Zhiji Auto is undoubtedly one of the most eye-catching new car-making forces in recent years. As a new energy vehicle brand jointly created by SAIC, Alibaba and other central enterprises and technology giants, Zhiji has unique advantages in terms of capital, technology and channels. However, it turns out that a strong background alone is not enough to conquer the automotive market, but also requires real strength and experience. Through the analysis of the recent dynamics of Zhiji Automobile, it is not difficult to find that this emerging car company still has many problems to be solved in terms of product strength, marketing strategy, brand building, etc.
First, "touching porcelain" millet encountered Waterloo
On April 8, 2024, Zhiji Auto officially unveiled its Zhiji L6 model at a press conference. Unexpectedly, that night, Zhiji had a serious incident of benchmarking data error. Zhiji compared some parameters of its own model with the Xiaomi SU7 and mistakenly wrote it as superior to its opponent, which not only caused the anger of Xiaomi Auto, but also attracted widespread attention from the majority of netizens.
This farce shows that there is a serious problem with the professionalism of Zhiji Auto's marketing team. At the critical moment of releasing a blockbuster new car, such a low-level mistake will undoubtedly be a great damage to the company's image and brand reputation. What is even more puzzling is that in the apology after the fact, Zhiji tried to blame the "lax internal audit". This statement clearly obscures the reality and raises doubts about whether there is something else going on in this.
On the surface, Zhiji Auto tried to attract attention by "rubbing the heat", but in fact, it completely angered Xiaomi, an important competitor. Xiaomi Auto immediately issued a document saying that "our tolerance is also limited", which undoubtedly deepened the contradiction between the two sides. Zhiji's move not only failed to achieve the expected results, but instead caused a storm of public opinion to itself, seriously damaging the company's image and reputation.
Regarding this incident, industry insiders generally believe that there are serious problems with the marketing strategy of Zhiji Auto. It is obviously a short-sighted approach to pursue hot spots and traffic excessively, while ignoring the strength and competitiveness of the product itself. As a sub-brand of SAIC, Zhiji Automobile should uphold a more professional and responsible attitude, rather than deliberately creating controversy to attract attention. This incident exposed many shortcomings in brand building and marketing promotion, and also raised widespread doubts about its future development prospects.
Second, the deep reasons behind the decline in sales
As an emerging car manufacturer, Zhiji Auto has been working hard to build its own product line and sales network since its establishment. However, judging from the recent sales data, the performance of Zhiji Auto is not ideal.
According to official data, in May 2023, the sales volume of Zhiji Auto decreased by 0.41% month-on-month. In the past 12 months, Zhiji Auto's highest monthly sales were only 1,987 units, far below the level of some well-known new car companies. These data fully reflect the tremendous pressure faced by Zhiji Auto in the market competition.
The main reasons are as follows:
Lack of product power
Although Zhiji Auto has a strong background from SAIC, there is still a certain gap between its models and its competitors in the same price range in terms of performance, equipment, and quality. Especially in the high-tech field of new energy vehicles, Zhiji's technical reserves and accumulation are still insufficient, and it is difficult to meet the increasing needs of young consumers.
Poor marketing strategy
The aforementioned "bottle touching" Xiaomi incident, coupled with some controversial marketing methods of Zhiji Automobile, has caused a serious blow to the company's reputation and image in the outside world. Consumers' perception of Zhiji is more at the level of "hype" and "popularity", and it is difficult to establish real brand trust.
Price positioning issues
There is also some controversy over the pricing of Zhiji Auto's products. On the one hand, its pricing range is high, which may lose the attention of some low-end consumers; On the other hand, frequent price reductions and promotions have caused dissatisfaction among users, making people feel that there are quality problems in the product itself. The repeated swings of this pricing strategy will inevitably affect consumers' willingness to buy.
Channel construction is lagging behind
As an emerging car company, Zhiji Auto is far from keeping up with some traditional car companies in terms of sales network coverage and service quality. To a certain extent, this restricts its market expansion across the country.
It can be said that the various problems currently faced by Zhiji Auto stem from the company's lack of key links such as product development, marketing, and brand building. Trying to get a piece of the highly competitive automotive market in a short period of time is indeed a huge challenge.
3. The cost of rushing
For Zhiji Auto, achieving rapid development is undoubtedly the most urgent task at present. However, if some inappropriate practices are still followed, it may be difficult to achieve the desired results.
For example, we noticed that some models of Zhiji Auto frequently adjusted their prices by up to 150,000 yuan shortly after they were launched. This undoubtedly shows the company's blindness and haste in its pricing strategy. The fact that an excessively high initial offer is difficult to attract consumers, and then the price is drastically reduced, undoubtedly gives the impression that there is a problem with the quality of the product.
Coupled with some of Zhiji's previous "rubbing heat" marketing behaviors, the company's reputation in the outside world has further deteriorated. Many netizens harshly criticized Zhiji's approach, believing that its "self-inflicted" marketing methods have hurt SAIC's reputation.
In fact, these practices of Zhiji Auto undoubtedly expose its mentality of being in a hurry to achieve results under the pressure of development. While pursuing scale and performance, the company ignores the cultivation of the strength of the product itself and the shaping of the brand image. This unbalanced development strategy will inevitably make it difficult to take the lead in the fierce market competition.
For an emerging car manufacturer, product power and brand power are the foundation of the foothold. Excessive pursuit of short-term performance and traffic can be counterproductive and affect the company's long-term development. Zhiji Auto should deeply reflect on the lessons of this round, examine its own problems in all aspects, and adjust its strategic direction as soon as possible, so as to truly gain a foothold in the market.
Fourth, steady and steady, and seek sustainable development
Overall, there is still a long way to go for Zhiji Auto in the future. The company needs to improve its own strength and seek sustainable development from the following aspects:
Improving Product Lines and Enhancing Product Capabilities Zhiji Auto should have a deep understanding of consumer needs, continue to optimize the performance, quality and configuration of existing models, and enrich the product line layout to meet the needs of different customer groups. In the research and development and application of new technologies, it is also necessary to give full play to the superior resources of SAIC and narrow the gap with competitors.
Optimize marketing strategies and build brand image Abandoning the previous practice of "rubbing the heat", Zhiji Auto should carry out brand building with a more professional and responsible attitude. While focusing on improving product strength, we should also focus on marketing and promotion, and shape the brand image in the hearts of consumers in a sincere and professional way.
Reasonable pricing to build long-term competitiveness In terms of pricing strategy, Zhiji Auto should fully consider factors such as product positioning, cost control, and consumer groups, so as to attract consumers and ensure its own profit margins. At the same time, it is necessary to abandon the practice of frequent price reductions, establish a stable price system, and enhance consumer trust.
Improving sales channels and service levels Zhiji Auto should further strengthen the construction of sales outlets nationwide, while attaching importance to the coordinated development of online and offline channels. At the same time, it is necessary to continue to improve the quality of after-sales service, so that consumers can experience high-quality services in all aspects of car purchase and maintenance.
Strengthening Internal Management and Cultivating Professionals As an emerging company, Zhiji Auto needs to further optimize its internal management system, improve its corporate culture, and cultivate a high-quality professional team. Only by consolidating the internal foundation can the company maintain a long-term advantage in the fierce market competition.
To sum up, in order to achieve sustainable development, Zhiji Auto needs to start from multiple dimensions such as products, marketing, and channels, and solidly improve its own strength and seek sustainable development. At the same time, the company should also give full play to the resource advantages of SAIC, seek synergy in technology, management, brand and other aspects, and jointly meet future challenges. Only in this way can Zhiji Auto occupy a place in this increasingly fierce new energy vehicle market.