In 2022, the Volkswagen imported car team led by Zhang Haozhi, with the intensive cultivation of the three models of Touareg, Weilan and Arteon, countered the trend to ensure the profitability of the dealer network, which has extraordinary reference value for the marketing transformation of traditional car companies.
Affected by multiple factors such as the new crown virus, soaring raw material and commodity prices, the hot sales market in the medium and large luxury SUV market known as Lying Win in the past two years has come to an abrupt end. After the turn of the Maybach GLS from markup to discount, the top-down domino effect quickly began to spread.
The price of large luxury vehicles such as Mercedes-Benz GLS, BMW X7, and Range Rover has been lowered, resulting in more competition between medium and large luxury SUVs such as Mercedes-Benz GLE, BMW X5, and Audi Q7.
This kind of white-knife close-quarters duel is not transferred by human will, but it is a test and challenge that every enterprise management team must face, the winner wins, and the loser withdraws.
The Volkswagen import car team led by Zhang Haozhi has successfully turned it into a smooth road after embarking on a journey that is regarded as ups and downs in the industry.
Digital empowerment, innovative marketing wins praise
When it comes to the competition in the luxury car market, products and brands are the two most important factors, and the situation of Volkswagen importing cars has more complex differences.
First look at the competitors, the current medium and large luxury SUV market, can be described as a collection of first- and second-tier luxury brands of many super strong, first-line brands of Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes-Benz GLE, BMW X5, Audi Q7, second-tier brands such as Lexus RX, Lincoln Aviator, Land Rover Range Rover, Volvo XC90, Cadillac XT6, Infiniti QX6, Acura MDX.
After a comprehensive evaluation, it can be found that although Touareg, which originated from the MLB evo platform, integrates the technology of the Volkswagen Group, the product strength has a strong competitiveness in the field of segmentation, but it does not have an advantage.
At the same time, from past case studies, Land Rover Range Rover Star Pulse, Infiniti QX6, Acura MDX products are not weak, but the market performance is very bleak.
This is enough to prove that in the competition of medium and large luxury SUV markets, product strength is only an important aspect, and it also involves all-round competition of brand power, marketing ability and product synergy.
And Touareg can occupy a place in the top five market segments, relying on the volkswagen brand and Volkswagen import car management team to carry out product upgrades and differentiated precision marketing according to the upgrading of consumer demand in the Chinese market: 1. Fully tap user needs; 2. Provide products that meet the needs of users; 3. Let users understand that the product can meet their own needs; 4. Provide value-added solutions other than products to promote differentiation.
The seemingly simple four steps test the forward-looking prediction and real-time response ability of the company's industrial chain and management team in the implementation.
Looking at the mining of user demand, Zhang Haozhi said that China is the world's largest sales market for Touareg, and the consumption mode of users under the epidemic has changed from open to conservative, more cost-effective, and the pursuit of higher purchase value and convenience. That is to say, in the case of a relatively fixed budget, more attention is paid to the quality and service of the selected models.
After understanding the needs of users, Volkswagen imported cars immediately carried out the second step of adjustment, in the face of the pressure of global raw material price increases, with a strong industrial chain advantage, the whole series of revitalized Touareg not only excellent performance configuration beyond the same level, the official suggested retail price of each model is also reduced by 60,000-70,000 compared with before. Compared with the price increases of some competitors, this feedback measure not only increases the overall purchase value, but also closely matches the high performance demand and introverted image of Touareg's target customer base.
While intensively laying out products, Volkswagen imported cars have long been prepared at the marketing end, and in the past two years, they have made every effort to accelerate the promotion of digital business, increase user reach through WeChat, Weibo, Douyin and other communication channels, and accelerate multi-dimensional interaction between online and offline. For example, customers can use the iVW App and WeChat Mini Program to directly make an appointment for test drives, understand after-sales service, and purchase service packages. In the future, Volkswagen imported cars also plan to open up the financial process to facilitate customers to directly book and buy cars.
According to Zhang Haozhi, the current number of registered users on the Volkswagen import car APP "iVW" platform has reached more than 120,000 in only one year of launch, and will also introduce a popular virtual IP - ViviCat, to build and improve the membership points system and member mall, so that the classic Volkswagen models can get the attention of the Z generation in a way that modern young people are interested in.
When everything is ready, the fourth step of value-added services will come to fruition. This year, Volkswagen imported cars for nearly 300,000 Touareg users and enthusiasts launched the 20th anniversary special edition model, in mechanical quality, intelligent technology, power performance and other aspects, comprehensively reflect the strongest strength of the Volkswagen brand "all-round intelligence and all-round". In early August, it also launched a Touareg limited ice cream with Madier, which personally highlights the luxurious characteristics of high-end customization.
A classic example that is close at hand is the scene of the Touareg 20th Anniversary Ceremony, where the well-known musician and Touareg Exploration Officer Xu Wei used the exclusive music feature film of Touareg to share the celebration with many Touareg fans and fans in the form of live broadcast. At the same time, the 20th Anniversary Special Edition of Touareg also opens an exclusive channel on the "iVW" for users to lock in the rights and interests of preferential purchase of special editions.
