of last year, Volkswagen had restored the original agency system to batch sales.
Behind the continuous adjustment of the model, it is obvious that Volkswagen has not yet explored the most suitable sales path for electric vehicles: for example, because the product force has not been recognized by consumers, in the initial agency system, although the ID. series has achieved a unified national pricing like a new force, the market demand is not high, and the dealers have no inventory pressure, resulting in the terminal sales staff's enthusiasm for selling cars is not high, and the sales volume is not ideal. After changing the agency system to a batch sales system similar to that of fuel vehicles, although the wholesale volume of the ID.series has increased, it has encountered the problem that the price is difficult to stabilize.
As a representative of the joint venture brand, Volkswagen's twists and turns in the sales channel of electric vehicles are common to all joint venture brands. Today, Volkswagen's model exploration continues, and with Volkswagen's previous experience, how will the latecomers Honda and Toyota sell electric vehicles? The pit that the public has stepped on, can they avoid it?
Japanese electric vehicles, creating a "new model"
On April 26, Dongfeng Honda's e:NS1 was officially launched, opening the door to the electrification of mainstream Japanese brands. However, from the perspective of sales channels, Dongfeng Honda almost completely follows the channel and batch sales model of fuel vehicles, and only partially adjusts the service experience:
On the day of the launch of the new car, Dongfeng Honda simultaneously launched the Dongfeng Honda APP specially built for electric vehicles. Coupled with the "Dongfeng Honda e-move" mini program previously launched, it can help consumers realize online booking, and make reservations for the nearest 4S store to see cars and test drives.
According to Honda China's previously released e:N new energy plan, in addition to Dongfeng Honda's e:NS1, Gagac Honda's sister model e:NP1 will also be listed in the first half of this year.
However, with the same development pace as the era of fuel vehicles, the two sides may move in different directions in the construction of electric vehicle channels.
An industry insider told Auto Industry and Economics that Guangqi Honda "will build an independent e-network and open a supermarket store and an exclusive 4S store for electric vehicles." This was also mentioned when Guangqi Honda announced that Acura would withdraw from the Chinese market. In a document officially released at the time, GAC Honda said that it "will integrate gacic Acura brand resources and join the electrification business."
Why did the two sides choose different channel models? On this issue, Honda China and GAC Honda have not explained too much, but such a difference has never been done in the previous era of fuel vehicles.
As for Toyota, when the first model of the bZ series was unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show at the end of last year, some insiders revealed to the auto industry and economy that they may use the form of separately authorizing some existing channels like Mercedes-Benz Maybach. Faw Toyota also announced at the pre-sale conference of bZ4X that it will adopt the sales model of offline "key stores".
Although FAW Toyota did not disclose whether it was a wholesale sale or an agent, industry insiders who have long been engaged in dealer management in a joint venture brand said in an interview with Auto Industry and Industry that there is no need to be too entangled, "Wait for the official sale, see who issues the invoice."
In his view, the dealers of traditional joint venture brands are not active in the sales of electric vehicles, and the key to the problem is not whether to sell agents or wholesales. In fact, "for dealers, the profit from bicycle sales obtained by the agency system is not low." Industry insiders said that the new energy agency commission is about 5% to 10%. Judging from the gross profit margin of sales of the 8 listed dealer groups in 2021, less than half of them can reach this level.
Let's look at Volkswagen's ID. series. In his view, Volkswagen's problem is that the ID.4 was not recognized by the market at the beginning of the listing, "the sales of new cars are not large, the total profit brought by it is not high, and the pressure on the sales of fuel vehicles is large, and there is no incentive to sell electric vehicles."
Even after the later change to the traditional batch sale, the dealer complained a lot, but because of the task plan requirements, bundled fuel vehicle rebates, the dealer can only have to do.
Volkswagen's pit, Honda, Toyota will step on it again?
On the road of how to sell electric vehicles, the first Volkswagen to start stumbled. So, after Volkswagen has stepped through the pit, can the latecomers Honda and Toyota safely walk through it? In this regard, the above-mentioned person bluntly said that although "there is no optimal solution for channel selection, only the most suitable for themselves", "the joint venture OEMs are delusional to sell electric vehicles through traditional channels, and it is impossible to succeed".
Also holding the same view is Sun Shaojun, the founder of Chefans. In his view, Honda and Toyota will inevitably encounter the same experience as Volkswagen in the future. After the launch of the e:NS1, the car Sankei visited a number of Dongfeng Honda 4S stores, and the sales staff said that there are no discounts and preferential activities for this model.
But how long this strength can last, no one knows. After all, Volkswagen's ID. series can also achieve national price unification at the beginning of its listing. Moreover, when the ID. series initially decided to adopt the agency system, the dealers also recognized and supported it. "Agency is a way to benefit both sides." A FAW-Volkswagen dealer made it clear in an interview.
