I have to say that the Beijing Auto Show has changed a lot after four years, it used to be the world of BBA, and now it is the world of new forces, where there are many car model Internet celebrities in the past, and now there are many car circle bosses, 11 world premieres, 41 concept cars and 278 new energy models on the same stage to open the "volume", like a fan meeting of car friends. The continuous emergence of new brands and new ways to play has intensified the "involution" of the auto market, and the concept of traffic is king has been put back on the screen.
As the Wuling brand that once had the halo of "magic car", in this slightly impetuous Beijing Auto Show can be described as very "low-key", not that Wuling is not visible, but the era of relying on the large sales of a single product has become a thing of the past, from the leader to the chaser, and then from the chaser to the leader, the process between this is quite a bit like the Xianxia martial arts in the head of all parties painstakingly study martial arts, farewell to the era of the god car, what is the unique job given by the new Wuling? Zhao Yifan, general manager of Wuling product marketing center, unfolded a "martial arts ink painting".
"I admit that this is the era of extraordinary volumes, but the company should deal with this volume, using the world's martial arts only fast and unbreakable. Zhao Yifan categorically explained, the so-called "world martial arts, only fast is not broken", the original meaning refers to many martial arts, fast speed is a difficult to be restrained or surpassed advantage, when the speed reaches the extreme, even can quickly control the enemy, without the need for those bells and whistles of the operation, compared with the "what the people need, Wuling will create" The old slogan, the new concept is obviously more able to drive the brand as a whole, rather than waiting for the needs of users, it is better to create what users need.
Zhao Yifan pointed out two points, first of all, in the field of commercial vehicles, the glimmer, the macro light, the light of the three lights has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but the "god car" is only a concept after all, in the field of passenger cars in the fierce competition, Wuling needs more action to try to regain the name of "god car", the world's martial arts is only fast is based on the architecture, with experience as the core of the new strategy, Tianyu architecture is currently laid out S, M, L, D four platforms, for these four platforms to accelerate the extension of more models, Wuling Starlight 2023 to 2024 model launch time of less than half a year, it is thanks to the deep cultivation of the architecture.
On the other hand, it is necessary to quickly gain insight into user needs and take experience as the core, and the Wuling Starlight Co-creation Edition listed at the Beijing Auto Show is a good interpretation. Zhao Yifan said that the co-creation version is called "co-creation with you", and in the process of using Starlight's 52,000 users, some direct connections will be carried out, and rapid changes will be made in combination with user needs and linkage technology centers. For example, Wuling will update the rear bumper to make the black trim less cumbersome, speed up the charging speed by changing the battery electrolyte, and increase the motor of the pure electric product by 50 kilowatts and the maximum speed of the PHEV product by 25 km/h for the problem of insufficient speed complained by users.
"I personally drove an experimental car and ran at high speeds, and I didn't think it would work without ADS, so I asked for it to be developed. In the context of Zhao Yifan, he showed his determination not to break or stand for the painstaking study of this set of theories of "respecting fast". It is true that the Zhidian stage, which pays attention to changing moves, blocking, and retreating as advances, does not mean that speed is not the only factor for victory, and Wuling will also make more changes in marketing strategy in the future, inviting users to have a deep understanding of brand technology and product capabilities, such as visiting manufacturing plants, doing more in-depth product analysis, and passing on technical advantages to users who love it more intuitively.
It is not difficult to see that this theory is very suitable for the current Wuling, more suitable for the current unpredictable battlefield of intelligent electricity, when the car is put into the market, users have more demands for the car, how to meet the needs of a user as soon as possible in the short term, rather than rebuilding a car, this is a good solution, the future Wuling will also continue to polish a good product around the thinking of a single explosive product, to deal with the "volume" of the market; If the car is regarded as a long-termism, cost control and price war will definitely affect and affect the development of Wuling, which is also recognized by Zhao Yifan.
"Cost is the eternal topic of car manufacturing, Wuling's cost control in the automotive industry is still good, with so many years of understanding of cost, back to the essence of research and development, the most important cost is designed. Shao Jie, chief technology officer of Wuling Intelligent Platform, answered this question. In his words, cost control is about "the right time, the right place and the right people", "people" means that Wuling is rooted in the technical team and technology center, deeply cultivated and self-developed, which used to be more direct procurement, but now it is constantly incubated from front to back on the basis of this model, focusing on the definition of the front end of user needs, and doing a good job in R&D verification behind it, including the construction of the entire supply chain.
"Geographical advantage" represents the construction of Liuzhou's new energy supply chain system, photovoltaic battery Liuzhou is more than 50G production capacity, the top ten partners are settled in Liuzhou, "the fertility of the land" has laid a good foundation for cost control; In the concept of architecture platform and parallel research and development, engineers do not need to be entangled in which model to develop, and after the enthusiasm of research and development is mobilized, it is natural to achieve better cost control, matching what Zhao Yifan said, "only fast is not broken".
This year, the most magical topic of China's auto market is the price war, Wuling's car has been cutting prices, which is what users like to see, but now the price seems to have broken through the psychological bottom line and expectations, but in the market to form a "before making too much" illusion; fast does not mean all good, a correct direction and attitude, is the user short-term most want to know the story. Zhao Yifan is well aware of the anxiety of users, "We must be positive and optimistic, and all car companies in China will work together to forge ahead to become an automobile power! This is Wuling's attitude." ”
Zhao Yifan made it clear that the Wuling brand needs to be built, from the earliest macaron to Binguo, it is the communication and promotion of emotional value as the main line; from last year to the present, it has gradually begun to talk about technology, and the future trend will be the main brand of quality and price ratio. Now to the terminal why the price of the volume is not stopped, in fact, in order to respond to the adjustment of the market competition pattern; a brand value is gradually rising, it is indeed not possible to roll the price, Zhao Yifan said, Wuling will be at the technical level, constantly emphasize their technical capabilities, consolidate their own technical foundation, and further improve the premium of the brand.
Zhao Yifan also promised that although all car companies hope that their brands have greater premium capabilities, Wuling will never "float", for the construction of new brands will always uphold the rhythm of patience, down-to-earth, step by step, and slowly incubate the brand value. This means that the Wuling that users need, still the original intention does not change, the value remains the same, does not fight the price war, does not fight the traffic war; Wuling, which has measured all the rural roads, has written a lot of stories of getting rich; now "only fast and not broken", Wuling, which is dedicated to research, needs to face the opponent of the vigorous flying bricks, and the difficulty is even worse.