Written by/ Zhang Linyu
Editor/Zhang Nan
Design / Teacher Chao
In mid-March, He Xiaopeng, a deputy to the National People's Congress, visited several Xpeng Motors' directly operated stores and agency dealerships in Beijing in the afternoon after the two sessions. At this time, the core team of Xpeng's marketing side has been reorganized.
A salesperson who met him told Auto Business Review, "He looks exactly like in the video!" It's just a little thinner than expected. This description is generally what fans say when they meet their idols.
It's been a month since that meeting, and the salesman is still happy to share the experience. It can be seen that he has a sense of joy at being favored by idols, and this joy also includes confidence in his dealership. His subtext was "Our store is selling well, so He Xiaopeng came to see us".
At present, the confidence of front-line sales staff in dealerships and directly operated stores can be seen with the arrival of P7i.
Xpeng's Changsheng Sales Crown Beijing Hopson Hui direct sales store in North China currently needs to make an appointment one day in advance, and the salesperson is full of "Tesla doesn't matter if it cuts the price" when explaining the Max version of the P7i with two lidars.
At the agent dealership outside Beijing's North Fifth Ring Road, test drives do not require advance reservations, but it is true that the P7i has increased the overall sales of the store after arriving at the store. "At present, P7i sales account for 30%," said the store manager, "and many people order cars."
At present, Xpeng has a total of 6 models, 3 SUVs: G3, G3i and G9, and 3 sedans: P5, P7 and P7i, which was previously the main model, accounting for about 40%-50% of the overall sales. In fact, strictly speaking, it is 4 cars.
The P7i is a small facelift of the P7, which was launched on March 10, and its contribution to Xpeng's overall sales cannot be accurately assessed, but from the sales volume in March, Xpeng sold a total of 7,002 units, an increase of 16% from 6,010 units in February. Of this increase of less than 1,000 vehicles, the P7i must occupy a certain proportion.
If calculated based on the sales volume of the Beijing North 5th Ring dealership visited by Auto Business Review, assuming that the number of other vehicles remains unchanged and the P7i increases by 30%, Xpeng will soon return to 10,000 units in April. But another problem at the moment is that the P7i delivery time is 8 weeks, which may not be immediately reflected in sales in the short term.
The front-line sales staff at the terminal are full of confidence in the P7i, but many people complain that the marketing of this car is not done well, there is almost no voice, and there is not even a new car launch conference, which also appears within Xpeng.
After the launch of the P7i on March 10, several test drives were organized in first-tier cities, including potential users, salespeople and the media, which did not seem to be enough to attract widespread attention on the consumer side.
Why P7i has no marketing
Wang Fengying and his senior management believe that the appearance of the P7i has not changed much compared with the P7, and they want to focus their marketing this year on the new model. The Shanghai Auto Show will release the G6, which is a very competitive crossover SUV, and we will have at least one new car on the market this year, so the P7i did not make a lot of publicity because the company deliberately did it. An employee of Xpeng's marketing department told Auto Business Review.
Nevertheless, the current order volume for P7i in terminal stores has begun to restore confidence.
The P7i has not changed much from the P7 in appearance, and the wheelbase is 2998mm. If it is the Max version with lidar, the two headlights are where the lidar is installed, and the Pro version is still the original shape of the lights.
In terms of interior, the P7i has made some minor adjustments, such as the armrest part is more simple and neat, the upper floor has mobile phone charging, and the lower floor has cleared some space to become a place area. In addition, the armrest box can be opened on both sides, adding a fragrance mode. In terms of configuration, all P7i models come standard with electric suction doors, power tailgate and other related comfort features such as four-seat heating.
The biggest difference between P7i and P7 is the level of intelligence, comfort, and more varies from person to person. The P7i has two ranges, CLTC standard, 702 km and 610 km. The two types of endurance are divided into two versions, Pro and Max, the main difference between the two is whether there are two lidar and two Orin chips, the Pro version only has a single Orin chip, no lidar. The Max version means smarter on urban roads.