There is no doubt that the landing of these value-added services is also inseparable from the construction of digital platforms, especially the 120,000 user base in the early stage.
Touareg enters the top five, and win-win thinking is profitable
From january to July this year, the ability and performance of Volkswagen's imported car management team are enough to gain the trust and recognition of dealers.
Touareg ranked 5th in sales in the imported C-class luxury SUV market, weilan's market share in the imported B-class station wagon market rose to 2nd place, and in July it became the first place in the market segment, and Volkswagen import car dealers as a whole are profitable.
There is no doubt that this is not achieved overnight, but the dealers who are familiar with Zhang Haozhi are very confident in it, not only the profit guarantee of the past year, but more importantly, the Volkswagen system executive who graduated from Tsinghua Engineering Not only fully understands the Volkswagen enterprise spirit of 20 years of employment, but also has full respect for partners, and the email during vacation must be returned, and the dedicated work performance of real-time handling of problems during vacation has become a bridge for Chinese and foreign partners to maintain efficient communication.
Despite his enviable achievements, Zhang Haozhi is still very humble and highly appreciates the support of dealer partners. "In the first half of 2022, under the impact of the epidemic, the entire industrial chain of the automotive industry has been affected to varying degrees. With the full cooperation of dealers across the country, we have maintained a relatively stable trend in market performance. ”
The management's attitude of co-creation, co-construction and mutual respect has become the fundamental reason why Volkswagen imported cars have maintained stable development in the past two years under the condition of a single product.
Going back to 2021, due to factors such as China VI emission restrictions, Volkswagen's import car sales network was once only available for Sale by Touareg, but in order to comply with the trend of upgrading the four modernizations of automobiles and ensure the high-end attributes of the brand, more than 100 offline physical exhibition halls need to be upgraded.
Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, the exhibition hall upgrade is a very simple routine operation, and the intelligent exhibition hall planning of volkswagen imported cars includes four functional partitions: welcome area, urban life experience area, off-road experience area and car purchase negotiation area, each area has very distinct personality characteristics and functional attributes.
This means that dealers not only unilaterally invest in capital construction, but also retrain employees according to the adjustment of the exhibition hall, and under the dual pressure of the impact of the epidemic and the single product, it is not possible to make every investor willing to invest in both manpower and material resources.
In order to ensure profitability and make dealers willing to invest in upgrading the network, Zhang Haozhi, who had just taken over as the general manager of Volkswagen imported cars at that time, basically spent his vacation time communicating with dealers, so that investors could have a deeper understanding of the long-term planning of the Volkswagen brand and achieve the goal of cohesive development.
As the ancient Chinese said, the golden stone of sincerity is the opening. Through active communication, dealers have a more like-like understanding of the smart showroom and put it into the sales service process. The welcome area reflects the brand's high-end youthful tone; The Urban Experience Zone and Off-Road Zone are more capable of fully demonstrating the high compatibility of Touareg and Wei Lan's leisure and business products; The use of digital technology throughout the sales process can not only increase the attractiveness of users with technology, but also make sales services more convenient and efficient.
After feeling the operational empowerment brought by the intelligent showroom, most of the Volkswagen imported car showrooms have now completed the upgrade. There is no doubt that the peer-to-peer communication led by Zhang Haozhi to the management team has become an important driving force for the smooth development of the process - after all, most people are reluctant to eat crabs first.
Investors' grand view
After talking about the results, let's talk about the challenges.
Today, the global automotive market is undergoing electrification and intelligent innovation, and the Chinese market is leading the global digital innovation. Under the wave of digital intelligence, volkswagen imported cars that carry the mission of volkswagen brands in the Chinese market to make high-end brands can be electrified and intelligently transformed to better meet the needs of Chinese consumers. This means that volkswagen import car management team needs to continuously think and transform from the level of product, sales process, customer reach point, and marketing method.
In this regard, Zhang Haozhi has a very clear understanding.
"From the perspective of future development, first of all, we hope to insist on bringing more pure and high-quality products to Chinese consumers." Second, we will also follow the changes and needs of the times, and actively adjust internal management processes, sales processes and marketing methods. Third, from my personal point of view, I hope to further enhance the brand image, so that Volkswagen imported cars can gain more recognition from Chinese consumers, and increase sales opportunities and market share. ”
There is no doubt that the achievement of this vision requires the joint efforts of partners. He said that in 2022, Volkswagen's imported car management team will continue to cooperate sincerely with dealer partners, improve dealer network coverage, optimize customer service experience, continuously understand the latest trends and changing customer behaviors, continue to introduce authentic Ashkenazi high-quality vehicles for Chinese consumers, and will meet the needs of Chinese consumers in an all-round way through multiple levels such as product matrix, technological upgrading, cultural experience and lifestyle.