For OEMs, the agency system can help enterprises control prices and avoid vicious price competition between dealers. For dealers, the pressure on inventory and capital occupation can be reduced. Unfortunately, this harmony did not last long.
Taking the Beijing area as an example, there are about 70 Volkswagen brand (SAIC Volkswagen + FAW-Volkswagen) 4S stores here, and when the ID. series was launched, only more than a dozen of the first batch got the agency rights, and only two or three salesmen in each store had reception rights. But then, in order to quickly increase sales and expand the influence of models, Volkswagen began to fully roll out the authorization. The demand is not much, but there are many dealers, and when the supply exceeds the demand, the competition between dealers has become fierce. In order to acquire customers, the old routine of price wars has also begun to appear.
In mid-October 2021, a SAIC Volkswagen dealer announced the promotion of the ID. series, and the intensity was not small. Although SAIC Volkswagen officials said that they would impose penalties on individual dealers who adjusted prices privately: the dealer was given a penalty of deducting all of this month's commission and a yellow card warning penalty. But once there is a gap, it becomes difficult to completely block it.
The sales staff of a Volkswagen 4S store said that they had encountered a situation where customers who had been tracking for a long time were pried away because other stores had activities of "buying cars and sending gifts". Today's Sales Model of Toyota's bZ series of electric vehicles offline "key stores" is somewhat similar to Volkswagen's initial selection of some channels for authorization. Although the number of authorized stores is still unknown, it is worrying whether it will eventually follow the same path of volkswagen.
The price competition between dealers, in Sun Shaojun's view, the main engine factory is also difficult to control, "many dealers are very strong." Especially when the channel network of car companies is monopolized by dealers, car companies can only rely on dealers and lose control of terminals.
For traditional car companies, if they want to establish a stable price system and sales volume like the new forces of car manufacturing, Sun Shaojun believes that it is necessary to meet two prerequisites, "on the one hand, the product is strong, on the other hand, it is necessary to have its own direct sales system." And these two premises, Honda and Toyota, which have just entered the electric vehicle market, are obviously the same as the original Volkswagen, and they have nothing to do with each other.
How should the electric vehicles of the joint venture car companies be sold?
After experiencing the agency system and the batch sales system, there is news that today's public is exploring the model of direct operation. As for why to build a direct sales store, in Sun Shaojun's view, "direct operation has never been for salvation, but for management." As long as a city has direct stores, then dealers will not be able to make trouble, and car companies can better control the channels."
In fact, in September last year, Chen Haocun, assistant general manager of Dongfeng Nissan Sales Company, mentioned in an interview with the auto industry and economic network that when talking about the sales model of the new pure electric vehicle ARIYA, they mentioned that their channel construction "will go one step further than Volkswagen's ID", in addition to the use of agency system, will also establish direct sales channels.
Establishing a direct sales channel is not difficult for Dongfeng Nissan, which already owns Dongfeng South, but for other joint venture brands, it is not so simple.
The first is the resistance from existing dealers, and secondly, the resistance from within the car company may be equally small. The establishment of direct-operated stores requires a lot of investment, and in terms of funds alone, the average annual investment of the direct-operated store model is as high as millions. According to informed sources, some Japanese brands have conducted direct research in the market, but due to excessive investment, the direct marketing plan has been opposed by some foreign managers.
So without building direct stores, there is no other way for traditional joint venture brands to change the channel problem? The above-mentioned industry insiders gave his ideas. In his view, in fact, "if you want to sell well, you don't necessarily have to establish a large number of direct stores, just build a small number of groping models, and you can also build them without building." The key is not in the channel model, but in the independent brand, independent organization. ”
He further explained that the so-called independent organization "means that the level of the electric vehicle sales department is the same as that of the fuel vehicle sales department, and the bosses of both departments are of the same level." "In other words, only in this way can the channel management of electric vehicles be completely separated from fuel vehicles, and the two sides can not affect each other." Independent brands, independent organizations, channels are naturally independent. ”
However, all this is simple to say, but for the joint venture that has long been fixed in the organizational system and any change involves multiple interests, how easy is it to operate in practice?
Write at the end
The day before the launch of the e:NS1, the sprite #1, a new model of the transformed Smart, was also officially launched. In order to compare the popularity of the two models, an auto media launched a poll on Weibo. Judging from the selection results of the nearly 1,000 Weibo users who participated in the voting, 89% of them chose Genie #1, and only 11% chose e:NS1.
This can be seen in the way forward for Honda and Toyota to transform electrification in the Chinese market.
The day before toyota's bZ4X pre-sale began, Saekei asked a number of Toyota 4S stores about the model. Some sales even said bluntly, "That car has to be 300,000, you might as well buy Yize pure electricity now, now the discount is very large, the price is more appropriate." ”
How to make the product strength of the electric vehicle type get the recognition of their own sales and consumers, in addition to the channel problem, this is probably the most important problem that Honda and Toyota need to solve at the moment.