The old P7 was previously divided into four versions of P, E, N, G, after the twists and turns of G9 last year, the version planning of P7i is simple and clear, which is convenient for terminal sales personnel to promote, and this version model is also copied to G9.
Xpeng has abolished the maximum charge of 36,000 yuan for the assisted driving system in May last year and changed it to standard equipment on all models. At present, only NIO is the charging model in "Wei Xiaoli", and their new NOP+ will charge a monthly subscription fee of 380 yuan from July 1.
Regarding the reasons why the P7i does not have much publicity, terminal dealerships believe that it is the inventory of the old P7 that causes manufacturers to be relatively restrained in the promotion of P7i. "The P7 is still in stock, and the car is still in production, and it is said that it will not be discontinued until next May," a Xpeng dealership salesperson told Auto Business Review, who believes that vigorously promoting the P7i will cause more inventory and slow sales of the P7.
At present, P7 has launched a limited-time offer, with discounts between 17,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan. Regarding the newly released crossover SUV G6, as of the time of the auto show, Auto Business Review learned that the sales terminal has not received any news about the car from the manufacturer.
The change brought by Wang Fengying
At the end of January, Wang Fengying joined Xpeng Motors, where she is fully responsible for the company's product planning, product matrix and sales system.
According to the annual report released by Xpeng Motors on April 12, Wang Fengying ranked second only to He Xiaopeng among the core senior management, and the position was president; Xia Heng ranked third, with the position of co-founder and co-president; The fourth is Gu Hongdi, who is the honorary vice chairman and co-president of the board.
This shows He Xiaopeng's trust in Wang Fengying.
According to a number of media reports, in March, the two teams of Xpeng Motors' original user development center (UDS) and auto trade completed the merger, the general leader is vice president Wang Tong, and in March, a new executive from NIO, named Bob in English, reported to Wang Tong. UDS is Xpeng's agent dealer channel, auto trade management direct store, previously under the charge of Liao Qinghong and He Tao, respectively.
Yi Han is the general head of marketing, and his remit includes public relations. Yi Han and Wang Tong both reported directly to Wang Fengying.
Xpeng insiders told Auto Business Review that after Wang Fengying joined the company, in the positioning of Xpeng Motors, it was recommended to strengthen intelligence and adhere to this positioning, "she said to penetrate this point," the employee said.
Wang Fengying's current focus is said to be on the construction of channel networks.
She took the lead in changing the four major regions of the Xpeng sales system into 25 "war zones", and the relevant personnel were adjusted, and the sales person in charge in Beijing was also adjusted.
After the more detailed division, the reporting path of the terminal store is shortened, which is convenient for Xpeng to quickly understand the market dynamics and make quick decisions.
Xpeng's direct stores and agent dealers have already experienced this benefit.
Auto Business Review visited several directly-operated stores and dealerships in Beijing, and the store-side sales staff unanimously reported that the decision-making process has become shorter and more efficient than before. "If the feedback channel used to be on the expressway, now it feels like a highway." A salesperson at a directly operated store said.
Another measure is increased support for agent dealerships, which is reflected in increased rebates or commissions for stores. This business policy starts around February or early March. Regarding the specific amount, the store did not disclose it, but the adjustment of this policy has greatly increased the enthusiasm of dealers.
In addition, since the launch of the P7i, Xpeng has changed the practice of publicity first, car first. The current principle is that all models must arrive at the store before product promotion. At the same time, in terms of price, the gap between P7 and P7i widened.
As of December 31, 2022, Xpeng has a total of 420 terminal stores, including directly operated stores and agent dealer stores, covering a total of 143 cities. With the addition of Wang Fengying, it is believed that this year Xiaopeng will quickly and low-cost layout more terminal stores, and sink to third- and fourth-tier cities.
Regarding the competition between directly operated stores and agent dealers, this is true, but this competition is more of an internal chain of contempt, which consumers do not fully perceive. At present, Xpeng is relatively strict in the management of price uniformity.
The words of the directly operated stores are justifiably claiming that they are factory direct sales, and the quality is guaranteed in all aspects, but the words of the dealerships are that they can provide a full range of services, from the purchase of the car to the post-maintenance one-stop can be carried out in the store, which can not be achieved by directly operated stores, especially supermarket stores.
In order to sell more models, the dealership also offers various maintenance services and daily free services such as car washing.
At present, according to the information of Xpeng's internal personnel, the proportion of sales of directly operated stores is slightly higher than that of agent stores.
Restructured management
Xpeng Motors released its 2022 annual report on April 12, which listed the new board of directors and management members.
Xpeng's organizational structure
In terms of the Board of Directors, there are currently 8 directors. He Xiaopeng is the Chairman, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, he is the only person in charge of the company's operation on the board, and the other 7 are non-executive Directors, they are Chen Yingjie, Liu Qin, Fu Jixun, Yang Fei, Yang Donghao, Qu Fang and Zhang Hongjiang, the latter three are independent non-executive Directors.
Chen Yingjie, Liu Qin, Fu Jixun and Yang Fei are all Xpeng Motors investors, representatives and partners of Alibaba Group, Wuyuan Capital, GGV Jiyuan Capital and IDG Capital, respectively. Among the other three non-executive directors, Yang Donghao is the CFO of Yixian E-commerce, Qu Fang is the founder of Xiaohongshu, and Zhang Hongjiang is the chairman of Beijing Institute of Artificial Intelligence.
Compared with the 2021 annual report, Xia Heng is no longer on this list, and he was an executive director. In addition, Chen Jun left the board at the end of February 2022 and was replaced by Ali's Chen Yingjie.
On the whole, the board of directors is relatively stable.
The list of management is disclosed in the annual report, and this list has changed considerably. Almost half are no longer on this list. The organizational structure adjustment of Xiaopeng since October last year is also reflected in this list.
At present, there are 7 members of the top management, President Wang Fengying is the No. 2 position, followed by co-founder and co-president Xia Heng, co-president Gu Hongdi, vice president of finance Lv Xueqing, vice president of autonomous driving Wu Xinzhu, vice president of automobile research and development Xu Jihan, and product planning Chen Yonghai.
Compared with 2021, He Tao, Liao Qinghong, Jiang Ping and Liu Minghui are missing from the list.
Jiang Pingyuan is the vice president in charge of manufacturing, the specific whereabouts are not officially disclosed, while Liu Minghui is in charge of powertrain, he has left, and Gu Jie, senior director of Xpeng Motors' power department, takes over. Liao Qinghong has also resigned, and his original position has been taken over by Wang Tong and Yi Han.
It is worth mentioning here is Chen Yonghai, an executive at UC, an early-stage startup of He Xiaopeng, who served as UC's senior product director from 2010 to 2012, after which he left UC for a while. In 2014, UC was acquired by Alibaba, and Yu Yongfu, who was UC's chairman and CEO, joined Alibaba and took over the business at the same time, and in the same year, he brought Chen Yonghai to become vice president of AutoNavi map products.
Chen Yonghai is Xpeng's old department, he joined Xpeng Motors in 2022, initially succeeding Ji Yu in charge of Xpeng Internet Center. Currently, his position is Vice President of Product Planning, and in less than a year, he has joined the top management of Xpeng.
On April 16, the day before the Shanghai Auto Show, He Xiaopeng said in the media Q&A session of the SEPA 2.0 "Fushake" technical architecture conference: The organizational structure must not be a few people strong, if it is a team of one or two thousand people, a few people are useless. I saw the problem early last year, two to three quarters ahead of most. It wasn't until after the G9 launch in September that I thought deeply about why it didn't work to make so many adjustments? That's why we're starting to rethink things at the bottom. We've made a lot of adjustments lately, basically last night in the last month or two, followed by stabilization, and I think we'll be very confident.
This article was originally produced by Automotive Business Review
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